An update for you lovely readers!

It took Mal longer to reach the cellar than she would have liked. Upon leaving Beast's office, she found the sitting room outside void of any presence of Belle or Ben. She figured Ben was at least two corridors ahead of her now, and she wasn't quite sure where the cellar even was. By the time she found a servant to ask for directions and actually found her way to the downstairs kitchen and through the pantry and down the trapdoor and stairs to the wine cellar, Ben had been there a good ten minutes, alone.

As she descended the steps, the echoes of choked sobs reached her ears. "Ben?" she called. She hurried down the last few steps and found herself in a small cubicle room. Its walls were made of concrete, and harsh fluorescent lights ribbed the low ceiling. The light didn't quite reach the edges of the room, but Mal could still easily see everything. Shelves of dusty wine bottles took up three of the four walls. A metal trough sat against the wall closest to the stairs. A coil of rope lay on the seat of a chair next to it.

Ben was near the right wall. He had seated himself beside a wooden crate so his back pressed against it. Tears ran down his face, and he wiped at them sporadically so that his face was smeared and made wetter.

Mal walked over to him slowly, not wanting to startle him. She sat down next to him. "Ben. What is it?" So far, she hadn't seen anything alarming or out of place for a wine cellar.

Ben jerked his head in the direction of the stairs.

She followed his gaze. "What? The chair? The rope?" Suddenly, she felt a nasty twist in her stomach in anticipation of what he would say.

"I remember," he answered softly. "I haven't been down here in years. No reason to be really. But, I remembered as soon as I saw it. It just all sort of ran through my head like a movie." He hugged his knees closer to his chest. "He did terrible things, Mal."

Mal looked from Ben to the chair. She wanted to ask. But, at the same time, she was scared of the answer. Luckily, she didn't have to pry because Ben soon explained, "He'd send servants to spy on me at school. Called them 'security details' so my teachers didn't get suspicious. They'd report back if anything...odd happened. Magic, I mean. If he heard I'd used magic, he'd bring me down here."

Ben stopped and laid his head on his knees, pressing his forehead against them.

Mal was silent, not wanting to press him for details. But she also didn't know what to say or do. How could she help him if she didn't know the severity of the fear they were dealing with? "What...what did he do, Ben?"

"Depends," Ben said, his voice muffled as he spoke to his lap and the angle of his neck distorted some of his words. "Tie me to the chair and leave me down here in the dark from the time I got home from school to the time I had to leave again for school the next day. No food or water. Beat me. Never in the face, so no one could see it. Mom was so angry when he broke two of my ribs one time." He managed a laugh here, but it abruptly turned into more sobs. "And he'd...he'd fill the trough with water...hold my head under...sometimes, I'd black out and wake up...i-in the d-dark...by myself...sopping wet...and tied to the chair again."

Horrified at the thought of Beast doing that to Ben as a child, or at all really, Mal hesitated and then drew him into a hug. If anything, this made him sob harder as he clung to her shirt and buried his face against her ribs. "Ben, I'm so sorry that happened."

Several minutes passed in which Mal held Ben close and rubbed his back. Finally, Ben spoke again, "I still can't sleep with all the lights out in my room." It came out as a mumble. "I've never known why I'm afraid of the dark. Now, I guess that mystery's solved."

Mal gave him a squeeze. "I know. I'm sorry."

"He ruined everything," Ben said, and his voice rose on the next word as he raised his head to look at her. "Everything!"

The breath in Mal's lungs froze when she saw his face. His eyes were blazing green beacons, glowing like Maleficent's own. And green smoke curled away from his temples. To anyone else, this would have seemed like his head was about to explode. But Mal saw the smoke take the shape of horns. They were faint and vanished as quickly as they had formed.

"Ben, breathe," she told him, scared his temper would cause his magic to lash out again like it had the previous night.

Ben sighed, and Mal felt his hands curl into fists on her hips, and he pressed his forehead against her sternum now.

After several minutes of slow and steady breathing, Ben continued in a much calmer voice, "I was six. He didn't stop until I was nearly eight." His grip on her waist tightened. "What sort of man does that to his child?" Ben hissed.

"The same one that leaves his other child on an island for sixteen years and pretends she doesn't exist," Mal answered without thinking. It may have been harsh, but it was true. Beast could make any excuse he wanted, but in her mind, it would always sting to know that he had saved one child to 'give him the life he thought he deserved' and left the other one to live with Maleficent.

"He's the one who should have been exiled to the Isle for what he did. If anyone's a villain, he is," Ben growled. "He took everything from us, twice."

"Twice?" She looked down at the top of his head, her hand that had been rubbing circles into his back now pausing.

"Once when he allowed us to be separated as infants instead of just charging onto the Isle and taking you too. And again when you came here. He could have said something when you arrived, before...before we fell in love." Ben sighed. "I saw a future with you. I had hope. He could have said something right away and saved me even a little bit of this pain. At least then, when we found out, it wouldn't have hurt. It would have felt like a reunion, and I could have gotten to know you as a sister."

"You still can," Mal whispered.

Ben sat up a little bit so they were now face-to-face. "No, I can't. Don't you understand? I love you. As in, I honestly still love you. Deeply. And if your...our mother hadn't shown up and exposed the secret, we would still be together. The only difference is that we know now."

"That makes all the difference in the world, Ben," Mal said, her back tensing. If he was about to suggest that they continue dating even though they knew the truth of their relation, he was insane.

"Why does it have to? We didn't grow up together."

Mal was at a loss for words. She was shocked he was even suggesting something like that. The revelation of his father's betrayal must have really unhinged him. If he had been thinking clearly, surely he would realize the same as her: pretending they weren't siblings was impossible now. Sooner or later, he'd have to come to terms with that and let it sink in. Then, maybe they could behave like siblings.

She blinked and realized he was staring at her with those beautiful eyes of his that she loved so much. They were pleading, and his face was much too close to hers. But she didn't move. She felt frozen, rooted to the spot as if she were the one tied to the chair. And when she didn't move to stop him, Ben slid his hands up her sides. One hand stopped under one of her breasts and the other moved to her neck. He used the thumb of this hand to angle her head as he kissed her softly.

This time, she couldn't help it. Whereas the previous night, she hadn't responded, she now moved her mouth against his and pressed into his embrace. She twisted her fingers into his shirt and drew him close. All of the fear and uncertainty of the past two weeks since the coronation came bubbling to the surface as she sought comfort in the familiarity of Ben's kiss. His love was soothing. With him, she knew she was wanted and had a bigger purpose in life than simply being Maleficent's smaller and younger shadow. She needed him. He embodied everything she needed and wanted in her new life in Auradon.

But, simultaneously, she knew it was wrong to want that, to want Ben now. Her shoulders sagged, and she pushed him back, breaking their kiss.

He watched her, and she just shook her head. Not wanting to hear any of his pleas or give him a chance to kiss her again and convince her this was ok, she jumped to her feet and ran up the stairs to escape the cellar that she assumed would now hold more than one bad memory for Ben.

Hope you guys liked this chapter. I really, really would love some feedback on this chapter and the direction it took. Please, leave a review with any comments as they are much appreciated and totally make my day to read all your thoughts. :)

Foarrin