Sorry for the late post. Here's two chapters to make up for it.

Chapter 2:

Ben stayed with Mal all night, pulling her closer when she started to scream. Her body shook as her temperature went up, and, even when she wasn't screaming, she would talk quietly as she slept. He didn't remember when he fell asleep, only knew that Evie came in to wake him up sometime in the morning. He had allowed Evie to spend the night in his room, so she could get some rest without interruption after being up with Mal the night before, and it appeared to have helped.

Ben carefully got up without disturbing Mal, and rubbed his eyes.

"Any changes?" asked Evie.

"Her temperature's gone up a lot, but other than that she's pretty much the same."

"I'm guessing she's still having nightmares, you look awful."

"Yeah."

"Ben?" Came Mal's soft voice. Ben and Evie both ran to her side and Ben took her hand. She was still asleep, and her voice was quiet and scratchy.

"I'm here Mal," Ben told her.

"I can't find Evie. Where's Evie?"

"Right here Mal," said Evie as she took her other hand. "I'm right here."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry."

"I made you go back to The Isle."

Ben and Evie both looked at each other then back at Mal.

"It's ok, Mal, I'm fine," Evie said.

"Ok," Mal said and didn't speak again.

A soft knock came at the door and it opened slowly.

"Pardon the interruption, Your Majesty," said a man as he entered. "I was informed I might find you here."

"Is it urgent?" Ben asked.

"Afraid so," the man replied. Ben sighed and looked down at Mal.

"Go, I got her," said Evie.

Ben gave Mal's hand a quick squeeze, then got up and followed the man down the hall. The two left the dorm building and took the limo over to the palace where Ben's parents were waiting in the throne room.

"Oh, my dear, you look awful. Are you alright?" said Belle as her son approached.

"I'm fine, Mom, just tired," Ben answered and gave her a hug.

"How's Mal?"

"She's, um…," he stuttered, "not the best."

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah."

"Well, we hate to do this," his father chimed in, "but there's a lot of people who are concerned about Uma."

"What about her?" Ben asked.

"Well, she's not on The Isle for starters."

"So?"

"So people are worried she's not through with us yet."

Ben sighed and thought for a moment. "Well what do we do?" He asked at last.

"Not we, you," his father told him. "You need to find her."

"You want me to find her? How am I supposed to do that?" he asked, his voice rising. "The ocean is massive! She could be anywhere!"

"Ben, just calm down," His Mom interrupted.

"Calm down? Mal needs me I can't go out looking for someone who probably doesn't even want to be found!"

"You don't have a choice," said his father sternly.

With that, Ben turned and stormed from the room. His mother called after him, but he refused to turn around. He found his old room and slammed the door, then flung his remaining belongings off the dresser. Then, for the first time since he was a little boy, he sat down on the bed, put his head in his hands, and cried.

Evie couldn't stop thinking about what Mal had said. Sure, she was dreaming, but at the same time Evie couldn't help but wonder. What was she dreaming about? Why would she say that? She couldn't remember mentioning being upset with Mal for leaving, and she hadn't cared about going back to The Isle. She just knew she needed to do it.

Jay came into the room and sat down on the opposite side of the bed.

"Anything?" He asked.

"Nope," Evie replied. "She hasn't even woken up any since yesterday."

"Shouldn't we get her up then?"

"I've tried, but anytime I do she just starts mumbling and stays asleep."

"Should we get Doc back in here?"

"I don't know. I'm really scared Jay.

"I know, I am too," he reached across the bed and took Evie's hand, "but Mal's strong. She'll get through this." Evie gave him a weak smile.

"Where's Ben?" Mal croaked.

"Mal! You're awake!" Evie exclaimed.

"Do you have to shout?" She asked weakly.

"Sorry," Evie replied in a whisper.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Ben had to go out for a minute, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Oh," Mal answered. She closed her eyes and started drifting off again.

"Hey, Mal, listen," Jay said trying to stop her. "You need to try and stay awake ok? We'll get you something to eat, but you need to stay awake. Can you do that?"

"Try and stay awake…," Mal managed to say before her head rolled off to one side and she was fast asleep once again.

"Mal!" said Jay as he gently shook her. "Mal!"

"Can't turn back," Mal muttered. Jay and Evie sighed.

"Maybe we should get Doc back in here," said Evie.

"I think first we should find Ben," Jay suggested. "I'll stay here with her, you take a break and figure out where Ben went."

"Thanks Jay." With that Evie got up and left the room.

Ben woke up to a soft knocking on the door.

"Ben, Evie called, she said you might want to get back to the dorms," said his mother softly.

Ben jumped out of bed faster than he ever had before, his heart pounding with fear. Mal. He quickly combed through his hair and ran out the door. He didn't even wait for the car, just grabbed a horse from the stable and took off, not stopping till he reached the dorms. Once he did, he passed the horse off to a random person outside, and ran up the steps to Mal's room.

Evie, Jay, and Carlos stood outside the room. The boys leaned against the wall and Evie paced back and forth in front of the door. She stopped when she saw Ben, and the boys quickly straightened up.

"What's going on?" Ben asked.

"She can't stay awake for more than a few seconds," said Evie, "and her temperature just keeps rising."

"We went ahead and called Doc, he's in there now, but we knew you'd want to be here," Jay added.

"I should have never left," Ben sighed.

"Don't be stupid," said Evie, "you had to go."

"Yeah, and now my parents are expecting me to go find Uma," he scoffed.

"They're what?" said Carlos. Everyone stared at him in shock.

"Yeah, I know, I hate it." He paused for a moment as everyone took in the news. "I don't want to leave Mal."

The door to the room opened and Doc came out quickly. He a grim look before telling them the news.

"It's worse than I thought," he said somberly. "There are many things that I can do, but I'm afraid none of them are going to help in this case."

"What do you mean?" asked Ben.

"I mean that unfortunately it's no longer a question of when she'll recover, but if she'll recover."

"So she might be stuck like this forever?" asked Carlos.

Doc stayed silent.

"What about Fairy Godmother? Could she do anything?" Ben questioned.

"I suppose it's worth talking to her about, but I'm not sure what help she could provide. Still, if you want to try, you know where to find her," Doc answered. Then he left.

The group stood in stunned silence for sometime till Evie started to cry, and Jay took her away, and Carlos informed them that he was going to look for Jane. At that point Ben went into the room and took his place by Mal. Her face and lips were almost white, sweat covering her forehead, and she shivered even under the heap of blankets. Her lips moved slightly, but the words were too quiet to be heard.

"Please wake up, Mal," Ben whispered. "I need you here. I know you can do it, just open those beautiful green eyes for me. Please, Mal." He pleaded desperately, but it was no use. Her eyes stayed firmly closed, and her chest rose in slow even breaths. And so he sat there, clenching her small hand in his and talking to her gently. He wasn't leaving her side again.

"How long has he been like that?" asked Jay.

"Since yesterday afternoon." Jay and Evie were standing in the doorway of the girls' room watching Ben and Mal. Ben was sitting in the seat, both hands on one of Mal's and his head bowed on top of them.

"I got to end this," said Jay and started forward. Evie held her arm out to stop him.

"Wait," she said firmly.

At that time Carlos came around the corner, Fairy Godmother just behind. They stopped beside Jay and Evie and looked into the room.

"Oh, that poor boy," said Fairy Godmother. "Jay, Carlos, why don't you two go try get him up and to his room?"

The boys nodded and Evie let them through. They both approached Ben carefully and got on either side of him.

"Come on, buddy," said Jay as he started helping him out of the chair. Ben, obviously too tired to fight, allowed them to get him up and drape his arms over their shoulders. Slowly, the boys made their way through the door and down the hall to Ben's room, where they laid him on the bed carefully. The young king fell asleep instantly and Jay and Carlos hurried back to Mal.

"I'm sorry, but Doc was right," Fairy Godmother was telling Evie as they approached. "There just isn't anything I can do."

"If she doesn't wake up, what's going to happen?" asked Evie.

"You try not to think about that dear, you hear me? She's going to be fine." Fairy Godmother nodded to the boys as they entered and walked down the hall.

"Nothing?" Carlos asked. Evie shook her head.

"I don't get it. Mal used magic all the time back on The Isle. Why is it affecting her now?" asked Jay.

"She never used it as much on The Isle," Evie stated. "These past few weeks, she's been going at it none stop."

"It's true, she came into my room the day she left, and her eyes flashed so brightly like they did before she became a dragon. That couldn't have been nothing."

"Is Ben really going to go out looking for Uma?" asked Evie.

"It doesn't seem like he has a choice," Jay answered.

"Poor Ben. All he wants is to be here with Mal," said Evie.

"Yeah," said both the guys at once.

"Am I interrupting?" came a voice from the door.

The gang turned around to find a boy standing just outside the room. His hair was dirty blonde and his glasses were falling slightly off his nose. He wore a pair of khakis and a plaid shirt that was tucked into his pants.

"Doug," Evie sighed and ran to give him a hug.

"I haven't seen you since Cotillion, so I thought I'd stop by. How's Mal?" The crew looked down at the ground in unison. "Not good then?"

"Not really," said Evie.

"Well, I was going to ask if you all wanted to come hang out with a couple of us, but I guess you're going to want to stay here with Mal."

"Yeah, we…."

"You guys go," Carlos interrupted. "I'll stay here. You guys deserve to get away for a bit."

"Are you sure?" asked Evie.

"Yeah, we can stay…." Jay started, but Carlos stopped him.

"Go, I got this." Jay and Evie left with Doug but even as they did they weren't happy to be going.