Chapter Thirty Eight


A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs. Everything else either belongs to Disney or the Greek Myths.

Holy cats you guys, I can't believe we've gone over five hundred reviews! Thank you all so much for your continued support of this story! It means the world!

As always, special thanks to AmethystDragon14. I have no doubt I'd have hit writer's block by now if not for you! :D

Hope you all enjoy the chapter!


It was hard to believe but Mal had actually forgotten about the love spell and about Ben until the next day. Of course, it helps ones memory when the walking reminder comes right up to them.

"Hey Mal," Ben said and Mal was at least happy to see he wasn't as peppy as he'd been the day prior. At the very least he didn't seem like he was about to burst into song. Maybe the spell had worn off and he hadn't realized he had been under it? Nah, that would be a really weak spell if that was the case-and Mal didn't see Maleficent having weak anythings in her spell book.

"Hey Ben," she nodded and gave him a small smile. "Good game yesterday. Bet you're happy that you won."

"Thanks and yeah, it's great to end the season on a high note," Ben nodded. "Listen, I wanted to ask you. I know I asked you to coronation and you said yes but…would you maybe be interested in going out with me later this afternoon?"

Mal stilled, she definitely hadn't expected that—which now that she thought about it, she definitely should have at the very least. The boy was under a love spell for her dad's sake!

I've never even been on a date before! There's no way Ben would actually enjoy himself…wait, why do I care? He's spelled. Wait, did he ever break up with Sleeping Brat? Mal thought, a bit of her irritation toward Chad coming out in her thoughts. Gods are all the guys in Auradon like this? Just jumping from girl to girl?

"Um Mal?" Ben said hesitantly.

"Oh!" Mal said, realizing she'd been just standing there and Ben had been expecting an answer. "Uh, sure Ben."

"Great! I'll pick you up later! It's a date!" Ben said before walking off. Mal stared after him in shock. What had she just done? She didn't know the first thing about getting ready for a date!

Mom! Help!

Mal shook her head, she could handle this without involving her mom after all. Wait a minute, Blueber—I mean Evie! They may have only just started their alliance but maybe this could help it grow?

Mal? What is it? Mali, what's wrong?

Mal jumped slightly upon hearing her mother's voice in her head as she tried to find Blueber—Evie. Yeah, definitely going to have to work on that.

Nothing, mom, never mind. I'm fine, just…can you be on standby? Please?

Oh no young lady! You don't just shout 'help' through your mind link and then tell me to go on standby!

Mom, really, it's nothing. I'll just go and see Blue—I mean Evie for this type of help. You're busy.

Mal, I'm never too busy for you…wait did you just say Evie? If I remember your rants on her, this help either involves make up or a boy. Does this have anything to do as to why Prince Ben was singing to you after the Tourney game yesterday?

Mal sighed but stopped as she saw Evie with Doug, sitting at a picnic table. Evie was smiling, showing Doug a small booklet. Mal didn't have the heart to disturb them. They may have been only allies but the blue haired girl was slowly growing on Mal—like a fungus.

Mom? Can…can you promise not to tell dad? At least not yet?

On one condition Mali—you're not in trouble or hurt are you?

No, no, nothing like that! It's…Prince Ben just asked me out. On a date! Mom, I don't know what I'm going to do! This is a prince—actually a crown prince we're talking about and I"m just a girl from the Isle! Not that I care but I don't even have anything to wear! I only own two dresses and neither one measures up to a date with the crown prince! He'll laugh his ass off—

Mal, Mal, honey calm down. Also, watch your language. But Prince Ben is not going to laugh at you. You don't have to wear a dress on a date though, if you want to, I'm sure we can make one of your dresses work. Meet me in your dorm in a minute or two okay? We'll go through your clothes, see what we can work with. Knowing you, you'll want your dark purple dress with the flowers on it. We can make that work if you want.

O…okay mom. I still don't know how we're gonna make this work…wait, I'm not going to have to wear makeup am I? Mom, I don't know anything about that!

I do though sweetheart. Relax.

You know that's not such an easy thing.

I know. But you'll be fine. Do you think I'd do anything to make you feel embarrassed?

…no.

Exactly. Now like I said, I'll be over there in a couple of minutes to help my daughter get ready for her first date.

Are you going to cry?

Possibly. I missed five years of your life Mal and then missing half the year every year being in Auradon…you grew up too fast.

Mom…it's just a date—

It's your first date Mal…something I thought I'd never experience because I'd be here in Auradon while you were on the Isle.

Mom, I wouldn't have had a date on the Isle. We don't date on the Isle. It's flings or flirtationships at best. You wouldn't have been happy to hear about that.

You're right, I wouldn't have. But thankfully that is not something you need to worry about. Now like I said Mal, I'll meet you at your dorm in a few minutes. And don't worry, I won't tell your father or brother about this until you say I can.

Thanks mom.

You're welcome Mali. Love you.

Love you too mom.

Mal disconnected the mind link and went back to her room, knowing she had to hide the Dragon's spell book if it was still out. Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, Ben had paused what he was doing as he had come to a very important realization.

He had no idea how to plan a date. Especially a last minute one.

Audrey usually handled our dates, if you could call them that. Shopping dates every weekend was not my idea of a good time. But…I don't know if what I would like would be what Mal would like.

Whipping out his phone, Ben called the one person he knew would have at least a helpful suggestion or two.

"Hey Benji, what's up?"

"How do you plan a date?" Ben asked, the words flowing from his mouth before he even thought of saying 'hello'. "Like a good date? One I could feasibly throw together in like thirty minutes?"

"You mean to tell me you're actually going on a date with someone who is not going to drag you round every shop in Auradon?!"

"Yeah, didn't you hear? I broke up with Audrey—now focus Chip!"

"No, no I definitely heard about that but we can discuss that later. Okay, first of all what's your main idea? Like are you thinking restaurant? Picnic? Movie? Arcade?"

"No, not an arcade. She doesn't seem to like crowds. A picnic would be a good idea, be a nice way to really get to know each other."

"Okay where's the picnic going to be? You'll want privacy, otherwise the vultures that call themselves the press will be chasing you like the hounds of Tartarus."

"Damn that's a good point. Uh, what about the Enchanted Lake? That's got plenty of privacy!"

"Good, good, okay. We have the idea and the location. Now time for the finer points, like food. Does she have any allergies? The last thing you want is for her to eat something and have to have half your date at the hospital."

Ben paused as Chip said that. Allergies. How had he forgotten about freaking allergies?! "Um..I don't know," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Ben! When you're going on a date with someone, you need to know if you can't eat something! Particularly if you're packing up a picnic!"

"I know, Chip!" Ben sighed. "I just…I got really excited to ask her out. Besides, she's been here like three weeks. Allergies haven't come up in conversation."

"You're going on a date with someone you've only known for like three weeks? Well she must be enchanting."

Ben chuckled. "You'd really like her Chip. But now what am I going to do about the allergies thing? Last thing I'd want is to wind up feeding her something she can't eat!"

"The only thing you can do! Ask her!"

"Okay, okay. I'll text her after we're done talking. Thanks for your help on this by the way."

"No problem Benji. You just need to keep it simple. Despite what Miss Leech probably told you, dates don't always have to be flashy."

"So that's it? Keep it simple, pack a picnic and find out what she's allergic to?" Ben asked.

"And remember your manners, don't be late picking her up! She'll take that as a sign that you're not really interested. Have her back to her dorm by curfew, and walk her to the door."

"Manners, curfew, simple, picnic, allergies, don't be late, walk her to the door," Ben rattled off. "Oh Gods, okay. Thanks again Chip. I really don't want to mess this up."

"You really like this girl huh?" Chip asked, his tone gentle.

"I do," Ben nodded. "I…I can't explain it Chip. I just know that when she's around, things make sense. She doesn't care about my title, she's able to tell me when I'm being stupid. I…Chip I feel like a regular teenage boy around her, not someone who's going to be king soon."

"Well if I didn't know about your christening gift, I'd be worried you were spelled," Chip said with a chuckle. "Ben, little bro, just be yourself. That's who this girl likes. Otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to go on a date with you. Oh! Crazy idea but bring towels on your date. I know you Ben. If you're going to the Enchanted Lake, you're going to end up swimming."

"Got it," Ben nodded. "Also…Miss Leech?"

"My nickname for Audrey."

"You never used that around me before."

"Ben, don't you know the unspoken rule? Always say you like the girlfriend. If you don't, there's like some weird force that only makes want to spend more time with the girlfriend. But ex's are a completely different animal. Speaking of which, I'm surprised the Beauty Matriarch from Hell isn't blowing up your phone after breaking the contract. Not to mention your little musical number yesterday."

"Wait, you know about that?! How?!"

"Benji, all your classmates have cameraphones. Someone uploaded the video to Auratube—it's gone viral! I have to say, you'd make a good cheerleader if you were interested."

Ben chuckled but then paused. "Wait, did you say viral? As in other people in the kingdom saw that? It was just something I had come up with on the spot! Emir and Akiho put me up to it anyway."

"Ah, I might have known those two were involved," Chip chuckled.

"Yeah, Audrey was in denial that the contract was declared null and void so they thought it would be a good idea to go dramatic," Ben sighed. "Have to say, it seems to have worked. Though she's probably badmouthing me to her parents right now. Oddly enough I can live with that."

"Ben, remember this, if you do have to do battle with Leah, your parents are going to have your back. And yeah, Audrey's probably badmouthing you to Leah and her parents but here's the thing. You wouldn't have been able to get out of the contract without your mom and Aurora's approval. Since you're talking about dating your mystery girl, I'm guessing you got it."

"You really think Audrey would let me get within five feet of another girl I was interested in if I didn't?" Ben chuckled.

"Well…and I'm just throwing this out there Ben, but I've never seen you interested in another girl. But going off of what I know about Audrey, I'd have to say no. You know, though, that this won't be like your relationship with Audrey right? There's no contract guaranteeing a good end result. There'll be work involved."

"I know. I'm aware it's not going to be a walk in the park…she's worth it though," Ben said softly.

"Good. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing. Now, I'll want the details of how your date went. Oh! One more thing. Your security team, what are you going to do about them?"

Ben sighed. "Can I say 'give 'em the the day off'? Having James and Brad around would more than likely freak her out."

Chip chuckled. "If you had said anything else, I'd be worried about you bro. Just don't let your mom know—you know Belle would freak out over you being without your security detail. You know one of these days they're going to start insisting on following you places. I think you give them more days off than any other person with security. They'll feel like they're not doing their job properly. Actually, in a few days, you're not going to have a say in the matter. You'll be king—no one in their right mind would let the king roam without security."

"I know," Ben sighed. "But at least I can wrangle it for my first date that doesn't involve shopping."

"I know Ben. Just be careful okay? Don't do anything that people might say is, I don't know, ridiculous?"

"Ha, ha," Ben said dryly. "Very funny. I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"Well your classmates might forget it in a couple of weeks. With me? Probably not, no. Now, if your parents saw the video, you'll probably be getting 'ridiculous' jokes for the rest of your life."

"It would be too much to hope that mom and dad haven't seen that video yet right?" Ben asked with a small chuckle. If it'd already gone viral, there was a huge chance one of their advisors had informed them so they wouldn't get blindsided by the press.

"Do you want the answer that'll make you feel better or the reality?"

"The fact that you're even asking that question means they've seen it," Ben sighed. "Though if that's true, I'm surprised they haven't been blowing up my phone."

"I'll let you in on a little secret Benji. I was walking past your dad's office a few hours ago…guess who he was on the phone with?"

"Chip, you know I'm horrible at guessing games. Just tell me."

"The Beauty Matriarch from Hell."

"Dad was on the phone with Queen Leah?"

"Yep! Apparently the reason why she's not blowing up your phone is because she's too busy blowing up your father's phone trying to demand that the contract be reinstated. Obviously she thinks that since you're not king yet, Adam still has power over you to force you back into it. I'd check your email, you probably have like thirty demands for a meeting."

Taking a quick peak at his email, Ben saw that Chip was right. "Actually, there's about forty five demands…and counting, an email just came in," he said with a small sigh. "Chip, you didn't happen to catch my dad's response to Queen Leah's demands, did you?"

"He said no, said that you didn't want to be in it anymore and that you were your own person and had the right to your own choice. Although some of that may have have had something to do with the fact that Belle was standing right in front of the desk. I couldn't see her face but I'd bet she was glaring at him. Probably almost daring him to agree to it so he could see what would happen."

Ben sighed in relief. "Oh thank Zeus! Though, I don't blame dad. Queen Leah's on the council after all, he's still got to work with her. That being said, thank the Gods mom was there. I don't want to know what the result might have been otherwise."

"So the reason they're not blowing your phone up about the video? Their phone is tied up battling Queen Vampire Bat for you."

Ben frowned. "I mean, don't get me wrong I'm grateful but this was my decision. Shouldn't I be the one dealing with Queen Leah?"

"In someways yes, but Ben they're your parents. They're not going to just sit there while she tears into you. I feel sorry for your dad's ears though, she was screaming so loud you'd have thought she was on speakerphone when I walked past."

"But I'm going to be king soon. I won't have other people to fight my battles for me when that happens."

"Ben, all I'm saying is be ready for battle because the Bat is steamed. She was screaming about 'public humiliation of Audrey' and that the only compensation she'd accept is the contract being reinstated and that there was no valid reason to cancel it."

Ben nodded. "I'll talk to dad for when the time comes. Right now, I'd like to focus on my date with Mal and not the impending battle with Queen Leah."

"Mal huh? That's an unusual name," Chip said with a smile in his voice. Ben chuckled, thankfully Chip didn't seem to know where Mal came from. Not that Ben cared but he wasn't stupid. He was hopeful—there was a difference. He knew people would probably not care for the future king going out with a girl from the Isle.

Ben honestly didn't care. He had checked the written records the day after Mal arrived and she'd been right, she was the daughter of Lady Persephone and Lord Hades. There'd been an asterisk by Lady Persephone's name to signal adoption but Ben didn't care about that—blood didn't dictate family.

Chip was his brother in all but blood after all.

"It's a nickname, short for Malinda but she likes to go by Mal," Ben said with a smile.

"Well I'd love to meet her if the date goes well. Tell you what, I'll come round on Family Day. As for the food, find out what her allergies are and text me. I'll have mom whip up some stuff and set it up at the Enchanted Lake for you."

"Thanks Chip, that'd be great!"

"And don't worry, I'll have mom keep it under wraps. Though if your mom saw the video, she probably has it figured out by now. She's a smart one, Belle."

"Don't I know it," Ben chuckled.

"Okay, I'll let you go Ben. Like I said, find out Mal's allergies or heck just any food she doesn't like and then text it to me. Mom'll whip it up and I'll drop it off."

"Thanks again Chip. Bye."

"See you Ben," Chip said as he hung up. Ben sighed before firing off a text to Mal. He still couldn't believe he had forgotten about allergies of all things. His phone pinged and Ben read the text from Mal: Hey Ben. No, none that I know of.

Shooting off a quick text to Chip, Ben got up and made his way to his dorm. He needed to get ready after all.