Ben felt the air knocked out of him the second Mal launched herself at him. Mal grabbed his neck and began squeezing. He noticed the feral look of pure survival in Mal's eyes. "Mal, it's just me. It's just Prince Ben." He gasped out. He used his title to try to snap her out of her little world. He tried to gently pry her hands off of his neck, but the second his hands touched hers, she tightened her grip even more. He started to frantically push her hands away the second he started to see back spots in his vision. "Mal, please!" He was desperate.

"Mal!" Evie's voice rang out into the space. She had run straight from her extracurricular to the dorm when she heard about Mal's incident. She had never been more scared since she left the Isle than she was when she heard Mal had fainted. Now she was scared that Mal would actually kill the prince. She recognized the haziness in Mal's eyes the second she saw her. She knew that Mal was stuck in a world of fear, but she also knew that the citizens of Auradon wouldn't care about the trauma Mal was dealing with, they would immediately sentence her to death or worse, the Isle.

"Come on, Mal, you are safe. There is no one here that is actively trying to hurt you. He is not here. He can't reach you." Evie flicked her eyes to Ben's face. She knew that she was going to say too much about the past and the life on the Isle, but she couldn't take any chances with Ben's life in danger. She knew that Mal wouldn't kill Ben in her right mind, not without the order of her mother, but she wasn't in her right mind. "You are in Auradon far away from the Isle. You don't have to fight. People aren't here to poison you. There isn't a bounty on your head here. No one is trying to use you for revenge against your mother." She felt her eyes roam over her best friend's face. "That's it, Mal, you are safe." She could see the fear on Mal's face morph into confusion.

Ben felt Mal's hands go slack against his neck. He used this moment to move out from under Mal and backed away as far as his weakened body would let him. He gasped for air and put his hands up to shield his neck in case Mal had plans to continue her assault. His eyes were wide with fear that he didn't have the energy to conceal.

"Ben, stay still for a second." Evie could see Mal tense with every movement Ben made. She knew that Mal was still in between what reality was and what fantasy was.

"But…" Ben whispered. He was trying to comprehend everything that had happened and everything that was said.

Evie held up her hand to stop him. She knew that he didn't understand what happened, but she didn't have time to explain it. "Please, I can explain things in a second," she lied, "but I need to calm her down. She doesn't think rationally when she is scared."

"Mal, come on, look at me." Evie tried again. Before everything happened, she knew how to calm Mal down, but she wasn't so sure now. "I'm going to grab your hand." She figured the best thing to do would be to give step by step instructions to Mal on contact.

Mal tensed at the sudden touch, but eventually her brain processed what Evie was telling her. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and ground herself. She felt the fight leave her body and she slumped into her body. "Evie?" She opened her eyes and focused solely on her best friend in front of her.

"Hey, pretty girl." Evie smiled in relief as the last of the haze disappeared from Mal's eyes. "Let's get you back into bed, yeah?" She was being too gentle with Mal and she knew that any other time, Mal would be angry, but she needed to defuse the situation completely. She pulled back the covers more and pulled them back over Mal's body. "There," she smiled reassuringly, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mal answered automatically.

"Mal…" Evie trailed off. She knew that Mal didn't realize Ben was here and she was going to use it to her advantage. "That's not the truth."

"I got sick today." Mal wasn't sure how much she wanted to tell. Evie was her best friend, but she didn't want to dive into her nightmare she was stuck into.

"I heard, Mal, you have to be more careful." Evie tried to scold her, but it came out more fearful. She didn't know what she would've done if she lost her best friend.

"I know," Mal bowed her head in shame. "I was stuck in a nightmare." She closed her eyes again and tried to focus on her breathing. She knew it wasn't a good time to get sucked back into her thoughts. "Fairy Godmother told me I had to go back and rest. She told Ben…" Her eyes widened when she looked around for Ben. She felt her breath quicken when her eyes landed on him. He had heard everything.

"Mal, you're okay," Evie moved her thumbs on the back of Mal's hands. She needed to stop the escalade of Mal's panic attack.

Mal couldn't remember what exactly happened after Ben walked her to the door and that scared her more than anything. She wasn't sure how much time had passed before Evie came. She tried to take notice of anything that felt off with her body. She didn't feel pain anywhere. Her body felt rigid, but it didn't feel any more tainted. She felt the cramping in her fingers and slowly pulled them up to her face. She took note that they were all there and there was no blood streaming out. She heard a frightened squeak that pulled her away from her thoughts.

Ben knew that Mal wasn't in her right mind, but that didn't stop his terror. He couldn't think about anything other than the phantom feeling of her hands around her neck. He tried to reason with his thoughts that everything was okay.

"Mal," Evie could see Mal looking at her hands and back to Ben's neck. She knew that Mal's mind was turning in realization of what she had done. "Ben, I need you to tell her you are fine." She pleaded with Ben.

"I'm just like her." Mal started to mumble to herself. "I deserve everything that is going to happen. I deserve everything that has happened. It's my fault." She was retreating back into her subconscious.

"No, you aren't," Evie turned to Mal. She turned back to Ben and pleaded with him once more. "Ben, please tell her you are okay. Tell her that she is okay. I need your help." She didn't like relying on other people, but she knew that he was making things worse and she couldn't risk what would happen if she kicked him out.

"I…I…" Ben's voice was raspy from the assault on him. "I'm okay." He said weakly. He tried to gather all the strength he had left in him, but he couldn't help the fear still present in his eyes.

"See, Mal, he is okay." Evie sighed out in relief and continued saying words of encouragement. Once Mal's breathing evened out and her eyes refocused, she couldn't help but smile. She helped Mal settle back into the pillows. She could tell Mal was completely exhausted from the day and all the events that happened. "That's it, sleep now and we can talk about everything once you wake up."

"No, don't leave me." Mal whimpered in fear. She felt the bed shift in response to Evie standing up.

"I'm not going anywhere; I'm just going to change." Evie knew Mal wouldn't question her about clothing and thanked her lucky stars when Mal closed her eyes again and nodded into the pillows.

"Ben, I need you to get up." Evie whispered to the frightened prince.

Ben nodded and slowly stood up with his eyes trained on Mal's figure. The last time she was sleeping around him, he was almost strangled to death.

"I guess you are wondering what that was." Evie went straight to the point. She wasn't interested in small talk and she knew the prince to be very stubborn.

"Yeah, one minute she was sleeping and the next minute she was choking me. I tried to get her to stop but she looked like a…" Ben's eyes shifted to the ground in shame. He never meant to compare Mal to the villains on the Isle. Mal gave no indication of being completely evil for the sake of being evil.

"It's a side effect from the Isle. Many of us are plagued with nightmares. I'm not sure which thoughts caused her mind to be captured, but it could've been many things." Evie felt uncomfortable talking about her best friend's past, but she couldn't avoid the topic. "Her mother was a very bad person. She had more enemies that anyone could count. Mal was frequently a pawn in the games between Maleficent and her enemies." She spoke slowly and vaguely. She would never reveal the details with Mal's permission, but she needed to give him something.

"You kept mentioning a he. Who was he?" Ben found his voice. His mind wondered to his worst thoughts about what a villain would do but he wasn't sure if it was the worst thing that could happen.

Evie tensed. "I don't know." She glanced at Mal's sleeping form. "She never told me." She could see the disbelief in Ben's eyes, but Mal had never revealed who had hurt her. "She didn't willingly get pregnant." She whispered and hoped that Ben hadn't caught the last bit of information, but the gasp coming from Ben, she knew that it was too late.