Mal traveled the hour to Corona to thank Rapunzel with a hug, a large container of hazelnut soup - which Rapunzel apparently adored - and a lantern with the phrase 'I've got a dream' on it. She felt like it was fitting. When she arrived, the kingdom was crowded. Cars were parked within inches of each other and carriages made of canvas, wood, metal or glass were stopped practically on top of each other. She stopped on the outskirts and hiked up to the castle, weaving through crowds, Before long, it was clear what was going on - Hundreds of people had traveled to take advantage of the Queen's legal ability to use her magic.
Mal discovered the queen sitting on the front steps of her palace with her hair unraveled down through the front gates of the palace walls, all the way out into Corona. Rapunzel sang and people with injuries of every size - from cuts on their hands to disfigured and malformed limbs - came to her to touch her hair and feel the healing power course through them.
As Mal walked through the palace gates, she heard a little boy calling out for his mother as he dashed past her with a pair of now-retired crutches in his hands. "Mama! Mama!" He called, jumping for joy.
Rapunzel stood when she saw the purplette appear in the courtyard. "Mal!" She called with tears in her eyes as she ran to throw her arms around her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," She sobbed as she fell to her knees with her arms locked around Mal's waist.
Mal, too, dropped to her knees and squeezed Rapunzel tightly. "Oh, thank you, thank you for saving him," She cried. She was aware that dozens of people probably had their cell phones out, were probably filming this as they spoke, but it was okay.
Mal withdrew, ruffling out her newly short hair. It had been getting too long again, so she'd cut it at the nape of her neck. No more gold streaks. She was donating her hair to a place that helped kids with infirmities like cancer, magical poisoning, and various types of incurable viruses. Long hair would be cumbersome on the battlefield anyways.
Mal presented her gifts with tears in her eyes. "These are for you." She offered. Rapunzel took them, looking touched. As she smoothed out the lantern, and read the description, her eyes filled with more tears. "He's my dream," Mal sniffled to explain. "And I know you're one of the only princesses who knows what it's like to watch a dream almost die in front of you. I'll never be able to thank you enough."
Rapunzel wiped her eyes. "Let's call it even," She recommended. "I'll never be able to thank you enough for all of this." She gestured around her to everyone in the courtyard who stood to wonder at Queen Rapunzel and Queen Mal. Mal chuckled, and the two queens shook hands before Mal left for her second destination.
Mal doubled around to Cinderellasburg before she returned to the palace. Upon arriving, she knocked and was let in by a guard with a tall, funny hat. "You may wait here for the king and queen." She was told.
The Charming's castle was lovely. The entrance hall was light blue, and circular, with two luxurious staircases climbing the outskirts of the walls and meeting underneath a gigantic portrait of Queen Ella, King Charming, and Prince Chad.
A door underneath the portrait opened and Queen Ella appeared in a luxurious blue gown. She hurried to the staircase barrier and looked down at Mal. "Your highness," She said in surprise. "What brings you here to us today?" She hurried down the stairs and dipped into a small bow as she hit the bottom of the steps.
"You don't need to bow to me." Mal chuckled. "And I'm here on a sort of… developmental question."
"Which is?" Ella asked with a soft smile.
"I want to find Anastasia's husband, and figure out the best way to reunite him with his wife, should he still wish it after all these years." Mal explained, tapping her foot on the floor.
Queen Ella looked entirely astonished. "Rob Paulsen is his name." She explained. Her face fell downcast. "He was heartbroken when they took Anastasia. It had already been five years since they'd married, and they were trying to have children together. He petitioned the high palace for years for her release, but I haven't heard from him in a few years now."
"Do you have an address?" Mal asked patiently.
"I might." Ella shrugged. "Come, let's see." She waved Mal to the side of the room, where a door was hidden in front of the staircase. They walked through and began traveling down a long corridor. "What are you thinking to reunite them, given they're different citizens?" Ella asked.
"I was hoping you'd agree to sanction Anastasia, or I can sanction Rob," Mal explained.
Ella hesitated. "We'll have to speak on it, of course." She smiled tactfully. Mal knew she was worried about the persecutions that would arise against the two if the case was publicized.
They entered a room not far down the hallway that was small, about three times the size of a normal coat closet, with the oldest computer Mal had ever seen sitting on the desk. It had a bright blue screen and was white and boxy, completely unlike the sleek, black screens at Beast's Castle. A man with balding hair sat behind the screen, scribbling on a paper.
"Alex?" Ella asked, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "Can you see if you can find an address for Rob Paulsen?"
Alex grunted and began to shake the computer's mouse as he tried to bring up a record-finding page. Mal pursed her lips as she fidgeted, waiting for the computer to boot up. After about ten minutes of complete silence and nervous fidgeting, Alex grunted again. "Nothing." He said. "I have newspaper articles and past residencies, but nothing new for the last eight years."
Queen Ella looked alarmed. "Thank you, Alex. We need to find him immediately."
Mal ran a hand through her short hair. "Can I leave that to you?" She asked.
Ella nodded with a flush. "Of course. I don't know why we don't know where he is, but we'll find him immediately."
Alex tapped an intercom on his desk. "Hey, Marc?" He asked.
"Yeah, Alex?" A gruffer voice came through the other end, mixed with more than a fair amount of static.
"See if you can find a Rob Paulsen. Anyway, as soon as possible."
"You got it, boss," Marc replied. The line went dead.
Mal backed up. "I'll show myself out." She whispered and disappeared out the door.
"The Isle is almost completely functional." Evelyn smiled as she flipped her tablet screen around. "Kids are attending school four days a week. Most adults have five or six-day jobs, and everything slows on Sunday for a rest day. The tablets you brought from Auradon are really helping. I took the liberty of organizing family accounts and now everything is programmed into groups based on where people live. Accounts with financial holdings cannot be merged to protect from domestic abuse that way, and the Isle has paid back forty percent of its debt to Auradon by shipping goods there and back from the people who build and make things here, and we're slowly gaining an infrastructure."
"That's amazing." Mal smiled. "So, that's it? We have a regular running kingdom now?"
"That's it." Evelyn smiled. "Congratulations. You built a kingdom in less than a year. Now we just have to work on improving it."
Mal nodded. "And I do have plans. I want to hire our build squad to start building a bigger dock down here, past the harbor and away from the beach. I'm going to take more of that uninhabited land over here and start expanding into the abandoned sections of the Isle. We're going to have water-cleaning machines to keep the oceans nice. And that nature-y area the moor-women began, I want to expand into a park with this thing called a playground for smaller children."
"I know what a playground is." Evelyn rolled her eyes. "I think we should focus on home-production though. It'll be more beneficial to start setting up workplaces and places we can forge and build things in so that we're not always importing from Auradon. I've already drawn up plans."
Mal considered this. "You're right." She nodded. "It's obvious we'll never be able to oust Auradon in terms of raw materials; they're just a bigger area than we are. But if we buy raw goods, manufacture them here, and resell to Auradon…"
"We'll gain the upper hand on their production since Auradon is lazy. We'll get rich over their want of nice things without work." Evelyn smirked. "Are you trying to encourage battle with your husband?"
"Sure." Mal laughed. "He'll understand. Anything else pressing right now?" She asked.
"Nope. I'll send you plans when I get them. Why don't you go out and see how things are?" Evelyn folded her tablet down into a touchscreen and began tapping away.
Mal smiled and nodded. She walked outside Evelyn's office and was nearly barreled down by Audrey, who was chasing a small child around with a wide smile. "Oh!" Mal exclaimed. "I was wondering where you were. I didn't see you when I came down to the wharf this morning."
"I've been here since yesterday." Audrey huffed as she came to a stop. "I didn't even know you were here."
"Shocking," Mal said. "Word usually spreads."
Audrey laughed. "Yeah. You'd think the whole dragon thing would have caused everyone to blow their tops when you stepped off the gangplank."
Mal laughed and examined Audrey. Audrey was wearing a paint-splattered t-shirt and long pants. Now that it was November, cold air was starting to travel through to the Isle. People no longer lounged around in short sleeves and swishy skirts. "Have you just started… living here?" She asked.
Audrey's smile fell a little. "Sort of." She shrugged. "Like, I still go back, and I know I have to be queen one day, but… lots of my stuff is here."
Mal folded her arms. "Let's walk a minute." She said and gestured to the door to the building. Audrey nodded, and the two women headed outside.
"Ben okay?" Audrey asked as they headed down the street.
"He says he is, but he's still struggling," Mal whispered. "He's worried about me leaving."
"Isn't everyone?" Audrey asked.
"Sophia isn't." Mal argued. "Neither is Fairy Godmother, Rapunzel, or Lumiere."
"You know, when Ericka said maybe we should sic you at the Overland Villains, she wasn't aware you were pregnant." Audrey raised an eyebrow.
"Doesn't matter." Mal digressed in a sour tone. "What do your parents think of you always being here, on the Isle?"
Audrey's face fell. "They're… worried, of course. But they say they're proud of me."
"Do you really want to be Queen of Auroria?" Mal whispered.
Audrey crossed her arms. "I don't know what I want." She sighed. "But I understand being queen is a full-time job, and I won't always be able to run off to the Isle all the time."
"Can you work with staying inside and running things the rest of your life now that you know what this is like?" Mal asked, gesturing around her.
"I don't have to be a queen like my parents." Audrey spat. "I can still… go out! I can be like you are here. I can do what I do here… over there! In Auroria."
"What does Auroria have Guards for? Emergency services? We don't have those things here. Everyone helps everyone. In Auradon, everyone minds their own business." Mal pointed out.
Audrey grumbled in agreement. "And everyone hates what they can't understand." She agreed. Mal looked at her in surprise. She hadn't realized that… Audrey was starting to catch onto Auradon's discrimination system.
"I'm just angry." Audrey sighed. "I don't want to have to choose, but… if I'm not Queen, then what was I even born and raised to be in the first place? I can't just walk away from responsibility."
"You're a queen without the crown," Mal assured her. "We get to choose what we want to be. We forge our own paths and choose our own destiny. What do you want yours to be?"
Audrey kicked a rock down the street. "I guess… I don't know. I don't want to leave here…" She trailed off, biting her bottom lip. Mal didn't add on at all.
Three young men were standing at the corner of a building next to the small park, talking as Mal and Audrey started to walk past them. One was holding onto a small tree's branch as he laughed with his friends. He had brown hair with sideburns and pretty brown eyes. He was dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and tan pants with many pockets. As Audrey and Mal walked past, the former with her arms still crossed, his hand shot out and seized her upper arm. He pulled her into his embrace and went down with a knee, dipping her low to the ground.
Mal tensed and spun on her heel the moment Audrey disappeared from her side. She watched, alarmed, as the young man held an arm firmly around her. "Well, it's not every day I get a pretty young lady falling into my-" He started with a comfortable smirk. He was interrupted by a loud crack.
Everyone looked up at the branch of the tree he was holding onto as it cracked, and then snapped clean off the trunk of the tree with a sound like gunfire. Audrey shrieked as her head fell the last six inches to the ground and the young man's arm disappeared from under her as he tried to stop himself falling on top of her and crushing her. A large, leafy branch hit the ground next to her head as she shielded her eyes with her arms and yelled in alarm. When it ended, she was cautiously peeking past her wrists, laying on the ground with her hair in knots with pebbles stuck in it. The man who'd grabbed her in the first place was still clutching the branch and bracing himself on top of Audrey as if he expected a load of bricks to fall on top of his back. It had happened so quickly that Mal didn't even have time to react.
The young man untensed and sat up. He looked from the branch still clutched in his hand to Audrey on the ground beneath him. "Oh no!" He moaned. He dropped the branch and covered his eyes. "I've ruined everything!"
"What were you trying to do?" Mal asked with wide eyes as she began to pull Audrey away by the shoulders. She looked unharmed but scared out of her wits. The poor boy blushed and covered his face.
"I – well, I think you're really pretty. I've been trying to think of a cool way to introduce myself for days, but I'm not really good with people so I thought: Auradon girls like flirty guys! And I tried to dip you and make it pretty but the branch broke and I'll understand if you never want to see my face again." He explained, stumbling over his words and then burying his face in his legs. His friends patted his back awkwardly.
Audrey stared in shock. Mal snorted. "Auradon girls like flirty guys?" She asked, dumbfounded.
Audrey patted the young man's arm. "Oh. Well, that was really sweet of you. Could have been executed better, but still really sweet. What's your name?"
The boy slowly uncovered his face. "I'm, uh, Jarrett Westergaard. Go by my middle name. My dad is Hans? I'm like his second or third son. Something like that. You're not mad?"
Audrey chuckled. "No. I understand. It's nice to meet you, Jarrett. I'm Audrey."
"Oh, hi Audrey." Jarret fumbled with his hands and then held one out for her to shake. Audrey's cheeks turned a little pink as she shook his hand. Mal couldn't believe what she was witnessing. "I'm sorry for dropping you." He apologized.
"No problem." Audrey smiled. "You're really sweet, Jarrett. And for the record, Auradon girls like sweet guys." She squeezed his hand and stood up. "Want to keep going, Mal?" She asked.
Mal, Jarrett, and Jarrett's two buddies wore equal expressions of shock. Mal quickly stood up and waved to the three boys, and she and Audrey continued down the street. As they walked away, they heard one of Jarrett's friends ask: "Did you really just score an interest with her?"
Mal elbowed Audrey "What on the Isle just happened?" She whispered.
Audrey looked flustered, blown away, and touched, all at once. "I have no idea." She whispered. She balled up her fists, giggled, and squealed a little bit.
The castle was jumping at five a.m. Almost all the lights were on as people rushed back and forth. Mal had let her horns out as she gathered together everything that she would need for the trip north. Before, she'd taken herself and almost nothing else, but that was for a there-and-back trip. Now, she was leaving with the intent to finish this war on its head.
Stewart was leaving with her. His bags were stacked beside hers in the front foyer for Mal to shrink down and put in her pocket before she transformed into a dragon and took them to the north.
Mal stormed down the stairs and dropped her last small bag on top of the pile. She was wearing her Isle jacket, which was a bit small on her now, and a pair of black ripped jeans. Lumiere appeared from outside. "Would it be inappropriate, Queen Mal, to film your transformation?"
"Go ahead," Mal nodded in approval. She glanced around the room and spotted Ben hanging out in the shadows of the staircase. A tiny sandstorm was whirling around his fingertips. She took a few careful steps forward and he dropped his hand to look over at her. She saw the way his lip quivered, and knew he wasn't happy with his new powers.
It was interesting, hiding in the shadows with him. logically, she knew Lumiere had seen her walk over and knew that anyone walking in the door could see them, but it still felt like sacred ground. Somewhere special only they knew.
"What's it feel like?" She whispered, nodding at his hand.
Ben didn't respond for a few seconds. He focused on the ground. After a long few minutes, he sighed. "In our room, it's better, but when I'm anywhere else it feels like the castle is… glaring at me."
Mal chuckled and nodded. "I remember that feeling," She agreed. "Magical staining." She hesitated. There were other things she wanted to tell Ben, but she knew he had to get whatever it was off his chest first.
After about a minute, Ben broke and began to talk again. "It's just – I love magic! I do! Especially yours. When you do magic, when you're growing your wings or your horns or helping people on the Isle or trying to make my life easy, it's really, really sexy!" He growled. Mal felt her cheeks go red and her body became a bit warm. Ben took a few steps forward, tugged her chin up, and stared at her eyes. She let a bit of magic swirl into them so they'd light up for him and he let out a ragged breath. "I fall in love with you over and over whenever you do magic. I love the way you love it. The very first time I looked over at you and I thought: 'This girl is amazing' was that night you filled my dad's office with dust and I loved it, Mal." Ben stared at his hands and shook them as if he were angry. "But this? This is chaos magic! This is disorder and ruin and… it's not like me the way your magic is like you. I want it to be hard to use these powers. I want to feel like I'm sweating bricks and being stabbed but it's easy. It's so easy to conjure storms and sands. I just… don't want to have this power of destruction."
Ben withdrew from her and then looked away, pain stretching across his face. Mal stayed still and twiddled her fingers. "I know there's nothing in the world I can say to make you feel better." She whispered.
Ben grunted and covered his face with his hands. Mal took his left hand and threaded her fingers through his. He watched her as their wedding rings clicked together, and then she squeezed his hand. Then she stepped up next to him and put her small, strong, lithe arms around him in a big hug. He leaned into her embrace, exhausted, as she rubbed his shoulders through her hold. "I love you. No matter what" She whispered. "And this will get better with time. You can do this. It will be okay."
"It will be," Ben agreed. He sighed, and his shoulders relaxed. Mal sat up.
"I have something I need to tell you now, though," She whispered, pressing her hands to her midsection.
Ben folded his arms across his stomach and cocked his head at her. "Yeah?" He whispered.
"When I was channeling my magic to you and draining myself," Mal started, "I looked down and noticed there was an area of my body completely devoid of magic. Just a small one, right here." She gestured to underneath where her belly button was.
Ben made a face. "What does that mean?" He asked.
"Well, in a normal magic person that wouldn't happen," Mal said seriously. "When they say 'magic is a part of you', they mean every part of you. It can get thin in some place, but it should never be devoid. But since I'm pregnant…"
Ben's eyes grew hard in panic. "Is everything okay?" He asked.
Mal nodded. "I'm absolutely fine," She assured him. "But the baby isn't magical." She crossed her arms and watched emotions flicker across Ben's face.
"Not… what?" He asked.
"The baby will be born human," Mal said firmly. "No magic."
"Oh," Ben said. "Okay, that's okay."
"Great." Mal nodded, though it really wasn't. She couldn't believe something that important had been confirmed so far before the baby's birth. She felt like everything was folding out before her, and she didn't want to know anything yet. She wanted it to still be so far away that nothing could possibly be determined.
Ben twiddled his thumbs. "Does this mean that, like, every kid we have from here on out will be magical?" He asked. "Since I'm sandy and everything?"
Mal snorted. "You're sandy. Okay, I like that. I'm going to call you sandy now."
"Please don't," Ben asked with a wince. "But, what do you think?"
"Yeah, probably." Mal nodded. "I guess this one will be the only person in the family without magic."
"Aside from Mom and Dad." Ben shrugged.
"And Aunt Sophia, Aunt Evie, Aunt Audrey, Uncle Jay, Uncle Carlos, and Uncle Stewart," Mal said in a very rushed voice. Ben laughed. "Who are we choosing as godparents?" Mal asked.
"I dunno." Ben shrugged. "Maybe Jay?"
Mal hesitated. "Did I ever mention to you that Jay-"
"Kissed you? Yeah. He actually told me about it, and that was one of the memories I lived through." Ben smiled.
"Awkward." Mal hissed. Ben laughed. "I think Jay would be good though." Mal agreed. "What about Audrey?"
"Jay and Audrey?" Ben asked.
"Yeah." Mal agreed.
"Okay." Ben nodded. Silence overtook them. Mal clasped her hands and stared down. Ben let out a tremendous sigh and covered his face again as he laid back down. "I'm sorry we fought the other day," He confessed. "I should have been more understanding. I can't imagine how stressful this has been for you."
Mal snorted a little, nodding, and her eyes filled with tears. She turned and met his eyes. "I thought I was going to lose you," She whispered. "You were going so fast and I was running out of magic... and I thought I was gone when you collapsed and then... I wasn't."
"I thought I was dead too," Ben whispered. "There was pain everywhere and I thought I was going to the Underworld to suffer one of your dad's infernal punishments for everything bad I'd ever done until those memories started playing." Mal exhaled with a nod. What they'd experienced had been more than an uncanny life flash. She suspected that whatever had happened, it had saved both of their lives and probably turned Ben into a magical.
Ben squeezed her hand and sighed. "You'll stay safe, right?" He asked. "You'll keep yourself safe and our countries safe and our little one safe?"
"I'll do my best," Mal affirmed. "Hopefully I can turn this around fast and it'll all be over soon."
"If it goes for too long, can you just come back? I don't want to you become a target. There's going to be months you're sick and then when you start growing more... I want to spend those months with you." Ben tried to decipher all the emotions running through her eyes, but it was a maze he wasn't used to seeing on her. "If you get too far along, will you please just come back to me?"
Part of Mal really wanted to say no, but she knew this was one of those times she had to draw a line. For peace in her marriage, if not for her and her family's safety. "I'll come back in March at the latest," She promised. "And if things get too hard before then, I'll come back and wait. You can hold me to that." She patted his cheek. "And anyway, it won't be for too long. And I'm going to add another barrier to Auradon as I leave." She reminded him. "It should stop Overland people from coming back and forth."
"I know." Ben sighed. She headed towards the piles of baggage near the door and then shrank them all into a collection of doll-sized items and stowed them in her jacket pocket. Ben followed her to the door, watched her zip up her jacket, and then reached out to grab her hand as she started to move farther away.
Ben put a hand up to her cheek and exhaled. "Mal, please don't go," He begged. "Please just stay here with me. Wait until after summer to go up. Please?"
"Your kid will be fine." Mal rolled her eyes. She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.
"I'm not just worried about the baby." Ben leaned down and forced her to hold his gaze. "I love you. More than anything. I want to be sure you won't overdo yourself because… I don't know if I can rescue you like you rescued me. I still need... time." He sighed. There were so many things he wanted to say. Things like: "I know you'll be a good mom. Our kid will love you. I'm sorry you're struggling so much with this. You are the most important thing to me. I know I already told you that I love you but you need to know I already really love our baby too. Please, please, please bring both of you back to me." Instead, he whispered: "Please, please be safe," and hoped that all the other things went through to her.
"I will be." Mal smiled. "You just stay here and get better." She fixed the folds of his bathrobe and gave him a last peck on the cheek. "Maybe I'll be back in time for the first snow." She headed towards the door. Ben stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched her leave. As soon as the door closed, he moved carefully to the window and peeked outside, taking care to hide in the shadows of the door. He did not go outside to watch her leave. He stuck in the shadows of the entry hall and watched the scene outside like it was a bad dream he was shutting out.
Stewart gave Sophia a kiss and everyone stood back as Mal gave out her last hugs and went to stand in the center of the driveway. Lumiere was filming, even though it was dark outside. Ben watched Mal go up in smoke, and the same large dragon that had carried him back to Auradon took her place. Stewart climbed on top of her neck, holding on to the bags they were taking with them, and waved. Mal snorted, and they took to the air quicker than Ben could blink. He watched as the frost on the ground was blown clear off the grass and heard a low roar before she was gone.
And that was it. He was officially home alone without his wife, which was better than being away with her here but still, not fun.
Ben pulled out his phone and searched the web for 'King and Queen coronation blessings'. The first option was a transcript of his and Mal's blessings from last year. Once again, he found himself searching the words for any hint of comfort. This time, he found it. In the center of Mal's blessing, he read: 'Your marriage and your strong relationship with your husband will one day be your greatest achievement.'
Maybe it was selfish of him, but he was glad that after everything Mal had done and would do, she would still prize him above all else. He was important. She loved him. Maybe he wasn't the hero of his tale, but so long as he got to be the love interest of hers, that was all well and good with him.
Chad Charming had been stationed at an outpost with his battalion for four days when Queen Mal had the audacity to show up again. He'd heard all about how she'd come out of nowhere, kidnapped the king, and turned her tail back to Auradon, leaving them without their leader.
"Chad!" Lonnie shouted, tossing him a water bottle with a bright smile. "Great news! Mal's here."
Chad blinked at Lonnie as the dots slowly connected. Mal... the purple-haired girl who had ascended their throne in a matter of two months. Ben's girl. The girl who he'd been prosecuted for. "Why?" He asked.
"She's taking Ben's place here," Lonnie declared, setting her foot on a wooden crate filled with dried fish and tightening the laces on her boots. "She's up in the meeting room. You and I are being summoned up there now."
Chad's face twisted a little. He glanced around at all the supplies he'd been taking inventory of and then carefully set down his clipboard. "Okay," He mumbled, twisting his hands a little.
Lonnie led the way up, and Chad simply focused on her feet and made affirming noises whenever it occurred to him that she was talking to him. He clenched and unclenched his hands. War had made him a little different already. He'd been thinking a lot about the last time he'd seen his parents before heading up. His dad - gods - had shaken his hand. Not even a hug. There was a 'good luck' and and 'I love you', but it had been clear from the moment he'd noticed the way his dad wouldn't meet his eyes that he wouldn't be getting an 'I'm proud of you."
Ella Charming's heart was broken, and King Charming was disappointed in his son.
Some twisted part of him had thought they'd be proud of him standing up to the queen. After all, they had worried about her. They had sent protests to Adam and to Ben and they had held long, spiteful conversations across the dinner table about how they would have to protect their people in case the neighbors decided to invade or in case Queen Maleficent began to destroy them all. But things were different now. Queen Ella knew Queen Mal and knew that she was just a young girl trying to do the right thing. King Charming had seen the way the girl handled politics and had accepted her. And Chad had assaulted the queen and put the Charming family on a blacklist across the kingdom. The very first royal to be prosecuted and charged for sexual assault.
When it had first been aired and when his parents first called Auradon Accelerated to ask why exactly there was footage of his hand coming off the Queen's rear end and why King Ben had forwarded charges and applied for a restraining order, it had been easy to lie. He'd heard the trembling fear in his mom's tone and it had been easy, just like it had been easy to trick girls into doing his homework at Auradon Prep because he couldn't understand it but he needed his parents to be proud of his marks. Just like how it had been easy to tell them that the reason he was staying after hours in Auradon Accelerated's library was because he was ahead of his classes and bored and he was working ahead of the class, not hunting down high-school topics he still didn't understand.
"I'm not head of the Swords and Shields team because Lonnie wants to be a general and I thought that it'd be better for her," Not that he was swamped with homework he couldn't complete or that he simply wasn't good enough for the position.
"I don't want to take this class because I feel so ahead of the other students." Not that he didn't know any of the words coming out of the professor's mouth and he knew he would fail.
"I tried to confront the Queen. I asked what was going to happen to her mom. She rolled her eyes and tried to turn away. I meant to grab her wrist but she moved too quickly." I grabbed her. It was on purpose. She just looked too good to be true and I got so angry...
It had worked so, so well. He kept his marks to himself and used the internet to copy essays and used money to pay tutors to re-explain things and Ben hadn't really overreacted about that incident with Mal, so his parents had assumed all was well. They still had their perfect son. He was smart. He was handsome. He was going to make them proud.
He'd heard his mother's heart break when the truth had dropped from Ben's lips. "Why don't you tell your mother about how you said you'd like to slam my wife?"
Maybe he hated Queen Mal with all his heart. Maybe that hate extended a little to Ben too. Ben, who had been captain of the high school Swords and Shields team. Who had had perfect marks and understood everything and who had been sitting in on meetings with his dad since he was eight and who was kind and perfect. Ben, who never took advantage of anyone and worked with all the cards he was dealt. Never stealing, never cheating. Ben; the true poster boy for goodness. Who married young and became the most powerful person in the country and who opened up two new kingdoms. Married young to a girl who literally came from squalor yet was more beautiful than any princess who'd ever spent any time in front of a mirror. Mal had never even been properly educated yet she understood dozens of concepts Chad had never even heard of and everyone praised her leadership abilities and she was a perfect queen despite her villainous backstory and the fact she had nothing backing her up. Why did she have to be kind, beautiful, smart and courageous despite the fact she'd been raised in everything that was the opposite? How was it that he could sit through fifteen years of school and work every day and still be less than her?
So yeah, maybe he hated her. Maybe he hated her with all his heart and Ben with her because Ben was the sort of boy parents would actually be proud of. But god forbid he didn't regret that April mistake with the queen. "Who wouldn't want to slam you? Your body is bewitching. I'd go down on you hard too." He still remembered the confusion and hurt that had flashed across her face. The vulnerability.
It had been easy to lie with that kind of hate in his heart. And still, his parents had accepted it. After all, it was easier than the truth.
"I'm going north because I want to make things right. I'm going to fight for Auradon." I'm going north to get away from school. I'm just about to fail out of university and if I go, then they'll extend the grading period. I'm going north because all of the Villain Kids are smarter than me even though they've never even had school before and I hate them. I'm going north to prove I'm still a good person. I'm going north and I'm going to be a better fighter than Lonnie, Ben, or Mal. I'm going to be a war hero. Then grades won't matter, college clubs won't matter, and that big mistake I made last spring won't matter. I'm going north to prove I'm just as good and brave and strong as Ben. When I get back, I'm going to get a girl even better than Mal. This will change my life. I'm going north to make my parents proud.
"Hey, Chad!" Jack Frost called, flitting past him. He'd returned from Auradon a few days earlier with astonishing news; Mal had healed Ben. Healed him from an incurable disease that no one had ever survived before. "How has it been?"
"Slow," Chad shrugged. "But people are moving again now that they know Ben will be okay. Soon we'll try to take Syracuse again and get the Book of Peace."
"Excellent," Jack smiled. "You're the man, Chad!"
Someone tapped on his shoulder. It was the Sandman. He flashed a bunch of pictures above his head. A question mark, a crown, and the Auradon crest. "Ben's alive," Chad shrugged. "But that's all I've heard. And Jack is the one who told me, so you should ask him."
"Actually, let's just ask the queen herself," Jack chuckled nervously. "Her information should be more up-to-date. She left Auradon about six hours ago."
"Via dragon?" Lonnie asked curiously. Jack nodded.
Astrid came around the corner and brightened up when she saw Chad. "Hey, man, I got your invasion proposal approved. How would you like to hit Syracuse next week?"
Chad smiled. This was nice. "Yeah!" He agreed. "Do you want me to lead, or-"
"Well, it was your idea," Astrid interrupted. "It only makes sense you should lead. How does General Chad sound? I bet we could even convince Ben to make it official when he gets back."
Chad's smile grew brighter. A general. Technically, he would only be a squadron leader for the Syracuse battle, but the idea was just... extraordinary.
Ben might even agree if he pulled it off. He'd always been the easy-going, forgiving type. Maybe if he gave a really sincere apology after they'd told him the story and asked, he'd agree. He pictured Ben, his childhood friend, teammate, and captain, signing the official papers that would make him a general and shaking his hand with the smile he used to use back before Mal's Auradon Accelerated event. Back before he'd married and back before he left school. The papers and the title wouldn't be much more than a story for his kids once Ben's coronation block was lifted and he was officially allowed to ascend the Cinderellasburg throne, but it would be something he could show his parents. Something they could tell their friends about.
Chad stepped into the meeting room behind Astrid and immediately felt all his visions die before his eyes. Mal was standing across the room, facing away from him, shaking Nicholas's hand as he greeted her with a booming voice. He couldn't tell what he was saying past the ringing in his ears, but could feel the sound vibrations through his boots on the floorboards.
She was wearing leather. Leather and black with spray paint on her jacket. A Maleficent appliqué was on her back with the words "Long Live Evil", staring st him. Chad took a stance behind a chair cautiously. She hadn't noticed him yet, which gave him two opportunities.
Opportunity one, to think. Here was a very powerful person who he had wronged. Chad wondered if a simple apology could possibly lay to rest what he'd started. Guilt wracked his insides. Perhaps she was the same type of person as Ben. Happy, go-lucky, forgive and forget?
The second opportunity presented - and one that he refused to take too much advantage of - was the fact she was, of course, facing away. Chad let his eyes rake over her frame before focusing on the small portion of her face he could see at the angle he was in. She was still as beautiful as ever. And she wasn't showing her condition yet, which made things even better.
"Are you sure you should be up here right now?" Toothiana asked, flitting around nervously. "It's, uh, not exactly the place you want to bring a baby."
"Good thing I don't have one yet," Mal snorted. "Ben and I talked. I'll be going back in March at the latest. If things get too much, I'll take a break. He's going to forward things from the Isle and the Moors while I'm up here. Everything will work out."
"What if you get hurt and lose the pregnancy?" Astrid asked, bumping Mal's shoulder lightly. Mal wrapped a little arm around gerself with a frown.
"I'll be okay," she promised. "We're going to be careful."
"Careful in a war?" Chad asked, trying to keep the biting jealousy out of his tone.
Mal turned, staring over her shoulder with a furrowed brow as if she remembered his voice but couldn't place it to a person. She shifted out of her relaxed posture and took up a defensive stance. "What are you doing here?" She demanded. Not unkindly, but firmly, as if she expected he had somehow smuggled himself in.
"Forgive me, your majesty," Chad began in a cool, crisp tone. "I was invited up. Are you feeling well?" He had to act cordial. Just get through the meeting. It doesn't matter that every single time she's ever seen you before you fought with her. Just get through the meeting. Just get through the meeting.
Mal squinted at him. Her hands were slowly coming up in case she needed to defend herself. Everyone was exchanging glances at her panicked gaze and Chad's skin was standing on edge. "I am," she began slowly. "And you?"
"Never better," Chad nodded, pulling out his chair. That response was actually honest. War was easy. War was fulfilling. Especially these last few days with Ben gone - He and Lonnie had been given more responsibilities. And while Lonnie preferred to spend minimal time planning and more time bonding with her soldiers, Chad had been hanging out with Jack and Hiccup and everyone in the higher-ups. They were trusting him more. Never mind that Ben had had his reservations about giving Chad too many responsibilities.
"How is Ben?" Jack asked, hovering over his chair as everyone else slowly took a seat. Queen Mal was given a gesture to King Ben's former seat, about four chairs away from Chad, and so she took her seat with none too few shifty glances towards Chad.
"He's doing well," Mal nodded. "Worried, of course. But all is well. The sand poisoning is gone. Now, all that's left to do is track down Helena."
"This is Troy?" Nicholas asked, and the hairs on the back of Chad's neck stood on edge.
Mal nodded. "Helena Apate Troy. Daughter of Eris and Pitch Black. I want to take her out and put her on my Isle of the Lost."
"Pitch?" Bunnymund gaped. "And Eris?"
"I've been thinking that there must be some crossover between our lands, because Apate is a mythological goddess from the Auradon Land of Olympus," Mal explained, ignoring everyone else's gains stares. A child of Nyx. She doesn't really exist to us, but she personified deceit, fraud and deception. She desired power and was a master of trickery." She spread her hands around the table. "The fact that there's that much correlation between a name and the fact we're able to communicate points to the idea that our continents couldn't have diverged that long ago."
"Yeah, that's amazing," Hiccup agreed, eyes sparkling. "All of our heroes are different too."
"Actually, they're not," Jack jumped in. Mal flicked her gaze over to Jack and drummed her fingers on the table. Chad ripped his gaze off of her and turned to see Jack fidget. "We have a Snow White and a Cinderella, but they're not heroes. They're just distant tales. Both of them actually live in what was Fiona and Shrek's land. Well, they might not even be alive anymore. The Swamp Lands and Far Far Away was pillaged and that land is overrun right now."
Mal's eyebrows shot up. "Interesting," she mumbled, and then nodded her approval. She pushed her hair back - it was short now, Chad noticed. Ben must be having the time of his life running his hand through those creamy locks. "I want to go after her," Mal announced. "Have there been any recent attacks that you know of?"
"Nah, lass," Bunnymund shook his head. "Everything quit once you showed up. All the fighting has paused continent-wide. We just barely got your soldiers to agree to keep fighting once they got their update on the king. We got Farquaad, but that's all. Pitch, Eris, and Helena have all gone silent, though we do know where Eris is."
"Where?" Mal demanded, sitting up straighter.
Astrid presented Chad with a smile and a little flourish. "General Chad has an invasion he's planned to get her next week."
Mal's face went ashen as she stared at Chad. "General Chad?" She repeated in a quiet, shocked tone. "Ben made you a General?"
Hiccup and Jack exchanged a look. Nicholas shifted his gaze between Mal and Chad. Lonnie leaned forward. "No," She shook her head. "Chad just came up with the idea to invade Syracuse, where Eris is hiding, using the old cell system. We've been joking and calling him a General, but we are going to ask Ben what he thinks when he's... recovered."
Chad ducked his head down a little and exhaled slowly. At least with Ben, he knew he would have had a chance. Ben was always willing to put aside personal reservations for the greater good or for political reasoning. But he didn't know Mal. He looked over at her, gauging her expression as her mouth dropped open and her face turned four different shades all in a row that would have looked hideous on anyone else. Then she glanced around the table, narrowed her eyes, and shook her head. "My husband will never make you a general," She declared.
Everyone looked shocked at the venom in her tone. Chad saw his daydreams going up in smoke before his eyes. "Even if I prove myself to be a hero?" He protested. "Even if I do everything that's asked and more? Ben believes in second chances!"
"A hero?" Mal snorted and then began to laugh. She laughed at him, and he felt like something was putting intense pressure on his heart. "Chad, you're not a hero; you're our villain. You don't even deserve to be King. Do you really think Ben will let you have a title that means he has to have quarterly meetings with you for as long as you're in service? That he'll give you something that gives you the right to come to the palace unannounced and to look through a portion of his records whenever you like it? To request private audiences with me?" Mal shook her head, and as much as Chad hated her and hated everything about her, he could see her logic. General wasn't just a fancy title. It was a job. It was something that required lots of communication with the King. It was something that required more time than he would be able to give in Auradon. And it gave him lots of privileges - privileges that would make it all too easy for him to give into temptation around the queen again. After what he'd done, he wouldn't trust himself either
"Chad, it doesn't matter how many accomplishments you have, Ben and I aren't going to open ourselves up to more attacks," Mal shook her head. "I'm sorry, but you've got to accept that." She turned and examined everyone else around the table as Chad slumped into his chair, defeated. "If Eris is at Syracuse, then maybe Helena is with her. Helena hasn't had much training at the battlefront. She's been kept in the shadows for too long. I don't want to give her the opportunity to fight at a forefront now that she knows she's been revealed. I'm going to journey down and see if I can take the place by force to find her."
"That's my battle!" Chad protested, spreading his hands on the table. "We already have plans drawn up. They were just barely approved!"
"We do have ideas," Astrid nodded, cautious to say anything. She looked between the Queen and him, her subordinate, in confusion. "What do you have in mind, Mal?"
"I brought people from the moorlands," Mal explained. "Can I have a map of what's going on?" She reached past Jack and Bunny passed her a roll of paper. She spread it out and drew her finger along the coastlines. "Ben mentioned that Pitch has more control of the west while Eris holds the East, right?"
"Yeah," Chad snapped. "Syracuse is that black dot by your thumb. There are prisoner cells that extend beneath the docks. We're going to head up the shafts and then invade from the courtroom. "
"Let's move all of Auradon's troops to the West," Mal decided. "Fear is easier to combat than chaos. My Moorland creatures are familiar with magic and they'll be better equipped to deal with the chaos magic. I'm going to go straight up to Syracuse and do the same thing I did with Duloc. Take it by storm."
"No," Chad protested. "We already have plans. That is my battle!"
"This is my war, Chad," Mal cut him off. "You have to listen to Ben and I, remember?"
"I suppose you think you're running this whole thing, then?" Chad demanded and then turned to look at all his comrades. "Right? Guys?"
Nicholas shrugged, looking regretful. "I think that Mal's way would be more effective and result in less casualties." He decided.
"Chad, I know you wanted that battle, but it'll be better this way. They will be other things in the East and Auradon will be able to capture land quicker without their focuses divided," Lonnie put a hand on his arm.
Chad glared at the queen. "You," he spat. "Are a witch."
"Chad?" Astrid gaped at him, glancing at Hiccup and everyone else as their brows furrowed in confusion.
"This isn't my fault," Mal glared at Chad. "I'm doing what's best for my country. You're doing what's best for you."
"Is there some bad history between you two?" Jack asked, sitting up. Chad clamped his teeth down on his tongue and tasted blood. His eyes were burning.
"Yeah," Mal agreed, tracing the tip of her finger down the map without looking at anyone else. "Chad was prosecuted for sexually assaulting me last April. His restraining order expired a month ago. Ben suspended his ability to inherit his throne because of it. That's why he's here in the first place."
"What?" Nicholas gasped in shock as red seared its way into his cheeks. "Chad wouldn't."
Mal looked up, focused briefly on Chad, and then glanced back down. "Ben said the same thing," she mumbled in an offhand tone. "But it's kind of hard to argue against nation-wide live video footage of his hand coming off my rear end."
Astrid clapped a hand over her mouth and Chad could feel all the trust he'd built up with everyone crashing down. Mal spread her hand out on the map and exhaled. "I'll work with you," she began, directing this at Chad. "But don't expect me to let my guard down or be overly kind. Ben is willing to let things rest, but I'm not. And heaven forbid you get the opportunity to attack me again."
Chad sat there, staring, fuming, fist clenching and unclenching. Then he shoved his chair out and got to his feet. No one protested. They were all still in shock. He went to the door and left, slamming it into the frame behind him.
God, he hated her. He hated her and how everything was so easy, so effortless for her. How everyone agreed with her. She'd probably done bad things before. She might have even murdered someone before - on the Isle before she knew Ben. But she was smart and kind and good and everything Chad had never been able to be. And Queen.
Nothing he did would ever matter because he was never going to be able to redeem himself in her eyes.
Audrey was pulling up on her boots, preparing to head to the Isle of the Lost. The sailors were about to raise the gangplank when someone shouted and rushed forward. Audrey looked up and down the wharf to see what the commotion was. It was Queen Ella, dressed in fishnet stockings, high-heeled booties, a long-sleeved blue knit shirt, and a swishy blue skirt. She was sprinting down the harbor towards the ship.
The sailors waited as she rushed towards the ship and nearly broke her ankle trying to slow down to climb up the gangplank. Ella hurried aboard, thanking the sailors who were muttering about how all the royals suddenly wanted to go over and made her way to Audrey.
"Good morning Queen Ella," Audrey said feebly. "What brings you here today?"
Queen Ella was trying desperately to catch her breath. "I need to find my step-sister." She gasped. "Can you help me?"
Audrey blinked several times. "Um, Anastasia, yes. Drizella hasn't been let inside yet."
"That's fine." Ella waved her hand. "Anastasia is the one I need."
Audrey wasn't quite sure what to make of this development, so she smiled awkwardly and began lacing up her boots. She'd dressed a little less grunge and a little more prep today, just in case she saw Jarrett again.
Hey, she was allowed to like who she liked, wasn't she?