The first headline across her phone read: "AURADON AT WAR." Then, in quick succession, new headlines appeared. "Undiscovered Northern Continent Engaged in Civil War", "Auradon Barrier Allows Unknown Monsters Through", and finally, "King Benjamin Declares War Against Overland Villains".
Mal hummed as she sipped on a strawberry smoothie and read through the official palace announcement, dictating in detail about the new continent, the lost island and the attack on the moorlands, and how Auradon had been approached. Reason for entering the war and a lengthy description of the battle as it currently stood. For the first time in several months, Ben's page was more popular than hers. That was funny, to think that she was more popular than the actual ruler of the country.
"Looks like everything is changing," Adam grumbled as he squinted at his phone. Mal nodded. She and her father-in-law were the only people in the room. She didn't know where Belle was, or Ben for that matter. They were probably fine.
"Have anything today?" Adam asked. "You might not want to try to go to the Isle. The press might watch for you at the docks."
"No, I was going to stay in anyways," Mal replied. "I actually should be getting up to my office soon." She pushed her chair out and, still examining the articles, reached out blindly for her glass. "I'll see you around," She bid Adam farewell before turning and leaving.
As she passed by the library, she heard a tiny cry and paused to peer inside. The room was warm – much warmer than it had been outside lately – and mostly empty except for the figure in yellow who was sitting on one of the couches, reading. She slipped past the doorframe and walked over without a word.
Mal draped her frame across the back of the couch and looked down at Belle, whose eyes flicked up to peer at her daughter-in-law. She reached for a bookmark, marked the page, and then closed the book before swinging her feet off the couch and gesturing to the now vacant seat. "What's up?" She asked.
"Not much," Mal shrugged even though that wasn't true. "Where's Madison?"
Belle pointed to the ground on the other side of the couch, where a baby's blanket was spread on the ground and little Madison on her tummy, examining the world around her and struggling to keep her head up. "Ah," Mal nodded. She took a seat beside for a moment before Belle reached down and picked up Madison. She offered the girl to her sister and Mal received her with a little smile.
Madison was light in her hands. Would her baby end up being this small? Maybe they'd even have her matching hair.
"Was there something you were coming up to see me for?" Belle asked, smiling at her two daughters fondly.
Mal swallowed. She suddenly felt uneasy. Holding Madison was reminding her of everything that was coming and everything she was about to go through. She tried to swallow her doubts down. "I was heading to my office," she explained. "But now that you mention it, I do have something I was to ask you." Belle inclined her head and Mal began tracing the outside of Madison's ear as she tried to gather her thoughts. "What was it like for you? Getting Ben?" She asked.
Belle's eyes brightened. She reached for Madison. Mal let her go without much of a fight. After all, Madison was Belle's daughter now. "It was wonderful," Belle smiled. "Having the doctors put him in my arms was one of the best feelings ever." She sighed like schoolgirls did, talking about princes on horses and knights in armor.
Mal chuckled a little. It was different for her, she knew, but she still felt like she could relate a little. Having Ben in her arms was an exhilarating feeling.
Belle kissed the top of Madison's head and laid her against her shoulder before continuing. "It's fun to watch you and he be in love together, but I do miss when he was small enough that I could pick him up and swing him around. He gave the best cuddles."
"He still does," Mal claimed. She picked at a thread in the couch as Belle rolled her eyes.
"That's different," Her mother-in-law disagreed. She ran her fingertips up and down Madison's back. "Did that answer your question?"
Mal tilted her head to the side. Maybe she would agree with Belle, at the end of this ordeal. However, she still didn't know how to gauge the turmoil of emotions that was erupting under her skin. "What about… when you found out you were going to be a mom?" She suggested.
Maybe she expected Belle's confidence to shake a little, as hers was, or for her to look a bit forlorn as she looked back at an unsure time, but Belle's smile grew exponentially. "That was a wonderful day," She remembered. "I felt like I had it all. My loving husband, the power to change things I disagreed with, a home, strength, all the adventure I could ever dream of, and then I found out I was going to get a mini-me, on top of everything."
"Well, a mini-Adam," Mal corrected. "He acts like you but he looks like Adam."
"He has my eyes!" Belle protested, waving a hand at Mal who laughed at Belle's stubborn committal. "I didn't know what he would look like though. I didn't know he'd be a boy. I was just happy I would have my own little baby. And I was happy, of course, to find out that I was going to have a son. I knew that would mean he would grow up and I'd have a daughter-in-law. And then, if I got really lucky, a granddaughter."
A lot of pressure suddenly fell onto Mal's shoulders. Where had all this weight come from? She paused, and then fished around for a joke to lighten the atmosphere. "Unless he grew up gay," She offered.
It was immediately clear that Mal had hit a sensitive subject. It was odd since they'd never really discussed it in the royal family. "Actually…" Belle winced, closing her eyes. "And… this isn't something we talk about a lot, but Ben is required to have children. It wouldn't be a problem, per se, if he favored men, but a bloodline of some sort is required. Even if he wasn't attracted to women, there would have to be some young lady to stand in as a mom. In short, I either get a daughter-in-law, or I get a son-in-law and the pleasure of knowing another birth mom."
"And you would be okay with that?" Mal asked. She wanted to make sure since Belle had winced rather hard.
"I would discourage it, of course, since visitation is a bear to deal with and not to mention the hurt that could arise in such a situation," Belle sighed, rubbing her fingertips on her temple a little. "Not to mention the politics of the crown and the danger that could arise if someone tried to use that connection to usurp his rule. And such a girl would have her whole life overshadowed in the aftermath of the decision – people would forever talk about her as 'the mother of the crown heir'. You didn't hear much of it, but there was a very intense backlash to Ben and Audrey's break-up. People looked at her and asked: "What did you do wrong?". It's part of the reason you didn't have much of a public image those first months – We wanted to spare you from that talk as much as possible."
"Ah," Mal swallowed uneasily. "That would have been awkward with the curse. You know, if Ben was gay."
Belle burst into laughter. "Yes, I can only imagine," She agreed. "But, as far as my reaction would have been if he'd wanted to marry a guy, I would have warned him about politics, reminded him of responsibility, and then loved both of my sons."
"In that order?" Mal raised an eyebrow.
"No," Belle refuted. "Love always comes first. From the first day I knew he was there, I wanted his happiness above all else. I loved him before anyone else knew and before anyone knew what he would do."
Mal's face fell slack. That didn't sound like her. It almost sounded… the opposite. "So, when you found out, you were excited about everything?"
"And wondering if he would be gay," Belle affirmed with a straight face. Mal furrowed her brow, and Belle burst into laughter, which assured Mal that she had been joking.
The door from the hall opened a bit further and both women looked over to watch the man in question step in with a confused expression. "What about me being gay?" He asked. Belle began to laugh harder, leaving Mal to explain things to him.
"We were talking about when she found out she was pregnant with you," She informed Ben as he looked back and forth between the two of them.
"Yes," Belle chuckled. "We're discussing your inevitable destiny of fatherhood."
Ben's face lit up and he laughed along with them as he set his hands down on Mal's shoulders. "Inevitable or imminent?" He asked, kissing her cheek and then massaging into her deltoids. Her shoulders were now heavy with a literal and an invisible weight.
"Well," Mal corrected, trying to not sound strained, "We started talking about how you have to sire a bloodline and how awkward the curse could have been if you hadn't been into girls."
A childish laugh escaped Ben's throat. "That could have been quite the coming-out-of-the-closet moment," He chuckled. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Mal furrowed her brow. She knew the reason he was being so affectionate and she wasn't sure she liked it all of the sudden.
Mal reached up and brushed Ben's hands, and he stilled them though they settled back onto her shoulders. "How old were you?" She asked Belle, trying to change the subject and continue her self-examination.
"How old was I?" Belle repeated with a blank expression.
"When you had Ben," Mal clarified, moving her hands a little as she spoke. Ben hummed in amusement, causing her to look up at him as he smiled.
"Older than you," He assured her. "Mom was eighteen when she met my dad. I was born right before she turned twenty-eight, so they knew each other ten years and she would be almost eleven older than you are now." He let go of her and then sat on the end of the couch arm. "But we'll make it work," He promised her.
"You've got time," Belle agreed. "Not everything has to happen now."
Ben's face contorted into confusion again. He looked at Mal. "Have you not told her?" He asked.
Belle pulled a face. "Told me what?" She asked.
Mal exhaled. She supposed that this sick feeling must simply be the shock. She hadn't been expecting this and that was why she didn't feel very confident in her situation. She straightened up and pressed a hand to her belly, partly to stop her fingers from shaking and partly to give her mother-in-law a hint to what was going on. "Oh, it wasn't anything important," She mumbled. "Just something we learned yesterday."
Belle slapped a hand to her mouth. "No!" She shouted.
Ben frowned. "No?" He repeated. "You were the one questioning me on grandkids last Christmas." Mal, too, felt a little shock by Belle's outburst. A little shocked and then a tiny smidge of relief because someone else was also unsure about this. Someone had a tiny voice screaming inside of them and worrying that she wasn't ready. On second thought, maybe that wasn't the best analogy.
"I thought you were waiting!" Belle exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so excited! So help me if you are lying to me-" She made a violent gesture at Ben that had Mal flinching back with him. He burst into laughter as Mal blushed a little. Belle wasn't angry; Belle was happy. Belle was supporting them.
Belle was on Ben's side.
'Don't divide people into sides,' she chastised herself. 'You and Ben are a team. And you know what, maybe you should talk to him if you're feeling a little worried. He can talk you through it.'
"How far are you?" Belle demanded, sitting up and letting the biggest, brightest smile Mal had ever seen on her mother-in-law decorate her face. Beside her, she could feel Ben's smile lighting the entire area up.
"Not far," She managed to get out. She took her hand away from her belly because, for some reason, the contact makes her feel sick. Unfortunately, the moment she took her hand away, Ben moved his arm and slid his hand onto her torso in place of hers. Her belly churned. She paused to process all the chemicals running through her head and a pressure welled up behind her eyes like her brain was trying to escape. Ben skimmed his thumb over her belly button and set his head against hers. Mal could still feel his smile, warming the entire area. His hands, which have always been large compared to hers, almost completely covered her torso. His arms were like deadweights hanging on her body.
"You must be so excited!" Belle cheered. "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandma!"
Mal chuckled and leaned a little more into Ben's side, hoping to find some warmth and comfort there. "I think Ben has enough excitement for the both of us," she joked.
"Very true," Ben agreed, laughing and then moving his head to kiss the side of hers. "I can't believe I'm going to be a dad!"
Mal raised an eyebrow and managed to crack a smile despite the confusion in her head. He sounded exhilarated and excited and part of her is proud for causing and contributing to his joy. The other part feels a little confused and… scared. "What happened to waiting?" It asks. "What happened to being busy? What happened to not being ready?"
Everything was suddenly different and yeah, she understood why, but it was still hard to wrap her head around it and she wasn't sure she was ready to say goodbye to this perfect stage of life that she was in at the moment. She had it all – Ben, her dad, all her friends, the Isle, the Moors, her sister, everything.
Ben's hands moved a little and Mal's stomach twisted. She snapped into action, seizing his wrists and pushing his hands away. "That's enough!" She declared. Ben blinked at her in surprise. Mal chuckled to let him think she'd just been teasing. "Am I going to have to pry you off of my side every day for the next nine months?" She laughed and then reached out her hands for baby Madison, who Belle passes back without even batting an eye at Mal's attitude. Judging by the way he was laughing behind her, he wasn't thinking too hard about it either.
As she balanced Madison's head and flashed a smile down at her sister, Ben moved one hand back to her abdomen. She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at him. "If you think I won't notice that, you're wrong," she deadpanned.
Ben laughed. "I'm sorry. It's just a cool feeling. You're just going to have to deal with me being touchy."
Madison took the opportunity to screw up her nose and begin to cry. "Oh," Belle sighed, "She's probably hungry." Mal frowned and passed her sister back to Belle with a sigh. Belle took her and carefully put her up over her shoulder. "Well, I am beyond excited and I can't wait to meet my new grandchild, but this little girl tends to pick up dragon-like tendencies when she's hungry, so I'd better go."
Ben laughed. "Just like her older sister," he chuckled, smiling beside Mal's cheek.
Mal swatted at him half-heartedly. "Ha-ha," She scoffed.
Belle sat up and kissed both Mal and Ben's cheeks. "You're going to be amazing parents," She whispered.
Ben got to his feet and gave his mom a hug. "Well, we have a pretty great example," he assured her. Mal's fake smile vanished off of her face. She stared numbly at Belle as she put a hand to her heart in a touched manner. Then, she turned and carried Madison away, leaving Mal to dwell on Ben's words in a spiraling, falling sort of feeling.
'This is a very important day! This is the day when all our dreams come true! She could hear her mother cackling in her head like some demented phone call from the past. She could feel hands guiding her out the door of her old home and her own life and Maleficent laughing as she called: "Bye, sweetie,"
Ben took a seat in his mom's vacated place and then leaned over to pull her against his side. She let him, falling into his side and noticing that her skin was icy and cold. He laid one hand over her belly, light without any pressure, and then let the other fall over her shoulders with a bright, silly smile. She pulled her legs up onto the couch. "What are you feeling?" Her voice quivered as she asked.
Ben's eyes flicked over to hers and a chuckle left his lips. "I should be feeling guilty. I really should be. But I'm just so, so excited." He leaned his head against hers and closed her eyes. "This honestly feels amazing. I can't believe we're going to have a baby."
Amazing… excited….. Mal closed her eyes and tried to curl into him. He was radiating warmth and for some reason, she felt like cold was seeping out of her bones. "I'm feeling a bit… weird about it." She mumbled.
Immediately, Ben's posture changed. He sat up, tilted her head up to face him, and took her hands. Mal was forced to open her eyes again with a sigh. "Weird like what?" He asked. "Is it surreal? Are you worried? What can I help with?" He leaned forward and dropped his smile a little to show her that he was listening and cared about her thoughts.
"I'm just…" Mal tried to get her mouth around the words. It was like she couldn't say them. She was just feeling like her life had been flipped around. She was just feeling a little underprepared. She just felt like some sort of dark and nightmarish storm was welling up behind her and the moment she slipped up with this kid it would crash on her and drown her. "I'm just thinking about my mom," is what she said instead.
She sighed and decided to continue. "Like… my childhood and everything is officially over and my mom is gone and now it's someone else's turn."
"You're married," Ben pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "And you've always been very adamant on how you're not a child."
"I'm not!" Mal insisted. "But I'm just reflecting on how awful everything was on the Isle and how quickly I grew up and now I'm going to be giving my kid a completely different future in a world I didn't even get to know until I was sixteen."
"That makes sense," Ben nodded. "After all, they'll grow up in Auradon. The moorlands will be open and the Isle will be a perfectly respectable place." He squeezed her hand. "Does that scare you?"
Mal looked down at her fingers, looped around his hand. Belle was excited and when she'd had Ben, she'd felt like her entire world had come together. Ben felt amazing. He looked absolutely starstruck. But what about her? She didn't feel like the world was coming together. She didn't feel like every ray of sunshine was brighter. She felt like her life was extending onwards without her permission and that she didn't really have control of her own future. A chapter in her life that she wasn't writing and something she was being prepared for that she didn't know if she wanted.
She shrugged. "I don't quite know," She whispered. "I mean… I was less prepared to marry you than I am for this, but I just don't feel like I have a handle on it yet."
Ben let go of one of her hands and instead cupped her cheek a little. "That's okay," He nodded. "I understand it's a little weird. But hey, we'll get through this, okay? And I'm going to be here. I know it wasn't really anticipated, but I really think we can do this together and make it work."
Mal cracked a little smile and then exhaled. "What do you think my mom felt like when she got pregnant?" She asked.
Ben's happy, slightly subdued expression faded to give way to confusion. "Uh," He stuttered and then laughed his awkwardness aside, "I, um, don't know? You knew your mom better than I did. I'm not really, um, qualified to guess what was going on in Maleficent's head." He trailed off, still chuckling awkwardly. Still, he squeezed her hand and moved his other palm, the one that had been on her cheek, to her knee instead. "What do you think she thought?"
That wasn't really the point of the exercise, Mal slumped. If she'd known, she wouldn't have asked. "I have no idea," She mumbled. "I guess… I mean… I hope she would have loved me, but…" She shrugged.
Ben slid closer and put an arm around her shoulders. "Do you miss her?" he whispered.
Mal shrugged again. "Not all the time," She admitted. "But now, yeah. How could I not?" Ben pursed his lips together for half-a-second and Mal wondered what he was thinking. It could be anything from 'Of course you miss her' to 'how could you want that witch back?' She swallowed. "She was my mom. And she went through this too. I wish she was around for me to ask questions and… get prepared."
"Well, there's my mom," Ben pointed out, turning to gesture towards where Belle had disappeared. "And, uh, you're friends with Elsa, right? She has two girls."
"Yeah, but they didn't raise me," Mal stressed. She was aware that the concept of raising children would have been phenomenally different from the Isle Maleficent had had Mal on and from the Auradon that Mal's family would grow up in, but the advice and the conversation would have been nice. Any conversation, actually. Thinking back on it, she couldn't ever remember a time she'd just talked with her mom, and that made her feel a little cheated. "I didn't grow up with them."
"Ah," Ben nodded in understanding. He hesitated and then moved his hand back from her knee and onto her belly, again. Mal felt a little like throwing up. She took a long, slow breath. "I love you, and I love them, and I wish I could bring Maleficent back and force her to be a good parent to you." He kissed her cheek. "If there is anything that you want to talk to me about, though, I'll be here. Just let me know."
The words were stuck on the tip of her tongue. 'I'm not feeling well. I really don't know if I'm ready for this. Is there anywhere I can go for help? I feel upset and I feel guilty because everyone else is acting like this is amazing and I'm just not sure yet.' But she stayed silent and nodded a little, and Ben got to his feet. He looked content to assume he'd been able to help her a little bit as he squeezed her hand one last time and then let go. "I have to go up to my office and get some things," He announced. "You going anywhere?"
"My office," Mal agreed. "I'll head up in a moment." She leaned back on the couch and Ben smiled and then disappeared, on his way to the door. She heard it shut behind him and stared at the tips of the mural on the wall in a daze. Was something wrong with her? Why wasn't she happy and smiling and as giddy as Ben and Belle were? Maybe something was off in her head.
Maybe she wasn't ready for this.
Maybe… maybe… maybe…
The thought repeated itself all day long, following her wherever she went. It followed her to work and through the motions before she was heading back upstairs and into her room and breaking down a little.
She closed herself into the bathroom and examined her reflection. Pregnant. Mal stared at herself in the mirror in the bathroom and slowly brought her hands to her belly. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about this. How should she feel about this?
Mal closed her eyes and thought of Ben, eyes bright and smile wide, constantly wanting to find new excuses to touch her belly. She imagined his quiet obsession and the excited light in his eyes. He was happy. This was a good thing. He was glad.
Mal lifted her shirt up as she continued considering her situation. Her husband, who was five years older than her, had gotten her pregnant, and he was happy about the idea that they were going to have a baby together. It wasn't a horrible place to be. Truthfully, it shouldn't be too hard on her, even despite her age. She was young, but she was strong, and Ben would help her every step. But that didn't change the fact that Ben was going to make her a teen mom months after she came of age in Auradon. She exhaled and her stomach turned. A teen mom. She couldn't believe that was her. She'd always wondered if it'd be Evie, but never her.
As the blood rushed to her head, she took a seat on the bathroom floor and squeezed her midsection. A million thoughts filled her head. She was pregnant. There was a little child inside of her. Ben's little child. A tiny Ben and Mal. Mal abruptly covered her eyes in shock as the light started to blare down into her head. She was going to have to carry and birth and raise Ben's child, all over a matter of months and then years. Mal imagined for a few seconds what childbirth would look like and the very poignant image of her splitting into two made her brain feel like it was being stretched and contracted over and over, almost as if someone were blowing a balloon up and letting the air out again.
And even if she did survive... she'd still have to leave for the Moors. The Isle would still need her help. And depending on how long the war went, she might have to balance Auradon too. How could she possibly do it all? She couldn't always be leaving her baby with her in-laws but taking a month-old heir of Auradon's throne on a day's trip into a different magical country for a month or even taking her baby into the Isle of the Lost wasn't exactly a feasible situation. She couldn't leave the baby with dad until they were older and couldn't leave them with dad at all if Dad with leading the country in war.
A baby. That was another thought. She tried to imagine herself with a baby. Tried to imagine holding Ben's little boy or girl while he looked over her shoulder. The image of a purple-haired... princess had her covering her face as her heart thudded against her chest. Someone like Evie or Audrey who was obsessed with curled hair and jewelry and dresses and boys while their mom was very much... not.
This kid was going to be an Auradon heir to the throne. Maleficent's grandchild. They were going to grow up hearing all the stories of her mother's atrocious acts and the lies that covered why Mal, her daughter, had been allowed to ascend a throne. She'd be lying to her own children. She'd be lying to her children, always gone running at least two other countries, and they'd be hearing about how evil Maleficent had been. Oh gosh, what if they hated her?
Mal's breath came out in heavy huffs as foggy tears clouded her vision. The lights were beating down on her with clubs from above. She dug her fingers into the skin of her stomach and the door suddenly opened. Mal straightened up immediately, but a confused look still crossed Ben's face as he spotted her sitting on the floor, eyes unfocused and fingers crossed across her belly. "Mal?" He asked.
Mal blinked against the bright lights and made to act as if she'd been brushing her shirt down and not hallucinating what it'd feel like when her belly was about to split. "I'm okay," She declared, even as Ben took a few quick strides into the bathroom and knelt down beside her.
"Are you feeling sick?" He asked, examining her from head to toe. Mal watched him outstretch a hand and put it on her stomach, curling the tips of his fingers into her skin comfortingly. Mal's stomach curled.
"No," She lied. "I'm fine."
Ben examined her with dismay creeping into his eyes. "Why are you lying?" he asked, and Mal's shoulders slumped in dismay. She wished he'd never learned to spot her lies.
"I'm okay," she insisted, softening her tone and hoping that telling half-truths instead of whole-truths would convince Ben's sharp eyes of her lies. "Just a stomach ache."
Keeping his one hand on her midsection, he brought the other one up to cup her cheek. "Are you sure?" He whispered. Mal nodded without comment and leaned forward into his shoulder. He immediately pulled her into his grasp and ran his fingertips up and down her back. Mal took a few careful inhales of his scent before Ben rearranged her in his arms. He turned her so she was leaning against his chest and uncurled his legs to lean back against the tub. Then he splayed both of his hands out on her belly and set his chin into her shoulder. "I'm sorry you're not feeling well," He whispered.
Mal hummed wistfully. He began rubbing little circles on her belly and Mal squeezed her eyes shut. "What do you think they'll be?" He whispered. "Boy or girl?"
"Dunno," Mal replied, trying to curl back into him. "I don't really want to talk about it right now," She mumbled.
Ben turned her head towards him. His frown had returned, casting sharp lines across his face. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.
Mal nodded and began to pull herself out of his arms. "Yeah. I just don't feel like talking about it right now." She kissed his cheek and wandered out of the bathroom. Ben followed her out into the living room and then stood in the doorway of the bedroom while she fell onto her side of the bed and curled up, facing the window. He glanced at the alarm clock and then walked over and leaned towards her to run his fingers through her hair. Mal closed her eyes and squeezed her stomach. How could she do this? How could she raise his kid when she was barely an adult herself?
What was she talking about? She was an adult. It wasn't like childhood was a necessary experience on the Isle, and she'd been queen for a year.
"I have an extra hour," Ben hummed. "Maybe we could-"
"I don't want to." Mal interrupted, squeezing her eyes shut. she had no idea what he'd been about to suggest. It could have been anything from climbing the palace, sparring, or watching movies, but now she'd never know. She felt his hand stall on her ear and then heard him hum. She remembered him talking to Ericka after a fight with her. "Teenagers," he'd sighed, and she curled her legs closer to her chest as she recalled the tone of voice he'd made the comment in. Maybe she was being irrational. Maybe he was rolling his eyes at her dramatics.
Mal opened her eyes and examined her husband. "Do you think I'll be okay?" She asked.
Ben furrowed his brow at her, examining her carefully. "About our baby?" He asked.
Mal closed her eyes again and nodded, snuggling into the sheets. "I'm busy," She reminded him by way of clarification. "How can I do the Isle and the Moorlands and Auradon while still being a good wife to you and a good friend and then adding in being a mom to all that?" At the word 'mom', Mal's stomach twisted so violently that she felt recurring pangs in her chest. Ben drew a thumb down her cheek.
"Not without help," He mumbled. "But you have Audrey to help with the Isle and people in the moors to help you, and your friends love you, and you'll be an amazing wife no matter what, and I'm going to help you learn to be a mom while you help me learn to be a dad." Mal nodded a little to his words. He knelt down at the side of the bed and Mal opened her eyes. "It's overwhelming, huh?" He whispered. Mal nodded again.
Ben leaned over her and gave her a slightly open-mouthed kiss on the cheek. "You're going to be a great mom," He whispered. "Our kids are so lucky. They're going to love you with all their little hearts. I can already see you teaching them magic and showing them the Isle and everything. You're going to be incredible."
Mal swallowed. "I don't know if I'm ready." She confessed. "I mean, my life is so busy. How can I make time for a baby? And with my mom as she was, how can I possibly love them like I should and raise them like your parents raised you?"
"Calm down," Ben instructed, "You will be ready. We both will be. I'm going to be here every step of the way and at every milestone. As for raising them like I was raised, I don't think we should. After all, I run my kingdom differently than my parents did because it's what the kingdom needs. I think it makes sense for us to raise our kids the way they need to be raised." He stroked the side of her face and inhaled. "Mal, you have an amazing capability for love. You blow me away every day, and not just because you're an Isle girl who learned to love."
Mal hummed and the scooted over and patted the spot next to her. Ben sat down on the bed beside her and laid down to pull her into his chest. "Does that help at all?" He whispered. Mal mumbled an unintelligible response. In truth, her stomach was turning and her head was spinning. She was sure that she wasn't supposed to be like this - that being pregnant shouldn't feel like this. And especially in Auradon, where she was almost guaranteed an easy pregnancy and a safe birth and all the doctors and painkillers she could want. This wasn't the dark Isle of the Lost.
She must not be ready. She must not be prepared to be responsible for someone like this. Kingdoms and children, no matter how well Ben's analogy had worked, were very different. Maybe Mal wasn't ready to be a mom. She swallowed. That must be it. She wasn't ready.
Ben unwrapped a hand from around her body to press his palm onto her belly. Mal felt a small surge of bile run up her throat. She wanted her body back.
Mal pressed both of her palms onto Ben's shoulders. She could feel his chest moving underneath her touch as he breathed. "How much longer do we have?" She whispered.
Ben glanced at the alarm clock again. "A little less than an hour." He mumbled. "Do you want to stay here and curl up together or do you want to try and get up to watch a -"
"I'm okay to stay here," Mal interrupted him again. "Care to distract me?" She reached up and began unbuttoning his shirt to better get to his chest.
Ben's frown returned. "I thought you weren't feeling well?" He reminded her.
Mal sighed dramatically. "That's why I said 'distract me'." She told him, pushing his shirt folds back and then pressing her cheek against his skin. Her fingers drifted down and started messing with his belt, trying to find the end of it. Mal could feel his body reacting to her - his heartbeat speeding up and his arms growing tense around her - but he wasn't sold yet. He stopped her hands, paused to let out a heavy breath, and then cleared his throat.
"Are you sure that you're okay?" He whispered. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Mal furrowed her brow. "It's just a stomacheache." She insisted. "It doesn't have anything to do with the, uh, baby." She broke eye contact to examine his muscles.
"Do you need me to get you anything?" Ben asked.
"I don't need anyone to get me anything," Mal snapped and pinched her lips together.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know," he laughed. Mal glared at him a little and then her fingers returned to their task of removing his belt. This time, Ben didn't protest.
"We need to talk about something," John Smith announced. His voice was a deep rumble that called everyone to attention and extinguished the small conversations going on. The table rumbled a little as he set his forearms on the wooden surface and leaned forward. "King Ben," he called, glancing down to the head of the table. Ben, who had begun twirling his pen in his fingertips the moment John called for attention, paused in spinning the cool plastic tube to straighten up. "You've been steadily avoiding talking about where you're going to be in the coming weeks. So, tell us now, are you not going north?"
Ben saw people's attentive faces turn blank, and then several angry expressions turned towards him. He set his pen down on top of his tablet and straightened up. This was the conversation he had been dreading.
"I am not," He admitted. "I have to be here for Auradon."
Several people began to shout in protest, but Ben held up a hand to stop them. "We're a one-branch Monarchy with a lower council that doesn't often meet. My responsibilities extend into Judicial, Legislative, and Executive sections. There is no feasible way for me to complete all of that and also command a war. That's why I'm appointing generals, who know more about battles than I do anyway,"
"I'm sorry, what is Queen Mal around for, then?" King Florian, Snow White's husband, protested. "She's the queen. Have her cover paperwork and you go north with everyone else; we need a leader."
"Or send her north," Ericka suggested, though many council member's faces contorted in disapproval. It was clear that they'd rather have Ben, the 'Actually-In-Charge' person over Mal, the 'Somewhat-In-Charge' person. "Both of you are pretty adept fighters."
Send Mal to fight. The thought made Ben queasy. He shook his head. "I can't give Auradon to Mal," He declared. "The 'Queen' title isn't in full-force. She isn't qualified to lead Auradon, and I'm not qualified to lead the Moorlands or the Isle."
"She's coronated, isn't she?" Elsa asked, drumming her fingernails on the table. "Why isn't she qualified?"
Doug, who was standing behind Ben in the event he was needed to fix the microphone or the screen systems, leaned forward with a frown. "Didn't we train her?" He asked. "I could have sworn you and her had a spat about her writing a letter to her mom or something."
Ben's cheeks turned bright red. Adam turned and began to drum his fingers in a silent signal that he was curious about that story. "That was over a year ago and on Dad's system, not mine," Ben reminded Doug. "And she's developed a system all her own for the Isle and the Moorlands."
"But couldn't we retrain her?" Doug wanted to know.
"She can't rule all three countries at once!" Ben snapped. "It's already hard enough, dividing her attention between two!"
"Well, have her drop the other two," Chad suggested. "Auradon is the only one that matters anyway."
"We could always redraw the Isle back into Auradon," Adam suggested, raising an eyebrow at Ben. Ben glared at his dad.
"No, you idiots!" Audrey snapped. "They're separate and it's better that way. And Chad, just you watch! One day, the Isle is going to outdo Auradon. They have the harder workers."
"Yeah, and let's not piss off the extremely powerful magic-using country who apparently we've already accidentally attacked once," Ericka suggested sarcastically. She summoned a snowflake, which she let dance around her fingertips even as some of the other royals glared at her. Elsa nudged her daughter carefully.
Adam stood up. "Ben, she's the queen. The arrangement has always been that, in the event you are incapacitated, Mal would have to be in charge of Auradon. It is your duty and responsibility to lead your country in this war you are beginning, and it is hers to take care of things here. She agreed to that long, long ago."
"That was before she had the Moorlands," Ben reminded his dad, straightening his shoulders. He didn't like how Adam was commanding him around as if he was in charge of this escapade. "It was before everything that has happened recently."
"The promise still holds," Adam declared. "She agreed to this responsibility before the moorlands and before anything else. Before the Isle, before she was queen, her first obligations were to Auradon. She should have considered a situation like this before agreeing to lead the moors." Adam reached down for a water bottle and took a long sip. "And if not her anticipating this, you should have known in your decision to begin war that she would have to pick up your slack."
"Is this some sort of twisted revenger for not telling you before I made the decision?" Ben snapped.
Adam shook his head. "No," he denied. "I'm just pointing out how you should have known you would be asked to go. It's your duty. Your responsibility."
He had known. They had talked about it. He had known what he was getting into. But that was before everything. Before Mal had lost her mother. Before they'd received the prophecy that everything would go wrong. Before they'd learned Mal was expecting.
Ben shook his head. "I think the situation should be regarded as if I weren't married at all. Mal's work life is completely separate from mine and that shouldn't change due to an interruption in my country."
"No, it absolutely should change!" Phillip disagreed. "You made a decision that makes it imperative that she should step up. Regardless of how often she's usually pictured in Auradon's politics! You need to come north with us. The first train leaves on Saturday and I think that you should be on it. We're sending some of our strongest recruits and our youth up. The king should go with them."
"She's our queen," Aurora agreed. "It's about time she stepped to the plate and acted like it."
"Yes!" Merida agreed, nodding along to them both. Several others were shouting their agreement; their voices hammered into Ben's head.
Li Shang spoke up with anger and disappointment lacing his tone. "My daughter is going north; away from our family for the first time where she may die." He pointed up the table to Ben, finger shaking as he grit out: "And if the best swordsman in the country, the king of us all, won't go, I see no reason why I should send my flesh and blood."
Fa Mulan set a hand on her husband's and leaned over the table to make eye contact with Ben. Her slanted eyes made it seem like she was glaring as she examined him. "The war must be very important to you if your wife's discomfort is all that is stopping you from going."
"Have any of you led more than one country?" Ben demanded, staring at them all. "Not kingdoms; countries! It is not an easy feat! She is seventeen years old and you expect me to leave everything on her shoulders?"
"She is capable," Ericka shrugged. "Capable and smart. She can handle it."
Down the table, Flynn Rider slapped a hand on the table. "Here's my two cents!" He declared. "I'll send you soldiers if you want. We'll produce whatever and do whatever. I know I can't fight the federal palace and I'm not interested in trying!" For a second, Ben might have been deceived that Flynn was standing up for him, but then the older man swept his gaze up the table to join the rest of the crowd in glaring at him. "But if you won't go up with the young people we're sending, to fight and to protect them, I will let everyone know why. You can't dictate the free speech of the kingdoms – I will publish articles and announce things in public squares and do everything I can to spread the word of how you won't go because you don't think the wife you picked out can handle your work." Flynn crossed his arms. "And you can deal with that public backlash," he finished.
Ben closed his mouth. There was no point in arguing. They already had it in their minds what he needed to do. He couldn't explain the prophecy without digging himself a bigger hole. He was positive that news of Mal's condition would be just as poorly met, especially with Chad in the room.
Adam set a hand down on Ben's shoulder. "Everything will be fine," He promised. "Your mother and I and Mal will run Auradon. And when her time comes, we will see to it that she is taken care of."
Ben swatted his dad's hand away. "Okay, dad, you listen here," He snapped leveling his gaze at the former beast. "You will not be running Auradon. Neither will mom. If I'm leaving, Mal is in charge, and you will answer to the queen just like every other citizen." He stood up and began gathering his things.
"Her time?" Audrey asked, furrowing her brow. Ben paused to glance over at her. The room was very still. People were exchanging soft, unsure glances. Ben glared towards Adam, who had the decency to look ashamed at having announced something so abruptly, and then went to shutting down his tablet so he could leave.
Adam cleared his throat. "Mal is with child. She'll be delivered in the summer." He told the group. Several people exchanged sympathetic, surprised expressions, but no one opened their mouths to protest that maybe Ben should stay after all. Duty came before family, apparently.
Chad snorted and then began to cough. He turned away in his seat as a fire alit in Ben's Belly. "Don't say a word, Chad!" He demanded. "You have nothing good to say – nothing I haven't already heard. Why don't you tell your mother about how you said you'd like to slam my wife?"
Audrey's mouth dropped open as several cries of outrage echoed around the room. Chad's face turned puce and Queen Ella's arm snapped out to grab his shoulder. "Is that what you told her?" She demanded. Chad wouldn't meet her eyes. Ben almost felt bad for calling him out on his words as he watched Ella withdraw from her son, cradling the hand she'd touched his shoulder with as if it were broken. Her expression was one of utter heartbreak.
Beside Ben, Adam growled in his seat. Ben scoffed and gathered all his things into his arms. "I'm done," He announced to the room. "If I have to go, fine. Just… let me talk with my wife and figure things out with her."
"Ben," Audrey stood up, looking like she wanted to ask him something. Ben didn't turn to look at her. He wrenched the door open and walked away.
As Mal reached for a bowl on the table, she heard a thud of the door opening. She turned and watched Ben remove his coat before dropping it onto the back of the chair beside her. Then, hands braced on the back of the chair and not meeting her eyes, he let out a long, disappointed sigh.
The bowl slipped out of Mal's hands and landed with a Thwack on the table. Luckily, she hadn't been able to lift is very far off the table, so nothing spilled over. "No!" She moaned, staring at Ben as he flinched at both the sound and her immediate, already-knowing response. Down the table, Adam exhaled and looked down at his food as Belle frowned, looking confused.
"I know," Ben mumbled, reaching for her hand. Mal yanked it out of his reach, and then slowly let him have it. Every vein and nerve ending in her body was pleading with her to take action. She struggled to keep herself together so she could be supportive.
"When do you leave?" She gasped.
"With the first wave," Ben whispered as Belle suddenly realized what was going on and her mouth dropped open in horror. "Saturday."
Mal's chin thudded against her chest as her entire face contorted. "Well," She exhaled. "They – they'll need you up there. Your leadership and your swordsmanship… you'll be amazing."
"Mal, I'm sorry, I really am," Ben whispered, kneeling down by her chair. "I know it's a lot to ask of you, especially now, and I'm sorry."
"We can step in and help her," Adam announced from the end of the table.
"Dad," Ben began in a firm, bone-chilling tone. "This isn't your kingdom anymore. Stop stepping in and trying to educate me on how to run my country. This isn't your Auradon anymore."
Mal opened her eyes and stared at her empty plate. "I can't do it all, Ben," She reminded him in a hollow tone. "You can't expect me to."
"No, of course not," Ben shook his head, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing a little. "But you're in charge. Don't let Dad step on you." Adam bristled at the description but didn't protest at Ben's sharp look. Mal had a feeling that his dad had overstepped him in a meeting again but decided to not focus on it.
Belle set her fork down. "How long will you be gone?" She asked. Mal glanced up in time to watch Ben's eyes close.
"A couple of months, at the least," he mourned. "I mean, it's war on another continent. There isn't really a way to reasonably send everyone home for Christmas."
"So, at the longest?" She whispered.
Ben shrugged. "However long the war lasts," he replied. "Could be a few months or it could be…" He trailed off.
"Years?" Mal supplied. Ben nodded in agreement.
"When are you due?" Belle asked, looking down the table at Mal, who was now the center of attention.
She swallowed. "June, probably." Counting back from mid-ish September… She might even be due closer to the beginning of July. Of course, she could always be wrong, and she hadn't even considered that she might be different from someone who wasn't half-fae and half-god, but that was the best guesstimate she had.
Cold, invisible hands clawed at her chest. She could be alone. She could be alone and three, five, nine months pregnant. She could be alone with a one, two or five-year-old baby. And all three countries.
"I need to talk to you," Ben mumbled, pressing his hands a bit deeper into her shoulders.
"Yeah," Mal agreed, pushing her plate back. "Yeah." She got to her feet.
"It doesn't have to be now!" Ben protested, holding his hands up to block her path. "Mal, you still need to eat."
Mal looked back at her lonely, clean plate. "I'm not hungry," She shook her head dejectedly.
"You have to eat, Mal," Belle whispered, rising up out of her chair. "It's not just you, anymore."
That was a clever way of putting things, Mal thought. Not just you. Think about the baby too, Mal. Stop being selfish, Mal. This isn't all about you, Mal.
Ben squeezed her arm. "I know it's hard. I know you're upset. But I don't want you to go hungry or get sick. You'll think better on a full stomach anyway." That, at least, was a reasonable argument. Mal knew it was selfish, but it helped that Ben was acknowledging her feelings instead of trying to throw their baby into her face. She allowed him to lean forward, pick up her plate, and hand it to her. "Let's eat up in our room," he suggested.
They both filled their plates, her with barely anything because her mind was so, so far away. He paused to go up and hug his mom, who teared up as she tried to contain her grief at having to let him go. She kissed her cheek and then went back to Mal. With a firm, supportive hand to her back and with a plate of food in each of their hands, they left the room and began to head for the upstairs.
When they reached their room, Ben opened the door for her. She walked over to the couch and set her plate onto the coffee table before she proceeded to slump into the cushions and stare at it like she couldn't even recognize what function it held. Ben sat in a chair beside her and handed her plate back to her. "Come on," He prodded. "You have to eat something."
Mal held her hands out, refusing to receive it, and exhaled. "What is Auradon looking like right now?" She asked.
"Too soon to tell," Ben exhaled, squeezing her knee before withdrawing into himself. "I'll tell you as soon as I have some concrete information."
Mal closed her eyes. "Maybe… Audrey can help me cover the Isle and I can find someone in the Moors who I can trust to not try and attack Auradon behind my back." The words sounded hollow in her mouth. "And Evie, Jay, and Carlos might be able to help me if they aren't too busy with college."
"Things are going to speed up on the Auradon federal front," Ben mumbled. "Resource spreads and war expenses and records of who's fighting and where they're stationed."
Mal slumped her shoulders with a tight nod. Death counts would also begin coming in. Searches for people who went missing. She'd be the one Auradon looked to for information about whether or not their loved ones would be coming home. "Is there any chance at all that you might be able to come back to help me? It'll be harder for me to keep everything up as time goes on and-" Mal stopped, exhaling a little. She didn't want to provide any specifics. This was real enough as it was and she didn't want to make Ben feel more guilty. "I'm going to need lots of help by June."
Ben dropped his head, looking absolutely miserable. "I wish I could," he sighed. "But I doubt I'll be able to. It's not exactly an easy feat to get everyone up there and none of the court members will want me taking advantage of my position to come back. If I could transport myself, maybe, but to have Jack or one of the dragons take me there or back…" He trailed off.
Mal ran her hands through her hair. "So, you're up north in war, leading people into battle, and I'm here with all three countries and a baby on the way?"
"Can you do it?" Ben asked, peering over at her with worried eyes. Mal snorted. They both knew it wasn't a matter of if she could do it. She had to. "I know it's unfair to ask, and I wish there was something I could do about it, but Auradon needs me. Can you cover for me?"
"Not in the same degree," Mal whispered. "But you already know I'll do my best. I'm going to need lots of help, though."
"My parents are here," Ben nodded. "And I bet Audrey would love to help with the Isle. Eliza too."
Mal sniffed a little as her nose began to ache. "We don't have any plans for when the baby is born yet, either. I know you said people don't usually plan in advance, but maybe we should talk about it a little. Sophia mentioned a coronation. I would probably have to handle that, right?"
"Fairy Godmother can help with that," Ben assured her. "And mom. Any of the other queens, actually. Merida's husband arranged all of their coronations." He leaned over and squeezed her hand. "Luckily, announcing a royal baby isn't really a formal thing anymore. You could honestly just use your palace blog like we did with the announcement of you as queen. That's most of the legal drama. What I'm concerned about is if you have to balance the three kingdoms and a newborn. Maybe we'll have to get a nanny to pay someone to take care of the baby for you."
"Pay someone else to raise our baby?" Mal repeated, staring at him with a deadpan expression. "I can't believe you suggested that."
"It's not a deadbeat thing to do," Ben frowned. "This situation is unfair and you can't do everything. Mom and Dad already have Madison and they won't be able to balance helping you with the baby and the kingdom and taking care of Madison. They're old."
"But not raising our baby?" Mal asked. "That's a grand solution. Make it more unfair on someone who doesn't even exist yet."
"Well, what would you suggest?" Ben asked. Mal fell silent. He had a very solid, very unfortunate point.
Mal twisted her hands and cleared her throat. She reached over for his hand and he gave her his right. She brushed it aside to grab his left hand – the one with his ring. His ring that had come from his grandparents with the word 'forever' underneath the band. She twined their fingers together and took a deep breath. "What if you die?" She whispered.
Ben squeezed her fingers in a vice grip like he was holding onto a lifeline. "Well," He exhaled, "Auradon will be yours." Mal shook her head in bitter denial. Ben lifted his free hand and ran his thumb down her cheek. Tears had appeared there without her permission. "Our baby will have to be Auradon's future leader. If you choose to remarry, you could have more children or you could stop with our one and, well, I'll leave you to make decisions on the Isle and the Moors."
Mal shook her head at him and began to wipe her eyes. "What am I supposed to do without you?" She sobbed.
Ben immediately got up and gathered her up in his grip. They curled up on the couch together, her crying against his shoulder, and him holding her tightly, like he was trying to imprint the way she felt into his arms. They didn't say anything. They both knew it would be a long time before either of them were okay.
Car doors were slamming, sounding like someone was pounding nails into a door and barring her inside. Mal watched from the entryway, gazing out the little windows beside the door, as heroes left, one by one. The councils were over. Everything was decided. It was Saturday, and Ben was leaving today with everyone else. He, Lonnie, Chad, and a couple other friends from Auradon Swords and Shields would be heading towards the train station in Auradon city, where other volunteers were already boarding.
She felt a little more Auradon than usual, which she supposed had a lot to do with the crown set at a tilt on her forehead. She had no idea why she was wearing it still; Ben had pulled it out and set it on her hair with a soft smile before he'd picked up his suitcase and set his sword – the one with his name on the hilt that Mal had once battle him for – beside it. She hadn't worn the crown since she'd gotten it, she thought. Belle's old decoration simply sat in her nightstand drawer, waiting for its next owner.
Maybe it was fitting she was wearing it, now that she actually had to step up and be queen.
She pulled her sweater a little tighter around herself. It was long and knit and white hanging off her shoulders and she hated it even though it was protecting her against the bitter early October Chill that had been leaving icy marks on all the palace windows. It looked like something someone might wrap around an enlarged stomach. Something to just remind her of her situation. Add in the white – the symbol of cleanliness and purity that came packaged more like Auradon and less like the Isle and the Moors and… she was miserable. For more reasons than one.
The door opened and Ben and Lumiere appeared, cheeks red and hats pulled over their foreheads. Lumiere looked distraught. Ben looked resigned. He stopped when he saw her, and she watched his mouth crook up a little when he saw the crown. At least the jewels were good for humor.
Lumiere said nothing. He slipped up the stairs and disappeared. Ben shut the door they'd entered through and pulled off his gloves. He reached out and took the crown before he righted it on her head. "Whatever happened to the crown from the moorlands?" He asked.
"I don't really pay attention to crowns," She sighed. "I decided I don't like the extra height they give me. I'll stick with combat boots instead."
Ben laughed, taking her face with both hands. "Your highness." Even though they'd been protected by gloves, his fingers were cold. "You look like you stepped out of an Auradon department store," He whispered. "Where's my Isle girl?"
"Well, I've got to be Auradonian now," Mal sighed, gesturing to his combat outfit. "You took all the Isle fashion and you're going north with it and leaving me behind." She reached out and fixed his collar with a frown. "How come you get to go fight and I have to stay here with the politics? I thought you wanted to be the guy, you know? The fix-it guy."
Ben squeezed her cheek. "Maybe Auradon could use a little Isle. I mean, it's true what Audrey has been saying. I have a people softened and moved to indifference by comfort. This is your opportunity to, I don't know…change some laws. Get some things done."
"Fix the laws on magic so I can legally turn Chad Charming into a fish?" Mal suggested.
Ben snorted. "Yeah, okay," He rolled his eyes. "Just leave some Auradon for me to come back to, okay?"
Mal shook her head. "This isn't my country. You know I'm just going to keep doing things the way you do them, right?"
"So… change the laws on magic so you can legally turn Chad Charming into a fish and back, right?" Ben clarified. Mal laughed and leaned her forehead against his so their noses touched. Her crown slid off her head, so she pulled it off and looped it on her arm like an oversized bracelet. Ben laughed. He kissed her cheek first and then let his mouth hover there before he moved to her lips and gave her a long, sweet goodbye kiss.
Mal put her hands behind his neck with her crown catching on her shoulder. She didn't want to have to let him go. This was the last kiss they would share for months, maybe. She pressed them together, kissing him harder and harder and harder, begging someone to step in and say: "Sike! He doesn't have to go after all!"
She only stopped when someone burst into laughter on the stairs. "Geesh, Ben, don't you think that's enough?" A girl laughed. Ben released her, and they both turned to watch Lonnie slide down the railing with a bag of swords swung over her shoulder and some of the Isle stun guns attached to her hip. Behind her was Chad Charming, looking disgusted. Lonnie clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on! Let's go! We'll be back soon enough. There's kingdoms and adventure and glory up there!" She pulled open the door and she and Chad slipped out. Ben watched them go.
"Kingdoms and adventure and glory," Mal scoffed. Ben nodded sadly. His kingdom, adventure, and glory were all beside him. He sighed, taking her elbow, and pulling him into his arms one last time.
"Well, at least I know you'll be safe," He whispered. "You know, I'd rather be gone then have to let you go. This way, I know both you and our little one will be safe." He put a hand to her belly, both ignoring the cold drifting in through the open door. "Take care of them for me, okay?"
"Of course," Mal agreed with a bitter taste in her mouth.
Ben pulled his gloves back on over his hands and then exhaled as he turned back began to head for the door. Mal followed him. Outside, the last of the royal representative were leaving, and those who were going north were hanging beside a series of black cars that would take them to the northbound train. Mal watched Lonnie dump her swords into the trunk of one, pumping a fist into the air in excitement, before she socked Chad Charming on the arm with a bright smile. "Wish I could go with you," She mumbled.
Ben shook his head. "I'd rather you stay here," he admitted. He took her jaw and kissed her one last time. His friends laughed and catcalled from the cars, prompting him to end it much quicker than she would have liked. He wiped a tear out from under her eye. "Don't be sad. I'll be back soon," He promised. "I love you."
"I love you too," Mal hiccupped.
Ben turned and headed off of the porch. He bumped fists with his friends beside the cars as Mal stayed close to the large palace, pulling her ridiculous sweater close around herself. She watched them all as they climbed inside, away from the stinging cold, and she saw every time Ben turned to look back at her.
Did you survive? Evie whispered as they exchanged hugs that night, sitting in the stands and waiting for the team. Stewart watched the crowds around them, dressed inconspicuously as a college sports fan, and making sure no one had noticed her.
"I'm okay," Mal nodded. "He's only been gone for a few hours. I haven't even noticed a difference yet." Besides the fact his office was empty, Belle was sad, Adam was coming to pester her about things he wanted to check in Ben's absences, and the fact she had Ben's cell phone in her pocket. Why had she thought that was a good idea, again? They never exchanged their cell phones. Carrying his around was only going to remind her of how abnormal the situation was. But the lock screen was a photo of him and her at Christmastime and it made her happy and sad and angry all at once.
"We're sitting over there," Evie pointed to a spot in front. "And look, there's Jay on the field." She pointed, and Mal nodded as she let Evie led her and Stewart to the bleachers, where college kids were stomping their feet and screaming. Several of Evie's new friends were sitting there – Mal could tell who they were based on their makeup and clothes. Carlos was fiddling with a computer that looked almost as fancy as the ones at the palace, and a dog was lying on both his lap and the lap of the girl next to him, who was wearing a light blue.
"Remember Jane?" Evie pointed to the girl. "Carlos invited her for tonight. And that's-" She rattled off a series of names that made Mal's head spin, so she just nodded and took a seat by Carlos, who glanced at her and then smiled a little.
"You're alive, you're here, and you're not crying," He observed. "Looks like you're holding yourself together."
Mal pulled a face. "Did you think I wouldn't?" She asked.
"You did fall apart on the Isle," Evie hummed. "And he was less than ten miles away, then."
"He had been captured by Gaston," Mal deadpanned. "Beast's son? Gaston? It is a literal miracle he wasn't hurt."
"Hey, Evie!" A familiar voice called, Mal turned to watch Doug appear. He sat down beside Evie on the bleachers and suddenly the two were talking so quickly that Mal could hardly understand what they were talking about. She heard the terms 'Atoms', 'Electronegativity', and 'thermodynamics' before she turned her head to the other side to find Carlos and Jane equally caught up in a conversation, which Carlos alternating between petting his dog and then setting his hand on Jane's.
And that's when Mal realized she was sitting in between two couples.
The game was a frenzy of college students pounding on the bleachers and screaming, Evie pointing out Jay's number to her over and over again and again as the players rushed back and forth, passing the ball and dashing through the kill zone. The sun went down and florescent lights lit up her vision in painful ways. A headache started in the first part of the game and never went away. When they won, everyone dashed onto the field and Jay lifted her up in the air with a yell once he spotted her purple hair. He kissed her cheek, and Evie's. A dull heartache started in Mal's chest. Doug and Evie twisted their hands together and held them aloft in the air. The heartache grew worse.
That night, when they were passing around drinks Mal wasn't allowed to have at a place Stewart wasn't sure she was supposed to be at and with people who Mal didn't want to be with anyways, Carlos kissed Jane for the first time on the hood of someone else's car, and that was when she was done. The heartache had turned into a searing pain that seemed centered in her head, her heart, and the phone in her pocket.
She asked Stewart to take her home.
Ben was gone and the castle was empty. Looking back, she'd never actually been here without knowing Ben wasn't also under the same roof. He'd never been gone without her before. She curled up in the bed alone that night and clamped her mouth shut as she cried. For the first time ever, Ben wasn't there to welcome her home. It was a sad thought to her.
Meanwhile, Ben, Chad Charming, Li Lonnie, Gordon Dwarf, Prince Artie, Tiger Peony, and dozens of other sons and daughter of the Auradonian heroes headed north on a train with an assortment of weapons. As everyone passed around soda and played cards to pass the time, Ben watched the night sky through a window of the train.
Somewhere under these stars was Mal. She had no way of knowing how much he missed her. He had no way of knowing how much she missed him. He had no way of knowing whether she'd had a good time at Jay's game and the afterparty and whether she was okay and he couldn't even ask Lumiere to bring her some strawberries because he'd left his phone at the castle, knowing reception wouldn't work past the Great Forest.
He was the only married person in the car. He was the only man with a wife waiting for him at home. He was the only soon-to-be-father and the only one who'd rather be home at the moment. As Lonnie and Chad bickered back and forth, Ben caught snippets of their conversation. "I'd be a better general than you… I'd make my parents proud."
Everyone wanted to make it gold, prove they were as good as their parents. All Ben was hoping for was that they could end this war quickly, and he could just go home to live in peace for the rest of his life. He wasn't even twenty-five, and he was ready to retire.
When the train stopped a few hours later and everyone deboarded, they were treated to an overall magical sight. A sleigh that looked to be a cross between a snowmobile and a jet fighter, and which was as big as a single train car, was parked beside a dragon which was as long as seven of Ben. The dragon was completely black with ear-like appendages and ridges shaped like dorsal fins down its spine. Its head was flat and two large, pale green eyes stared back into Ben's soul. Above their heads, a short man floated in a cloud of golden sand, which spun and writhed around him like it was a real creature. Strings of golden sand spread out across the forested area, which provided enough light for Ben to see more dragons, an army of tiny, fluttering fairies, a ship that towered above the train they'd just disembarked from, a large man with two large swords and tattoos covering his forearms, what appeared to be a man-sized rabbit with similar tattooing's across his fur, and Jack Frost, who flew above their heads and examined everyone who came out of the train. Ben supposed he was making sure his daughters hadn't come, which they hadn't.
Ben walked towards the man with the swords. "Excuse me." He said and bowed. "I am King Benjamin Florian, and I've come to lead my kingdom alongside yours."
The man with the tattoos laughed. Ben could now see the words 'naughty' and 'nice' printed on the back of his forearms. He set a sword into the ground and outstretched a hand. "Good to meet you, friend." He declared with gusto and a thick Russian accent. "I am Nickolas St, North. You may call me North. We will depart as soon as your trains have unloaded."
From the numerous cars on the train spilled forth hundreds of Auradonians. Ben knew many of them were imagining their stories in books years from now. He knew they were imagining their lives as the opening scenes to a new hero movie.
"How will we transport everyone?" He asked North. "Jack mentioned you had a speedy method to transport."
"Several, actually." North stroked his long, white beard. "It's one of the reasons we knew your country existed, but you didn't know we did."
"Aye, mate." The rabbit agreed, eyeing Ben distastefully. "Watch t'e pros work." He bounced off into the midst of the new Auradonian troops.
"Don't mind Bunny," North told Ben with a smile. "He's always been a bit rough." North's face hardened, and he abruptly looked into the sky. "Jack! Tooth! Hiccup!" He barked. Ben's ears throbbed from the sound.
Jack flew down and landed beside Ben. He brought with him a cold breeze. A hummingbird creature with a human face flitted down and giggled when she looked sideways at Jack. Other mini versions of herself with beaks resembling a hummingbird's appeared beside her. She had pink eyes and beautiful translucent wings. Just when Ben was sure things couldn't get any weirder, a large shadow hurtled towards the ground and landed with a thump. It was another dragon. This one was blue with a tan belly and yellow underneath its wings. It had a much larger, more circular head and many spikes on its tail and head. On its back were two figures. One was a girl with blonde hair neatly kept in a braid over her shoulder. The other was a boy with a prosthetic leg and thick brown hair. Ben couldn't tell which one of the three newcomers was 'Hiccup', though he had a feeling that the hummingbird girl was 'Tooth' from the way her fairies were darting towards him and peering at his mouth.
Santa, Tooth Fairy, and Easter Bunny. Seemed straightforward enough.
North clapped Ben on the shoulder. "The king has arrived." He told the newcomers.
The girl who'd climbed off the dragon eyed him up and down. "Doesn't look much like a king." She sighed. "I hope this new bunch can at least hold a sword, otherwise we're doomed."
"They can," Ben confirmed. "And more will be arriving soon."
"That's good." The girl gave her male companion a quick kiss on the lips. "Be back soon, babe." She told him. Ben pinched his lips together as the pet name graced his ears. He had to admit that the young man in front of him took it a lot better than he usually did when Mal said it to him.
"Bye Astrid!" He waved as she turned and disappeared into the crowd. Then he turned to Ben. "I'm Hiccup." He introduced.
"Ben." Ben shook his hand.
North laughed. "Well, that wasn't the spiel you gave us before." He commented.
Ben blushed. "I was trying to be formal," he explained.
"Well, don't be," Jack said with a sparkle in his eyes. "We're all friends here." He floated a few feet off the ground and formed a snowball in his palm. This he wielded over his shoulder and threw into the crowd. "Hey Bunny!" He yelled at the top of his register. "Are we ready?"
As an answer, a hole opened up in the center of the crowd and people fell into it, yelling. Ben jumped and stared with wide eyes but North only put a hand on his shoulder. "No panic." He told Jack. "It is only Bunny. He can open tunnels, though he can only do one or two for so far. Now." North clapped his hands together and then pulled two snow globes out of his pocket. He handed one to Jack and one to Tooth before he yelled at the surrounding crowd: "All aboard the Sleigh and the dragons! Sandy, you get the rest!"
The yellow Sandman flashed a thumb's up from down below.
People jumped into the holes in the ground, shouting and screaming all the way. Suddenly, two gigantic portals smashed to the ground and spinning portals appeared. Auradonian soldiers began to stream into them. North clapped a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Go on. Take the portals and hold down the fort. We'll catch up." He pointed to Hiccup. "Let's begin!" He said with a large smile. The two vanished into the night.
Ben looked up at the stars, thought again about Mal, and then approached the portals. He jumped in behind Chad, and the world vanished around him.