A fellow reviewer requested that I make a sequel to A Queen's Touch and I figured, why not? So here we are, Mal's and Ben's date. Unfortunately, it's a little late right now. So I'm sorry if you guys see any spelling or grammar errors, just please bear with me and point them out if it irritates you too much.
Like usual, reviews and comments are warmly welcomed and I hope you all enjoy.
There was still a solid 15 minutes until noon, the time at which Mal was supposed to meet Ben. But Ben, being the person he is, felt the need to come early. If it were up to him, he would have already been upstairs in Mal's dorm by now.
His mother however, Queen Belle, had been very adamant about Ben seeing Mal before she was date-ready. Ben recalled her saying something along the lines of 'never disturbing a girl when she's getting ready', which is exactly why Ben asked his mother to stop by and assist Mal this morning.
Ben was aware of Doug's date with Evie and figured that Mal would struggle to do her own hair and makeup. A part of him was still doubtful, wondering if maybe Mal was insulted by his belief that she'd need help.
But the moment Mal came out the doors and locked eyes with him, all thoughts left his mind. And the second he saw the smile she was sporting, Ben was a goner. "No matter what I do, somehow you're always taking my breath away," Ben said as he matched her smile.
"Cheesy," Mal said as she rolled her eyes and laughed at Ben. Skipping off the last step, Mal halted in front of Ben, took a deep breath and hugged him tight. Ben froze for a second before wrapping his arms around her.
Mal wasn't the type of girl who liked to show affection openly, and she certainly wasn't the type to initiate anything either; not unless she was motivated. And at this moment, there was only one thing Ben could think of that would motivate her.
"What's got you so happy this morning? And why do I feel like my mother is involved?" Ben asked skeptically. Not that he was complaining about the sudden show of affection, but it wasn't what he was used to seeing from his girlfriend.
"What," Mal said as she pulled away from Ben and looked at him with a sly smile. "Am I not allowed to be happy about a date with the Royal King of Auradon?"
"No…you're not usually this happy until we're actually on our date, somewhere where people can't find us," Ben said slowly as he pulled Mal to his scooter and lent her a helmet. "…What happened between you and mom?"
Mal laughed at Ben's skepticism as they boarded onto his scooter. As Ben revved up the scooter, Mal held onto him from behind and rested her head on his back. "Hmmm, let's just call it a girl's secret."
Ben smiled at his girlfriend's antics and shook his head before starting up his scooter and driving off with Mal latched on. Now that Mal thought about it, she didn't actually know where they were going for their picnic.
"By the way!" Mal shouted over the sound of Ben's scooter. "Where are we going?"
"Let's just call it a guy's secret!" Ben yelled back to Mal. Mal didn't have time to throw a retort as Ben floored the scooter. With a small 'eep' Mal was forced to squeeze Ben in fear of getting thrown off.
After finding her grip, she took one hand off of Ben and smacked his back childishly. Mal could tell from the way Ben's back rumbled that he was laughing, which further infuriated her. Somehow Ben always knew how to make Mal lose her composure, not that she was complaining of course. She loved the feeling, especially when it was because of Ben. But she wouldn't exactly admit it either.
15 minutes later, Ben brought the scooter to a halt and Mal hopped off the scooter. Any payback that she had in mind lay forgotten the moment she realized where Ben had brought her. The familiar thick wall of trees looming over her was a sight still fresh in her mind. It was only last week after all, that she had gotten herself and the VK's lost in the very same forest.
"You…brought me to the Enchanted Forest," Mal said.
"Yeah, you've been here before?" Ben asked, somewhat surprised. He was positive that this was the first time he'd brought Mal here for one of their picnics.
"Yeah, we literally got lost in this forest just last week!" Mal exclaimed as she craned her neck upwards to see the tip of the bordering trees.
There were few trees back on the Isles, but she loved to climb them whenever she could. It made for a perfect high ground when pelting people with smoke bombs and paintballs. Although looking at how tall these trees were – 30 feet or so? – Mal didn't seem so fond of climbing anymore.
Looking back down, Mal's eyes widened as she saw Ben already enter into the thick Enchanted Forest. "Wait! Did you bring the Enchanted Map?" Mal yelled and ran after Ben. If she got lost in the forest again all by herself, Ben would not hear the end of it.
"What?" Ben laughed at Mal's question once she caught up to him, as if it were some joke. "What are you talking about Mal? There is no Enchanted Map. What would an Enchanted Map even do?"
"That's what I said!" Mal said as she threw her hands up frustratingly. "I don't know, maybe move your spot on the map every time you move?"
"Mal, that's what a GPS is for."
Mal just rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics. Sometimes his childless behavior made her forget that this was the same mature King of Auradon that everyone praised as a role model.
"Whatever." Mal shook her head, as if shaking the topic off. "Point is, Audrey mentioned an Enchanted Map being needed if we wanted to make our way through the Enchanted Forest."
"And you believed her?" Ben raised an eyebrow at Mal's naiveté. "I know you're not really a villain of the Isle anymore, but I think you're losing your touch if a Princess of Auradon is pulling one over you," Ben teased Mal.
"What?" Mal stopped in her tracks, making Ben stop as well. "She lied to me? Why would she do that?"
"You basically stole her boyfriend in front of all the students during a tourney game, taking her from the spotlight and stealing any chance of her ever becoming Queen of Auradon. Need I continue?" Ben asked with a smile before walking again.
"…So she lied because she was jealous? There were like, 10 other girls beside her, and none of them bothered to tell me otherwise?" Mal asked Ben once she caught up again, dumbfounded at the thought. Since when did jealousy lead to making fun of others, in Auradon of all places?
"They were probably just enjoying the show Mal. I know I would." Ben sidestepped and chuckled as he evaded a twig that Mal had picked up and launched at him.
"Besides, wouldn't you get jealous if someone tried to steal me? Not that they could," Ben reassured her before planting any ideas in her head. The last time she had second thoughts about their relationship, Ben had to travel all the way to the Isle to get her back.
"What? Of course not, that's so pointless," Mal said somewhat snidely, as if the mere idea of jealousy was an unknown concept to her. Jealous? No, Mal doesn't get jealous. After all, she's still a girl from the Isle. And back there, she always got what she wanted, one way or another.
"Right. You wouldn't get jealous. At all. Not even a little bit." Ben raised his eyebrow and smirked, as if he knew something that she didn't. And Mal did not like that one bit.
"What? What're you smirking like that for?" Mal frowned at Ben, believing this to be another one of his teases or him just messing with her. Ever since Ben came from the Isle, he'd had this streak of mischief that tended to show itself to her in private. She secretly loved it, but she'd never admit that to anyone – except Evie, who'd read her easier than a child's picture book.
"Anyway, I've been walking through this forest since I was eight years old Mal," Ben said, ultimately changing the topic. "See?"
Ben halted in front of Mal, and for the first time since they entered the Enchanted Forest, Mal took the time to look around. Right in front of them was an enormous tree that was almost 20 feet in diameter. Looking up, Mal's breath was taken away by how beautiful the tree was. The millions of leaves way up in the air were almost glowing, and Mal took notice of the small animals all perched up on the tree's branches.
"Watch your step," Ben warned Mal as he pulled on her arm. It took Mal a moment to realize that she had been slowly walking towards the beautiful tree. Looking down, Mal's heart lurched as she realized that she'd been this close to falling in a gigantic hole in the forest.
In actuality, this wasn't just some random hole in the forest, considering the tree was actually planted within the hole. The hole was almost 60 feet in diameter and 200 feet deep, giving the tree plenty of room to grow and for wildlife to grow all around it.
"I…" Mal trailed off, still awestruck by the sight in front of her. "Wow…"
"You're handling this a lot calmer than when I first saw her," Ben said quietly as he took in the view. Except he wasn't staring at the great tree in front of them, he was watching Mal. Moments like these, where Mal was completely off guard, were Ben's favorite because he could stare at Mal in all her innocence and beauty. Ben looked up, seeing a branch slowly bend and make its way down to them.
Mal, on the other hand, was completely entranced by the view down at the bottom of the hole. At the sound of crumbling and twigs snapping, Mal looked up and shrieked. A branch was literally moving on its own and had stopped right in front of her!
"Mal," Ben said with a smile. "Meet the Tree of Life, the mother of the Enchanted Forest. Tree of Life, meet Mal."
"This- This tree is…alive," Mal stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Guess you don't see too many of those on the Isle, huh?" Ben said with a smile as he sat on the branch. He patted the spot next to him, which Mal took cautiously. "Shall we?"
And with that, the branch slowly began to drop to the bottom of the pit, where Mal could see small animals frolicking throughout the fields.
"How did you find this place Ben?" Mal asked Ben as she took in the view around her. As they spoke, the Tree of Life completed its descent to the base of its trunk. Once Ben hopped off the branch, he stuck his hand out for Mal to grab once she jumped off. Now, with one hand linked and one hand carrying their picnic basket, Mal lead Ben over to the Tree of Life's base.
"I've known the Tree of Life since I was a kid. She knows that I love to come here and just makes a path for me every time," Ben answered as he sat on the grass right by the Tree of Life's base. Mal sat to the right of him, leaving some space in between them as they put their backs against the Tree of Life.
"Wait, she brought us here?" Mal asked, dumbfounded again. This was a little bit too much for her to take in. "Then what about when I got lost?"
"Seems like the Tree of Life was messing around with you guys." Ben laughed as Mal's jaw dropped slightly at the notion. As if agreeing, another branch snuck up behind Mal and started twirling her hair. Mal jumped slightly, caught off-guard, and inched towards Ben reflexively.
"See? She likes you," Ben said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around Mal and reeled her into him.
"Yeah, seems like I have the kind of effect on people, don't I?" Mal said as she flipped open the picnic basket and picked out a single strawberry. Literally popping the whole thing in her mouth, Mal closed her eyes and took a moment to savor the flavor before chewing.
"Now," Mal said as she went back into the basket to pick out another one. "Don't think I forgot what happened earlier. What was that all about?"
"What are you talking about?" Ben feigned ignorance as he reached over Mal to get into the picnic basket.
"Oh no you don't!" Mal smacked Ben's hand before it could reach into the woven basket. "You're not getting anything until you tell me what you were hiding about the whole 'jealous' fiasco."
Ben laughed at Mal, before slipping his hand into the basket lightning fast and coming back out with a powdered donut. Mal squinted at Ben menacingly, as if daring him to bite the donut, which he did of course. Mal just rolled her eyes at Ben, giving up on the argument for now and picking out yet another strawberry out of the basket.
…
"Last week," Ben said, gaining Mal's attention again. "Lorelei couldn't stop barking for 6 hours straight, during Prom."
Lorelei was a fellow student of Ben and Mal in Auradon who transferred from Neverland. She fit in almost immediately, and everything seemed fine and dandy…until she started spending more and more time talking to Ben. Everyone took notice of how she spent more time around Ben than with anyone else, asking for tips, advice and tours around Auradon.
Just last Sunday, a few students had seen Lorelei sneak a letter into Ben's locker and rumors had spread that it was a love letter. Friday night however, the night of Auradon's annual school Prom, the princess could not speak. Every time she'd open her mouth, she'd bark like a Chihuahua in front of all the students. The poor girl was reduced to a blushing mess, and it didn't help that she had a panic-induced barking spree.
"What, and you think I spelled her?" Mal asked, laughing at the idea. "I don't have my mom's spell book anymore, you know that Ben."
"Word on the street is that someone slipped her a spelled treat during lunch earlier that day." Ben did not take his eyes off Mal, who froze for a fraction of a second mid-bite into her strawberry. "They were Chocolate Chip cookies, to be exact."
Ben smiled inwardly, his suspicions being answered when he saw Mal's reaction. "And I mean the same kind of treat that a certain VK slipped into Jay's lunch weeks before Cotillion."
"Gee, way to solo me out from ALL the VK's on Auradon who know the same spell."
Ben looked up in contemplation. "Hm, I wonder why I did that. Right, maybe because Evie gave up her mischief streak, Carlos spends most of his time with either you guys, Jane, or his computer, and Jay is more into pickpocketing than pranking."
"Right, and I like to spend my time drawing," Mal said as she looked at Ben as if urging him to get to the point.
"Some. You like to spend some of your time drawing. Plus you're the only one out of the four that has an obsession with magic," Ben reminded Mal.
"That doesn't prove anything!" Mal shook her head in denial. "My mother is Maleficent, queen of all evil and mistress of magic. If not her evil streak, I have to get something from her."
"So you're saying that none of that is any reason for suspicion. Especially since you were probably the only one at Prom who wasn't surprised by what happened to Lorelei," Ben asked Mal, who rolled her eyes in forfeit. "Yeah, I saw how calm you were the whole time."
"Do you have anything better to do than to just stare at me every second of the day? I don't know, maybe dance like everyone else does at Prom?" Mal sighed. It was pretty obvious that Ben wasn't suspicious of Mal. He knew that she was the one who slipped Lorelei the enchanted cookies. He was just messing with her, again.
"Well I would have, but my prom date didn't seem too fond of dancing for some reason. Almost like she was waiting for something," Ben said as he poked Mal fondly. "Besides that's how I like to spend my free time; staring at your beautiful face."
"I could literally make Mac n' Cheese with how cheesy you're being today," Mal told Ben as she pushed him away playfully. Ben laughed at Mal, but he never lost the look in his eyes.
He looked at her deeply and Mal had the feeling he was holding back from kissing her right then and there. Inwardly, she was glad for his self-restraint. There was something about making out in front of a living tree – with a name as grandiose as the Tree of Life – that made her a little uncomfortable.
"It's not like I'm mad at you Mal," Ben reassured her as he looked into her eyes. "I think it's really cute that you get jealous over other girls. It makes me love even more than I already do."
Mal broke the eye contact, still needing time get used to all the affection. She spent her whole life on the Isles and suddenly being shown so much affection and love was still something she still didn't know how to handle. Although the ever-patient Ben didn't mind at all, smiling at Mal's shyness and kissed her hair when she turned her head.
"I told you already, I wasn't jealous." Mal refused to budge on this point. "I wasn't jealous then, and I'm not jealous now."
"Then what was the whole fiasco at Prom all about? Because you and I both know that there's no one else on this island except you who would do that."
Mal froze for a second, as if thinking on how to explain. "I…was just…giving her an initiation ceremony."
Ben almost laughed at Mal's explanation. He didn't believe it for one second, but he held back a smile, deciding it'd be best to just stop teasing Mal. "So you wanted to initiate her to Auradon with a prank. And you wouldn't let me in on it? I'm hurt Mal, I thought I was your boyfriend."
"Oh please," Mal rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's overdramatic whining. "If I asked you for help, you'd be giving her gifts instead. You don't have a single bad bone in you."
"I don't know, I feel like skipping out on kingly duties to take my girlfriend to the Enchanted Forest is pretty bad." Ben said with a smile as he looked up at the Tree of Life. Seeing how she got his attention, the Tree of Life lowered a branch and started playing with Ben's hair, twirling and making a mess of his hairdo.
"Wait, you bailed on your responsibilities to go on a date. You, King of Auradon? The same King who everyone's been praising, who everyone tells their kids to follow?" Mal asked, somewhat shocked.
It's not like she was disappointed in Ben, not at all. On the contrary, it made her feel a little warm to know that her boyfriend was willing to ignore his responsibilities to his citizen just to show her some attention.
"Yeah I know, it's not exactly bad, more like just irresponsible." Ben laughed when he saw Mal's shocked expression. But even when shocked, she was still smiling as if she liked what she just heard. And that made it all worth it for Ben. "But hey, I'm taking baby steps, you know?"
"No No! That is pretty bad, especially coming from a King who's supposed to be watching over his people. Definitely a lot worse than skipping classes." Mal laughed as she joined the Tree of Life in playing with Ben's hair. "I like it," Mal added slyly.
"See? We both learned something today." Ben flinched for a second when something dropped out of the sky and onto his lap. Seeing that it was wreath, Ben looked up and gave the Tree of Life a smile. He turned around and patted her trunk in gratitude.
"And what was that exactly?" Mal asked as Ben placed the wreath of flowers on her head. Readjusting the wreath so that it remained tilted slightly, she shifted right next to Ben and lay into him.
"Well you learned that I have a bit of a bad streak in me," Ben said as he wrapped his arm around Mal and rubbed her arm lovingly. "And I learned that you don't get jealous. Ever."
"Right. Never." Mal confirmed Ben's thoughts with a nod. From that point on, the two simply sat there in a comforting silence, relishing in the view around them. With the Tree of Life bobbing her branches up and down to create some wind, the two couldn't have asked for a better scenario to relax in.
"I love you Mal."
Mal smiled. She may still be getting accustomed to the concept of love and showing affection, but she's learned to do this much. "I love you too Ben, so much."
…
"….So what was Lorelei's letter about?"