Truth be told, Ben had totally accepted that he was going to die and that the last thing he would ever see was his Mom's tear-filled eyes when he succumbed to the drugs. The next conscious memories he had were dark but clear. Pain; real, physical pain. So much pain. More than he'd ever felt before in his life, combined. He had wondered if death was supposed to feel like there was liquid fire pouring through his veins. He'd wished for a second death. The pain had been so bad that he had been sure his soul was going to shatter like glass.
There had been no light, no noise, only pain. He felt an intense pressure on his heart and felt burning from the wounds on his chest. He'd resigned himself to eternal burning, supposing he must have done something terribly wrong in life, and then he'd felt a cool touch to his brow, and it had brought him back down to earth. Then there were vivid, intense images. Images of a doomed girl on the Isle of the lost, of Maleficent, and of Mal starving to death.
Mal's memories. Somehow, he was seeing Mal's memories.
He hated it all. It was deplorable how she had grown up in this chaos when he had grown up in the palace. Sure, his childhood hadn't been perfect – his parents had fought almost constantly over how to raise him. Belle was determined to hold onto her baby for as long as possible while Adam had insisted on high school marks, long hours spent in-office, and accompanying his dad to as many meetings as possible. Ben wished things had been calmer and his parents hadn't made him live in such different worlds growing up, but at least he'd been warm. At least he'd been fed. At least he hadn't been born on the Isle of the Lost.
Mal's memories were persistent. He saw what he'd looked like when the glitter can had blown up in his face. He saw himself being held fast on Uma's ship as Mal took in her surroundings. He even saw himself in the dead of night, kissing Mal as she raked her fingers across his bare skin in pain; felt the tears sting her eyes as it faded in increments.
There were other things; many memories that twisted his gut and made him sick. Some were small things. He relived the moment Jay kissed Mal and felt the shock and disgust flood her body and felt her mind blank out. He felt her trying to figure out what was wrong with her as she was seized by panic the day she'd first come to Auradon. He felt her pain as her mother waved goodbye with a bright smile and echoed her fear of execution all the way to Auradon. He saw the Isle, felt the hunger, and heard the cries of people who she had later saved. There were still other, more recent memories. A line of white tests on the bathroom counter, a battle between Mal and Helena, and Mal as a gigantic dragon, soaring over the Sea of Division with one thing on her mind: Ben.
Ben had never been so touched by his wife. Not when she put her anger aside to converse with him, not when she came back for him on Uma's ship, not even when she'd rejected the kingdom of Auradon, claiming it was Ben's to rule. She had truly flown the sea to find him, all by herself, and had still refused to let him die. He remembered all the wonderful memories they'd shared, from their wedding to her becoming queen, everything, and he had wished to go back to living with her.
And then there were the last two.
Ben had tried to shut out the horrible period in his life before he'd married Mal when she was happier and they were getting along, and he was sure he was going to become her personal monster in a matter of weeks. It had been hard, watching her come up with dozens of ideas and strategies, driving with her in the evenings, and then leaving her side and trying – trying – to forget everything.
And Maleficent… it would take him a while to wrap his head around that. She had cared? Cared like a proper parent? And that prophesying… absolutely insane.
No sooner had the last vision faded than the intense pain subsided, and the touch left his brow. He had immediately become aware of something churning in his body that he had no control over, and had faded away to sleep until now, when he felt himself waking up with a heavy weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw sunlight, bright and clear, streaming in through the window.
He did not move for several seconds. Then he looked down and saw a head of purple hair sitting on top of his ribs. Two small hands were curled into balls at his sides A warm feeling of awe overtook him.
Ben flexed his right hand and felt his fingers move against the sheets. His joints ached, but his fingers worked! He moved his arm and pain shot up the muscles in his arm, but he still moved it to wrap his arms around Mal and pull her up to rest on his shoulder. He bent his head and inhaled the scent of her hair. She did not smell very pretty – like smoke and sweat and leather – but her presence was like a soothing balm to his soul.
"You're awake," Someone said in shock. Ben looked up and saw Sophia, sitting in a chair beside the window with a book. Her eyes were wide as she examined him.
"I am." Ben confirmed.
Sophia shut her book and hurried to the bed. She wasn't wearing any shoes. Instead, her brown work boots that laced up to her thighs were sitting beside her chair. Sophia looked over the bedspread and reached out to brush Mal's hair out of her face. "She's still out." She muttered.
Ben pulled Mal closer. "What happened?" He asked Sophia.
Sophia shook her head. "She did it. Somehow… she-" She gestured from Mal to Ben, and sat down on the corner of the bed, unable to put into words what she wanted to say.
Ben raised a trembling hand up and examined it. "I – the sand is gone?" He asked. He could see grains on his hands and felt something underneath his skin, but it wasn't painful.
"Yes." Sophia nodded. "At least, that's what Rapunzel and the Fairy Godmother say. Mal has been asleep ever since, and she had most of the experience, so the details are a bit foggy for us." She exhaled and laid a hand on Mal's shoulder. "From what we've heard, she forced so much magic through your blood bond that she shattered it completely. She resorted to pushing magic directly into your heart via her hands, almost drained herself, and then suddenly you regained color and began fighting the sand off on your own accord."
"Shattered Maleficent's curse?" Ben slowly pushed himself up as he tried to comprehend what this meant. Every muscle in his body was sore. He winced, but this was nothing compared to what he'd felt last night.
"It's gone." Sophia nodded. "The Fairy Godmother said that she snapped it and both ends dissolved and…" She bit her lip as tears filled her eyes. "The Fairy Godmother's wand melted with it."
Ben stared in shock at Sophia. "No." He whispered.
Sophia pulled back a corner of the covers and drew Ben's attention to a metallic melt on top of the sheets. A studded jewel sat on top of a mess of white, blue, and gold. Ben covered his mouth in shock.
"There's more." Sophia continued. "The kingdom is in an uproar. Five hundred video accounts of Mal, transformed as a dragon, found their way onto the interweb, including a crucial one of her appearing in front of the palace, turning back into herself, and rushing you, bloody and black inside. Evie, Jay, and Carlos have been calling every hour to talk to one of you, and meanwhile, Auradonian soldiers in the Overland are refusing to continue fighting until they receive word on you."
Ben swore and began to wrestle his way out of bed. It was an endeavor; every movement caused him pain. He felt like he'd ruined every muscle in his entire body. Ben disappeared into the closet and found a dark bathrobe that wasn't too hard to pull on and wasn't too tight so as to be uncomfortable and a pair of fleece pajama bottoms.
"What time is it, Sophia?" Ben asked, shuffling his way back into the bedroom.
"Almost seven in the morning. Everything ended yesterday morning. Mal's been asleep for over twenty-four hours. The press have been waiting outside all day," Sophia started. "Now, wait." She rushed to him. "We don't want you moving so quickly. You almost died yesterday, and you were strung up for two days before that. On top of that, are you… okay?" She brushed his shoulders off, lips pinched in worry.
"Sore," Ben admitted. "Every muscle hurts." He winced as he went to sit back down on the bed.
"Listen, Ben, I don't want you to panic, but you should be aware you don't exactly look the same as you did." Sophia whispered. She wrung her hands and looked at him nervously.
"What?" Ben asked. Sophia carefully reached forward and took his chin. Her thumb found a natural groove on the left side of his chin. Ben jumped back as if he'd been shocked. That felt weird. It was like he was being tickled.
"Go find a mirror," Sophia whispered as she sat down on the bed beside Mal and began to run her hands through the purple fairy's hair. Ben's feet hit the floor, and he shuffled out of the room and towards the bathroom. Stewart was lying spread out on the couch, snoring. No one else was in the room.
Ben opened the door and flipped on the light. He looked in the mirror and jumped back from the unfamiliar person he saw.
He was… pale, for starters. His skin was waxy and white. And his eyes were darker, almost a dark indigo. If he got the light to reflect on his irises right, they even looked purple. The roots of his hair had gone darker too, though the majority of his hair was still the same color. It was the same length too, not longer or shorter. The color of the change only took up about the inch growing off his head, and something told him that it would continue to look like he'd dyed the roots as it grew.
The most alarming thing was the odd scar at the base of his chin. Ben rubbed his finger over it, and the odd ticking feeling brought tears to his eyes. It appeared to be made of small scales that had grown into his skin. Right over… where Helena had scratched him.
Ben ripped off his robe and stared at the long cuts, now covered with scales, like a reptile's. They were black, smooth to the touch, and extremely sensitive, just like Mal's wings when she'd first learned to grow them out. He hadn't even noticed it when he'd woken up and put on his robe.
Ben began to panic. "Oh my gosh," He muttered as he examined his body for any other changes. Ten fingers and toes? Check. He stuck out his tongue and smiled in the mirror. There was black lining on his teeth, but a quick rub with his finger revealed it would wash out. He ruffled his hair and watched in shock as a wave of black sand fell out of his locks. He balled his fists up and took several deep breaths and… felt something appear in his palm.
He looked down and discovered a small pile of dark blue sand that had appeared out of nowhere. He cautiously dumped it into the sink and then focused on his palm. It took a bit of strain on his aching muscles, but a new, small pile appeared in his hand.
"Oh my gosh!" He yelled and hurried back into the room. "Oh my gosh!"
"I know, it's a lot." Sophia tried to console him as she stood up.
"Look!" Ben held out his hand. Sand whirled around his fist but did not fall to the ground. It simply revolved around his hand in a spherical shape. Sophia's eyes grew as big as ping-pong balls and her mouth dropped open. Ben willed the sand back into his hand, and it did to his command, quickly vanishing into his skin.
"Mal!" Ben exclaimed, heading towards the bed where she slept face down and arms splayed out beneath her. He grabbed her shoulder and shook her lightly. "Mal, please wake up!" He begged as sweat broke out on his brow.
Mal jumped up onto her hands and knees after a few seconds and blinked at the covers. She looked lost. Ben knew the look – she sometimes had these moments where she was like a computer having to redownload herself. There had been times she woken up and stared at him in confusion as pieces came back slowly; she was queen, this was her husband, she wasn't on the Isle anymore. He wasn't sure she knew she did them, but it always fascinated him how her eyes would light up in realization when 'MalbetaX' finished downloading. He'd always assumed it was a side effect of everything changing so quickly.
The light came back into her eyes and she gasped as she whipped around to stare at him. "Oh my gosh!" She gasped. "You're awake! What are you doing out of bed? Are you alright?"
Ben took her hands and examined her. She didn't seem different at all. None of her colors had changed, nothing was new. She was tired and dirty, but still the same person. "Mal," he said seriously. "What happened?"
Mal's smile faded considerably. "We expelled the poisoning." She explained. "And saved your life." She squeezed his hands even as he pulled them out of her grasp carefully.
Ben held out a shaking hand and willed a small sandstorm into his palm. "Then what-" He gasped. "-is this?"
Mal stared in shock as the shimmering blue cloud grew thicker and thicker. She took another double look at Ben, examining the change in his hair and his new eye color and pallor, and then stared at the storm in his palm. Her eyes took on a green glow, and she seemed to go cross-eyed for a few seconds, almost as if she was looking at an entirely different view than Ben and Sophia were. "Oh my," She whispered. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Try again." The Fairy Godmother said with a frown. Her eyes were ringed with red from weeping over the loss of her wand, but she sat erect and professional as the royal family, plus Audrey, Sophia, Stewart and Jack Frost, who had been running back and forth with news from the front all night long without rest, stared at her intently.
Mal nodded and held a hand out for Ben again, palm up. Ben placed his hand, also palm-up, on top of hers and waited until Mal had reached over the coffee table they were sitting around and had taken the Fairy Godmother's hand before he conjured another sandstorm. The more he did it, the easier it seemed to become.
The Fairy Godmother's brow furrowed as she watched the sand whirl on Ben's palm. "How far can you manipulate it?" She asked.
Ben focused. With a bit of prodding and will, he was able to force the sand to take the shape of a misshapen star. Fairy Godmother turned to Mal. "And you say he looks just like you magically?" She asked.
"It's strange. Last night when I was working on him, he was almost invisible magically. Now, he glows as brightly as I do, but with a different texture and color." Mal furrowed her brow as she tried to explain what she was saying, withdrawing her hands and returning to the bowl of strawberries in between her thighs. "It looks like glass but still acts like sand." Ben swallowed dryly and wrung his hands in his lap.
The Fairy Godmother leaned towards him and put a hand up to his face. Ben flinched back and shut an eye as the Fairy Godmother drew a finger over his brow as she studied him. He swore he had been touched more in the last hours since waking up than he had in his entire life. His mom wanted to touch his face, his dad wanted to see the scars, and Mal just didn't want to let him go. "Let me guess," The Fairy Godmother murmured. "Dark indigo?"
"Exactly the color of the sand." Mal nodded, dropping the stem of the strawberry into the trash. "And his eyes."
"Common for them to match." Fairy Godmother shook her head. "Yours match; so do mine. For all, I can tell, we somehow managed to turn Ben into a magical." She stood up. "It's as if he had it his entire life." She began to pace alongside the couch where Belle and Adam sat. Belle was feeding Madison from a bottle as Adam sat still and looked angry.
"That's impossible," Belle whispered. "Neither Adam nor I are magical. There's no way he could have magical potential, and especially not surfacing at his age."
"Maybe you had a little and it never fully developed?" Fairy Godmother theorized out loud. "And that gave Ben a bit of standing ground that allowed him to utilize the magic Mal was giving him and-" Fairy Godmother stopped herself and thought some more. "Or, maybe it was simply the types of magic? Maybe the Overlands have a special adhesion property? Or perhaps the lasting connection between Ben and Mal."
"The two magics mixed." Mal supplied thoughtfully. "Before Mom's curse broke, I witnessed both the sands and my own fiery magic kind of… give up? And then they mixed, right over Ben's heart. That's how I knew I had to keep putting magic into his heart."
"But Ben didn't even react when you kept your hands on him." Fairy Godmother sat back down. "He was still dependent on you to keep feeding magic into him. This is an actual, independent force now. It was still something you were fueling last night until…" Fairy Godmother crunched her eyebrows together in thought. "Wasn't it when you collapsed?"
Ben gave Mal a wide look, who waved him off. "Actually, a question on that in just a minute." She pulled a foot up onto her lap. She was wearing black leggings and a purple shirt with a black sweater. Ben didn't like it. She still looked like she was wearing an Auradon catalogue, but she was tired and it was winter, so he was trying to reason with the voice in his head that was telling him is was wrong. "Yeah, the bond broke, I started using my hands and got carried away. Everything started flowing out of my hands and I almost drained myself. I let my head drop onto his and then I started having all these visions."
"Visions of what?" Ben interrupted, snapping to attention and staring at her. It was the first thing he'd said in a while. Mal looked surprised. "What did you see?" He demanded.
"Did you… see it too?" Mal asked slowly. "With the Isle and Maleficent and-" Her face went a little pale. "Oh. You and your parents."
Ben slumped back, squeezing his eyes closed. Great. Great. Absolutely great. "I'm so sorry," He began in a broken tone.
"You never told me?" Mal demanded. She didn't really sound angry, just… confused. "How did you even keep me from noticing?"
"There are things you haven't been telling me either," Ben shot back, giving her a look. Mal fell back, silenced and guilty. He shook his head. "We'll talk later," He muttered.
Mal turned to Fairy Godmother. "I… I think that must have been it. Whatever happened when we shared our memories… that is what did it."
Fairy Godmother buried her face in her hands. "I have no idea." She said softly. "All I can really tell you without my wand is that Ben is definitely a mage of sands now." She stood up. "Excuse me, please." She whispered and disappeared into the hallway.
Ben stared at his hands in defeat. Mal nudged him with her foot. "You okay?" She whispered.
Ben turned his hands over and then examined his palm. A blue mound appeared without him having to think about it. His eyes filled with tears. "No." He shook his head. "Look at this. I have sand magics and dark magics."
"I thought you liked magic?" Mal asked with a raised eyebrow and a frown.
"I like your magic!" Ben exploded. His voice made goosebumps rise up on Mal's arms and Audrey jumped. "This? This is death magic. What if I scratch you or Madison or Mom or Dad trying to give them a handshake or hug or anything and they die?"
"Doubtful." Mal cut his rant off. "Magic is intent-based as well as spell-based. Helena wanted to kill you. The scratches would have been perfectly fine if she hadn't wanted you to die."
Audrey reached over and patted Ben's back. "We're here for you, Ben." She whispered. "It doesn't matter if you have powers or what kind they are."
"Being afraid of yourself won't help anything either," Mal said, pushing a large, red strawberry into Ben's grasp. "Remember Elsa? And Ben, babe, you have to take care of yourself otherwise you'll be crankier than I am. Your body is still trying to catch up to everything that happened last night."
Ben twisted the top off a strawberry without a word as Stewart snorted. "You? Cranky?" He asked. "You might be the most level-headed one here."
"Oh, I'm pissed," Mal growled. "I'm just on a recharge break."
"What really happened the last two days, Mal?" Ben asked softly.
Mal's eyes grew a little dark. She bit her cheek. "The message you'd been captured came late. We were at the table for dinner, I walked out and was gone in an hour."
"Just like that?" Ben asked.
"Just like that." Mal nodded. "Adam yelled at me, said I couldn't go because I was queen, yada-yada, pregnant, yada-yada, and I went anyways." She twisted the top of a strawberry. Ben frowned at her words but kept his mouth shut. "I drove your car to Kuzko's palace, debated flying over with my purple wings, remembered Mom could turn into a dragon and thought that'd be a better method of transportation, and I crossed the sea and made it to the Overland as the sun was coming up. Jack shot me down off the coast, I interfered with the war council by locating you using our blood anchor and then returned to dragon form to fly to what-the-place."
Mal paused to take a breath and gather her thoughts. "I was so angry… I don't remember much." She admitted. "I flew to the city and Helena came out to see me. We threatened each other, she brought the guards out, I lit their horses on fire and went after her. She had your sword, I blew my top at her and scared her into the next century, and after she disappeared, I went to find you. I made Jack ride with me back here, the Fairy Godmother and Doctor Scott gave a prognosis, and I called Rapunzel. We did this crazy three-way magic thing and I was so tired afterward that I fell asleep. Et voila."
Mal chewed on her lip in thought. "I need to ask the Fairy Godmother something." She stood up and went to the door, but not before she kissed Ben on the head. "I like you no matter how you look." She promised him. Then she went and disappeared through the doors.
Stewart slid forward on his seat. "It must be hard." He reasoned.
Ben grunted. "What will I do?" He asked. "Auradon needs me."
The doors opened again. Lumiere appeared with a wide grin on his face that only grew larger when he saw Ben. "You're up!" He exclaimed. "And so soon afterward too! What great news. Is Mal in here?" He looked around for the purplette.
"No." Ben shook his head. "She just left to find Fairy Godmother. She'll be back soon."
"You're happy." Belle smiled sadly.
Lumiere spread his arms. "The moors are now at war." He announced.
Ben's face fell slack, as did everyone else's. "What?" He asked.
"Queen Mal asked me to journey to the moors and announce a war against the villains of the Overland." Lumiere smiled. "Everyone is getting ready to head up to the Overland. I believe this is what some would refer to as a turning point in the war."
Jack floated a few feet off his chair with a bright smile. "Excellent." He said.
"I thought Mal was going to keep them out of war?" Ben asked. "Unless something really bad – oh." He stopped, looking down at himself. "She brought the moors to war over me?"
"She means for retribution," Jack explained. "You all should have seen her storming into the council room. She was in there for a total of five minutes and had everyone's heads spinning. She walked in, told them where you were, explained she was going to kick your butt for letting yourself be captured, and then walked right back out and flew away without even telling up to do anything."
"Retribution?" Ben asked softly.
"I am going to tear Helena limb from limb," Mal said as she re-entered the room. The Fairy Godmother was still not with her. Mal sat down beside Ben and dug her nails into her knees. "Are the moors at war?" She asked Lumiere, who nodded. "Excellent." She smiled. "I suppose I'd better head up there, then?"
Ben whipped around. "Head up there?" He asked.
"Yes." Mal nodded. "Helena is afraid of me. Her parents aren't expecting me, and the moors are a collection of fighters unlike anyone they've ever seen before."
"Mal." Ben took her hands and pleaded with her. "Please, don't go. I've already gone and it's awful. I was captured by Eris herself when she pretended to be someone else. I couldn't stand it if something horrible happened to you or the baby."
Mal looked like she might listen up until he mentioned she was pregnant. Now she wasn't even concerned about sugar-coating it for him. She stuck a finger in his face. "I do not care about the baby." She rolled her eyes. "They will be fine. F-I-N-E. Pregnant girls on the Isle would still leap around and climb buildings and do all sorts of stuff and I am not going to hang out doing nothing just because. I have a war to fight and vengeance that needs to be wrought." Her eyes softened as she looked at Ben. "But I'll stay a few days if it makes you feel better." She promised. "Will you be coming back up?"
Ben stared at his hands, knowing without trying the power he could summon. He shook his head. "I just want to stay home." He admitted, sinking into the chair. "I just want to stay here and run the kingdom without worrying about battle schemes and death rates and-" He broke off and buried his face in his hands.
Mal gave him a hug. "Stay here and get better then." She advised. "I'll call every night if you want?"
Ben nodded solemnly and pulled his feet up onto the couch cushion, so he could wrap his arms around his legs and become a ball.
"We still have reporters outside." Adam reminded them. "What should we do about that?"
Ben flinched. When he'd woken up, he'd been more than ready to go out and meet them. Now, however, the last thing he wanted to do was show them his new face.
Mal drummed her fingers on her leg. "I can call Elias, the man who interviewed me and do a small thing wherever he is." She offered.
"I think a speech would be better," Belle advised.
"You're probably right." Mal nodded. Her lower lip came out as she thought. "I'm just not… ready to give all the details. Maybe one day I'll tell Auradon everything, but not today." She looked at Audrey. "We hadn't even told you about our anchor, had we?" She asked. Audrey shook her head.
Ben sat up. "I owe you an apology." He sighed. "I… stretched the truth when I told you what was happening. Maleficent actually cursed the crowns to Auradon before she was sent to the Isle and a curse was passed down onto Mal and I. That's why Mal was brought from the Isle."
Audrey blinked. "Wow," She whispered. She looked up at Mal. "You got so lucky to get someone like her that way." She told Ben.
Ben broke into the first real laugh he'd laughed all day. "I know." He assured Audrey. "And I thank God for her every day."
Auradonian reporters swarmed the steps of the palace as Audrey and Mal stepped outside into the flashing cameras. They waved shyly, and Mal took guard behind Audrey as the pink-dressed girl crossed her arms, Isle-style, and called for silence. She smiled for the camera and cleared her throat. "Hello, Auradon," She told a blinking camera. "This is Audrey, daughter of Aurora and Phillip speaking, and the crown has asked me to forward Queen Mal of the Isle, the Moors, and Auradon in a quick message to the citizens. This message will briefly cover the dragon that has been sighted in Auradon, the battle on the Overland, the King's current health status and a few other small items of business. Thank you." She stepped backward and gestured to Mal, who tossed her dark purple hair over her shoulder and stepped onto the second-highest step.
Mal swallowed and looked at the ground for a few seconds before she looked into the camera and began to speak. "Two days ago, in the evening, palace officials including Former Queen Belle and King Adam received word from the Overland that King Benjamin Florian Benson had been captured while preparing for an invasion. I, the queen, his wife, left immediately thereafter. Upon arriving at the coast I taught myself to morph into a dragon before I traveled to the Overland. I was able to recover Ben and bring him back to Auradon."
Cameras flashed and cameramen hushed reporters with pencils who mumbled as they scribbled things down. Mal swallowed. "As many of you saw in a video, he was badly injured. A woman by name of Helena Apate Troy who possessed sand powers had clawed him and given him magical poisoning, which many of you may remember as the thing that killed my mother." Mal swallowed and choked back a hiccup as her eyes watered from the bright sunlight. "He came close to death, but through careful maneuvering, the Fairy Godmother, Rapunzel of Corona, and I managed to reverse the effects of Troy's magic. Ben is on the road to recovery.
"I have made the decision to travel north while my husband heals. The moorlands have entered the war and I will be leading them alongside Auradon troops, which I have permission from both kings of Auradon to do." Mal paused and pursed her lips. "I will return to Auradon in March at the latest, regardless of the war's status. The king would like me to be nearby as we await the arrival of our first child."
There was a general outcry and Mal was almost blinded by the cameras. She flinched back. People were shouting and exchanging incredulous looks. "Ben will remain in Auradon while he recovers," She continued, raising her voice over the noise. "I may or may not return to the Overlands in the summer after our child is born." She carefully avoided touching her stomach as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a document printed on muted yellow paper.
"The King has also asked me to read this statement regarding every citizen in Auradon," She announced. "It is to be regarded as a proclamation until it is officially instated next week." Mal smoothed it out, squinted, and read it aloud as best she could. "Due to the state of war in Auradon, I, Benjamin Florian Benson, do hereby declare the use of all magicks, enchantments, and spellcasting to be perfectly legal insomuch that they do not infringe on the Auradonian's right to Happily Ever After as stated by the End of War Manifesto until war has been adjourned or until this statement is revoked or improved upon. Misuse of magic or deliberant attacks will come with consequences."
Mal bit her lip to keep from crying tears of joy as she folded the paper up again and stared into the cameras. "So be it henceforth." She concluded. "Thank you for your time."
As reporters exploded with questions, Mal turned and walked back to the doors. Audrey held them open for her as she disappeared inside and away from the cameras.
Moorland creatures that had previously prepared for war with Auradon now marched north to battle alongside them. The news of what had happened to Ben – what Mal had done – shook them. They'd been loyal to her before for simply saving them, but with this new information that she'd been able to burn an incurable disease out of someone's system, they were rallying behind her power. Auradon, however, not so much.
Mal dodged crowds on her way to the Isle to assure them that they wouldn't be joining the fight just yet. She brought back Ben's things that had been hidden there and made a promise to her people – she was going to create a way for them to visit Auradon and the Moorlands. Not immigrate just yet, but travel.
She returned later in the evening but ignored the closed gates as she flew right over them and landed in front of the palace. People filmed her as she went and several shouts rang out, but she ignored them all.
Mal could hear Ben listening to some newsreel when she opened the door to their bedroom. She brushed her teeth and then walked through the bedroom to her closet, shutting the door to change. Ben was sitting on their bed, examining something on his phone. She ignored the introduction as she located her pajamas, but then slowed her movements as the words drifted through the door.
"At this point, we have to consider the basis of what is happening," An announcer began in a slow, disappointed tone. "A seventeen-year-old girl will be leading a war. A seventeen-year-old! How preposterous! That idea alone is bombastic! Not even taking into account how she is pregnant, Queen Mal should not be going north – regardless of how powerful she is!"
Mal frowned and shoved her feet into some socks. She swung the door open and furrowed her brow in the direction of Ben, who hadn't given any sign that he knew she had entered. Mal walked over and ran her hands through his hair before dropping her fingers and running her thumb along the groove in his chin. She wanted to see if it was shrinking at all, but it seemed to be the exact size and shape as when it had formed. Ben pulled his chin out of her grasp, furrowing his brow at the prickling feeling, and continued examining what she now assumed was a protest.
"That's not to say she should be left to lead!" The announcer continued, brandishing a finger at the crowd. He was a tall man with oiled hair and small black glasses pushed up on his nose. "She's already proved that seventeen-year-olds cannot rule kingdoms on their own – hence why the law states the minimum age should be twenty-two. We assumed she would be capable from what we had witnessed of her on the Isle and in the Moors, but it seems Mal only has the ability to raise forgotten kingdoms up; not to keep them running normally without passing laws to keep people away from her. We never should have allowed the country to be left on a teenager's shoulders!"
Ben let out a long breath through his nose while Mal's brow hunched together in hurt. She hovered at his side, trying to block out the awful words Ben seemed to be engrossed in.
"She doesn't have her priorities straight! King Ben has already been attacked and now she will leave Auradon on a sick man's shoulders and endanger the future of the kingdom because she can't deal with the politics of Auradon! She is fleeing from issues she created! And Ben – he will let her! He's never tried to control her; the reports of magic in Auradon and this recent proclamation only prove that. He's not strong enough to control his wife – much less lead a war!"
Mal shook her head. How could anyone listen to this fool? Was he still stuck in the stone age, where women were property to be… controlled? What did he think their relationship was like? She tried again to pull Ben's attention away from the feed, but he was acting so… distant. She sat down beside him and put her head against his shoulder, hoping he'd get the hint. All the while, the man's voice reverberated into her skull.
"Mal may have been able to perform a rescue mission but can we reasonably expect a teenager to keep her countries, – plural! – our own children, and her baby – the future of all Auradon! – safe? The war is a costly expense to Auradon; one that our leaders aren't ready for and one that we shouldn't stand for any-"
"Can you turn that off?" Mal demanded finally, sitting back up and grabbing Ben's forearm. He jumped a little as if she'd startled him out of a daze and then fumbled with the off switch. She heard him mumble an apology as he set his phone back down on the bed and then twisted his hands a little before clasping them in his lap. Mal furrowed her brow at him. He used to always reach for her, before he left for north. "We don't need to know how badly Auradon hates us," She began tersely. "They're wrong anyway. They don't have all the information, and-"
"Mal, I agree with them," Ben interrupted, keeping his hands pressed tightly together and his eyes on the floor. The floor still hadn't been fixed and the ceiling would need to be repainted, but everything was almost as is with the exception of the overwhelming presence of Mal's magic in the room.
Mal blinked at him in shock. The first thing that came to mind was the announcer's voice: "He's not strong enough to control his wife!" It brought her right back to when she was standing in his office and Adam was screaming at her about how Ben had "the most powerful person in his grasp." "Well," She tried to keep the hiss out of her tone as she spoke, "that's disgusting."
"Don't you?" Ben asked, turning to face her with an unreadable expression.
"No!" Mal snapped, sliding off the bed and taking a step away from him. "They're spewing lies! How can you believe a single word?"
"I don't want you to go," Ben told her, running a hand through his hair. "I just failed and I don't want you to get hurt. I'd rather you stay here; safe."
"You didn't fail, and I won't get hurt," Mal said slowly, putting her hands on her hips.
"That's exactly what I said!" Ben snapped. "Lonnie's a better general – she can keep everyone safe. I'll recover and we can stay here… together."
"While hundreds die?" Mal reminded him. Ben's face contorted in anger.
"It's better than you dying or losing our baby!" He declared, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. He used her weight momentarily to get to his feet and then took both of her hands in a vice-like grip. Mal shook her hands to try to get him to let go.
"So, that's what this is about?" She snapped. "You and your mother don't even care about me or the kingdoms or anything other than this stupid baby!"
"Don't bring my mom into this – this is about us!" Ben shook his head. "Listen, Mal, let's keep out of the North. You don't need revenge – Auradon doesn't even want us to go! I know you want to get back at Helena but can't we just let it go? Can't you just stay here with me? Please?"
"That's the selfish thing to do," Mal reprimanded in a biting tone. Ben flinched back in hurt, but his response was immediate and cutting.
"Says the girl who passed four laws to keep people from complaining to her," he hissed. It was probably the cruelest thing she had ever heard come out of his mouth. She ripped her hands away and shoved him hard into his nightstand. He was still weak, so he landed against it, but she didn't feel bad.
"I was dying!" She yelled. She was actually yelling at him now; they were fighting and it felt horrible. "I hadn't slept in days because I was trying to balance everything. The Isle needed me and I could never go because Auradon was working me to the bone! I couldn't go anywhere or do anything; I would miss every single meal every day and I still couldn't do things up to 'Ben's standard'!"
"You should have asked for help," Ben chided with his own voice growing to a shout. His dark indigo eyes swirled with sand magic and little particles started spinning around him. "Not turned my dad into a monster. I thought you were going to take care of things?"
His voice rang in her ears. He's accusing her; why is she being accused? He gave her permission to change things… encouraged it, really. "You know what, Adam was right!" She snapped. "You only wanted me to stay behind and play housekeeper!"
Ben balked at the description. "What?" He gasped, anger vanishing from his tone. "I wanted you to… to…"
"You just wanted to keep me here, where you knew I was safe. All those things you said about making Auradon better were lies, weren't they?" She glared at him as he brushed sand off of his hands. He is good at control, but even she lets out a little lose magic when she gets angry.
"No, they weren't," he denied. "I thought you would still be able to go to the Isle and the Moors. I thought… I thought you'd be able to do it."
The way he phrased it made it sound like she was a failure. 'You should have been able to do this, but you chose not to'. It goes through her like a knife and makes her eyes tear up. Mal balled her fists up.
"Well, I thought you cared about me and not just about the baby. I guess we were both wrong," she spat.
Her words hurt him. He sat down on the nightstand, looking devastated, and stared at her like he forgot who she was and is just now remembering. "Mal," He whispered, "I do care about you."
"You sure have a funny way of showing it," She grumbled and turned her back to him. It was easier to not see him. She didn't want to hear his diplomatic excuses right now.
"I just want you to be safe!" Ben seized her hands and forced her to turn back around to him. "Is that so bad?"
"Not even a year ago, you just wanted me to be happy," Mal chided. "You said that even if I decided to leave, you'd still love me. Remember? Because there's a difference between loving someone and loving to have someone around? You promised I wouldn't ever be trapped again – that there would be no more prisoners in Beast's Castle. You promised you'd never stop me from leaving."
"That was before I knew we were going to have a family," Ben squeezed her hands, begging her to see reason. "Before, you were just walking out on me. Now, you're walking out on both of us, Mal. I'm trying to keep you safe and them safe and you happy and them happy. Can you stop being so selfish and think about that? I'm trying to think about what's best for my family because that's what parents do!"
"I don't want to be a parent!" Mal exploded, ripping her hands from his and hitting his chest with both fists in a random act of rage before she slumped her forehead into his chest. "I don't… I hate this, Ben."
"You think I don't know that?" Ben pushed her back, rubbing the area where she'd hit him and frowning at her. There is no comfort there. "I don't know how you managed to fool me that entire month – I thought you were okay. I don't even know how Mom and Dad are still fooled because it's so obvious!"
"I'm tired, Ben," Mal hissed. The tears leak past her eyes and burn her skin as they fall. She was in so, so much pain and he was standing there so close and yet so far because they're fighting. They've never really fought before. She's overreacted, sure, but he's been patient and they've always gotten through it. Mal supposed she'd finally reached the end of Ben's rope, but she still needed him to understand. "I don't have time for this and now everyone wants me to stay home and play house. Even those news people; even Belle; even you! You're all trying to control me!"
"I'm not trying to control you," Ben protested. "I'm-"
"You just agreed with that man who said you can't control me well enough," Mal pointed out in a flat tone, cutting off all of his arguments.
It took Ben a few seconds. The lies must have gone right over his head, deep as he was in thinking. "I wasn't agreeing with that part," He began and then Mal cut in again.
"Oh, were you agreeing with the part about how I can't rule? You've already said you think I failed," She crossed her arms, and then Ben is on the retreat a little.
"I spoke too quickly," He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sure you were doing the right thing,"
Mal turned away. "You're only saying that because I'm mad now," She sighed.
"No, Mal, I haven't even looked at those laws yet." He pressed a hand to his head and closed his eyes. "I have no idea what you wrote. I was just repeating-"
"Your mom?" Mal challenged. There was no verbal response; Ben opened his eyes and realized his mistake in trusting a woman still sore over Mal dealing her cruel justice. She looked away, towards the window, and tried her best to not watch for his movements in her peripherals. "I know you really need my help right now," she began slowly, "but I need yours too. This isn't really my dream. You have no idea what it's like on the Isle - people die from this. I've sat with people as they died from this. Young girls who thought their boyfriends meant forever, people who weren't given choices. Or there's strategem. People get pregnant so they have someone who will keep them safe when they're older and so they have leverage over their partners. And I come to Auradon and it's a responsibility and pride. And the moorlands consider it a necessity, almost. It's just hard to adjust and-" Mal sat down hard on the bed and braced her arms on her knees. "I'm seventeen. I'm small. What if I die? And if I live, I have this responsibility that I, frankly, am not ready for. Look at me, Ben. I just barely got the Isle and the moors under control. I let you touch me and it felt wonderful, and for a few days I wasn't afraid of anything, and now I've got to figure out how I'm supposed to deal with the entire kingdom judging me for being as young as I am and watching me raise my kid and - oh god, I'll have to raise a kid." She shook her head and buried her face out of sight.
Ben put a hand on her back hesitantly. His expression was dark. "You won't die." He told her. "You're too powerful to just... die. And we'll have doctors and nurses around."
Mal shook her head. "I don't want doctors and nurses." She insisted. "That brings up a whole different list of Isle flashbacks."
Ben huffed in a way that told Mal he thought she'd come around. She pursed her lips. "You bring them within a mile of me and I'll lock you out of the room." She warned him. He scoffed again, and Mal didn't press the threat. Instead, she took a deep breath. "Ben, I really need your help right now, and you're judging me and attacking me and making decisions for me. I just don't feel like I can do this."
He swallowed. "So, what then?" He asked. "Are you just going to... stop it?" His voice cracked, and he had to cough a little.
"I can't." Mal shook her head, feeling forlorn. "Auradon already knows, remember? I can only imagine the backlash that would get. And anyway, I wouldn't do that to you, and I couldn't do that to me."
Ben breathed a sigh of relief, and guilt slipped onto Mal's stomach. She had made him worry. She had probably made him sick with the idea.
"So then, what are you going to do?" Ben asked, sitting down and putting his arm around her back. But now that she had the contact, she didn't want it.
"Nothing," Mal reported. She wrapped her arms around her ribcage and got to her feet. "What can I do? I just have to wait it out and hope I'm strong enough to deal with it."
"What can I do?" Ben asked, jumping up behind her and inadvertently cutting off the path to the door. "What do you need? I can-"
"Please, stop!" Mal cut him off as angry, stressed tears burned her eyes. "You and everyone constantly reminding me of this is making everything ten times harder! I just want to ignore it. I know I'm not delicate but hey, you get knocked up and suddenly you're a flower!" She took a deep, ragged breath. "Just let me be me. Just let me... pretend everything is normal until it can't be anymore. I just - I want to ignore it."
Ben was at a loss of what to say. His hands fell limply at his sides. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
Mal took a little breath and held her hands up as if that was going to make the words bounce off of her and away. "Me too." She exhaled. "I guess it really wasn't the right time. I should have figured that out before we got into this mess." She sidestepped him and headed for the door, shaking her head and taking deep breaths to console herself. Ben listened for the click of the doorknob. Something told him she wouldn't be coming back tonight.
She did, but it was at two thirty in the morning, when he was lying awake and spinning sandstorms around his hand. It was reflective, so he could see the odd, dim light his eyes were giving off in the glints of the sand. It was horribly fascinating; the way something so rough could appear so smooth.
He heard the door open and dropped his hand and rolled onto his side. Mal stepped around the frame, looking downcast. She glanced over at him and it was only then that Ben thought to close his eyes. From her little breath of disappointment, he could tell she'd seen the light from his eyes.
She went to her side and straightened the covers that had been jostled from his tossing and turning, pulled them back, and then let out an irritated sigh. She picked up her pillow and then one of the decorative ones they usually put on the floor during the night and left again, shutting the door behind her.
Somehow, her decision hurt more than anything either of them had said that day.