GOODNESS TEST - MAL

Mal had a lot of anxiety about her Goodness test. She knew that Jay and Evie had passed it without too many problems. However, Carlos did not. Going through her life was an extremely daunting task and she wasn't looking forward to it at all.

Ben hadn't left her all morning. They had scheduled the test to start straight after lunch for some unknown reason. Mal smiled as Fairy Godmother approached.

"Good afternoon," Mal said.

"Good afternoon." The older woman smiled softly at her. "Where would you feel the most comfortable doing this?"

Mal shrugged. "I don't mind. Somewhere with a comfy seat?"

With another smile, she led Mal into a different study. The fireplace was absolutely stunning with a mixture of different shades of blue small tiles creating the illusion of a brick wall. A white marble shelf on top which held the most exquisite ornaments Mal had seen. Her fingertips brushed over the smooth surface before picking up a cast of a small hand. It was heavy.

"That's one of my favourites," Belle said, making Mal jump - she didn't know that Belle was in here. "Ben was four months when we took the cast of his hand. He always had his hands open and reached out to us since he was born - at least, that's what it seemed like to me."

"It's precious. Hopefully, his hand wasn't this heavy!"

Belle laughed. "No, he was a tiny thing."

Mal placed the ornament carefully back on the shelf. "What was he like as a child?"

"A real trouble-maker. He learnt to crawl when he was eight months old and constantly hid beneath anything he could squeeze under. It was as if we were playing hide and seek every time we turned our backs to him."

"Where was the weirdest place he hid?"

Belle thought for a moment then smiled fondly. "He was one and a half. He was walking then so didn't hide as much. We were visiting the Charmings. Back then Chad was very shy and hid behind his mother's legs a lot. During the grand ball there, Chad hid under his mother's dress to hold onto her legs and Ben followed him."

Mal's mouth dropped open as she watched Belle laugh at the memory.

"Why are you telling her that story?" Ben asked, walking into the room looking absolutely mortified.

Mal held a hand over her mouth as she attempted to contain her laughter before sitting down on a chair and looking at the large crystal ball Fairy Godmother had placed down. The three royals sat on the couch.

"We'll go slowly at your pace. The first part doesn't show us anything, it'll just light up green, yellow, orange, or red."

Mal nodded before hesitantly following instructions and placing her hand on a small crystal ball that had been placed directly in front of her. She watched as it changed colours and saw that Fairy Godmother had a crystal tablet that changed colours with it.

"Our first actions would be to visit the red sections. Those need to be fully addressed, whereas the yellows and oranges usually change to green on their own during the general memory recap."

Mal nodded along. "What do I need to do?"

Fairy Godmother uttered a spell and the crystal turned red. "You think of a memory, or of a person, or even what you're being accused of and it'll play in front of us. Sometimes it's seeing something in context and sometimes it'll need to be discussed or pardoned." Mal nodded - she could do that. "The first red section is… that you've planned on murdering a member of the royal family."

The eighteen-year-old's mouth dropped open. "I never… no… not even with my mother. It was never murder, just… revenge and taking over."

"We believe you, dear," Belle said supportively.

"We still need to…"

"Fine," Mal interrupted her. She let out a sigh and thought about murdering one of the three royals in front of her. She was shocked when a memory popped up. Her eyes widened as she knew exactly what was about to happen. "No, stop it!"

"You can't. It has to play out."

Great. This was going to be a long test. Mal watched as eight-year-old her touched the barrier with absolute wonder in her eyes. She couldn't even remember being that happy. A flash of green sent both her and young-Harry flying off in different directions, a scream coming out of her young self's mouth. Mal couldn't remember the green light, nor did she know that Harry had gone flying into the water either. She watched Harry resurface, gasping for air and looking around before diving into the water and pulling Mal out.

It was heartbreaking to see how distraught young she was and had to look away, watching the reactions of the others in her room. Belle had a hand over her mouth and Adam was holding her close. Ben was focused purely on the ball, and Fairy Godmother seemed to be taking notes.

She looked back at the screen when little Mal shouted how she was going to kill the King. It faded out as Harry said he'd hand her the sword.

"You created the barrier, and it almost killed me. I blamed you," Mal said softly, looking at Adam.

Adam smiled at her. "I'd have wanted to kill me too," he replied, making her feel better.

"Mum, you don't have to be here," Ben said, handing her a handkerchief.

Belle dapped her eyes. "I'm okay."

Mal realised that the small ball and crystal had gone green. That was easy. "What's next?"

"Violent acts."

"This is going to be a long night."

Adam reached over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "If your most violent acts doesn't include murder, it'll turn to orange. Which'll be good enough for today."

Mal was mildly comforted by that, she just hoped she hadn't murdered anybody without realising it. "Here goes nothing."

It only took a few seconds of placing her hand down for the memories to start to flood the crystal ball. She watched in disgust as versions of herself shoved others, attacked them, locked them up, bruised them, and terrorised them. She couldn't believe how many times she had pushed Uma off something, or how much she had hit Harry. Her eyes widened at the scene in Harry's bed when she had absolutely battered him while crying; she had broken his ribs that night and he never even found out why she had been upset. The sheer volume of memories of her bullying and terrorising Carlos seemed to shock them the most. The one that stood out the most to her was when she had held him down in order for Gil to kick him repeatedly when they were just ten.

Mal felt her eyes sting with tears, missing the last third of memories. She leant against the back of the chair and looked blankly up at the ceiling. When the sound stopped, she attempted to ignore the deafening silence created by the other occupants of the room. After a few minutes, she forced herself to look down and was relieved to see it had turned orange. "What else is red?"

Fairy Godmother looked over at her but Mal couldn't meet her eyes. "Parental influence."

"What?" Now she understood why they had been hesitant to have the VKs do the test. "You want to see how messed up my home life was?"

"Actually, you need to focus on any good advice and guidance given to you by a parent or a parent-like figure in your life."

Mal scoffed. "I doubt there is even one memory with that," she uttered loud enough for them to hear before complying.

Good advice. Anything good with a parent. Did her mother ever tell her anything positive? When a memory started, it caught her attention instantly.

She watched as seven-year-old her ran up to Hook in tears. Hook bent down and caught her with a big hug as she sobbed. Mal remembered this.

Mal struggled to hold back her tears as she held onto Hook for dear life. "Where's Harry! I need Harry!"

"With his mother. What's wrong Mal?"

Mal shook her head vigorously, pulling back before holding onto Hook again. "I need to kill someone."

"What?" Hook asked, holding the hysterical child back and looking into her eyes. "Is that what your mother said?"

The purple-haired little girl nodded. "She said either I kill somebody or she'll kill me. I can't disappoint her, Hook. Please help me."

Hook pulled her into another hug before picking her up with ease and carrying her onto the boat before setting her down and kneeling to her level. "Don't do anything you don't want to do."

"But…"

"Listen to me. There are people around you who will help to keep you safe from your mother. Just say the word." Mal remained silent, wiping away her tears before shaking her head. Hook sighed. "Did you want to kill somebody?"

The little girl looked down in shame. "No. It's because I'm weak."

"Actually, it's because you're strong." She looked up at him. "You walk into your home and tell your mother that you murdered somebody. This person was so insignificant that you can't even remember his name, not that you'd utter it anyway. They weren't worth it."

"Who?"

"They don't even matter." Hook moved her hair back with his hook. "Learning to lie is what will keep you alive, not picking fights with others."

Mal nodded and wrapped her arms around him again. "I wish you were my Dad."

Mal didn't have enough time to process that or even look to see others' reactions when three more scenes came up. Another one with Hook, one with her mother, and one with Belle and Adam.

"Right, what else?" she asked, wanting to rush through this quickly.

"We can take a break if you want."

Mal glanced at the varied of mixed emotions on everybody's faces and shrugged. "I'm fine. Remember, I lived this. The violent acts were more jarring than four good memories."

"You seemed a lot closer to Hook than we thought. Were-" Adam started.

"I'm going to stop you there. I don't care what memories you want to see, but I do not wish to discuss my time on the Isle."

Fairy Godmother seemed conflicted but didn't comment on her own words. It was obvious to Mal that she was supposed to be discussing each memory shown but until they specifically told her to, she would avoid it under all costs. She didn't want those memories coming back to front, even the good ones.

"How about we have a general overview? Any moment that you deem to be important with what made you today. Each memory usually only lasts a few seconds - there will be a discussion afterward. Then we can continue with anything red."

That was very ominous. Anything she deemed important to who she is now? If she could choose the memories she wouldn't choose anything before she came to Auradon. The temptation to take a break now was high but the thought of having to then willingly return was scarier than just doing it now. Glancing up at Ben to receive a supportive smile, she placed her hand back on the smaller crystal ball and closed her eyes. The sound of her younger voice forced her eyes open. The memories seemed to all merge into one.

"Mamma…" two-year-old Mal cried

"Jay, you can't boss me around. My mum's better than your dad!" A fiery four-year-old Mal explained.

"Mal, go back inside, this isn't the place for you." Jay ordered a five-year-old Mal. - "I can't, Mamma kicked me out."

Mal climbed up after Jay, only to fall down to the ground with a loud grow. "Come on shortcake! I'll leave you!"

"Can I come back?" six-year-old Mal asked Hades. The devastation reached her face as he said 'No'.

"You are a weak and useless little girl! You don't even deserve me as your mother! Don't bother coming back until you've proved yourself! Until you've killed somebody! If you do come back, then I'll get rid of you with my own hands. Worthless piece of shit."

Mal, aged seven, chased Gil around with a sword before engaging in a friendly fight with Uma. Soon Harry and the rest of the pirates joined in. "Ow!" Mal complained as Gil's sword sliced across her stomach. Crimson blood violently began to spill out and Hook ran out to grab the child before she fell to the ground.

Mal being thrown into the water and being rescued by Harry lasted only 3 seconds in the clip.

"Do you think they know we're here?" Harry asked nine-year-old Mal as he was patching her up around the chest. It was clear she had broken some ribs. They both looked over at Auradon. - "They don't care about us, Harry. We're just kids of villains."

"Oh, Mal!" Belle let out a teary sigh.

"Mamma! You'll never guess what I got in evil class today!" an excited ten-year-old exclaimed as she ran into the room. - Maleficent rolled her eyes at her daughter. "You can't learn to be evil. This is why you're such a disappointment. Was it another scheme with your stupid so-called friends? If you were really evil you'd be rid of the rotten fish."

Mal scowled at a small Carlos. "No? Nobody says no to me!" She grabbed the terrified boy and grabbed him down the street onto the ship right onto the end of the plank. "Want to try that again?" The young boy spluttered an agreement to do it. Mal laughed evilly, Harry joining in as she pulled him back and threw him down, instantly kicking him. "Weak little boy."

"I didn't see him for a month after he gave us one of his mother's fur coats. When he did return, he looked awful," Mal informed them remorsefully.

"For now on, everybody will call her Shrimpy!"

Harry shoved Mal against the wall harshly. "Is this what you want Mal?" he looked at her in disgust. "You're weak. You're just your mother's puppet."

"I don't forgive easily, Mali," Hades whispered. - "Neither do I," she replied without missing a beat.

"I want you."

Mal's whole body froze as she watched the near-rape scene occur. She didn't want them to see this. Somehow, it seemed to have been censored automatically - so at least there was that. The thud of him landing on the ground made Belle jump in shock. As Uma came onto the scene, holding a bloodied rock, it faded away. It was clear that the four of them missed the following one or two memories for the pure shock of what they had seen.

"Can't you guys wait until I'm outta the house?" Hook complained looking at the two teens before leaving the house. Mal and Harry laughed.

"I'm not going to some stupid school with princes!"

"You will go and you will get me Fairy Godmother's wand."

"I love you."

"I love you."

Mal pulled her hand back from Ben who had been holding it too long.

"Evie! I need your help! Ben asked me out on… a date."

"I'm not hideous."

Mal looked out at the surroundings longingly before panic filled her features. "Ben? Ben!" She was in the water and rescued by him.

"I don't know what love is." - "Maybe I can teach you."

"Let's wait for the anti-love potion to take effect."

"I wasn't faking anything."

"I want to go to school and be with Ben. Because Ben makes me really happy!"

"Go away mother!"

"Do we have to keep watching? You all know this." Mal asked impatiently.

"Yes, dear," Fairy Godmother replied.

"Tell me about Doug," Mal said, igniting a squeal from her friend.

Evie laid down on her bed dramatically. "Do you ever just sit there and think about somebody until you fall asleep and then wake up with them on your mind?" She sighed contently. "What is that called?"

"Love."

"Uh… Mal, that's a big word. Can we have that?"

"I think we can."

"Ben's changed you."

"Shut up."

"There's my best friend."

A stream of memories involving Ben continued until their engagement. Which seemed to play in slow motion.

Following that was the one that Mal dreaded. "Are you sure we can't stop it?"

Mal looked horrified as Ben jumped out of the bed and crossed over to his desk while Adam and Belle stood in the doorway.

Mal bit her lip to not laugh at the intense awkwardness in the memory but did let out a small chuckle when Mal had laughed hysterically as she walked back to her dorm.

Harry had Mal against the wall, his eyes hyper-focused. He crashed his lips onto hers and two long seconds a green shot of magic ignited from Mal's hands, throwing him into the wall. "I'm with Ben!"

"Like you care." Almost immediately he had crashed against her, holding her up by her neck. He sneered. "I know you. If you really cared about him you wouldn't have spent the last week solely with me, no sign of the King." He paused, waiting for her to reply but all she did was struggle against his hold and attempt to breathe. "What we had doesn't just disappear. It can be our little secret again; that makes things more passionate."

Mal looked down and just listened to the last memory. Ben and Mal breaking up. Her life's memories were more focused on everything bad that had happened to her. What she didn't fail to notice, was that Harry wasn't in that many memories; she had been sure he would have been a prominent feature. Even her Dad had made an appearance and he had abandoned her as a baby.

Silence filled the air. It was suffocating. Looking around at their faces, she saw a variety of emotions. Belle looked absolutely devastated. Adam seemed angry. Fairy Godmother was struggling to keep herself fully composed. And Ben was looking at her concerned - as if he was more interested in how she was doing now than what he had just seen.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. Mal let out a short nod, swallowing her saliva to give her something to do. "What needs to be discussed?"

Fairy Godmother looked completely unprepared at the question. "How about we all take a few minutes?"

Mal sighed and stood up. That's the last thing she wanted. Unfortunately, she knew this wasn't about her. "I'll be back," she said, walking out of the room. As she walked out, she felt the stress and tension leave her. It was so unnerving to be in there talking and watching her past.

She hadn't realised she was breathing so heavily until she froze as a hand came to her back. She relaxed as she saw it was Ben.

"Are you okay?" he repeated his question from before.

A sigh left her and she allowed her head to shake. "No. I don't want to see my past, or discuss it; I just want it to all disappear."

Ben moved her hair from her face before pulling her into his arms. She held onto him tightly, as if he were a lifeline. The thought that this might be one of the last times he comforted her started to make her feel extremely vulnerable - but she fought off the tears. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she replied into his chest.

His hands moved up and down her back supportively.

"I love you," he whispered, resting his head on hers.

"I love you," she replied easily. Being with him felt right.

He lowered his lips to hers in a kiss that definitely wasn't chaste.

The two of them only parted when somebody cleared their throat behind them.

"Are you two ready to continue?" Adam asked. He no longer looked as angry, he had calmed down.

Mal resumed her seat alone in the chair and looked at Fairy Godmother for instructions.

"Mal. There were many memories of yours which were concerning. We do have to ask if you've been able to adequately discuss your past with anybody. We can set you up with a counsellor."

"No thanks," she replied, mildly disgusted by the idea of telling a stranger anything. "Evie knows nearly everything and so does Ben."

She received a nod. "We were wondering if you'd be willing to answer questions that we have?"

Breathing in to keep herself calm, trying to not think about what they might be thinking, she nodded.

"Sure." Silence. No one asked anything. Mal looked at Adam. "Did you want to go first?"

"How old were you when you nearly drowned? Six? How early were you allowed out on your own?" he asked.

Mal was almost confused by the question, she hadn't been expecting something like that.

"I was eight then. I've always been small for my age." She cleared her throat. "I was four when I first went out by myself. Four and a half when it was longer than an hour. You had to learn young to take care of and defend yourself otherwise you simply wouldn't make it to the next day."

"Did people really attack you when you were that young?" Adam asked. She could feel the anger welling up inside of him again.

Mal nodded and placed her hand on the crystal ball to move it out of the way but jumped back when a memory started to play on the crystal ball. She watched as four-year-old her was taunted by the two men and thrown against the wall. She also watched as Hades scared them off and took her hand before leading her away.

"What happened to the boy that… tried to take advantage of you?" Belle asked, causing everybody to turn their direct attention to the former Queen.

All heads snapped to Mal when she answered. "He died."

"That would have come up in the violence…" Fairy Godmother drifted off.

"I didn't kill him. Uma did… she hit him too hard and he was dead by the time either of us thought to check on him," Mal specified.

Belle swallowed, obviously affected the most by that particular scene.

"How did you deal?"

Questions about her worst memories were what she was expecting, and now they were being asked.

"Badly. I beat Harry up, broke a couple of his ribs. Disappeared for a couple of days and then went on like it never happened." The expression on Belle's face was breaking her heart. "If anybody saw how affected I had been, or knew what had happened. Life would have been hell. The only people who knew about it before a few weeks ago were Uma and … actually, just Uma. Harry had no clue why I was so out of it nor why I'd taken it out on him."

"He just let you attack him?" Ben asked, his expression one of absolute bewilderment.

Mal nodded. "We had a very complicated relationship."

"Yeah, you told him you loved him."

Mal looked at Ben. "I did. Days before I got in that limousine here."

Fairy Godmother waved her hand over the large crystal ball and young Jay from her memories appeared. "How old was he here?"

"Five."

"When did you meet him?"

Mal let out a small scoff. "Jay and I have always known each other. Our parents were allies and constantly were around each other growing up. Jay always had more independence than me early on. We were never extremely close but were always there for each other when truly needed. We were only officially in the same crew after Evie came back into my life."

Fairy Godmother smiled. "That's sweet. It's nice to know how much history you and your friends have." Her smile faded as the image changed to a terrified Carlos.

She sighed. "He was nine here. I was never nice to him. Even when we were in the same crew - he came along with Evie; they were friends. At first, I had to learn to tolerate his neediness. He was rather clingy. But damn was he loyal."

"And you met Evie later in life?" the older fairy asked as Evie's picture came up.

"No. I knew Evie before Carlos. I hated her. She was a princess in the eyes of everybody - everybody loved her. I had planned to chop all of her hair off when I was six. She had a birthday party and I was the only child not invited. I complained to my Mum and she banished Evie and her mother from the Isle. They weren't even allowed to be seen in public, nor was Evie allowed to attend school. They lived in exile." She paused, the only person who wasn't shocked was Ben - he already knew this. "She came to school when we were thirteen. Still hated her. A few things happened and we became friends. The rest is history."

"Fairy Godmother," Ben said, taking over the conversation. "Has Mal passed the Goodness Test? I don't believe asking all of these questions relevant and they're very intrusive."

The older woman cleared her throat. "You just need to list your top three relationships. This has to be true."

"Top three relationships?"

"The three people you deem to be the closest two at this exact moment." She specified. "When you're ready, place your hand on the ball and tell me them."

Mal froze. "In order?"

"No order necessary."

That didn't help much but choosing who she was the closest to was an extremely difficult question. What was the correct answer? How could you possibly choose just three of her friends? Jay, Evie, and Carlos are three of the top people. But Ben has to be included. And she's become so close to Belle and Adam. Mal closed her eyes and thought back. There were actually only three people she'd told she loved them. Harry, then Ben, then Evie, and finally Belle. Harry was definitely not somebody she was currently close to. But could she choose Belle over Jay? He's been with her since the very beginning of her life. But they had never been extremely close.

She opened her eyes and stared at the ball with complete fear and wanted to crack a joke, but it made her think. Most people would probably choose their parents. Her mother had been a constant in her life and she still takes care of her as a lizard. In fact, Mal constantly talks to her mother. Would she be one of the top three? Mal knew it wouldn't be her father but almost wished it could be.

Surely, it would make sense to choose her own mother over Belle? That would be the best approach - the most truthful approach.

Mal slowly pocketed the engagement ring which she had been holding and shakily placed her hand on the ball - she was definitely overthinking this. "Evie, Ben, and…" she hesitated. "Belle."

The ball turned green and Mal couldn't help but look at Fairy Godmother to confirm it.

"You passed!"

"Yes!" she cheered, instantly standing up.

"I have to say, you passed with some orange and yellow, which means we'll have to do this again to counteract them before your wedding. A Queen has to have a fully green Goodness report."

Mal listened to Fairy Godmother's words but didn't care - it was over for now! She jumped into Ben's open arms with absolute joy.

A/N. Thank you very much for your response to the last chapter!

I hope this chapter was liked amongst you from the many requests!

Let me know if you want any of the glimpses of memories further discussed within the story!