A/N: This is kind of sparked by one of the nuggets left by Magiclover222. I since read the first book since this request originally came through. So this is an extension of sorts to Chapter 8 - Meeting Mal.
Side note, I am not reading the second book just yet because there are few plot bunnies I want to play with before everything shifts for me!
But please enjoy!
Ben woke in a cold sweat. He had realised, that once upon a dream he had dreamt of Mal.
Sure the girl had only just arrived on campus but he had met that face before.
In a dream.
Oh no it was her.
It was the girl that had made his head swim and his perfect reality begin to break apart. The dream sprite that had made him realise he hadn't lived in reality, but a rather neatly veneered bubble.
Until he had dreamt of her. He had dreamt of Mal before he knew it was her Mal. The neat purple hair, the challenging eyes with the fiery gaze – he knew it all.
But he hadn't known the spirit of the girl, the sarcasm that lay beneath the tough exterior. He hadn't known Mal, well if he wanted to be picky, he still didn't know Mal now but real life had given him a chance to investigate the real girl that usually scowled before him. Before the violet haired sleep spirit had been nothing more than that – a hallucination conjured in his head. Now though, it would seem there was a living breathing girl in place of the one who had pulled him from a ditch… it all fell together. The dream slotted neatly in with his new understanding.
He must have dreamt of the Isle, and it had been quick witted, sarcastic Mal that had yanked from the boggy ditch he had been pushed into by a sneering villain. But if she was real, it meant that everything else he'd dreamt of was real. That was the logical path to follow. In that case, he hadn't realised that the souls trapped on the island had it so rough – it was simply impossible for an Auradon Heir to imagine a world without cake, creamer and cookies. Everything had been so dank and dark, Ben was struggling to remember the first, original dream but the second, the one that had woken him in a sweat … well that was still trickling through his mind.
He had passed through a shanty town, flimsy structures covering rotten stalls with hurried shouts and muttered curses jumping from vendor to vendor. There was an odour in the air that Ben had never smelt in Auradon, but it was thoroughly unpleasant and made him gag once or twice. Auradon had always smelt pure and clean, of flowers or maybe a wood fire roaring in a hearth.
The Isle had not smell of peppermint or jasmine or honeysuckle… it had to be the rubbish that he had smelt, there were certainly piles of garbage dotted around what appeared to be their high street. Ben was determined not to think that the smell may also have a grimier undertone to it – he'd never discussed sewage systems.
But as the dream sloshed in the back of his mind, he was brought back to Mal. Wicked eyed Mal who was an enigma wrapped in a mystery and she had puzzled him now for over 24 hours. It's why she had troubled him so much when he came out to greet his new project; her face had been tickling the edges of his synapses. Purple thoughts had danced their way through his subconscious, never getting caught by his grasping fingers.
It had been infuriating but now, with his heart in his throat he realised he had dreamt of Mal. Daughter of Maleficent, the Evil Fairy that had plagued Sleeping Beauty, you know Audrey's mother. Remember her, Audrey, your girlfriend. The nagging voice in his head had begun again and Ben groaned out loud. He tensed, not wanting to wake Chad across the room but he sat up in bed and held his head in hands.
His first dream had taken ages to leave his head; he practically had a Beast Attack in chasing it from his mind. Because it hadn't felt like a dream, there had been a weight to the memories, as though a destiny was attached to them. It had unnerved him before, but he had scoffed away his fears – he knew his destiny was marrying Audrey and making sure Auradon remained a prosperous kingdom. Someone or something had changed his destiny with that dream, Ben felt it as the marked point in his life when everything altered slightly – his perception changed on the world and he realised not everyone lived in the shining white bubble that he had spent his first fifteen years in. He'd seen a glimpse of the dark underbelly to the beauty of Auradon. That belly kept hordes of ruffians in its shadows, leaving them to fester out of sunlight.
It was that glimpse of the underworld, coupled with the weight of destiny that had made Ben sit up and see the other members of Auradon also struggling. It had changed everything.
It had brought Mal to his Kingdom, brought her within reaching distance.
Slumping back beneath his covers, Ben uneasily resolved to think upon it tomorrow. Everything always seemed different in the dark; fears and problems bounded around like Pongo's puppies but the light of day always put him in the right frame of mind.
He'd work out what to do with Mal tomorrow. w