Chapter Thirty Three

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.

Nope, your eyes do not deceive you! I just have a big old backlog and decided I wanted to post today like originally planned. The fact that this chapter's a bit fluffier helps in that regard! :D

*stares at the review count in shock* guys we're six reviews away from 500! Thank you so much for your support here! I legitimately couldn't do it without you guys!

Tracie Adams: Oh I have a feeling Uma and Mal will stop him! But just like in the movies, there'll be a confrontation...

61394: Trust me, I think Ben unfortunately grew up thinking that guards really weren't needed because of the fact that 'all the villains were on the Isle'. Or at least that's what he was told. Glad you liked the chapter!

OceanBlueSeaEyes: I'm not going to spoil anything but I have a feeling you'll like the Cotillion chapter :D

Katie2001: Trouble is definitely brewing on the horizon! I'm so glad you liked the chapter!

princesstwyla06: As much as I want Freddy to die...he plays a rather major role in the sequel I have planned. So his death will probably be delayed.

Urmimala Hazra: Oh you're not the only one who wants Freddy dead!

AmethystDragon14: Oh yay! I do what I can for my amazing readers! How could I not have some 'daddy/daughter' time? It really was needed! And Freddy's probably the most evil character-he might be worse than Natalie imo!

ScoutGinevera: He is, but that's what villains do-underestimate their enemy.

danifan3000: I feel sorry for the person's eardrums if Audrey every does find out that Ben got to meet his sister. Heh, the fact that Leah's in Tartarus made me smile.

Sorceress of Magic: Oh trust me he will...in a few chapters time.

CrystalKaouri: Oh I have a feeling that when the time comes for Hades to judge Freddy's soul, our God of the Dead will have a ball. And of course Ben's got a spine of steel! He's Belle's son, the girl who said to an angry Beast that he needed to learn to control his temper :D

AliceCullen3: Oh I'm so glad!

shortanamx: Yep!

amy . ward . 906: It certainly is...

Marcus Emrys: Trust me, I think you'll like what'll happen to Freddy in a few chapters time.

twilightgirl587: Yep!

Guest: ...why would it be better for Hadie to take down Freddy instead of Mal?

Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D

Estelle grinned as he ran up to James, who threw the ball once more. The Cerberus loved spending time with the older human. He always seemed to make time for them to run around on the grass, something Estelle loved. It wasn't something they had back in the cloudy space with all the familiar humans but it felt nice on his paws. Plus James always seemed to have a treat or two on him. Granted, he wasn't Mal but there was only one Mal.

Speaking of who...

Mali! Estelle thought with a grin as he lifted his left head to see his human walking toward them, the right head still bent down to get the ball that had been thrown and the center head grinning over at James.

"How's he been today James?" Mal asked as Estelle came running over, dropping the ball at her feet and furiously wagging his tail. It was a clear hint that he wanted his human to throw the ball. A hint his human picked up on as Mal grinned and grabbed the ball, throwing it for Estelle who eagerly went chasing after it and running back to her with it firmly in his mouth before dropping it at her feet.

"Perfect as always Lady Mal," James said and Estelle snorted as his Mal made a face at the extra word in front of her name. He didn't know why the humans made such a big deal about the extra sound. Cerberi didn't!

"Do you have any plans for Cotillion James?" Mal asked as she threw the ball once more for Estelle. Her dog seemed to have boundless energy but that was alright by her. As long as he got tired out by bedtime, he could have all the energy he wanted.

Plus a tired out Estelle was more likely to give cuddles when it came time for bed. Nothing was better than curling up next to a pooped out pooch.

"In all honesty Lady Mal, I had assumed I'd be watching Estelle in my dorm so I hadn't planned on attending Cotillion," James said, looking a bit startled at the question. "Unless you've made other arrangements?"

Mal smiled and Estelle wagged his tail at seeing it, dropping the ball to give both humans a doggy grin of his own on all three of his heads. A happy Mal was always a good thing! There had been a while when she wasn't happy, and put weird things in her eyes, and didn't wear her removable fur...and had to deal with that mean human. Estelle hadn't liked that. Mali wasn't his Mali then.

But after talking to the pack mother, and the other Alpha, and her mate, it seemed like his Mali was back!

"Actually, Ben and I were hoping Estelle would be able to attend Cotillion with us," Mal said, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. "We'd need your services during the dance and the speeches but other than that, Estelle should be good to stay with me so you can enjoy your night."

Mal didn't mention the fact that James would be well compensated for the night of work. It was actually the thing she had insisted on before even agreeing to ask James to do this. But then again, it wasn't as if Ben needed to have his arm twisted or anything.

He'd even gotten a clip on bow tie to go on Estelle's collar for Cotillion. Purple of course, because purple was Mal's color.

I am going to have to talk to him about where he managed to find a bright purple clip on bow tie with a tiny dragon in the corner, Mal thought as she softly shook her head. Either Ben's just got an obsession with dragons or he's determined to have people associate me with dragons instead of Maleficent.

Either way, she was fine with but she needed to get to the bottom of it. Though that didn't mean she didn't like it. Or wanted to get two more so that way all three heads would have a bow tie.

"I'm...I'm honored Lady Mal, truly I am. But won't Estelle's presence cause a stir with the other royals?"

Mal shrugged, bringing herself back to the conversation at hand. "By now all the other royals know I'm Lord Hades' daughter and they know a Cerberus is a symbol of Lord Hades. If there's truly a problem with Estelle being there, I'll handle it. I mean, a problem other than Audrey having an issue that is. But we've cleared it with Fairy Godmother who's already keyed both Estelle and you into the wards that'll be up around the yacht."

The wards were a way to provide protection for the Cotillion goers without needing to make anyone feel stifled with guards surrounding them. Each guest was keyed into the wards with their invitation so if they needed to leave the boat for some reason, they'd be able to come back in considering the wards themselves wouldn't be put in place until the start of Cotillion.

James gave her a small smile. "Well then, if there truly are no issues with Estelle being at Cotillion, I'd be happy to give my services and look after him while you and King Ben enjoy the night, Lady Mal."

"Again, it would mainly be just for the first dance and the speeches. You'll be able to enjoy the rest of the night without a Cerberus at your side considering he'll probably spend most of the night with me, Ben, Uma, or Hadie," Mal reiterated. "And you know perfectly well you don't have to use my title."

"Of course, my Lady," James nodded and Estelle snorted in amusement.

Mal chuckled before turning to Estelle and patting the side of her leg. "Come on boy, we're going to go get Ben from his dorm and then head down to the cafeteria for some food."

Estelle gave Mal a doggy grin and wagged his tail. He liked his human's mate! He always gave good scratches and would sometimes slip him snacks when Mali wasn't looking! As well, his human's mate made her happy, like the other Alpha and the Betas. Even the Omega and the non-pack member seemed to make her happy too but not in the way her mate did.

"Thanks again James," Mal said as they turned to leave. With how relaxed her schedule had become, there wasn't much need for Estelle to have an attendant anymore. But Mal found she liked it, having someone looking after her dog. That wasn't to say she didn't like having her dog in Auradon but it...it was more of a comfort. Knowing Estelle was safe and being looked after while she was in class. Or in a meeting.

Yes, she still had meetings. They were rare but they existed.

"Of course my Lady," James nodded as he packed up the dog toys. "It is truly my pleasure."

Mal smiled once more and grabbed Estelle's leash in her hand. While the restraint really wasn't needed, it gave them an alibi in case Audrey tried to say Estelle lunged at her. Not that he would but Mal wouldn't put it past the Sleeping Brat.

Estelle trotted alongside Mal, grinning from ear to ear to ear to ear to ear to ear. He didn't know why his Mali had acted different for a while but clearly it didn't matter! The mean human was gone and wasn't bothering Mali anymore on the small noise thing all the humans seemed to have so all was right with the world.

There was the smaller mean human but his Mali seemed to know how to handle her!

Plus Mal had her pack back! The other Alpha and the other Beta were great to have around, plus the Omega seemed to change for the better from what Mal had said about him. Estelle never really got to see him before but that was okay. He liked spending his time in the pack's den on the ship.

It allowed him to stay away from those mean hyenas!

"Hey Mal," Ben said with a smile as Mal and Estelle came into his dorm, the teenaged King looking up from the book he was reading. "This is a surprise."

"Not as much of a surprise as Emir telling me you were in your dorm for a change instead of your office. What, did you run out of paperwork or something?" Mal teased as she let Estelle off the leash to walk around. Normally Estelle would just hop on the bed or the couch if they were in Ben's office. But currently he was sniffing around, content to get to the bottom of a scent that had caught his nose.

It was an odd one that seemed to be lingering around the big box thing that held his human's mate's furs. Estelle knew he had smelled it before but he just couldn't put his paw on where he had encountered it!

"Seems someone's caught an interesting smell," Ben chuckled, noticing Estelle's intense sniffing by his wardrobe.

"You hiding someone in there?" Mal asked with a chuckle of her own though she had stiffened slightly. She hadn't seen Estelle be that intense when it came to sniffing since the first time she'd brought him into Ben's dorm. And that was probably just to get a lay of the land so to speak.

If he was sniffing that intently now...

"Yes Mal. Emir and Akiho are in there waiting to jump out and drag us all to dinner," Ben shook his head.

"You know I really wouldn't put it past those two," Mal pointed out, relaxing as she realized just how ridiculous it was. No one was going to attack Ben. Anyone who would even think about doing that was back on the Isle after all.

"That's a good point. My friends are very strange."

"And what does that say about you, that you've been friends with them for all these years your highness?" Mal teased.

Ben smiled and pulled Mal close. "My friends are just as strange as your friends, I'll have you know my Lady."

"Ben, what did we say about the use of titles?"

"That I can use yours if you use mine," Ben teased and gently kissed her cheek.

"You missed," Mal told him with a smirk.

"Oh did I now?"

"You most certainly did."

Ben chuckled. "Well, let me go ahead and correct that my Lady."

He leaned forward and gently connected his lips to hers, something that Mal eagerly welcomed and returned. Private moments like these were rare, considering how much of a public figure the two of them really were. Though thankfully, the press hadn't swarmed them like they had Mal all those weeks ago.

Mal had to wonder how much of that was the press having common sense and how much of that was her mom, Fairy Godmother, and Ben laying down the law.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Ben said softly as they broke from the kiss. "For allowing me to see Abby. Even though we were there to help Ryan, I...I hadn't even considered it a possibility to be honest."

"Ben, you've done so much for me," Mal said gently, brushing a bit of hair out of Ben's eyes. "Just the way you handled the issue with Natalie alone...you deserved it."

Ben smiled slightly and pulled out his phone. "I took a picture. I haven't had the chance to see if Abby showed up in it...and there's a part of me that's scared to."

Mal gave him a gentle smile as she took the phone out of Ben's hands. "I honestly don't know if the photo will appear Ben. No one's ever tried to take a picture inside the Underworld after all. Okay let me rephrase that. No mortal has ever tried."

After all, her mom had taken plenty of photos of her as a baby and with her and Hadie as they grew up and they all came out fine. But Mal didn't know if that was because the photos had been taken by a Goddess or if it was because they had been taken in the residential area of the Underworld.

"I just...I wanted to have it for my mom. A photo of her two kids, something she probably never thought she'd get," Ben said softly and Mal's heart broke as she heard the pain in his voice. The dread at the possibility of the photo not coming out.

"Hey, hey," she said gently and cupped his cheek with her hand, smiling slightly as he leaned into her touch. "Just because no mortal has ever tried to take a photo in the Underworld doesn't mean it didn't work. Most mortals visited the Underworld before cameras were even invented so you might have been the first to even try it. Let's see if it worked."

Pulling the photo up, Mal smiled slightly as she saw Ben with his sister. Granted it was a bit hard to fully make Abigail out compared to Ben, but with a bit of photo editing...not much, just make the image a bit sharper...

I bet if I sent this over to Carlos, he'd be able to make it so Abigail was just as crisp and clear as Ben was, Mal thought as she showed the photo to Ben.

"It worked?" Ben gasped.

"It's a little hard to see Abigail clearly but it did work. I'll talk to Carlos about making Abigail a bit clearer before we give this to your mom," Mal nodded. Ben grinned and pulled Mal into a hug. Normally this would have been joined by a very happy Cerberus but Estelle was still sniffing intently by Ben's wardrobe.

He knew he had encountered this scent before. The smell of salt water was a well known one but there was something else. It almost smelled like the boat that the other humans would surround. Nothing really smelled good on that boat so Estelle never understood the appeal.

But humans were strange. Maybe they liked it.

Estelle paused as he caught another whiff of the scent, and this time he knew where he had smelled that before. It had been years ago, and he'd only been a pup, but he would never get his Mali's screams for help out of his head.

That scent had hurt his human! Had been near his human's mate!

A low growl emerged from his throat and Estelle pawed at the box of furs, trying to get Mali's attention.

"What is it boy?" Mal asked, looking over at Estelle in concern. She had only ever heard him growl on the Isle and that was only around Freddy.

"Maybe he doesn't like my suits?" Ben suggested, trying to joke.

"Ben, no one likes your suits," Mal told him, shaking her head slightly. "Your more dressed down style is a lot more appealing...and if I may say, it's also very attractive. But I don't think that's why Estelle's growling."

Ben smiled slightly at Mal's words but the smile faded as he looked over at his girlfriend's dog. "Let me go and check out the wardrobe. He had been smelling it very intently before growling which makes me think—."

"Ben, if you honestly think you're going to be the one to check out a potential threat, think again," Mal stated as she got up. "If there is someone lingering in your wardrobe, I'll be able to hold them off while you run and get help."

Actually all that would matter is that Ben runs out of here if there's someone in this wardrobe, Mal thought. I can handle an attacker easily, plus I'll have Estelle with me.

"Mal, I'm not going to just leave you alone if there's someone hiding in my wardrobe!" Ben exclaimed. "What kind of a boyfriend would do that?"

"The kind of boyfriend who's also a King and has no official heir to the kingdom?" Mal stated, raising an eyebrow.

"...well when you put it like that..."

Mal chuckled and gently kissed his cheek before getting up. She slowly walked over to the wardrobe and opened the door.

"Huh, that was more anticlimactic than I thought," she said as she found nothing but suits in the wardrobe. Looking over at her dog, she asked, "so what's with all the growling huh? You don't like Ben's suits?"

Estelle shook his head. Honestly! Couldn't Mal smell it? It was the only other scent in the room.

Well, other than his human's mate's pack. And his human's pack. And his human. And his human's mate. And his scent.

You know what, maybe Mal could be forgiven for not picking up on the scent right away. Humans were strange creatures in that regard.

"Maybe he's just hungry," Ben suggested as he walked over to the wardrobe, now that it had been established to be safe to approach. "Let's say you, me, and Estelle go get some food?"

"Okay," Mal said softly. "I really don't know why he's growling Ben. He's never done this before. Just growled at random I mean."

"He might just be getting used to Auradon," Ben said gently. "My dad said his dog Sultan used to growl every time he saw a rabbit or a squirrel run past after the curse got lifted."

"Do you normally have rabbits or squirrels in your dorm?"

"Emir and Akiho are my best friends. Do you honestly think they wouldn't try to put a squirrel or a rabbit in my dorm?"

"I think they'd be more likely to put it in your office to try to chase you out," Mal said with a chuckle. "Oh Gods, what if they had a squirrel or a rabbit in your office and left you with Estelle?"

"That'd be one way to wear him out," Ben chuckled as Mal leaned down to put the leash back on her dog. "You don't have to put that on him Mal. No one's got an issue with him and we're just going down to the cafeteria."

"If you're sure Ben..."

"It'll be fine," Ben said with a small smile as he bent down to unclip the leash from Estelle's collar. An action that earned Ben a small lick on the cheek.

Mal chuckled and slipped her hand into Ben's, the three of them making their way to the cafeteria. Estelle trotted after them, the scent in his human's mate's den quickly leaving his mind as he took in the scent of the humans' dinner.

Why did they always have such good smelling food? Kibble was great but it always smelled the same. The humans' food seemed to have a different smell with every passing of the bright ball in the sky!

"So Mal, what'll you be having for dinner tonight?" Ben asked with a grin.

"You know perfectly well what I'll be having Ben," Mal smirked. "It seems to be steak night after all."

"I think you read my mind," Ben told her. "Steak and potatoes has got to be one of the best dinners anyone could come up with."

"Not better than my dad's garlic crispy chicken!"

"I said one of the best Mal."

"Good," Mal nodded. "Estelle, go sit down. We'll meet you at a table."

Estelle nodded and went to one of the empty tables, quickly scurrying under it before any humans could react. Though lately the humans really didn't care what he did. Well there was the loud, mean, pink furred one but Estelle tried his best to ignore her.

"Hey buddy," he heard Mal's Beta—the one she called Jay—whisper as he sat down and dropped his hand under the table. Estelle grinned and wagged his tail as he licked Jay's hand. Dinner with Mali and her pack always meant scraps for him!

"Jay, did you just feed Estelle table scraps?"

"Like you weren't going to do the same thing Harry!"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that the accusation you just gave is accurate," Harry said as his hand found its way under the table too.

"If you three spoil my dog anymore than you already have, he'll get to be three hundred pounds! I like being able to cuddle with him!"

"A little bit of snacking under the table isn't going to make him weigh three hundred pounds Mali."

"Uma, you're just saying that because your hand is under the table right now, aren't you?"

Estelle grinned and trotted over to the other Alpha's hand and ate the bit of steak fat that she was holding. And what was this? Mali's mate's hand! With a nice juicy bit of steak!

"Ben!"

"Last one Mal, I promise," Ben said and Estelle curled up next to his feet. Just in case one of them 'dropped' a bit of steak on the ground.

He could figure out that scent and why it was in Mali's mate's den later. Right now, he needed to be alert. He needed to be Auradon Prep's clean up crew!