As romantic as throwing rocks at her window theoretically was, he knew she wouldn't appreciate the gesture. Instead, he used the main entrance and let his legs carry him the familiar trek to her door. He stood outside, wondering if the pounding in his ears was really just his own pulse, or if he was so in tune with her now he was hearing hers as well.
"How do you know exactly when I need you?" He sighed in relief when she opened the door. "I'm serious. You're always right there. I'm sure you're about to say something cheesy yet perfect, too."
She rolled her eyes with an air of annoyance. He felt her anxiety, though, saw it in the way her eyes darted down under his scrutiny. Without thinking, he reached forward and took her hand to lead her out of the building. He watched her at his side, the moonlight making her glow, as he lead her to one of the smaller gardens near the dorms.
"I can't stop thinking about you." She scoffed, a bitter sound that made his heart crack. "I'm serious. You are always on my mind. Whenever I'm not purposefully focussing on something, my brain defaults to Mal, high definition and surround sound."
"It's not real, Ben." She let out a defeated laughed and pulled her hand from his to wrap them around her midsection. "I'm nothing but a bad girl infatuation. You'd realise that if," she choked up for second but covered it with a cough. He decided to let her think he hadn't noticed. "You would be running back to your perfect pink princess if you weren't caught up in the thrill of it."
He quickened his pace to step in front of her. Using his height to his advantage, something he'd been eager to do since they started their metaphorical dance, he urged her backward. Her chest rose in a silent gasp as her back met the wall of the brick gate that surrounded the school grounds.
"I was being truthful. I want to be the one to teach you how to love." He considered moving in closer but realised staying where he was would do more to ease her. "The lake. Do you know it's name?"
She shook her head, hands pressing against the well to steady herself. "It's called the Enchanted Lake. That's why throwing the rock back would grant you a wish. Taking the rock would give you good luck before losing it's glow, but giving the rock back to the source of it's magic grants a wish."
"The lake is enchanted?" She was panicking now. "So, what? What are you saying?"
"It really was a good cookie, spell not necessary." He did move forward then, looking her over with hooded eyes. "For the flavour or my feelings."
"Ben, I-"
He cut her off, "no. I get it." He used the excuse he'd gift wrapped for her once upon another time. "You had a crush me, but I was with Audrey. You used magic because you wanted a chance and felt we couldn't happen on our own. Am I right?"
She sighed and seemed to relax a little. "You are so right!" Chuckling, she seemed unaware of the hand that lifted from the wall to touch his abdomen. "So, you aren't mad?"
"Well," he played at having to give it thought. "It's hard to be mad when all you did was speed things along. I was going to breakup with Audrey after the coronation. I'm actually a little grateful. Now, I get to have you by my side"
She looked up at him with similar wonder as the day she'd given him the potion. He was concerned that it felt like forever that he had been in love with her, and not merely a few weeks. She was so much more than a passing fancy. She wasn't a princess out to find true love and a king to call her own. She was an ambitious girl with goals and desires all her own that would not, could not, take a backseat for anything.
"So, you love me?"
He nearly lost control of himself. At the sound of her quiet inquiry, his hands shot into her hair and he found himself centimetres from her lips. Her breath fanned over his face, making him just as drunk as he had been so many times in his unrelenting memories of a life they were robbed of.
"Ben?"
He growled and suppressed the beast within, calling it to heal for her sake. "I am so desperately in love with you that if I kissed you now," and he rested his forehead against hers to try and calm his racing pulse. "I can assure you, if I kissed you, I would do everything in my considerable power to have a wedding immediately follow my coronation. I could do it. It would be nothing to have Fairy Godmother tie us to each other in ways that are so powerful not even your mother could break them."
"Oh."
"Our age? Nothing but a trifle. I'll be the king." His fingers tingled as her hair moved against them. "I would make you my queen, kick my parent's out of the west wing and then? Then I would take you and lock us away, and I can guarantee I wouldn't let you leave it against all the laws of propriety. I have a beast inside of me, Mal. A creature you've awakened that yearns for you, just as I do. It's a part of me, and for Auradon's sake, I want nothing more than to give into the desires it keeps reminding of."
Her eyes shot up to his, a faint emerald glow burning in them. "What's stopping you?"
He chuckled, it was strained as it clawed it's way out of his dry throat. "You don't deserve that." He hadn't realised they had started swaying to an unknown song she was humming. "You deserve to dictate how we proceed. I know what I want, but you need to decide for yourself. I want you to be sure. Anything less than your utter happiness would be the most horrendous curse I could imagine."
They stayed swaying in the garden until the early light of dawn turned the night sky a light grey. She felt so perfect in his arms. He eventually let her lead the way back to the dorms. He began to enter the building with her, but she stopped him. Taking his hand between hers, she raised it up and considered his ring with an absent minded smile. She then surprised him by nuzzling his knuckles before flipping his hand over and laying a tentative kiss on his palm.
"That's pay back for when you were spelled." She then turned her mouth back to hand and nipped, making him to groan. "And that's because I think maybe you need a reminder that I can be rather monstrous myself."
Her eyes flashed before she dropped his hand and finally entered the building. He was so high on her he didn't even noticed he had walked back to his dad's castle. The sight of Lumiere pacing hall went a long way in sobering him up,.
"What's wrong, Lumiere?" The older man paused and considered the prince with an unsure look that set him on edge. "What's happened?"
"It's the Helia girl. There's been an incident." He passed over the tablet he'd been holding and let Ben read through the report. "She's being held in custody to await trial until after your coronation."
Ben eyes scanned the document before him. "I don't understand. She wasn't happy but she wasn't insane." He chewed his thumb nail and reconsidered his assessment. "Or, maybe she was and I just was so preoccupied with my own problems I hadn't noticed."
"I couldn't say, your highness. When she was here the other day, I would have guessed she was distracted." Lumiere took the tablet out of Ben's numb fingers. "We can rarely regale in our small victories as duty lays further trials on our shoulders. Such is the curse of greatness."
Ben had been excited for the day he would be crowned. Even more so when he knew the whole kingdom would see Mal at his side. It was supposed to be a triumph, even with her mother's inevitable machinations.
He stepped out of the castle to see the limo waiting to take him to the carriage that awaited them just outside of Auradon Square. Upon her arrival they were carted off and paraded for the citizens as they moved through the heart of city and to Auradon Cathedral. The structure was where his parents had been married and his father had received his own kingly blessing two decades ago.
He felt his ring press against the palm of his clenched fist. He had removed it as soon as he had a moment to himself and away from prying eyes. It was going to be okay, he would make it okay. He would make her see he loved her and she would show the world she was a force for good to be reckoned with. Then together they would push forward into the future and fix the damage that had been done.
Still, she was like a statue at his side. "Hey," he took her hand in his and dipped down to meet her gaze. "Don't be nervous. All you have to do is stand there and look beautiful. No problem there."
"Thank you," was all she could muster in reply.
"Mal." He tried to swallow his anxiety, pulling on the feeling of her hand in his. "Will you wear my ring?"
She jerked her hand back in shock, and shook her with a forced laugh. "Not right now. I'm afraid it will just fall off." Then she looked down at the small box in her lap and shook her head. "I had made you an anti love potion. I had this ridiculous hope that you would still care about me without the spell."
"And I do."
She chuckled then her beautiful lips curled into a self pitying scowl that didn't belong to her face. "Who are we kidding, Ben? You don't have to fake it anymore. I'm not mad, and I'm not hurt. It was a doomed endeavour from the beginning. You can go back to Audrey after the coronation. I'm so sorry I ruined things for you." She sniffed. "I ruin everything I touch."
"Stop." She looked up at him, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. "First off, Evie will kill me if I make you cry and ruin all her hard work. Between you and me, it was entirely unnecessary, but probably wise. It makes you look less like a goddess, somehow. Maybe it'll help me control myself."
She gasped lightly as he took her hand back in his put the ring on her finger against her protest. "Secondly, I haven't been faking anything." He held her gaze while placing a kiss on the ring that was finally in its proper place. "You are so imperfectly perfect, I feel as if I've stolen a thousand far greater mens happy endings and am hoarding all for myself."
She was silent for a moment after his proclamation. In his dreams, the other him had enjoyed a much lighter moment with his Mal. He felt like the villain, having robbed her of the lighthearted love affair they should have had. Now, they were trapped within a merciless spiral that he was sure would be fraught with worse perils than the other world could ever imagine, Maleficent being the least of them.
Then Mal broke the serious moment and said, "at least they finally tailored you a suit that fits. Is Lumiere that bad with a measuring tape, or do you simply grow that fast?"
She snickered at his wounded pout. "Oh, honestly, Ben. Every time I see you your sleeves are too short and your pants?" She let her eyes drop leisurely and winked when they returned to his gobsmacked face. "Actually, he should definitely keep tailoring your pants."
"You've been checking me out?" The thought made his blood pound so fast he thought his heart would give out from the effort. "When have you managed this? I never noticed."
"A girl has to have some secrets." She tapped his nose playfully before pointing behind him. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
He took the box from her lap and instructed a footman to keep it safe. Keeping her hand securely in his, he lead her from the coach and up the steps of the cathedral. He looked up to where his parents were waiting, not sure what to expect from their passive faces.
"About the other day?" Mal was the first to break the silence and bestow an apologetic look on his parents. "I just-."
His father stepped forward and shook his head. "I told Ben this wouldn't be easy."
Ben kept his hands clasped in front of him and said, "you also told me that a king has to believe in himself. Even when it isn't easy."
Mal snickered as the king looked bewildered. "I did?" He surprised Ben by winking at the younger girl. "How very wise of me."
His mother smiled knowingly and reached forward to take Ben's hands. "We are very proud of you." She then gave Mal and encouraging nod before returning her loving gaze to him. "You keep listening to your heart."
His father sighed, and admitted, "you're going to make a fine King."
Belle dropped one of his hands to reassuringly lay her's on Mal's shoulder. Then his father lead them off to the side entrance where they would wait to be ushered in to stand with Fairy Godmother. Mal turned to him, clearly more nervous than ever.
"Wish me luck?"
She tried to smile but primarily still looked as if she wanted to cry. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her he knew that it would all work out. He knew that she would choose her own destiny and not her mothers.
Still, there was a time and a place. An order existed in the universe that couldn't be avoided no matter how many unwanted redo's they were forced to endure. She would make the decision on her own, like before.
So, he took a calming breath and began the long, solitary walk to Coronation Hall. His future subjects lined the aisle and he tried to focus on the dais at the centre of the great room, but his eyes kept sliding to her. She was letting her tears fall now, but there were no other signs to show her distress. Knowing the only way to ultimately ease her pain was to let the trial take place, he continued on.
Stopping in front his parents, he knelt. Fairy Godmother looked down at him shining eyes. His father bowed, and Ben noticed that he suddenly looked old and bit tired. With out the crown, he wasn't his father the king. He was simply Adam Beast, his dad.
The crown was then being placed on his head and he felt the full weight of the nation for the first time. His mother's eyes were misty as she passed the wand to its rightful owner. There was no turning back.
"Do you solemnly swear to govern the people's of Auradon with justice and mercy, so long as you shall reign?"
"I do solemnly swear."
The good fairy smiled and raised her wand. "Then it is my honour, and my joy, to bless our new king, Benjamin Florian Beast, of the United States of Auradon."
And it was over. He was king with the full blessings of the strongest power in the land. Mal looked around, shocked. She let out a shuddering breath and moved to join him, but the moment was taken from them.
Jane surged forward, Lonnie preoccupied as Audrey threw a tantrum. She ripped the wand from her mother's grasp, eyes wild. She immediately lost control, unable to handle such a strong magical conduit.
"Jane, what are you doing?"
Ben met Mal halfway up the stairs and stepped in front of her. His father took up a station between the frantic girl and Fairy Godmother and the Queen. Ben watched in horror as magic sparked in unruly discharges.
"If you won't make me beautiful, I'll do it myself." Mal gave a strangled cry and pushed passed Ben. "Bippity, boppity, boo!"
"Be careful, Mal."
He heard his mother's voice. He knew that he should check to make sure they were unharmed. His eyes wouldn't leave the girl marching up the dais. Her shoulders were set and she reached a calm hand out to take the wand with a firm grip.
"Get a hold of yourself." She used her free hand to keep some distance between them. "You are behaving like a child."
The girl in question lunged, still sobbing but Mal fended her back. A collective gasp rose from the crowd as she turned in a circle to observe the room. She locked eyes with Ben before letting her glowing gaze slide to the good fairy tucked safely behind the now former king.
"I can wield this. I'm the daughter of your polar opposite." She let her focus move to the entrance where her friends calmly made their way forward. "I am the heir of the dragon, daughter of the greatest mistress of darkness to ever exist on earth. I could command the very powers of hell itself if I so chose."
"Mal, don't do this. You aren't evil."
She gave a shuddering breath, her stony facade cracking. "How do you know?"
"Because I'm listening to my heart."
She looked to her friends, all of whom were becoming anxious as they waited for her order. "I wanna listen to my heart, too." She stepped down and made her way over to her friends, wand harmless at her side. "I wanna be good."
Evie released a heavy sigh and smiled at her. Jay took a moment to process this but ultimately smirked when Mal reminded him of Tourney victories and pizza. Carlos was the hardest to convince.
"You don't understand." His eyes were frantic with fear as he looked at the older girl. "Our parents, my mother, are going to be really mad. Mal, do you know what they'll do." She nodded and then sobbed as he began to cry. "Do you? It won't be just her fir closet this time, Mal."
Evie pulled him to her. Ben had never seen the boy look so small. "Cruella can't touch you here." Mal turned to him, her eyes red rimmed and puffy. "None of your parents can."
He watched as the kid choked out, "I choose good."
"Well, well." And a look of pure terror took over all their faces. Carlos was so petrified even his tear stops. "Isn't this revoltingly endearing."
Maleficent stood, tall and otherworldly at the Hall's entrance. Queen Leah screamed from somewhere behind him and he heard his own mother's gasp of shock. Diego cawed menacingly from it's preferred spot on her shoulder. The dark fairy moved slowly into the room, taking her time to soak up the reaction of the citizens around her.
"I'm back." She drew it out tauntingly and Ben blinked as he took in the face that was a harsh, hollow version of the girl he loved. "It seems I've stumbled upon another party where the whole kingdom, including my useless daughter, was invited except for me. I would have thought my message last time had been clear."
"Don't do this, mom."
"Silence!" Mal closed her mouth as commanded. "Let me break this down so we can brain storm where you went wrong, shall I? You duped the prince, who was dating Aurora's daughter. That was clever and particularly evil. Then you get invited to the coronation. No surprise, considering that literally everyone and their dog," she took a moment to let her eyes flash on Dude, "is invited to these over the top ceremonies. Like, christenings."
"You aren't that girl anymore, mother. You have me? Can't I be enough?"
"I was still talking." She screamed at the girl and the Dragon's Eye flashed. "Where was I? Oh, yes. Following procuring the invite, you snagged a front seat. Everything is lining up and so far a job very well done. But, Mal, can you find where you went wrong?"
Not letting her daughter speak, she reached out her free hand and Diego flew from his perch on her shoulder. "Wand me. Chop, chop."
She looked back at her friends, and even he could see they were all resigned to their fates. Then she looked down at her hands. The wand was there and he could see her desperation to please her mother, even if meant her death.
"No."
She shot him a terrified look and threw the wand with amazing accuracy into Fairy Godmother's waiting hands. "Bippity-boppity-!"
The last thing he heard was Maleficent's mockery of the good fairy. "Boo!"
Reviews give me warm fuzzies. Love from this cheese ball writer.
