Disclaimer: I do NOT own Descendants!
"Mal! Go me get food!" she heard her mother yell.
Mal groaned loudly before dragging herself out of bed. She couldn't have been more than 12 years old during this time.
She quickly put her worn-out boots on and hopped out of the window.
Mal didn't walk far before she reached her destination. Her sticky hands quickly grabbed some barely bruised apples and bananas that weren't too mushy from one stand.
From another, she stole up some stale bread when the owner wasn't looking.
Finally, she walked into the Slop Shop to pick up some barley oatmeal and the bitterest coffee they served. She laughed all the way back to Bargain Castle as the goblins tried to catch her and ended up tripping over each other.
As she barged in through the doors, Mal marched all the way up to the kitchen. She found Maleficent sitting at the dining room table with her feet up while filing her nails. "You took forever," she said without even looking up.
Mal tensed up before answering with a simple," Sorry."
When her mother finally looked straight into Mal's eyes, she seemed very annoyed. "You're late. You can't even get some food without messing up."
When Mal dumped the contents of food on the counter, her mother looked as if she got even more annoyed. "Mal! Where is Diablo's food?"
"I didn't think he needed any," Mal replied in a snappy tone that she immediately regretted. "Sor-"
She was cut off when she felt her mother's hand on her throat. "You know, I would slightly be proud if you used that tone with anyone else." Her hand clamped Mal's throat even harder. "However, don't ever use that tone with me. Or else, you'll get way worse than me grounding you for an entire week."
When she finally let go, Mal fell to the floor, gasping for air and continued to do so for what felt like forever.
"I honestly don't know anymore. I have taught you everything I know and you can't even do anything slightly evil. You are such a waste of life. Why couldn't I have given birth to someone who could have thought of a better crime than spray painting the Isle?"
Tears had formed in Mal's eyes during Maleficent's rant. When she saw this, her foot came into contact with Mal's head.
"You are just like your father. Weak. Soft. This is why you will never have your full name. You will never be as half as evil as me! You might as well be the disgrace that is the goblins. I honestly can't believe you have my DNA coursing through your veins. You are not good for anything!"
Mal squirmed and looked at her mother with hurt and pain evident in her eyes.
Maleficent chuckled evilly. "You know, I take that back. You are useful for something. You make a great servant and a good punching bag. Maybe that will be your purpose in life. You little pathetic waste of it."
"You are the biggest embarrassment, problem, and waste of time I've ever had." She kicked, punched and scratched Mal with every word she said, each scratch drawing more blood than the last.
Then, she showed Mal how to raise that one finger that every kid on the Isle had learned to do before they learned how to talk. Finally, she exited the room, cackling.
After that, Mal ran into her room to check the damage Maleficent had done to her.
Her mother's handprint was so visible that you could see it from all the way across the island. Mal slowly brought her own fingers to touch it. A hiss of pain escaped from her mouth as her eyes watered.
"No! Crying is for the weak. You're not weak," she told herself before grabbing a towel, running it under cold water, and placing it on her bruises. This was the only option seeing as there was no ice in the freezer. Mal pressed the wet towel to her neck before climbing into bed and falling asleep, the thought of dinner completely slipping her mind.
The memory instantly became blurry.
Mal soon reappeared. This time, she was in her bathroom. The mark on her neck from the previous memory wasn't there anymore. Judging by her appearance, this memory could not have taken place more than a year before since she arrived in Aurdon.
Mal was looking at herself in the only part of her mirror that wasn't cracked or scratched.
The shocking part was her appearance. Everyone knew Mal to be a strong, brave, and independent person. What everyone saw was someone another side to her that they never thought existed.
This version of her image was a million times worse than the one in the last memory. There were prominent bags under her eyes and a couple new found purple bruise on her cheeks stood out against her porcelain skin.
Her eyes were red and puffy. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had been crying for a very long time. Her eyes showed signs of immense pain and weariness, emotions that no one should ever feel. Yet, there she was.
Her choppy violet hair looked like something out of a horror movie. So, her hair basically reflected her life.
As if this image of a vulnerable Mal wasn't incredibly shocking enough, the worst part was the fact that Mal kept whispering, "At least she didn't throw the knife at you this time."
She then bit her lip long enough to draw blood. "You are not a failure. You are evil. You are ruthless." she whispered to herself.
The memory became fuzzy only to reappear a second later.
Mal now stood in her usual purple motorcycle jacket and ripped jeans. She looked refreshed and ready to take over the world.
As she threw a variety of spray paint in her backpack, she proceeded to break down in tears multiple times before stopping herself each time.
Then, Mal proceeded to curl up into a ball and whisper to herself. "I'm n-not a failure. I'm ruthless. I'm evil!"
After a couple of moments, she let out a blood curling scream that would surely be heard on the other side of the Isle while rocking back and forth.
Shakily, she picked herself up and wiped away any signs of weakness. She wiped away all of her tears.
Finally, she stomped back into her bathroom, opened a drawer, and pulled out a small knife that sparkled in the faint light. Without any hesitation, she slashed the blade into her skin, making a horizontal mark.
The memory became blurry once more until it completely disappeared.
As everyone was brought back into reality, the horrible truth settled in. Before anyone could say anything else, Mal beat them to it. "I, um, cut the memory short cause I didn't want you guys to see the rest."
As she uttered those words, her eyes became watery until a tear finally escaped and was wiped off as soon as it came. She made fist with her left hands until it turned white while she dug her fingernails into the skin of her right hand.
When Ben snapped out of his trance, he turned his body so that he was able to look Mal dead in her eyes.
Brown met green in the most intense stare ever given. Mal's was full of curiosity, wondering what his reaction to what she just showed him. However, Ben's was full of compassion.
"Please don't pity me. I know what I did. I acted on instinct. I'm not proud of what I did but, I don't regret anything." She looked away from his now blank stare and focused her attention on everyone else's faces. They seemed surprised or in Evie's case in complete denial. That is, everyone except for one person.
Mal continued with," If I didn't do what I did, I wouldn't be the person I am today. It changed me. It made me stronger. Once I stopped, it gave me a backbone against other people's hateful words."
" I'm- I- I," Ben took a deep breath," C- can you show us why you stopped?"
Everyone immediately locked hands again.
"I am useful. I am not worthless. I am evil. People fear me." Mal muttered as she stared at her new cuts. Her grip on the blade was tight enough so that her knuckles turned white.
"Doing that won't prove anything to anyone," a voice said.
Mal turned around to face the voice. The image of the person was blurred out completely so that nobody saw who it was.
"How long have you been standing there? Do you have a death wish?" Mal questioned.
"No, I don't, but apparently, you do." the voice answered, completely avoiding the first question.
Mal stared at the person who had enough guts to talk to her like that.
"What do you gain when you do that? If you're truly evil, if you want to prove that you're evil, you would rather be destroying other's lives instead of your own. Otherwise, me fearing you, is a waste of my time." the voice said before making a quick exit.
The memory blurred and everyone was brought back into the present.
"It wasn't the best way to encourage someone to stop but, at that time, all I ever cared about was being the worst I could be. He reminded me of that. If my mother didn't think I was horrible enough, everyone else did. From that moment on, I quit and became more evil than ever. Everybody cowered at the mention of my name, they all feared me. At that point, I grew a backbone against my mother's words. Ultimately, I stopped caring whenever someone tried to put me down. I believed that I was good enough and I defended myself against anyone who dared to say otherwise. I like to think that that was the reason why she ultimately quit putting me down." Mal declared.
Ben broke the silence that followed," Why didn't you tell me?"
Mal let go of his hand and simply responded with," It didn't come up. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but, I wanted to wait before I told anyone. I figured that this was the right time to say something, in front of all my friends."
Ben, being the person he was, accepted her statement immediately, all of his frustration completely evaporating. He understood the pressure of living up to someone's expectations. Although he tried his best, someone would always be disappointed. Ben looked past it and continued on. In a way, his and Mal's pasts were somewhat similar.
He pulled Mal into a bear hug. In her ear, he whispered, "This doesn't change how I feel about you. You're still the strongest, bravest, and most loyal person I know. In my eyes, you have no flaws."
After he said that, Mal grinned from ear to ear. She was glad that he didn't think any less of her. When they pulled away, she was crushed into another hug. This time, it was Evie.
After a couple of seconds, they pulled apart and Evie joked, "I'm guess I have to thank this mystery person for knocking some sense into you."
"Yeah. Probably should." Mal laughed as she wiped away a tear from Evie's face,"Don't cry. You're going to ruin your makeup." Everyone shared a small chuckle at the statement.
Jay was next. Instead of hugging her like Evie and Ben did, he lightly punched her arm. "Don't scare me like that," he added before lightly punching her again.
Mal noticed his watery eyes and asked him he had been crying.
He responded with, "No. I don't- I did. My sister made me cry"
Mal raised her eyebrow and hugged him. "It takes a real man to admit that Jay. I'm proud of you." He chuckled softly and punched her for the third time before going back to his place in line.
Everyone proceeded to tell Mal their thoughts on the subject. Carlos was the only who didn't share his thoughts on the subject. Instead, his face remained stoic as it was since the end of the memory. They all questioned why he didn't say anything but, Mal understood. She understood why.
She took a deep breath and told everyone to get back to their places and hold hands once more.
It was Jay's turn.