Summary: People had said that there were faeries living in the forest. That they abducted kids and kept them there forever, never letting them leave. After the disappearance of some of the kids in his village, Ben believed that. But then he met Mal.

Wow, two one-shots written in the same day? I'm on fire! This one was also a random idea, no idea where exactly it came from. But, that doesn't really matter, because it's here now.

I hope you enjoy!

Benjamin Anderson lived in the village called Auradon. His father was the mayor, and his mother often helped him. Auradon was a beautiful village, filled with children and surrounded by woods. With those simple facts, one would assume he had a perfect life.

But he didn't. The truth was simple - Ben was actually incredibly unhappy.

It was possible that his unhappiness had something to do with the fact that he hardly had any friends. Nearly everyone either thought he was stuck up because he was the mayor's son or that he was weird because he was smart and loved to read.

They also thought he was weird because of the faeries.

His entire childhood, he'd always been told stories about the faeries. Legend had it they were immortal beings with wings. They lived in the woods, in a majestic village filled with gems and flowers. They would lure kids into their village and trap them by offering them everything their hearts desired. They would only let the kids go after so much time had passed that the moment they left they would die.

Most kids were terrified by the stories and never went too deep into the woods. But Ben didn't. In fact, the stories intrigued him. He didn't believe any creature would kidnap someone for no reason, in fact he was sure there was more to the stories. He was curious and many people hated it. Especially, for some reason, his parents.

Once he grew older, his first instinct would be to ignore the stories, since they were probably fake anyways. But he knew they weren't fake, because there was the impossible-to-ignore fact that kids would disappear from Auradon.

It was as simple as that. They would go to the forest and never come back.

It only made Ben more curious about the faeries.

All of this would mean he had no friends, if it wasn't for a certain three people.

Audrey Rose, Chad Charming, and Lonnie Li. His best friends. All of them could be called 'odd.' Lonnie was too outgoing and too much of a fighter. Chad was too smart and read people too well. Audrey was too girly and confident in herself. They didn't fit the plain stereotype most people in their village were expected to fit, far from it.

And they all disappeared.

First was Chad, when Ben was ten. Then Lonnie, when he was twelve. Audrey was the last to go, when he was fifteen.

But he couldn't help but notice a pattern. All of them had troubled home lives. Chad's parents were dead, killed by a disease. He had been raised by his horrible Aunt Drizella, who hated him and his siblings and treated them like slaves. Lonnie's parents were dead, killed by the same disease as Chad's, and her adopted ones had only taken her in because they thought she would be a 'regular' girl. She wasn't and the result was neglect and just plain indifference towards anything that concerned her. Audrey's parents also weren't too fond of her. Aurora and Phillip loved each other, but saw their daughter as an annoyance. The moment they saw a chance to get rid of her, they jumped on it.

That chance was to force her to marry Ben.

Their parents had arranged it when they were fifteen, and they found out the day before Audrey disappeared. The people in the village started to whisper that she had run away because of the marriage, and Aurora and Phillip were beside themselves with 'guilt.' Ben knew they couldn't care less that Audrey was gone.

There were other kids that went missing. Alexandria and Lori, Chad's younger sisters, also disappeared the same day as him. Azalea and Aziz - twins who were the children of a drunk man named Aladdin and had a dead mother - also went missing when Ben was nine. Jordan, their cousin, also disappeared after her father was killed in a cart crash. So did Emma White, whose mother and father treated her like a slave. That was pretty much the extent of the list for the kids who went missing, as far as Ben could remember. He knew there were a few other kids who went when he was younger, but these were all he could remember.

The point was, every kid who went missing had obviously had a bad life. Meaning maybe the fairies weren't all bad. Maybe they were saving kids.

But Ben couldn't tell this to anyone. His parents hated his fascination with the faeries, and would shout at him when he so much as mentioned them in a positive way. Still, he found himself wishing they would take him away too. It was obvious his parents didn't love him. He hadn't even had a childhood, instead his father had always trained him to take on the role of mayor. Never mind that he may not want that. His mother never stopped him, or paid much attention to Ben.

The faeries couldn't be worse than this.

Turns out he was right.

He met her one day when he wandered too deep into the forest. She was climbing down a tree, and he watched her in fascination. She was wearing jeans and a loose purple tank top with hints of green and magenta in it. On the back of the shirt were two dragons forming a heart. The thing that surprised him most, though, was her hair. It was long and purple with some streaks of blue. He'd never seen that color.

That, and the huge lilac wings on her back.

She let go of the tree, letting her wings catch her as she touched down gently on the ground, then spun to face Ben. She looked a bit surprised.

"Hi," she said, shooting him a smile.

"Hi," he said hesitantly. "What are you?"

"A faery," she answered, smiling slightly. "I'm Mal."

"Ben," he answered, still shocked. There was a faery. Right in front of him!

She moved forward slowly, her wings folding against her back. She tentatively reached out a hand, her fingers brushing gently against Ben's cheek. Her head was tilted and she looked at him with a thoughtful expression.

His breath caught in his throat. He didn't know why, but her touch felt oddly familiar.

"You're lost," she said softly, and he had the feeling she wasn't just talking about his whereabouts.

Suddenly, she drew back and smiled at him, her hand slipping into his.

"Come on."

And then she had pulled him away, dragging him into the forest. She obviously knew the way, that much was clear.

Then Ben saw it.

It was a village, more beautiful and brimming with life than his had ever been. Because the people (or faeries) here weren't forced to be plain and 'normal,' they were extravagant and bright. The whole place was filled with colors and plants. It was like the village had merged with the surrounding forest, with vines and flowers growing everywhere.

"Welcome to the Isle of the Lost," Mal said, her fingers still tangled with his.

"Wow," Ben breathed, and suddenly felt something odd on his back. He turned and froze. He had wings. They were deep blue and as big as Mal's.

"How..." he breathed, shocked. He had no idea what was going on, but it was amazing.

"You're one of us," Mal said, smiling. "This is where you belong."

Suddenly he heard a voice, an achingly familiar voice, from his side.

"Ben!"

He turned, hardly daring to hope, but he was right. As Audrey crashed into him, it was like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. His arms tightened around her and he heard Mal chuckle a bit in amusement.

"You found him!" Audrey said, looking up at Mal, beaming. Ben noticed that she also had wings. They were a pale pink with hints of pastel blue in them that suited her perfectly.

"I told you I would, Addie," Mal said, the fond nickname slipping through her lips naturally as she smiled. "I'm going to take him to my parents, you can show him to the others later."

She nodded, and gave Ben another smile as Mal led him away, to a house that didn't seem any different than the others, except for the flowers. While the other houses only had a few different kinds of flowers that appeared random, this house had all of them. Every sort of flower that could be found in the village was growing somewhere on it.

Mal opened the door and called, "Mom! Dad! I have a new kid!"

A woman and man immediately walked in. The woman was beautiful with brown hair, black wings, and wearing an emerald green dress that matched her (and Mal's, Ben thought with a small smile) eyes. The man had blue hair in a mohawk and electric blue eyes. His wings were white, and he was smiling widely as he walked in.

"Lovely," the woman said. "What's your name?"

"Ben," he introduced himself. People back in the village insisted on calling him Benjamin, but he preferred the nickname.

"I'm Maleficent, and this is my husband Hades. And, as you likely know, this is our daughter Mal. Our son Hadie is currently out in the forest," she said. "You're in the Isle of the Lost."

"I know but...where exactly am I?" Ben said, the shock wearing away and being replaced by curiosity.

"It's a bit complicated," Hades said, motioning for Ben to sit. Mal sat down next to him, and he tried not to focus on how close she was to him. Maleficent and Hades sat in the seat opposite to him.

"The Isle of the Lost is in another world," Maleficent said. "But it's connected to your's. My ancestors built it on powerful magic. It's been designed to be a village for Faeries, and kids like you. We call it the Isle of the Lost because that's exactly who it's for. The children who are lost, like you and your friends. The ones who need help or saving. You'll all find your way to it before you become adults, no matter the challenges. It'll come when you need it the most. The kids who find their ways here have all been meant to be here. That's why the wings are there. You were just waiting until you could find your way here."

"But what about the stories?" Ben asked. "Why would people make up stories where you were the bad guys?"

"It's easy, they're humans," Hades answered with a sigh. "Humans want to control things. Too many things. Like your great-grandparents. They invented the stories once they found out that we helped kids - and took away part of their iron grip on their lives. It never stopped us though. The kids who are meant to find the Isle find it, nothing can stop that."

"And yes, our world is magic," Maleficent added. "The forest all around us is surrounded by magic. But we aren't immortal, we have the same lifespans as you humans. That part of the story was wrong. You can also get back to your world whenever you want, now that you've found your way here, finding it again would be easy. There's a path, all you have to do is walk down it and eventually you'll find yourself back where you were before you found the village, in your world. But most prefer not to leave our world."

Ben smiled.

"So, I'm free?"

This time it was Mal who spoke, and when he turned he met her bright green eyes, filled with excitement and happiness.

"Yes, you're free."

Ben got to see all his friends again, and every kid who ever left the village. It was amazing, and he also made friends with quite a few Faeries. For the first time, he wasn't judged for who he was or made to feel inferior. He was just...him. Ben.

He found himself catching up on his friends' lives. Lonnie had met a Faery named Jay, who was one of Mal's best friends, and they were dating. Audrey was also dating a Faery, his name was Gil. Chad was currently single, but had a crush on a pretty girl named Jane, who had also been one of the Lost Kids, but was found when she was three.

They had also all been adopted. Ben's adoptive parents were kind and amazing, and he loved them.

He also found himself becoming great friends with Mal. He spent a lot of time around her, which his friends loved to tease him about. Turned out they were right, because over time their relationship did evolve beyond simple friendship.

Fifteen Years Later

"Mallory, get back here!" Brandon's voice called across the flower field as he chased his sister.

Mal chuckled, watching them from her spot on the field. She was sitting cross-legged in the tall grass, smiling as her four-year-old chased her seven-year-old around the field. Her lilac wings were folded behind her.

When strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and she felt another person's wings brush against her's she didn't even flinch, only smiled wider and turned to her head to accept a kiss from her husband.

"Hi," she smiled.

"Hi," Ben said softly, moving to sit behind her so she could lean back into his chest. "Are they having fun?"

Mal nodded.

"Yep, although I think Mallory's gonna tire out soon. You know what Brandon's stamina is like," she chuckled.

"By the way, Audrey and Gil invited us for dinner tomorrow," Ben said.

"Let's go, we have nothing planned," Mal said with a shrug. "Besides, Lory's gonna be happy to see Adira. Never mind the fact that they literally see each other every day at school."

Ben chuckled a bit and placed a soft kiss to the back of Mal's head. Sometimes he wondered about the people back at the village. Did his parents miss him, or any of the others? Did they even talk about them?

But he honestly found he didn't care. Yes, he had once lived with them, but that was the extent of the connection. Nothing more, no emotional ties. He was happier in this beautiful world, with it's magic and freedom, than he ever was in that awful place with the people who had trapped him.

He smiled as he saw Mallory looked behind her to see how far back Brandon was, and watched the purple-haired boy crash into her, both of them tumbling to the ground as their shrieks of laughter flew through the air.

Then Ben looked down at Mal, who was watching them with a peaceful expression. No matter what he had left behind in the old village, seeing her smile like this was worth it.

It was strange, because everyone in the old village would claim he and the others had been kidnapped, stolen from their home, by evil faeries. Faeries like Mal was. But, in reality, all Mal had ever stolen from him was his heart, and he her's.

And Ben was fine with that.

I don't really know where this was going when I started, and I admit it's a bit weird. But I like how it eventually turned out, even though I'm not too sure about that ending.

But that's what reviews are for, to tell me what people thought of this story! So please leave one, I always enjoy hearing other people's opinions!

-Creator of Magic