Chapter Nine

A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else is owned by either Disney or the Greek Myths.

Well guys, we did it! We made it through 2020! I know, I know we still have about three days to go but since there's likely to not be another update until 2021...we made it!

As always, thank you all for your continued support.

Special shoutout to AmeythstDragon14 for being not only the best sounding board/idea pitcher anyone could ask for but being a bright spot in 2020!

Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think!

Akiho sighed as he stared at the essay he was supposed to be writing. However all he had in front of him was a blank page as his mind was elsewhere. They were coming up on the one month mark since he had put in the request for that footage yet he had not heard a thing from the head of security from the docks.

Maybe he was still on vacation? No, Akiho would have heard something if that was the case. Or he would have been put in contact with the deputy head of security of the docks.

Akiho could only hope that their head of security wasn't somehow in Leah's pocket. He doubted it but then again his mother hadn't thought Hans was a low life set on taking over Arendelle just for a shot at having a throne. They were bad judges of character was the point he was trying to make.

Well, except for when he met Ben. Akiho had to smile as he thought back on that fateful day twelve years ago.

"Go on Akiho," Anna said gently. "Mama and Papa have to go to a meeting. You stay here with Olaf okay?"

"Okay mama," Akiho nodded.

"Don't worry Anna, he'll be safe with me," Olaf said with his usual smile. Anna smiled and bent down to kiss Akiho on the head before walking out of the room.

"Hi!"

Akiho looked over to see a boy his age with light brown hair and brownish green eyes waving at him from the corner. How had he missed him?

"There's a secret passage over here," the boy said, as if he'd read Akiho's thoughts. "Chip showed it to me a few days ago. Oh! I'm Ben by the way."

"I'm Akiho…and this is Olaf," Akiho said, pointing to the snowman. "He's my babysitter while my mama and papa are in a meeting."

"But…he's a snowman," Ben said, tilting his head in confusion. "How…how is he alive?"

Akiho shrugged. "I don't know. Mama says he's my cousin because my Auntie Elsa made him but I don't know how he's alive."

"Hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" Olaf chimed in, walking up to Ben.

"You have to hug him now," Akiho told him.

"Okay," Ben shrugged and went over to hug Olaf. Akiho couldn't help but smile at the sight, most kids from other kingdoms ran away from Olaf whenever they saw him.

"Huh, he's warm," Ben said as he broke the hug. "Not cold like snow is."

"Maybe it's because Olaf's alive?" Akiho ventured.

"Maybe it's magic?" Another boy's voice ventured and both Ben and Akiho turned to look at a boy their age with jet black hair standing by the doorway. "Sorry, I didn't mean to butt in."

"It's okay," Ben said with a smile. "I'm Ben and this is Akiho and Olaf. What's your name?"

"Emir," the boy said, returning the smile. "My mama and papa are in a meeting."

"Same with ours," Akiho said. "What do you want to do while we wait?"

"Do you kids want to hear the story of The Two Sisters?" Olaf asked and Akiho groaned.

"Olaf! I've heard that story a thousand times!"

"Story?" Ben perked up and Emir looked interested. Akiho shook his head but sat down next to his new friends.

"It began…with two sisters…one born with magical powers, one without…."

The familiar melody of his ringtone broke through Akiho's thoughts and brought the Arendelle prince back to the present.

"Hello?" Akiho asked as he answered his phone.

"Your highness. My apologies for the delay, I've only just finished combing through the footage you requested."

"Michael, there's no need to apologize. I know there was a lot of footage that needed to be looked at. But I take it from your call that you found something?"

"Yes your highness. Please keep in mind that we only have footage in the cloud system going back the past year but we still have the tapes as backups. I wanted to get you the most recent footage first."

"Of course," Akiho nodded. His father had upgraded the docks' security system to make it more digital rather than the old way that they had before. As long as there was footage for them to see, Akiho was sure Ben wouldn't care whether it was from the tapes or from the cloud.

"I was able to find one clip every month that fit your criteria, including one from the previous week."

Akiho froze, hoping that he had misheard the head of security. This…this surely wasn't still going on. Was it?

"I'm sorry Michael, I must have misheard you. Did you just say that it was this past week?"

"Yes your highness."

Akiho sighed and shook his head. Gods, Ben was not going to be happy to hear that.

"Go ahead and send me those recordings Michael. And thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I know it's not fun to come back from your vacation and have a request like this."

"Prince Akiho, it is my job to help both the King of Auradon and the Prince of Arendelle. I only wish I could do more."

"If we need more, I know I will gladly call and ask you," Akiho promised. "Thank you again."

"Of course sire. Those recordings should be in your inbox within a half hour or so."

"I'll be on the look out for them. Please let me know if you need anything."

"I will. Please send my best wishes to the King and to your parents."

Akiho couldn't help but smile at that. No matter what was happening, Michael always made sure to send his regards to Akiho's parents.

"I will be sure to pass along your wishes," Akiho said and quickly said goodbye before hanging up. Making a mental note to ask his dad to give Michael a raise, he turned back to his essay. If it was going to be half an hour before the footage was available, Akiho would need something to pass the time.

And besides…the essay needed to get done anyway. He could just picture Ben's look of expectant disappointment if Akiho walked into his office without at least starting the essay.

Pulling the paper closer to him, Akiho began to write. Thankfully, the essay was for Advanced Chivalry and it was a five paged essay on what not to do as a prince. Let's just say Akiho drew inspiration from a certain red haired former suitor of his mother's for most of the essay. He worked to keep his handwriting neat, knowing he would have to type up his rough draft at some point.

It was a joke amongst the Tourney team that the only reason why Akiho hadn't been made captain was because of his messy handwriting. He would always joke back that he wasn't the 'captain' type. While he was born to rule Arendelle, Ben was born to rule everyone else.

It was funny though, Ben never acted like he was looking forward to the day where he would take the crown. Of course, when they were kids, they all thought Ben would be an adult and Beast would be well…dead. No one predicted Beast abdicating and Ben getting the crown at sixteen.

The pinging of his phone brought Akiho out of his thoughts and marked a good stopping point for his essay writing. Glancing at the email, the blond renewed his resolve to get a raise for Arendelle's head of security at the docks. Not only did Michael include all the digital recordings but he also time stamped them and notated a summary of each clip.

Okay, wait to watch with Ben, Akiho told himself. Watching without him will just get you angry and the last thing you want is to storm into the King's office upset. Especially if Ben's in a meeting or something. Though he doesn't really have that many meetings now, not since he got Dean as his personal assistant. And Mal.

Akiho smiled slightly to himself as he got up and made his way over to Ben's office, hoping that Mal would also be there. It'd save them the trouble of having to find her for one and would prevent the tapes from being delayed.

They all wanted irrevertible proof that Leah had done this, proof that she couldn't talk her way out of or claim that she was being set up as they knew she would. Leah could talk he way out of anything. Honestly, Akiho had been tempted to see if she was related to Jafar with the smooth talking she could do.

But that would make her somehow related to Jay. There was no way on Jörd's green earth Akiho would wish that on his teammate and friend. Plus that would also make Audrey related to Jay. Double no thank you.

"He in there Dean?" Akiho asked as he reached the doors to Ben's office.

"You literally caught him at a free moment," Dean told him. "He's with Lady Mal right now."

"Do I have perfect timing or what?" Akiho chuckled. "Can I go in?"

"Go right ahead," Dean nodded and Akiho strode on into Ben's office. Sure enough Ben was sitting at his desk with Mal perched on top of it, peering at some paperwork Ben was working on.

Hang on, what's Mal wearing? And where's her jacket? Akiho thought as he looked at Mal. Akiho was not usually the type to notice what people were wearing, with the exception of Ben and his suits, but the pale green dress seemed like something that would be more commonly found in Lucy Charming's closet. Not Mal's.

"Please tell me you're here because you've finished your essay and you want to celebrate," Ben chuckled as he looked up to see his best friend and pulling Akiho out of his thoughts.

"How long have you known me?" Akiho smirked.

"Good point. What was I thinking?"

"Meh, what can I say? I'm charming and irresponsible," Akiho shrugged.

Mal tilted her head. "Doesn't he mean 'irresistible'?"

"No, he does not," Ben sighed.

"Thank you for the compliment Mal but I said what I said," Akiho chuckled. "I'm sorry to interrupt Ben but I need to talk to you."

"You're never an interruption dude. What's up?"

Akiho sighed and handed Ben his phone. "The clips are in. Michael sent them today, called me half an hour ago that he found them. I haven't looked at them yet, figuring you'd want to do that yourself."

Ben nodded slightly and took the phone from Akiho's hands. This was it, the moment of truth. They would finally have visual proof of Leah's wrongdoings.

But…at the same time, did he want to know? This was a woman who he'd known since he was three. Granted they all despised the very ground Leah walked on but she was still going to be his grandmother in law before he got out of the contract. It wasn't hard to believe Leah would do something like this but believing it and knowing it were too very different things.

"Hey…" Mal said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You want me to do it?"

"I couldn't ask you to do that Mal," Ben said gently.

"You're not asking, I'm offering. There's a difference," Mal said, gently tugging the phone out of Ben's hands. "Akiho, what's your passcode? Your phone locked."

"1119," Akiho told her. Mal nodded and punched in the passcode. Thankfully the email with the clips was still opened when the phone locked so it was the first thing that Mal saw. She sighed and looked over at Ben.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ben told her and pressed play. Akiho scurried over to see for himself. He immediately wished he hadn't. Clip after clip of Leah meeting with members of the crew, slipping some of them envelopes that looked innocent enough at first glance. Thankfully the crew members she handed them to were imbeciles and opened them in full view of the camera; showing the stacks of cash that were inside.

"There aren't enough curse words in the world to satisfy me right now," Akiho muttered under his breath.

What was that line Mal said to Audrey outside Chemistry that one time? Akiho thought. Oh yeah: somewhere out there is a tree, tirelessly producing oxygen so that Leah can breath. I think she owes it an apology.

"Think of the kids you can still get off the Isle, you can not go and kill her," he heard Mal growl under her breath. "Think of the kids you can still get off there, you cannot go and kill her."

"Mal, you won't need to worry about that," Ben told her as he stopped the clip. "This is sick! It's inhumane! It's…oh Gods, this was going on when I was with Audrey! Did Audrey know and not say anything?"

"Knowing Audrey…no," Akiho sighed. "Ben, I know you can't say anything negative about anyone but Audrey's the biggest gossip in the school. If she knew, the entire school would have known in a day because she wouldn't be able to resist telling everyone about what her 'grammy' was doing to the Isle. Not to mention Leah wants Audrey to be Queen, she wouldn't damage her chances by involving her in something like this."

Mal growled and began to pace, her fingers twitching every so often and if one looked closely they would see that her green eyes were a glow. If one didn't know Mal that well, they might assume it was due to her anger. However, after a couple of months of knowing Mal, Akiho was fairly confident that the glow was more due to her magic than anything else.

Having experience with magical relations, Akiho felt no shame in the fact that he jumped behind the couch in Ben's office.

"Very funny," Mal said flatly.

"Hey, I'm just preparing myself for the next fireball," Akiho quipped and Mal rolled her eyes. Akiho chuckled and looked over at Ben.

"Ben, in all seriousness, you can't delay calling the council on this," the blond said. "And honestly, if it were me, I'd clean house there. They all had the ability to check the ship's log. I know my aunt and Emir's dad are on the council but still—"

"I'd rather not have Ben have a council where he has no allies," Mal said. "Remove the ones who need it, but Aladdin would be a good voice to have on the council. He's a former street rat, he of all people should sympathize with the Isle kids once he hears about everything that happened. Eugene's another good one, basically anyone who grew up poor would understand food poverty."

"Queen Elsa's another one I want to keep," Ben said. "She'd know better than anyone the pain of punishing a child for something they can't control."

Akiho sighed. While he loved the stories his mom and aunt would tell about his grandparents, he wasn't going to say they didn't mess up when it came to dealing with his aunt's powers. Especially with his grandmother being Northaldra. She would have known wouldn't she?

Ben shook his head and pulled out his phone. "This isn't going to be pretty but it has to be done," he muttered. "Guess I should convene the council."

Mal nodded and went to go stand by Akiho to give Ben some privacy.

"Gods, the fall out from this is going to be something…Mal, level with me. How many kids died because of what Leah did?" Akiho asked, keeping his voice down as to not interrupt Ben.

Mal sighed. "Too many," she said softly. "I meant what I said a month ago, when this all started. My mom practically saved our lives. We have no medical system and kids ate what they could get Akiho. Dad set up the restaurant to try to get kids food when he could, he actually has a rule. Kids don't pay."

"But adults do?"

"Of course. The adults on the Isle actually did something to get put on there. Well, most of the adults. The kids who were lucky enough to grow up to adulthood don't have to pay. But adults like Hook, Ursula, the Evil Queen not that she'd ever step foot into my dad's restaurant. Honestly, the ones who eat the best on the Isle are the hyenas."

"I'm going to regret asking this but why the hyenas?"

Mal sighed. "They acted…well they acted as the clean up crew for the Isle. We handled the area around the docks but people would drop dead all over the place. Decaying bodies did not smell good."

"…yep I regret asking."

"My crew actually formed an alliance with them back when Uma and I were six," Mal chuckled. "Evie, in her infinite wisdom, decided that Shenzi's cubs would be good as party favors in the little nasty bags she gave kids. I remember Gil got a cub but he brought it to the ship, he was under the crew's protection at that time anyway. Carlos got a cat from the nasty bag. Named her Beelzebub. I should talk to Ben about getting that cat back for Carlos but I doubt Dude would like that."

"So this got you into an alliance with the hyenas?" Akiho prompted, trying to get the subject back on track.

"Of course. Shenzi's the matriarch of her clan, her eldest female cub would be the future matriarch. Not to mention the cubs had no business being away from their mother at that age," Mal told him. "Getting them back to Shenzi was just good politics in a way, you don't want to screw over a hyena. Scar learned that the hard way."

"So what was the alliance?" Akiho asked.

"We'd get them fresh water, food if needed and they could eat whatever dead bodies they found," Mal said softly. "In exchange, we were granted immunity from being eaten if our crew was caught out at night and we could gather up our allies or any kids under the age of twelve who died before the hyenas could have their fill."

"With all due respect Chi-Fu, I don't care! Your reports can wait, get yourself into the council room before I call guards to escort you in!" Ben snapped, cutting off Akiho who had opened his mouth. "Thank you for your cooperation!"

"Gods, if this is what he's like with Chi-Fu, imagine what he'll be like when he has to call Leah," Akiho muttered.

"Wouldn't he have called her first though?" Mal asked. "Get it out of the way?"

Mal's hopes were dashed by the next words out of Ben's mouth, however. "Hello Queen Leah? I'm going to need you to report to an emergency meeting of the council," he said, his voice neutral but Mal could tell there was a bit of an edge to it. "Yes, it is important. Do you think I call emergency sessions every day for no reason? No I will not tell you what the meeting is about over the phone. You'll find out with all the other council members—at the meeting. Yes, I do insist. Thank you! I will see you there. Please be sure to arrive promptly, it's important we begin straight away."

Ben ended the call and, for a brief second, Mal honestly thought he was going to throw his phone against the wall. Instead, he opted to grab a pile of the reports and throw them in his frustration.

"Kids are dying because of her machinations and she has the gall to ask me what the meeting's about?!"

Akiho stared in shock. This was legitimately the first time he had ever seen Ben lose his cool like this. Hey, there was a reason why they joked that Ben wasn't human.

"Ben, you need to calm down," Mal said, walking up to his desk.

"Mal, I…" Ben sighed, running a hand through his hair. "How can I calm down? When I look at those engine logs and see that video and just hear your brother asking if we hated the Isle so much that we'd willingly send them rotten food? And now I know the reason behind that question is Leah, someone I've known since I was a toddler?"

"I know Ben," Mal said softly, gently resting a hand on Ben's upper arm. "Trust me, if it wasn't for all the kids still on the Isle right now and the fact that I'd like to avoid being sent back to the Isle, I'd have transformed into a dragon and gone after Leah. But I can't do that. We go after her in anyway but legally, she and her cronies will cry persecution so fast it'll make our heads spin."

"Mal, I promise you, there is nothing you could do that would get you sent back to the Isle," Ben promised. "I just…I need a minute. I know Leah's someone who's mentally trapped in the 1400's but like I said, I've known her since I was a toddler. I never thought she was capable of this."

Mal gave Ben a sad smile as she brushed some of his hair out of his eyes before bending down to pick up the papers he had thrown. "Ben, you're the king. If you need a minute, take that minute. What's Leah going to do, yell at you?"

"That's not out of the realm of possibilities," Akiho chimed in. "If you value your boyfriend's hearing Mal, you'd know it's a bad idea to tempt fate."

Mal snorted in amusement. "I'm a VK Akiho. We tempt fate every day."

"Fair point."

Ben smiled at the interaction between the two of them. He couldn't believe how calm Mal was being throughout this whole thing…but then, maybe it made sense. She had already known the food was being delayed on purpose and Leah was…well she was someone who could only be described as a person who'd be visited by Christmas ghosts.

She wasn't worth Mal's anger.

"Mal…why don't you come with me to the meeting?" Ben offered, an idea coming to him.

"Is that a good idea Ben?" Mal asked. "We're dating after all, anything I say Leah'll come back with an argument that you agree with it because we're dating."

"The Isle needs the representation in this matter and you're the highest ranked VK, being the daughter of Hades and the niece of Zeus," Ben told her. "Leah can try to twist it all she wants, but if you don't want to you don't have to."

Mal sighed. As much as she really didn't want to deal with Leah's craziness and the possibility of actually talking to her Uncle Zeus…Ben was right. The Isle did need the representation.

"Alright," she said. "But if Leah says Maleficent's my mother, I make no promises about the lack of fireballs thrown her way."

"Duly noted," Ben chuckled. "Akiho, what about you?"

"Hmm…essay or watching Mal flambé Leah," Akiho said, pretending to weigh the two options. "Flambé it is!"

"Why am I not at all surprised?"

"Charming and irresponsible Ben. Charming and irresponsible."