Ben stepped out in the pouring rain. He wasn't wearing a jacket as he had left in a rush, but he barely flinched as the cold air hit him. He hadn't been outside for even 5 minutes, but his hair was drenched and his shirt clung to his skin. He walked over, back to the Auradon Prep bike sheds, and hopped onto his scooter. He started it and in less than moments he was speeding away unseen off campus, after curfew.

"I kept it from him for days, E," Mal sobbed. Evie sat beside her, one arm around her comfortingly. To be honest she felt bad that Mal had kept it from all of them; it was such a big secret. She didn't mention that to Mal though, as she was already so upset. But Mal seemed to read her thoughts and said, "And I kept it from you guys too. I considered telling you or Belle first but then I didn't. I'm so, so sorry Evie."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Mal," Evie said, pulling Mal into a hug. "I know you and I know it must've been hard for you to open up to Ben about this. It was Julian's fault." Evie almost spat his name, but her voice was gentle as she continued, "I don't think Ben's mad at you. He probabl-"

"You saw how he stormed out; he was mad at me," Mal snapped.

"He's probably frustrated and needed some time on his own. I'm pretty sure he's going to come back, Mal, he always has. He loves you."

"But where is he? Its pouring outside."

"He must've found shelter somewhere. If you're worried, you can call him. He should've cooled off by now."

A little hesitantly, Mal reached for her phone and called Ben. She tensed. She waited, Evie expectant beside her. He wasn't picking up. She hung up and tried again, still no answer. "Maybe there's no signal?" Evie suggested quietly. Mal sighed and fell back on the bed, phone tightly clutched in her hand.

"He's ignoring me." She looked like she was going to burst into tears again. Evie's heart broke.

"I can stay the night if you want," she offered.

"No, you can go."

"You sure?"

"Go!" Mal yelled, eyes flashing green for a split second. Mal waited until Evie gathered up her things and left, and then she curled up onto the bed and cried.

Ben parked his scooter in front of the castle and walked up to the castle. The guard opened the door and greeted him; he grunted his response and went inside. He was cold, and dripping wet, but he merely grabbed a towel from the nearest bathroom and dried himself off as well as he could as he climbed up the stair to his mother's library. Briefly looking at the grandfather clock in the hall, he saw it was already 9 pm. His mother was just coming out of the library when she stopped dead in her tracks to see her dripping wet son, towel round his neck, standing here at Castle Beast when he was supposed to be asleep in his dorm back at Auradon Prep.

"Ben, son, what are you doing here?" she asked. But before Ben could respond she stopped one of the castle staff and asked him to lock the living room and wrap everything up in the kitchen. She then gestured Ben into the library with her and asked him to sit down.

"I needed to talk to you about..." Ben gestured vaguely, "...something."

"Why? Is everything going alright at school?" Belle pursed her lips. "Is Mal okay?"

Something tugged at Ben's heart when his mother asked about Mal. And for the first time he thought about how he walked out on her, and he felt really bad. He wondered what she was doing at that moment. But one thing he knew; Mal was upset. He turned to look up at his mother. "Everything is fine at school. Mal...well..."

Belle stared at her son, concerned, but she patiently waited for him to continue. However, Ben did not say anything. He stood up, and walked out of the library.

"Ben!" Belle called worriedly, trying to keep up with him, wondering where he was going. Ben ran downstairs to an iron gate a few doors down from his office, and pushed it open. It creaked noisily.

Belle stopped, and saw where he was going. Speechless, she followed after him, and down the stone steps. They both reached two guards, who immediately stepped aside to reveal the only occupied dungeon cell, Julian's cell.

"You couldn't be here sooner, could you?" The pirate's cold voice echoed through to them. He stepped into view. He looked shaggier than before. His hair was messy, his clothes torn and dirty and, if you excused his reputation in Auradon- which is unlikely- you might actually find him extremely handsome. But to Ben, however, he was a disgusting, filthy thief from the Isle who had started off hitting on his girlfriend, but had crossed his limit very, very soon. "She told you, didn't she?"

"You have such a nerve, talking to me like that," Ben hissed. Belle, utterly confused, looked between them.

"What took you so long to figure out? I thought I would be the first suspect," Julian said, dismissing Ben's behavior.

"Ben never jumps to conclusions, no matter how obvious it is," Belle stepped in, even though she had no clue as to what they were discussing. "Now why don't you tell me what you are talking about."

Ben caught hold of his anger and opened his mouth to speak when, much to his annoyance, Julian cut him off. "Oh, nothing much except that the reason that my beloved Mal was nearly sent to her deathbed was because I ordered the Fide, pardon me- you wouldn't know so in simpler words, the spider to kill her. I figured that since Mal is so precious that none of us deserve her, there is no reason for her to exist at all.

Belle gasped, her expression changing as quick as lightning. Ben's hatred towards Julian grew; he did not like him talking about her like that. "Only of course, what are you going to do?" He went on nonchalantly. "Send me to the Isle? Well, I'll escape, just like I did before. Keep me imprisoned for life? I'll find other ways to make you suffer. Kill me? The kingdom has a non- killing policy. So tell me, your Majesties, how will you take your revenge?"

"We'll find a way," Ben determinedly said, still angry, Belle standing faintly beside him. "Until then, though you keep your nose out of it, you..." Ben said a long line of swear words.

"Language, Ben," Belle weakly muttered under her breath.

"Tut, tut, your Majesty, that was not very...proper, was it. You know what they say, think before you speak." Julian was smirking, his shaggy hair falling into his dark eyes. He made no effort to push it back.

As for Ben, Julian was getting on his nerves. He wanted to slap that smirk right off his face. He wanted to kill him, he wanted to destroy him, and then his heart twinged, signalling that more than anything else, he wanted Mal. He thought about how he left her, how she was crying. Then he remembered the awful things Julian had did to her, and he couldn't bear it. He lunged towards the cells, grabbing Julian's collar and shaking him violently. He was screaming in a beastly way, his anger getting the best of him.

"Ben, Ben!" Belle shouted, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back, despite her frustrated and confused state. "Ben, stop it! We'll deal with him later."

Ben calmed down, breathing heavily. Julian smiled, adjusting his collar.

Ben let Belle lead him back upstairs. "Now, I'll alert your father of the situation, but you should return back to campus. I'll make a call to Fairy Godmother and inform her why you were late after curfew. I understand, you need to get back to Mal, yes?"

"I-" Ben, finding it useless to say something, just nodded.

"Mal," Ben whispered, softly opening the door. "Love, I'm back."

He found her asleep, buried under his blankets. After a closer look, he saw that her cheeks were red and there were tear stains. She had been crying. "Mal, I'm so sorry," he said softly, pressing a kiss to her head. "Forgive me."

She uttered a small murmur, and turned in bed slightly, and Ben, already regretful and tired, wanted to pretend that she meant, 'Don't worry about it, I still love you.' Because he knew that Mal knew that no matter where he went, he'll always come back, like a boomerang. He smiled weakly at the thought.

So, done! Okay, so there are two things that I want to say to you guys:
- A reader private- messaged me and said that shouldn't Ben know it was Julian from the very beginning, considering he's smart and Julian was the likeliest and most obvious suspect? I wanted to tell you all, that I just didn't want Ben to jump to conclusions so quickly and rush the story. Imagine in one chapter they find out about the spider and in the other they pounce on Julian. Rushed, right? Just wanted to put that out there so others who were wondering the same thing could clear the confusion.

- There won't be any more updates until after the 20th of May, as I know I'll be on summer break by that time. But about now, I'm being kept very busy preparing for the finals and finishing all my work on time as the semester is ending, so I won't be able to. I'll have more time on my hands during the summer break so I'll be updating more frequently. That is, if I survive the heat wave. I swear, its already 45 degrees here, and its only April!

Hope you all are having a great day!