The Golden Age of Unlikely Friendships

Author's Note

Here is the second chapter of one of the stories I have adopted from WanderlustandFreedom. She is such an incredible writer and individual and I hope you'll read her other Descendants stories! You can find her on A03 and FFN at her penname, WanderlustandFreedom. This chapter was also written by her and we both hope you enjoy it!

**This story was given to me by WanderlustandFreedom. The majority of the ideas/outline and the first several chapters, including this one, are ALL HERS..**

Year 2

There hadn't ever been a chance for Ben to go up and re-introduce himself to the young Maleficent, as her mother had swept in a few moments before the meeting and then swept back out, taking her daughter with her, as soon as it was over. They'd returned to the Isle, and Ben never even got a chance to redeem himself. This year,

he told himself, it would be different.

His dad didn't know he was planning on being there again, but if he got here and there were people around, he wouldn't tell him to go. He'd learned a couple of things about his dad over the last year, and had come to realize that sometimes it was more important for Adam to seem like he was a good father than to actually be a good father. Not that it meant that Adam didn't love him, but it did mean Ben could get away with some things if he played his cards right.

Despite showing up thirty minutes early, he discovered the same head of purple hair in the same seat as last year when he arrived, She was chewing on her hair, which was a little gross, but he was still determined. Ben marched down to the end of the table and

stuck out a hand as he leaned across. "Hello!" He chirped. "I'm Ben, what's your name?"

The girl stared at him incredulously. She pushed her hair back behind her ears. It was still long, still ratty, and still very, very purple. It did have less knots than last year, however. She examined his hand, and then looked back into his eyes. "You

haven't changed at all," She stated blandly. Her voice was almost monotonous. She, like he, hadn't hit her growth spurt yet, and her voice still sounded dull and boyish.

Ben kept his hand outstretched as he laughed. "Could say the same for you," He declared, gesturing at her a little. The girl glared at his hand a little.

"Uh, yeah, I'm not going to shake your hand, actually. Thanks for the offer, though," She slumped back into her chair. "What are you doing here, again?"

"I'm attending this meeting with my dad," Ben explained, tucking his hand into his pocket. "You see, I have to have some training, and-"

"I know all that!" The girl announced, clearly irritated. "I know who you are, I know who your dad is, and I know what you think of us. My question is why are you down here?"

Ben blinked. "I, erm, wanted to make a new friend," He explained. "Oh, there's another girl our age here. Her name is Audrey, and-"

"I don't want to meet any prissy pink princesses," she snapped. "Or any perfect princes, for that matter. Go away."

Ben frowned. "Hey, I'm not perfect!" He whined. It was the first time in his life he'd ever made such a verbal claim. "Here-" He brushed his hands through his hair, messing up the gel that was holding it down, and then raked his hands through it for good measure before turning for her approval.

She stared at him as if she'd never seen such a ridiculous motion in her life, then rolled her eyes and looked out towards the windows. Ben followed her gaze. The green barrier of the Isle of the Lost flickered in and out of view. "That's your home, right?" Ben

asked, pointing out at it.

She shrugged. "Yeah," She nodded.

"Do you have any friends?" Ben prodded.

She shook her head. "No," She declined. "But I do have gang members."

"So, family," Ben nodded as if that made sense. The purple-haired girl turned to squint at him. Finally, she nodded her acceptance of his deduction. "Are you gonna tell me your name?" Ben prodded.

She rolled her eyes and returned to focusing out the window. "Mal," she provided in a hollow tone.

"Mal?" Ben repeated, raising an eyebrow. "As in, short for Maleficent?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?" Mal demanded, glaring a hole through him.

"Only to people who don't want to respond," Ben assured her.

There was a long pause. He kept the smile on his face, examining her for any signs that she'd approved of the joke. There were none. She nodded once and turned back to the window. "Leave me," she requested. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Did you just dismiss me?" Ben snorted. "Wow, cold."

"You live in the land of royalty. How are you not used to being

dismissed?" Mal asked.

"You do not live in royalty, yet you are used to dismissing people."

"It doesn't require royalty. It requires knowing you are better than

those around you."

"Hmm. I've never dismissed someone, so I wouldn't know."

Mal tilted her head to the side, examining him. "You don't act much like a prince," She mumbled. "Or, at least not the ones I've met."

Across the room, a figure in pink appeared. "Ben!" Audrey exclaimed, waving energetically. "It's so good to see you! Ugh, the carriage ride was awful! Where are you sitting? Who is this?"

Audrey examined Mal's hair and the dirt underneath her chin, and her nose wrinkled.

Ben watched Mal grow more stern, more hardened. He hadn't realized she'd been growing softer around him. Now, he was back to square one, and he figured it was because Mal had a distinct dislike of princes and princesses. Too bad.

"This is Mal, daughter of Maleficent," Ben introduced with a broad gesture to the purple-haired girl. "Mal, this is Audrey, daughter of Aurora. Sleeping Beauty's daughter."

Both girls jumped away from each other, with Mal on her feet glaring holes into Audrey's forehead and Audrey looked like she was about to be attacked. She flinched away from Mal's glare and almost started crying. "Don't hurt me!" She yelped. A few adults around the room glanced down sharply. King Phillip and Queen Aurora had gone pale and were hurrying down the length of the table.

"It's okay!" Ben exclaimed, trying to console Audrey. "She's super nice! And she's our age!"

"Super nice?" Mal demanded, staring at him like he had two heads.

"Super nice?" Maleficent echoed from the doorway as she swept into the room. Ben could see his father behind her, looking pale.

Mal crossed her arms and sulked. "He came down to annoy me," she announced to her mother – and the other adults. "And she came over to see him. She's Aurora's daughter."

"Yes," Maleficent looked down her nose at Audrey and this time, Audrey really did burst into tears. "I see the resemblance."

Ben stared at his friend. "It's okay, Audrey," he told her. "Maleficent is just here for the meeting. You don't have to be afraid."

He bowed to Maleficent. "Hello." Behind Maleficent, Ben's dad went even paler and started trying to signal him to stop.

Maleficent looked astonished. "Do you always bow to villains?" She asked.

Ben was confused. Weren't you supposed to bow to everyone? He glanced at Mal, who was furrowing her brow as she looked between her mother and Ben. He suddenly realized that the way to this girl's heart was through her mother's approval. So he flicked his gaze up to Maleficent's and smiled his best smile – the one that made all the

other queens smile at. "Only to those who deserve the respect," he assured her.

His dad tripped into a chair on his way down to defend his son. His eyes were so wide that they looked like they might burst out of his head. Ben couldn't understand what the issue was.

Maleficent smiled. It was a different sort of smile – one that seemed to convey pride and some sense of... claiming. She reached out, took his shoulder, and turned him around to face everyone else in the room with her. "Now this," she said slowly, "Is the sort of person

who heals history, not just lands," She gave his father a rather pointed look, then reached down and extended her hand to shake.

So, Ben shook hands with the mistress of all evil, unaware that he was the first person in the courts to manage to do so.

All he was really concerned with was how Mal had stopped looking at him with hate and had accepted him as someone worth her time while Phillip and Aurora led poor, sobbing Audrey away.