The baby was curled into Mal's collar as she stepped off the ship and onto the Isle. It was the day after the Isle Rush had ended. Everyone had made it inside quickly. There had been some mistakes of people who shouldn't have been brought in and who were ejected from the barrier, but, overall, everything was flowing smoothly. Mal kept her hands wrapped around the small child, who was awake and peering around curiously, as she wove around people who were coming up to meet the ship. Coming off after her was an emergency arsenal of doctors and nurses to help the Isle Folk.
"They've been trying to assign rooms to everyone," Mal explained. "I assume they've been putting the seriously wounded on the first floors or in one of the larger homes together." She led the trek up to the city and stopped a young man as he walked past their group. "Excuse me, where can I find Eliza or Evelyn?" She asked. The young man turned and pointed towards the city entrance before continuing on to the beach. Mal nodded and turned to her crew of health care officials. "Wait here, I'll go and figure out where you'll be most needed."
Evelyn, May, Mercy, and Myth were all passed out alongside the gates and the inner walls of the city. Evelyn's head was slumped back and she was snoring in the sunlight with Mercy collapsed across her lap and May dropping her head on Myth's arm. A little meadow of grass had slowly started growing outwards. Mal knelt down and shook Evelyn's shoulder a little.
"Oh, let mom sleep," A voice came from behind her. Mal turned to see Eliza approaching with two large umbrellas. She propped them up at angles to shield them from the sunlight. "They were up until two or three trying to get everyone inside. Managed it, but they're exhausted."
"Oh dear," Mal frowned. "I wish I had been here. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Besides, you wouldn't have been able to do much. You have to let your magic have rests, and breaking a barrier before putting it back up is probably more than enough exercise for you." Eliza stretched her arms and nodded before leaning forward and ruffling Madison's hair. "Not to mention the, uh, battle and your healing and mind-wiping."
"Yeah, is Uma doing okay?" She asked, furrowing her brow.
"Dizzy and Anastasia have kind of taken her under their wings," Eliza informed Mal. "Uma has an apartment right by theirs, so they've been hanging out together. It's a good match. She's very curious about the Isle, but isn't too concerned about everything she forgot yet."
"That's good," Mal exhaled. She turned and gestured to the doctors standing beside the doors. "I brought you guys doctors. Where should I have them start?"
"Oh, I have records!" Eliza exclaimed with a bright smile. "I finished them fifteen minutes before your boat docked! I have them over in that building over there - that's where Mom and I have decided to set up your government headquarters, by the way. All your coins and your apartment records and everything is over there. Come on, I'll show you!" She began to walk away, and Mal followed her. They walked into a building where a painted wooden sign indicated 'Utopia Headquarters' and Eliza left Mal to look around as she hurried into her office and pulled down a large book. There was a carpet laid down, though it wasn't the cleanest and obviously needed some patching. Eliza's office was the larger of the two that Mal could see, and with a large bookcase wherein all the records appeared to be being stored. Eliza set down a large, edge-shredded binder and took a moment to point down the hall before she flipped it open. "Your office is down there. We know you have one at the palace, but we figured you would want something on the Isle for in the future when you want to meet with people. And we also have a committee room set up because I know you said you wanted one, but to be honest, this place was designed for a small business and not for a government building. I've already started passing ideas back and forth with mom, and she's going to design something more functional to be built beside the park the fae women put in."
"Wow, you guys went right to work," Mal hummed. She noticed that, at the back of the room, what she had intended to be a check-out desk for a store or something had been converted into a receptionists area, though there wasn't much Islanders would need to come in for yet. Eliza certainly had foresight, as she'd already allocated sitting areas and a little booklet with a sign reading: Appointments in Advance.
"Yeah, we did," Eliza agreed, flipping through her booklet to a little section marked with a tab as 'medical'. Other tabs read 'Businesses', 'Orphans', and 'Future Plans'. "Audrey has actually been super insightful. We've been going around to find people who can take care of kids since there's so many under twelve who were just living in packs on the streets, found a couple people who can teach trade skills, and with Evie's brother at work, we're starting a tree collage so people can know where they come from and who their parents are."
"So, like, when did you sleep?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.
Eliza shook her head. "I have weird insomnia. I can stay awake for ages, especially when I get going on a kick. I'll probably crash at the end of tomorrow or something. Here!" She slammed her finger down on a slot. "I know exactly where I need to start. Here, how about I go out and direct them and you can take a look at your office real quick. I think mom might have put a few things in there that we need and such."
She started to book it to the door, but Mal spun on her heel with a gasp. "Woah!" She exclaimed. "Are you... are you sure you don't need me or anything?"
Eliza chuckled. "Nope, I got this. By the way, I started a little list of positions we need to create and fill to help us run the Isle a little better. I have it divided by block right now, but you should probably take a look at it and make sure it's something you like. I'll show you later!" And with that parting statement, she dashed away. The door swung shut behind her. Mal ran her fingertips up and down Madison's back in shock as she took a few steps towards the door and watched Eliza dash towards the group of doctors, open her binder to a place she'd marked with her finger, and immediately begin handing out room numbers of people who needed help. Like clockwork.
She had expected that the Isle would, at some point, stop needing her help as much and eventually she'd have a day job somewhat similar to Ben's, but she hadn't expected people like Eliza to have this whole thing figured out so soon after arriving. Incredible.
Mal turned and followed Eliza's directions down the hall, swaying a little as Madison fussed and curled her little nails into Mal's shirt. At the end of the hall, in Evelyn's pretty designer scrawl, was the label 'Queen Mal's office'. She opened it. It was, really, four walls, a door, and a window. A desk and a bookcase and a sturdy wooden chair were the only furnishings. Mal frowned. Eliza and Evelyn were right. They needed a proper government building, not a repurposed store.
On her desk were several packets and papers. Mal gave a cursory look at them and discovered one was a rough draft of a building. Two floors with a meeting room centered on the second and a community room on the first. In the back, located in a circular alcove on the second floor, was a tiny label 'Mal's office'. Ah, so these were the plans for the future building that Evelyn had thrown out onto paper. Mal carefully pried Madison's fingernails off of her shirt and switched her sister to her arms before sitting on the desk and spreading the papers in her hands as if to show her. Eliza's designs weren't perfect, and there were obviously many corrections that would need to be made before her plans came to fruition, but already Mal could see the new place in her mind. The first floor would be very open, community-based, where people could have a safe place to meet and they could host events in the center room and people could come to get problems fixed and questions answered. And on the second floor, everyone's offices in one centralized location. Her own office could have spray paint on the walls and graffiti on the door. They could get portraits or paintings of the villains of the land to honor their roots and put them in the hallways. And the outside... would be nothing like Auradon's buildings. Auradon, with their stretching spires and sparkling palaces. Mal's building would be Isle, with stone detailing up the sides and glass set to let in as much light and goodness as possible. She could already picture the opaque rock decorations they could use to accent the structure along with the crests and symbols she'd long since been drafting for the Isle's use.
Madison reached forward and tried to grab onto the paper. She couldn't quite figure out how to unwrap her fingers though, so it just looked like she was punching the paper as she let out a couple of excited coos. Mal giggled, and the sound felt weird inside her throat. "It's pretty cool, huh?" She asked with a chuckle. "Us Isle folk, we know how to get things done." She hoped the Isle was never as obsessed with their government as Auradon was, watching their every move and creating massive divides between magical and non-magical, royal and citizen.
The door burst open and someone wearing a pink t-shirt whose sides had been cut and tied into fringe and some grey shorts and leather boots burst into the room. "Sorry!" Audrey gasped, running her hands through her hair and under her eyes hastily. The entire left side of her face had red marks and sand was coating her hair, so Mal assumed she must have fallen asleep on the beach last night instead of in her room. Her makeup hadn't been done for two days now, and Mal had never seen Audrey looking so natural looking. Red voodoo paint marks were on her right bicep, probably done by either Freddy or Celia Facilier, depending on who had been allowed inside. Celia, as she recalled, was rather close to her father, so she might have stayed.
Mal blinked at the daughter of Aurora several times as Audrey straightened up and her breathing slowed. "How was the party?" She asked.
"Oh, it was great," Audrey gasped, stifling a little smile as she continued trying to attack the snarls in her hair. "They made lights out of bottles and strong them up... it was way cool. I hung out with Uma and Dizzy and a couple of new girls from the Isle. I fell asleep as the sun was coming up and then someone shook me awake and told me you were here, so-" Audrey paused to take a large gulp of air. "I was wondering if I could stay another day? Not just to party, like I want to help too, but would that be okay?"
If Mal were to say that she'd been expecting this reaction and this situation and the daughter of Aurora asking her to stay behind on the Isle of the Lost, she'd be lying. She was completely dumbfounded as she searched for an answer. "Um, actually, Audrey, your mom is worried sick about you." She explained. "She wants you home... relatively soon. Last I'd heard, she'd called Belle twenty-three times to see if you were home yet. Belle asked me to either send you home or, um, drag you home?" Not Belle's exact words, but Mal figured that the meaning would be preserved if she toned down her mother-in-law's exasperation.
Audrey's expression dropped into one of heartbreak. "Oh," She sighed, hands falling to her sides as she let out a disappointed sigh.
Mal cleared her throat. "Well, um, you could always come back later. It's just... I don't want your mom to freak out if I have you stay longer. I could just let you know whenever I'm coming down and-"
"That'd be great!" Audrey exclaimed, brightening up immediately.
They stayed until about five, at which time Mal had gathered a list of things that would need to be completed from her real office in Auradon. With great sorrow, Audrey boarded the ship to return to Auradon with her. Mal knew very well that it would not be the last time Audrey went to the Isle.
The sun was beginning to set as Mal returned to the palace. Since Stewart had driven Evie, Jay, and Carlos in, Mal had taken the opportunity to test out her wings full-fold and found it was much, much faster than driving to and from the pier. She could land on the balcony to her old room and be in her office before forty-five minutes had passed. She still wasn't brave enough to try and fly over the water to the Isle, but maybe soon?
As Mal walked into her office and began to turn on her computer, Sophia walked past. "I'm leaving for the night a little early today." Sophia let her know. Her black hair was braided back and she was wearing a pretty skirt and blouse. "But you should know that… something is off with your mother. She's losing scales and changing color from black to grey."
"Uh-oh." Mal frowned. "Maybe I should take her to a vet or something?"
Sophia shrugged. "Whatever you think is best. You might also want Fairy Godmother to look at her."
"That's a good idea." Mal nodded. "I'll call her and get her opinion before I decide what to do." The computer made a whirring sound, and Mal began typing in her password.
"Do you have her number?" Sophia asked.
"No." Mal shook her head. "But Ben should. I'll ask him for it."
"Alright." Sophia nodded. "Have a good night."
"Goodnight, Sophia." Mal smiled and waved. She looked down at her calendar and skimmed her upcoming events for the next few weeks. It felt like it was already almost time for her to return to the moors, even though it was only the fourth. Doug had scheduled a maintenance check of her system for the day after she was gone. He seemed to like taking advantage of her absences.
Mal pulled out her phone. She uploaded a text post to the castle page. "Don't know if any of you noticed the giant dragon flying over the Isle yesterday, but that was my mom. I broke the barrier over the Isle and she transformed before I put it back up. Pro: no more acid rain and polluted water on the Isle. Con: Fairy Godmother's wand won't work there anymore. My mom has been shrunk down to a lizard and is here with me in Auradon, but she's kinda just… sitting under a heat lamp and shedding a lot. Not very interesting."
She hesitated, then made a smaller comment: Forgot to mention my husband got himself kidnapped and Miss Princess Audrey took on pirates with a sword. It was wicked cool."
Finally, she uploaded a picture of Madison and captioned it: "new baby sister. Madison Blithe Benson. Belle and Adam are adopting her since (believe it or not) being queen takes up a lot of time."
She texted Belle, Adam, and Ben and said: "I just uploaded a ton of stuff. Be prepared for the news app to blow up."
Belle sent back: "Twelve minutes, tops."
As Mal texted Ben to ask for the Fairy Godmother's number, Evie sent a picture. It was of a frilly pink girl's room with beautiful white and gold sculpting on the walls. Two bunk-beds with beautiful, colorful patterned bedspreads were set on either side of a large window looking out over Auradon Accelerated's campus and the sunset. "Night one," Evie said. "Wish me luck."
"You can do this," Mal reassured her.
As she began to type a paragraph in response to Evie, a strange sound filled the room. Mal looked up. The window to the outside was starting to freeze over. The rays of the sunset began to scatter across the room as frosty patterns spread over the pane.
Mal stood up. The frost now covered the window completely. She walked to the window and peered through the window as best she could through the heavy layers of frost. As she did, a strong line appeared in the icy mosaic. It was as if someone had begun drawing letters backward onto the glass. Mal's shock faded as she skimmed the message. It read: "Can I come in?"
An ice magical was outside her window. She peered through the foggy lines as the frost began to fade and spotted a light blue hoodie outside. Frost powers and flight powers. Okay.
Mal held her hand to the lock in the center of the pane and pushed it open. She opened the window out as far as it could go and stepped back. A face appeared, and then a teenage boy slipped in through the window. Mal sat back on her desk as he landed. It was the same icy boy Ben had met a little less than a month ago.
"Um…" He exhaled. "Hi?" He asked. He seemed to be a little intimidated by her. Mal guessed he hadn't been expecting someone with purple hair by the way he was staring at it in awe.
Mal sized him up. He had a definite sense of magic about him, but his was unlike almost any she'd known before. Almost. Mal smirked. "You're Ericka and Jessie's dad, huh?" She asked, immediately drawing the parallels between his and Elsa's magic. It pleased her that she could know that off the top of her head.
The boy jumped and rose off the ground in sudden alarm. "Uh… what?" He stuttered.
"Aren't you?" Mal asked, tilting her head.
He fumbled for a response, possibly an excuse, and then settled back down. "How'd you know?" He asked, rotating his staff in his palms.
"Magic." Mal shrugged. She squinted at him. Ericka was past twenty, but this man…. "How old are you?" She asked, frowning a little in concentration.
"Seventeen?" He trailed off.
"No." Mal shook her head. "I mean how long have you existed?"
He was silent for a second, then leaped off the ground to perch on the top of his curved stick. It remained upright, balancing him as if he weighed nothing. "Almost four hundred years." He admitted.
Mal stared at him. Her hands froze with an iron grip on the edge of her desk. She examined her unlikely guest from head to toe, taking in his bare feet, white hair, and the way the room had grown colder since he'd arrived. A winter spirit?
"You're about to make my life a whole lot harder, aren't you?" She asked, frowning a bit. And just after she'd finally patched up her life with Ben and on the Isle, too.
He winced. "Sorry." He admitted. "My name is Jack Frost, and I've been waiting to talk to you and the king for about a month now, but no one can see me, so I can't exactly make an appointment."
"Ugh." Mal groaned, sitting down with her head spinning. "Okay. Just… just stay here – stay." She pointed sternly at him as if she knew he would flee. "I'll text Ben and he'll be along shortly."
Jack Frost floated down from his staff and took a seat in a chair against the wall. Mal returned to her seat and began to text her husband. The frost melted completely off the window as frost began to creep through the carpet and covered the chair Jack was sitting on.
The message went through and was read immediately. Mal tapped her fingers on her desk as she watched her guest figet. "You know," She started, "Jessie looks a lot like you. Same nose and everything." Ever since Ben had asked her what Madison might have looked like if she and he were her parents, she'd been examining everyone's features. Ben, she'd noticed, had the same physic as his dad, though his emotions definitely ran in the same court as his mom.
Jack looked startled. "Yeah." He agreed. "She does."
"Ericka looks more like Elsa, though." Mal hummed.
Jack shrugged. "She looks more like her now that she's older. When she was younger, she was very mixed between the two of us." Talking about his daughter was helping him relax a little bit.
"How long have you known Elsa?" Mal asked as she began to shuffle through papers.
"I don't know." Jack shrugged. "Time doesn't mean too much to me. She was twelve."
"A while, then." Mal decided.
There came huffing and puffing from down the hall. Mal looked over as Ben rushed in, red-faced.
Mal raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for hurrying?" She remarked.
Ben rolled his eyes and waved half-heartedly at Jack as he took a seat beside the door. "Hey, Jack." He gasped. "I was beginning to wonder if I'd see you again."
Mal glanced from Ben to Jack. "I see you've met." She remarked.
"Sorry." Ben pounded on his chest momentarily as he caught his breath. "Mal, this is Jack. He appeared in our bedroom while you were gone and asked to see us but left when he heard you weren't there."
Jack coughed. "I'm sorry." He said. "It's nothing personal… I wanted to speak to you both at once."
Mal frowned and clasped her hands together. "But… are you here to talk about the Isle? Or Auradon?" She asked.
"Auradon," Jack answered.
"Oh." Mal scrunched her eyebrows together. "But… I'm not in charge of Auradon. I don't have very much power here at all."
"Really?" Jack asked. "Oh. I'd still like to have you here, please?"
Mal examined Jack's nervous posture. "It's because I'm magical." She guessed. She glanced sideways at her husband, whose color was beginning to return. He nodded, breathless. "You don't think Ben will understand?" She asked Jack. "He still married me, even knowing I was magical."
"With all due respect," Jack muttered angrily. "Auradon wasn't exactly partial to magic under his parent's rule."
Silence reigned. Mal glanced at Ben, who wouldn't meet her gaze. He slumped in his chair and stared at the carpet.
"Well," Mal said tactfully. "Proceed then."
Jack straightened up a little and curled his bare feet around the base of his staff. "I've come to you with a request for help." He said. "I come from a land far, far north. There's a whole different world up there – a continent aside from Auradon. It's full of creatures far different from Auradon's. We're… built differently, as I'm sure Mal noticed. We have trolls, ogres, thousands of creatures. Before we discovered each other, we were all isolated. But after we discovered each other, all of our villains banded together against all of us. It's basically the opposite of Auradon over there. The villains have pillaged the land as they spread across the continent, and two villains in particular – Pitch Black and Eris, have been wreaking havoc on the inhabitants of the land. We're… loosing."
Mal exchanged a look with Ben. Ben straightened up with a rigid spine and frowned. At that moment, he seemed more like his father than his mother. Mal was reminded distinctly of Adam when she'd first arrived in Auradon when he'd stood with a fixed scowl and guarded himself behind an arsenal of thick vocabulary. Or when the spell had been broken, and he had snapped and sneered while Belle shook and sobbed.
"Who sent you?" Ben demanded.
Jack tousled his blonde locks carefully. "I'm… kind of one of the leaders of the resistance force? There's Nicholas St. North, E. Aster Bunnymund, Sanderson Mansnoozie, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, Proteus Fiennes, basically the Belle-Cinderella-Ariel-Mulan-Aurora-Elsa mix of our continent."
"In your non-biased opinion." Mal snorted. Jack chuckled and shrugged.
Ben raised an eyebrow at them. It was clear he didn't get the jibe. Mal rolled her eyes. "Mr. Frost and Elsa have a fling going." She explained. "It's probably why Ericka should try focusing her magic through a wand or staff rather than with her hands like Elsa." Ben raised his eyebrows and nodded as he decided to roll with the punches.
Jack wrung his hands. "My family issues aside, I was sent to request help from Auradon. I happen to be one of the fastest in our group. The heroes of our realm have known about you for some time, however, you're kind of our best-kept secret. The villains have no clue about you, but if they destroy the rest of us, they'll have no qualms taking Auradon. As I've heard, you have an Island full of nasties who the villains would probably love to have some back-up from."
"Probably." Mal agreed. She and Jack met eyes and then swung their gazes over to Ben. Ben bit his cheek, clasped his hands together, and thought on what to do. After several long minutes, he turned towards Mal, as if he had decided to ignore the fact Jack was in the room.
"Can I share my thoughts with you?" He asked with a knife's edge to his voice.
Mal made a motion with her hand like she was offering the floor to him.
"If I sit this out and then the villains enter our land, we'll have to do an emergency arousal of the populace, and they may be angry we didn't take initiative. If you join, I'll probably end up joining after you even though I really don't want a war. But we'll be contributing Auradon supplies to an effort on a continent we've never known about before, and people may be angry about that as well. The Isle still isn't functioning 100%, and you'll be busy there. On top of that – I've never led a war effort, nor seen my dad do it. You understand strategy and you're good at fighting, but you don't have that full-scale experience either. I'd have to call in other rulers, which I can do, of course, but most of us coexist by never seeing each other except at social groups. Especially among the princes, there's some bad blood. I might be inviting controversy into the kingdom."
Mal scooted her chair away from her desk and pulled her leg onto her knee. "If you don't join and you decide to sit it out, and later a fight comes to Auradon, you won't have the same allies you do now. They'll have been destroyed. Knowing you, you'll take that on your conscience. Can you live knowing people will die if you don't step in?" The answer, as she already knew, was no. She and Ben were somewhat similar in that regard. It was what made them both leaders.
Ben bit his lip. "Li Shang and Mulan would know how to lead a war effort." He remarked. "I'd end up having to hand reins over to people like them."
"Good to have multiple voices," Mal remarked. "Who else?"
"Stefan died years ago, thank goodness." Ben sighed. "But he's the only person I can think of off the top of my head with any real warfare experience." Ben rolled his eyes. "You'd think we were a peaceful nation or something."
Mal snorted. "Does Elsa's trade war with Weasleton count?" She asked.
"No." Ben and Jack retorted at the same time.
Mal rolled her eyes. "In theory, if we do join forces and conquer your villains, what next?" She asked Jack. Ben spun back around to face Jack as he shriveled a little under their gazes.
"I wasn't exactly given a ton of bargaining chips when they sent me." He admitted. "I'll be honest, we don't have a ton. We're mostly fueling our resources into our own losing battle. But… I'm going to go out on a limb here, when we win, we'll accept whatever barrier claims you want to impose between the two nations, we'll grant war spoils within reason, and… you can decide the fate of the remaining villains."
Mal scrunched up her nose. "Sounds like you're pawning most of the law stuff on us. Why should we deal with your villains?"
Jack sighed. "I don't know… I mean, your methods worked out pretty well." He rubbed the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. "I'd have to converse it with the other leaders. The only thing I can promise you is peace once we bring the villains down. Otherwise, they'll just cross over into your territory. Already we have several escaped sea monsters, and-"
"Sorry." Ben choked. "Sea monsters?" Mal stared at Jack with wide eyes as she gripped the side of the desk. Ben, meanwhile, was digging his palms into his kneecaps. Every muscle in his body was tense.
"Uh, yeah?" Jack trailed off. "The missing ones are from a goddess named Eris. She lives in the realm of Tartarus. No one can get out though since she locked the gates, so we've stopped sending people in. You have to have the same kind of dark magic as her."
"Perchance…" Ben swallowed. "Is said sea monster large, with tentacles, tannish-green and slimy?"
Jack looked horrified. "Oh no." He muttered.
"Oh no?" Mal asked with increasingly narrowed eyes.
"You've seen our monsters in Auradon?" Jack began to float in his anxiety. Snowflakes fell from underneath his feet.
"It pulled an entire island off the coast of the great forest into the sea." Ben supplied. "And we tried to open fire on it about a month ago. Our navy has been patrolling the perimeter up there for a couple of months now."
Jack shook his head. "It's probably too late." He sighed. "One of Eris's pets. Name of Cetus. He probably returned to tell her what he found."
Mal glanced at Ben. Ben stared at Jack in shock, and then glanced at her. She held his gaze. For several seconds, there was no sound in the room. Then Mal gave Ben an unfortunate look and opened her mouth. "Like it or not," She told him. "I believe we're at war."
"Another monster was sighted off the coast," Ben grumbled when Mal stepped out of the shower that night. "Further west, almost to the Moorlands. Auradon Navy shot it and collected the remains." He was sitting in a chair against the wall, typing furiously on his phone.
Mal hummed as she pulled her pajama shirt straight. "Good thing I told you to send the navy up, right?" She asked.
"Right," Ben agreed, rubbing one of his eyelids. "You have incredible foresight."
Mal returned to the bathroom briefly to brush her teeth and find a comb in one of the drawers. She began to comb through her damp locks as Ben gnawed on his cheek and mashed out several e-mails on his phone. "Jack says he thinks the border will just get messier as they continue to lose forces up there." She reminded him. "What did Adam say about a war?"
"That he doesn't know how to lead one." Ben sighed. He put his phone away and gestured to a chair beside him. Mal sat down and Ben threaded his fingers together. "I think we're almost certainly going to join, though." Ben murmured. "I already released a short decree about how it's important to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and how we need to step up when we are called. People are talking about how something is going on. I'm hoping the talk will make the revelation a bit less shocking."
Mal scoffed. "Less shocking? That there's a continent that Auradon never even knew about?" She laughed. "People are going to think you guys at the palace have been hiding this for years."
"I know." Ben sighed. "There's not much we can do, though." He looked up and watched Mal comb the last of her tangles out. "Which means you and I have a problem." He whispered.
Mal frowned. "About what?" She asked.
"This is an Auradon fight." Ben murmured. "I'm not a general and I have no war experience, but that doesn't mean I might not be called north to lead everyone."
Mal shrugged. "Well, duh. You're the king. People like to see rulers who are out there fighting with them. It's a union thing. And it'll be good for the people who are here to know that you're up there and-" Her face fell. "Oh." She gasped. "But... you're Auradon's core ruler." She turned to stare at Ben, who was nodding and looking a little grave. Then, suddenly, the reality came crashing down on her. He might leave. Her heart twisted.
"I can't rule Auradon from up there," Ben whispered. "For one, cell coverage doesn't cover. I'd have to decree everything by mail or using that basin of yours, and that simply takes too long. People are not going to be happy about the war after so many years of peace, and there may be a lot of unrest. If there are any revolts or public statements, I won't be able to react quickly enough to help here at home. I would need you to step up and cover the third throne."
Mal wilted a little in her chair. "So I would have to cover Auradon, the Isle, and the Moorlands?" She sighed.
Ben held his hands up with a sigh. "I don't know if you would be able to go to the Moorlands as much as you need to be there." He explained. "Auradon doesn't realize it, but they would literally lose their minds if the palace disappeared for a month."
"What about your parents?" Mal asked. "Even if I had to shorten time to two weeks, I have to be at the moors to make sure their magic isn't becoming stifled."
"Two weeks is still too much." Ben shook his head. "You know me. I take off maybe a day every two months. I have to be in the palace on a day to day basis to be balancing resources and addressing complaints and having video meetings with people all over the country. People are constantly coming to me to get approvals on public efforts and I get complaints twenty-four-seven about pollution, people wanting different types of schooling, people complaining that we have a standing army and no enemies in sight, people complaining that we don't have enough of a standing army and no enemies in sight. All of this is just daily occurrences that I have to balance. You or I can't just... vanish for two weeks."
"I have to be at the moors, Ben." Mal sighed. "And I have to get to the Isle. I have to be there to lead people too."
"I know, but if I get called northward, there has to be someone to cover Auradon for me, and you're next in line." Ben leaned forward and took her hands. "I need to start making arrangements. You're next in line for my throne and you have the most responsibility of Auradon after me. Can you or can you not take care of my country if I have to leave?"
"I don't know how to take care of Auradon." Mal sighed, closing her eyes and squeezing his hands. "I know you and Doug spent all those hours but I'm going to be honest, I let most of that go because the Isle is just so different from Auradon. We'll have to carve out some time so you reteach me a few things."
"Mal." Ben drew her attention back to him. "Can you take care of my country?"
Mal sighed. "I don't know, Ben. How would I take care of the moors?"
Ben bit his lip. "I don't know." He sighed.
"Did Adam say anything about-" Mal began, but Ben cut her off.
"I have all those things I've been working on that I haven't talked with Dad about," Ben admitted heavily, taking a hand and pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I'm taking out a few laws that give kingdoms the right to send people to the Isle of the Lost for certain crimes after three trials, one that allows companies to destroy land if there isn't anyone occupying it, and, um-" Ben swallowed. "I really am working to remove the laws on magic." He coughed. "Among others that I probably shouldn't be telling you about yet." He looked a bit flustered.
Mal let out a laugh. "So, you'd prefer me in your office over your father because you're concerned about how he'll react to you undoing several of his life's works?"
Ben shook his head as he let out a little laugh. "Yeah, something like that." He told her.
"But if some of that is confidential, would you want me there at all?" Mal asked.
"I'd rather have someone disconnected from the issue, for the most part, than my dad, who worked very hard on all these things I'm ripping apart." Ben sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But you can't go anywhere with any of the information in my office." He warned.
"Where would I go?" Mal scoffed. "None of my friends really enjoy hearing about you, aside from Sophia, and we only talk about our love lives together." Ben let out a laugh at her statement. She rolled her eyes and bit her lip as she continued thinking. "I would probably have to put a lot of things aside for when you come back." She sighed. "Oh god, let's see here." She took her other hand out of his and folded them together as she thought. "The moors are peaceful and will remain that way unless they feel threatened by Auradon. You already know that story, though. And it's a community-based nation. The different species work things out among them and my main job is to protect their borders and secure the magic inside. That's not a big job but it's definitely something I'm required to be present for. And the Isle as well - there's almost no way for me to get a hold of Evelyn from Auradon. They do things by themselves and everyone is really proactive but I'm still expected to be over there so I can organize systems and start directing trade and I have to be actively finding ways to boost our economy because we started completely from scratch. Those are both things I cannot be in the palace for, Ben. I have to be out."
"I'm sure you could definitely set aside a lot of things for when I get back," Ben replied, though he was looking a bit stressed. "And not all of it has to be done in-office. I'd prefer you didn't work on those classified things outside of my office or really, on some things, at all, but the video calls from the lesser royals that happen can be taken from any secure location."
"What about all the people who come to you and want you to pass new laws or give them money to start new things?" Mal asked.
"You'd want to be in-office with the books and everything." Ben sighed. He ran a hand over his face. "Okay, this just won't work." He stood up and began to pace. "Is... there any chance I can take all the important stuff out of my office and leave it in yours? And is there also any chance you can handle all the important business stuff, since you're second in line, and I can have my parents split video conferences and the easy stuff?"
"Is it for sure that you're leaving then?" Mal sighed.
"I'm going to try and stay." Ben sighed. "But, just in case." He sat back down. "Do you have any concerns?"
"Yeah." Mal sighed. "I don't want to be responsible for Auradon. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I just don't know the country that well and the citizens and the government are so different from what I'm used to governing..." She shook her head. "I don't know if I can do it. And I don't want you to leave either."
Ben let out a laugh and got back to his feet. He held a hand for her, helped her up, and pulled her into his embrace. Mal went into his grasp and leaned her head onto his chest as she thought. Ruling Auradon... she almost couldn't comprehend it. How would she rule the moorlands, and Auradon, and the Isle? She wished she could go up north instead of him, but the same problems existed. Ben couldn't travel to the Moors to make sure they hadn't started to denature again, which sometimes they had when she arrived. And the Isle was different from what he was used to; he couldn't rule it as she could.
"I'll try and stay," Ben promised. "That way you won't have to worry for Auradon." Mal hummed and wrapped her arms around his back. Ben let one of his arms drop but kept the other around her shoulder. He looked over at Maleficent, who was sitting under her lamp, shivering. "Your mom doesn't look too good." He whispered.
Mal looked over to the terrarium. Maleficent was shedding scales and turning a light grey color. She frowned. "No, she doesn't." She agreed. "I think I need to call the Fairy Godmother." She walked out of Ben's grasp and over to her mother with a deep frown. Ben stood behind the couch and watched as Mal fiddled with the heat lamp, bringing it a little closer to Maleficent.
"Do you think she's aware of us?" Ben asked. "Like, can she hear you and I talking?"
"I don't know." Mal shrugged, examining the lizard. She sat down on the couch and Ben took hold of her shoulders and began to massage them. Mal gave him an odd look over her shoulder, and then examined her mom. "I wonder what she thinks of us." She said aloud.
"Chances are she doesn't think too highly." Ben reasoned, leaning down to kiss Mal's hair. "You kind of failed to overthrow the monarchy, remember?"
"And fell in love, how dare I." Mal laughed. "Not to mention everything we got up to last night." She put a hand on top of Ben's as they worked into her shoulders. A warm feeling erupted in her stomach at the memories. "She's probably pretty disgusted with me." Mal laughed.
"We were quiet." Ben protested with a frown. "And the door was shut."
"Still." Mal murmured. "Neither of us tried to keep it from being obvious when we got up this morning." On the contrary, they'd sat in bed for an extra thirty minutes before getting up, exploring each other in the daylight, and then both had made grabs at each other as they brushed their teeth and headed out the door. Mal reached forward and ran a hand along the top of the glass container. "I swore revenge against her when I first came here. I was so mad..." She laughed. It had been so long ago.
"Hmm." Ben let go of Mal's shoulders and leaned over the couch beside her. Mal fell deeper into thought as she considered the shivering state of Maleficent. She moved her head a little and took a small breath. "Do you think she loves me?" She asked aloud.
Ben blinked. "I don't know." He said honestly. "I would think so. She's your mom, and you're her daughter. She raised you. How could she not love you?"
"But she sold me." Mal looked over her shoulder. "Maybe I never meant anything to her. Maybe I was just her chance off of the Isle."
Ben put his arms around her. "I don't know." He whispered. "Maybe we'll never know. She must have cared about you in some degree, though, otherwise, you wouldn't be here." Mal cocked her head in thought. He had a point. Ben kissed her head. "I love you." He whispered. "Do you know that?"
Mal smiled. "Yes." She agreed, turning towards him. She got on her knees on the couch as she put her hands around his head. "And I love you." She promised. Mal leaned forward and Ben met her halfway. He wrestled with her mouth for a few seconds as they found a good angle and kissed steadily for a few seconds before a horrible guttural sound made them jump apart.
Ben stared at the terrarium. "Was that..." He trailed off.
Maleficent flicked her tail and hissed. The sound made Ben's hair stand on end. Mal laughed. "I guess that answers your question." She laughed. "She can hear us."
Maleficent hissed at the two again, and Ben raised his eyebrows. "Okay, I can take a hint." He told his mother-in-law with arms raised. Then, with a smirk towards Mal, he swept the purple-haired queen off of the couch and into his arms. Maleficent hissed again, even louder. Mal yelped as Ben began to carry her in the direction of their bedroom. "We'll just continue this in here." He called over his shoulder. Mal laughed. Maleficent's last hiss was cut off as Ben closed the door with his foot.
"You didn't turn off the light." Mal reprimanded as he set her down on their bed, resting his hands beneath her hips and his forehead against hers as he did. "And the door to the hall isn't locked."
Ben groaned. "Can't you do it from a distance?" He asked as he pulled off her shoes and set them on the floor. "With magic?" He pleaded.
Mal smirked. "Lights off, without a doubt; keep us in and lock them out!" She tried. Underneath the door, the lights went out and they heard the lock slide from the other room. Ben looked incredibly impressed. She laughed. "First try!" She cheered as he slipped off his own shoes and took her face in one of his hands. "You know, if you stayed, you could see me do that, like, every day."
Ben laughed. He leaned forward and stole a long, sweet kiss from her. His tongue skimmed her lower lip. Mal's hands started to explore up under his shirt and around his arms. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him. "Believe me when I tell you that there are far different things I'd like to see you do besides turning on and off lights." He laughed against her mouth.
"I'm here," Mal told him. Her mouth was stretched out into a smile. "And I don't think I'm going anywhere else."
"Hmm." Ben hummed aloud. He buried his nose in her collarbone and inhaled the smell of her. "You tell me when to quit, and I will," He promised as he began to undo his shirt and slide his belt out of its loops.
Mal rolled her eyes. She used her new spell to turn off the lights in the bedroom and he started to put his hands on her. Their rings clicked together in the darkness. Beautiful warmth spread out from her belly, making her want him harder than she'd ever wanted anything before. It didn't matter that it might hurt. It didn't matter that so much had already happened today. She just knew, as he pulled fabric off of her, that she needed to feel like she had last night, again. Ben's kisses became sloppy, landing on her eyes and the corners of her face, and his touches lit fire beneath her skin that forced her eyes closed. She only saw in flashes of vision after that; clothes on the floor, skin in the pale light, and Ben's beautiful eyes teasing her from a distance. She wanted to feel like this all the time.
Mal sat outside the master bedroom beside the door. The Fairy Godmother was inside, examining her mom. Mal was wasting time on her phone, alternating between the news apps and the castle page. Adam's page had fallen mostly unused since Ben became king, while Belle's was filled with her normal book lists and now, with pictures of Madison.
Mal got the vibe that no one was sure what to think of Madison. Belle and Adam's adoption papers were going to be finalized the following week, and everyone in the castle was beyond excited. Even Mal. She'd posted dozens of selfies with her, Ben, Belle, Adam, Sophia, and Stewart crowding around Madison. The pictures got high likes, and many commented on the child's exquisite beauty, but there were still some in Auradon who were wondering where she'd come from and what she was going to do in the palace. Especially knowing that Maleficent was off the Isle, even in lizard form, the news was shocking. Many people were back to thinking Mal was ten steps away from throwing over the monarchy for bringing her lizardly mother to Auradon, though the protestors that had mostly diminished over the months had not resurfaced.
A couple of people had complained over the fact the Fairy Godmother's wand wouldn't work in Auradon anymore. A lot of people didn't really understand basic concepts of magic and had no idea why exactly the wand wouldn't work inside the Isle, but Mal didn't really feel the need to explain it all at the moment. Maybe later. Just not now.
The door to the bedroom opened and the Fairy Godmother herself stepped up. She looked down at Mal and saw the news screen open on her phone. "Anything good?" She asked.
Mal groaned. "All about us, as per usual. Not a lot of it isn't nice, so no. It's more bad than good."
Fairy Godmother grimaced. "Well, I'm afraid I'm about to give you more bad news." She told Mal.
Mal's jaw fell slack. The Fairy Godmother propped the door open with her toe. Mal got to her feet and slipped inside in front of the Fairy Godmother. On the center table in front of the TV was Maleficent's terrarium, with its sole occupant sitting in the center, underneath the light. Most of Maleficent's black scales had withered away into grey and then fallen off. Blood leaked from her skin when she moved in the slightest. The poor lizard looked miserable.
Fairy Godmother led Mal to the couch and sat her down with a deep breath. She gestured to Maleficent with one upraised hand. "What do you know about Magical Poisoning, Mal?" She asked.
Mal blinked in shock. "Nothing." She admitted. The term was completely new to her.
Fairy Godmother let out a deep breath. "It's pretty awful stuff." She admitted, wringing her hands. "Magical poisoning is damaged, dangerous magic. It occurs when you interact with too much bad magic, or hurt yourself using magic, or when it's being used irresponsibly. It affects both magicals and nonmagicals, though in very different ways. For non-magical people, like Ben, for example, there would be horrible sicknesses involved. The magic festers under their skin and burns them out from the inside, mutating with blood and organs. But for magical people like you and Maleficent, it largely depends on how and where you use your magic. Magic requires exercise even if only in small degrees. Not only has Maleficent been unable to practice her magic for upwards of thirty years, but she has also been disconnected from it. I assume when the barrier went down, and the ability filled her once more, she overdid it horribly. Changing shape is not a simple matter. She burned too much at once, and from what I can tell, hurt herself beyond repair."
"Beyond repair?" Mal repeated. Her hands felt cold and clammy.
The Fairy Godmother leaned forward and put her hand on Mal's hand. "Your mother is dying," She whispered. "Because she is damaged, her magic is not working correctly and is becoming polluted. Polluted magic to any degree is dangerous, as it was for the moorlands and its inhabitants. In this case, however, there is no renewal ceremony that can save her. Maleficent is dying, and there's nothing anyone can do."
Mal clasped her hand to her mouth like she was going to throw up and took several sharp inhales. "Can I take her to the Isle again?" She begged.
"I doubt it would work." The Fairy Godmother shook her head. "She's already very far gone."
Mal threaded her fingers through her hair and tugged lightly at her scalp. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to remain at some semblance of a calm. "Okay." She sighed. "Is there anything else I need to know?" She asked.
Fairy Godmother shook her head. "Nothing." She stood and headed for the door without a departing sentiment. Mal too, remained silent as the door closed. She looked at her mother and watched the lizard breathe in and out, as slow as could be done. Mal could see Maleficent was in pain.
Mal got down on the floor next to her mom's cage and laid her head on the table. The lizard made no movements aside from breathing.
"Hi, mom," Mal whispered softly. Tears immediately pricked her eyes, though she wasn't sure why she was suddenly sad. It wasn't like her mom had cared when she'd sent her daughter to Auradon with strangers. Why should she care now?
But Mal knew the answer to that question. She wasn't her mother; she'd been raised around suffering and knew what pain felt like. And because of that knowledge, she sought to guard everyone else against it. But this was something she couldn't fix.
"I'm sorry." Mal coughed. "I wish there was something I could do. But the Fairy Godmother says there isn't."
Maleficent opened one tiny eye and closed it again. Mal got the feeling that, if her mother had been a human instead of a lizard, she would have just rolled her eyes at her distressed daughter. Mal straightened back up and sniffled. It was still early. She had things she needed to do. Most importantly, return to the Isle of the Lost. She didn't suppose any of the magical kids would have magical poisoning since they hadn't had the chance to grow into their potential as they got older, but, hopefully, the older villains with magic, like Dr. Facilier and Ursula, weren't gasping for breath and wondering what was going on.
She grabbed her isle jacket on the way out and wiped the remnants of the tears out of her eyes. On her way down the stairs, Mal had the inspiration to text Audrey, whose number she'd gotten from Ben. "I'm heading down to the dock to take a ship to the Isle." She wrote. "If you're interested, I can wait for you?"
Before she'd even made it to the front door, Audrey had texted back: "Yes! I'll be there!"
As Mal reached for the door, she heard someone yell behind her. "Mal!"
She looked up the stairs and stopped when she saw Ben in a short-sleeved blue polo shirt. Madison was cradled into his arm as he dashed down the steps. Her heart warmed up a bit as she saw him speeding towards her. "Hey!" He called. "Hold on! We were just coming out to find you. Are you headed out to the Isle?"
"Yeah," Mal said softly. Ben skidded to a stop a few feet in front of her. He smiled brightly for a few seconds and then examined her. His smile faded.
"You're sad." He commented as he took a few steps forward and touched her arm. "Fairy Godmother give you bad news?"
Mal nodded and took Madison out of Ben's arms to give her sister a hug. Belle had dressed Madison in little purple yoga pants with a yellow shirt and a pretty white bobble necklace around her tiny neck. She had the tiniest socks Mal had ever seen on and was cooing happily as she gnawed on her left fist. Ben didn't wait for her to give Madison back before he picked Mal up and swept her off her feet into a giant hug. "Tell me." He whispered.
Mal laughed as her feet found the floor again. She passed Madison back to Ben. "My mom has this thing called magical poisoning. In simple terms, we cut her off from magic for thirty years, and then we gave it back to her too fast. It's like an overworked muscle but way worse. Fairy Godmother says she'll die, and there's nothing she told me that works to stop it."
Ben's face fell. "Oh, Mal…" he trailed off. He used the hand that wasn't busy balancing Madison to pull Mal into his chest. "I'm so sorry." He whispered into her hair.
"It's okay," Mal mumbled. She wrapped her arms around him and took a deep breath. "I mean… I don't really need her in my life. She wasn't the best mom. And I have Belle, and you…"
Ben shook his head. "You only get one mom." He whispered.
Mal snorted. "Unless you marry a man raised by angels." She pointed out. She flicked Ben's nose playfully. Ben laughed half-heartedly. Mal began to walk towards the doors.
"Oh!" Ben exclaimed. "I almost forgot to tell you that… we're arranging for an emergency council meeting."
Mal stopped with the door open and one foot outside the threshold. "Council meeting?" She asked.
Ben nodded with a wince. "Basically all of the royals here in the castle so we can discuss what's going on with Jack's country before we reveal to the country what's going on. Technically, you don't have to attend since this is Auradon stuff. They'll start to arrive the week you leave for the moors. Want to sit through it all with me?"
Mal made a repulsed face. "No thank you!" She declared. "You can deal with your kingdom by yourself."
Mal laughed as Ben groaned pitifully. "Bye hun." She said as she slipped out. The door thudded shut behind her.
"Bye." He called with a sigh, turning to head back up the steps. He bounced Madison in his arms lightly and laughed as she cooed up at him. "You're pretty cute." He told her. "You're almost as cute as my wife." He winked at the child conspiratorially and laughed when she gurgled in return.
I do not own Disney's Descendants, Sleepign Beauty, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Incredibles 2, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, 101 Dalmanations, Frozen, Mulan, and The Princess and the Frog or Dreamwork's Rise of the Guardians, Sinbad; Legend of the Seven Seas, and How to Train your Dragon.