This is pretty short, but I didn't honestly think that much needed to be added. (TBH, this was the average chapter length back when I first started writing this) If you want to see something specific, LMK in a comment and I'll see.

From their bedroom, Ben could hear someone calling his name.

He'd managed to return to the master suite even though Mal's absence continued to rip at him. In her absence and with much of his former work now being taken up by the kingdoms, Ben tried to find simple ways to busy himself. He read - something he hadn't really done since he'd started preparing to be King, dabbled a little more in the laws that had meant so much to him before he'd left for war, and then went down to the storage rooms to pull out all the old boxes of his things. Photos and awards from Auradon Prep, favorite books with white post-it notes lined up in the margins, old clothes from when he was younger and toys he'd enjoyed as a child.

In the north, Auradonian soldiers picked their way around cities, surrounding them and smoking out enemies. Rabbit holes opened direct portals to the Isle of the Lost. There was some unrest in the city as monsters and villains appeared on the other side of the barrier, but Evelyn kept the peace well. Ben knew that Mal had divided the war and Auradon would only storm strongholds on the west coast while her moorlands would take the east coast. Sinbad and King Triton had teamed up to rule the seas together. None of Eris's creatures were any match for the two of them combined. Outside of the weekly death counts and the mounting missing numbers, not much else came from up north.

Ben turned against the covers and buried his face into Mal's pillow. The covers were tangled all around his frame. If he kept his nose buried deep enough within the pillow and focused hard enough, he could catch her scent. It was going on almost three weeks she'd been gone. He was going to go absolutely insane at this rate. He kept his face covered, knowing the room was slowly growing lighter around him, but also knowing there was no reason to get up early because there wasn't anything to get done. Someone called his name again from the distance, and Ben grumbled as he began freeing himself from the mess. His feet hit the ground with a soft thud. He passed by his closet to grab a shirt before passing into the living room. No one was there.

Apparently, he was hallucinating as well as going insane.

He heard the sound of someone hitting their head against something echo through the bathroom and suddenly realized what he was hearing. Ben ducked into the bathroom, suddenly wide awake, and saw the reflection of a head full of purple hair with her head down on the edge of the basin as she took deep breaths. "Mal?" He asked, pulling up a chair beside the sink. She looked up with a gasp and he saw her face was streaked with tears. Immediately, everything in his head was flung out the window. "What's wrong?" He asked, furrowing his brow as he leaned forward.

"I'm sorry - I'm just..." Mal waved a hand at her eyes in a fanning motion to try and dry her tears. "Sorry. I just... we lost a lot of people today. Pitch and Eris... they have things we didn't know about and I'm just reeling, I guess."

"What happened?" Ben asked, stomach twisting as he stared down with mounting horror. "How many?"

"I think about one thousand people are dead," Mal hiccuped. "There's these stupid, stupid birds that eat human flesh. And she let them lose on one of your armies as they were going past a city. I'm so, so sorry, Ben."

Ben exhaled. "It's okay, Mal," he whispered. "I know you would have done something if you could have."

"I was on my way..." Mal shook her head. "But when I showed up there was just... bones everywhere. I just don't know anymore. There's so many people to protect and I can't keep everyone safe, Ben! I couldn't even keep Stewart safe and he's practically part of our family!"

Ben flinched. Stewart had come home early. From what he'd heard, his right eye couldn't be restored. It was too complex and too mangled. Even Mal had tried and failed - her magic wasn't in conjuring. She'd been able to heal Harry and fix Uma's back, but those things had already existed. She hadn't been growing back nerves and body parts. It seemed she couldn't. Ben hadn't seen Stewart more than twice while he and Sophia walked around the library or the grounds, but he was here.

Mal took a deep breath and pressed her fingertips to her forehead as if she were pressing back a migraine, which she might be. "Am I a bad queen, Ben?" She whispered. "People are dying and I'm just... not strong enough to keep everyone alive at once."

"You're not a bad queen at all, Mal," Ben reassured her with a soft smile. "It'll work out. You'll see."

Mal made a sound that was both a gurgled scoff and a heartless laugh. She wiped more tears away. "Sorry," She hiccuped. "I know I'm not usually like this."

"It's hard," Ben shrugged, feeling a little numb as he tried to console her. It was so easy to try and help her; why was he so down on himself? "And besides, it's probably just wonky emotions anyways, right?"

Mal's expression twisted. "Yeah, I guess," She agreed.

"I didn't mean it like that," Ben sighed. "Mood swings don't make your opinions less valid, Mal."

Mal nodded without a word. She looked like all the life and fight had gone out of her. Her skin was going grey and her roots black. "You need to spend some time in the moors," Ben said aloud softly. "You're looking off."

"So do you. Is the land okay?" Mal asked. "And the Isle?"

"They're both okay," Ben promised. "The moors wants you back, but they're very patriotic about the cause. Heaven help us if you ever decide to invade because your country likes to fight. Evelyn and Audrey are covering the Isle and I don't hear lots, to be honest."

Mal blinked blearily at the wall. "Audrey needs to pick a side," She muttered. "She wants to be on the Isle but she keeps fishing around in Auradon."

"She has a responsibility here," Ben tried to reason with Mal. "And, actually, that does remind me that Cinderella was asking about what your policy was for people going back and forth. She wants to look into adopting over there."

Mal's mouth fell open. "Adopting?" She asked, stunned. "Who?"

"Dizzy," Ben replied.

Mal threaded her fingers through her hair and accidentally knocked a fairy off her ear. Ben hadn't noticed before, but several of the little creatures were hovering nearby, trying to comfort the distraught queen. "Sorry." She apologized. "Um, I will handle it on a case-by-case basis. If it's a child of a villain, I'll approve that personally, if it's an actual banished person requesting garrison, Auradon will have to decide on that. Maybe you could do something similar to the Isle's system for city residency. They can reapply for garrison every five years. I'm going to start getting a city council together so they don't need me to do everything."

"A city council?" Ben sat up a little straighter. "What's that all about?"

Mal blinked down at him. "Every five hundred people gets to elect a representative. Anyone between sixteen and sixty. and then they can propose their own issues and solutions, but I get final say on anything."

"Huh," Ben leaned back a little. That was a good idea. And it got so many different people involved... "That's cool," He mumbled.

"I would need to know numbers," Mal sighed, changing the subject again. "Of the people who are interested in going back and forth and the money it would take to get people to and fro. Things like that. I can't focus on it right now, Ben. I know everyone is mad at me about it, but I have to focus on this war right now."

"I understand," Ben agreed. "And I support you."

Mal looked up with a small, stunned expression, and then a tiny smile slipped onto her mouth. Her reaction twisted his heart even more. How long had it been since she'd actually felt supported in something? "Thank you," she murmured.

"You're welcome," Ben paused to clear his throat. "Um, I have to ask though - we're all getting a little confused on Audrey's status. Is she an Isle citizen or is she still Auradonian?"

Mal frowned. "She's Auradonian. But ask her to start thinking about will happen with Auroria when she leaves."

"You make it sound like you already know she'll leave." Ben chuckled as he began searching around on the counter for some sort of writing utensil to note down what she'd said. Mal said nothing. He looked down at her and saw her biting her cheek in thought. "Oh," Ben said. "Is it… for sure then?"

"Audrey was raised to follow her heart." Mal shrugged. "And ever since she saved my life, her heart has been wanting something she never considered for herself before. She's not an Auradon girl any more than I am, Ben."

Ben blinked down at her and nodded. "You're both pretty out-there." He gestured to the far distance playfully. Mal chuckled and wiped the last of her mostly-dried tears away. Ben titled his head. "Mal, I have one more thing to ask," he whispered. "I know it's really, really early, and you haven't been talking about it, but I'm wondering if you want me to do anything for the baby so you don't have to worry about it when you come back."

Mal immediately averted her eyes. "Like what?" She asked.

Ben shrugged. "I could have a room arranged?" He offered. "Things set up. Have Evie come help get a little wardrobe together. Just so you can come back and relax."

Mal nodded slowly. "Okay," She agreed. She glanced down to examine him, and exhaled. "Thank you for taking care of things up there," she whispered.

"Thank you for taking care of things up there," Ben replied. "Are you going to go now?"

Mal took a long, slow breath. "Yes," she replied. "I have to help everyone and then find those stupid birds."

Ben nodded. "Okay," he replied. "I love you."

Mal blushed a little and then hiccuped as she was suddenly forced to wipe more tears away. "I love you too," she promised him. "And when this is over, everything will be okay. You'll see." She looked up and glanced over at something that had apparently just called for her attention. "I have to go now. Goodbye." She gave him a last wave.

"Bye Mal." Ben smiled as the connection fizzled out. He looked up into the mirror and examined himself yet again. His cheeks had started to fill out again, just a little. He looked a little more like himself.

Ben drummed his fingers. "I need to do something." He whispered. "I'm not happy like this, but there's nothing I can do about it." He examined his dark, dark eyes, and chewed on his cheek. He went backninto his bedroom, now lit, to grab a change of clothes and his phone before he left the room. He went down to the office and opened up the folder.

This was Ben's reasoning: He couldn't change his appearance, but he could change his character. He knew he was a good husband, a good son, and a good person, but there was one thing he knew he could do better. He could be a better king.

Something about the theory of councils pulled at Ben's attention. Someone to advise the kings from the common peoples. Ben chewed on his lip. If they had had a system like this in place for the Isle when it was part of Auradon, everything would be different now. The Isle would actually have been taken care of.

Ben pulled out a pen and paper and immediately set to work.

Hiccup helped Mal to her feet with a smile as she set aside the stone basin with a sigh. "Thank you," she mumbled, stretching her sore back.

"No problem," Hiccup replied, putting a hand to her shoulder blades as she walked past him. "You've certainly done a lot for us. More than you owed us. We certainly owe you and Auradon a lot."

Mal hummed. She wanted to ask him to stop talking. He'd only helped her up and told her she was needed; was the lengthy thank-you necessary? Hiccup kept talking and Mal caught snippets as he rambled on a little. "Completely brilliant... powerful as you... would make a fine queen for-"

"What?" Mal blinked a little and paused in the hallway. A soldier who had been walked towards them dodged around them as she blinked up at him. "Sorry, can you say that last bit again? It sounded fuzzy to me."

Hiccup nodded in understanding. "I was just saying you really know what you're doing and you obviously have lots of experience pulling places out of ruts. It would be my personal goal to have you be Queen up here after all is said and done."

Queen? Her? Mal's mouth ran dry and her shoulders slumped with just the thought of all the weight. She swallowed and tried to force a smile. "I, uh, Ben and I, uh, we'll see," She stammered. Her head started pounding along with her heartbeat. Mal felt a bit like throwing up. She turned and continued walked. Hiccup continued chattering alongside her, completely unaware.

The sky outside grew dark and Ben cracked the window open to let cold air in as he paced, searching for more ideas. The door opened to his office, and he heard cooing. Ben looked up and saw Audrey, carefully bouncing little princess Madison on her hip. Madison smiled when she saw him and opened up her little fists to grab in his direction. The small child was almost four months old and had just learned to roll over from her stomach to her back, though she couldn't quite get back over again. Ben smiled when he saw them both.

"Hi!" He exclaimed. He picked up a pen off of his desk and handed it to Madison as Audrey brought her closer to the desk. "Nice to see you both." He said.

"Nice to see you too." Audrey smiled. She took a seat on one of the chairs that skirted the office. "What are you working on?" She asked.

"Oh." Ben frowned. "I just… started developing an idea someone had for the Isle, but for Auradon." He cleared everything off his desk. "What are you doing here?"

Audrey bit her cheek. "I came to ask if you'd talked with Mal at all." She shrugged.

Ben nodded. "I did." He admitted. "And she said that aside from Anastasia's husband, she doesn't want everyone to start moving around until she has an actual policy hammered out."

"Oh," Audrey said quietly. Madison sneezed on her lap and continued to suck on the pen Ben had given her.

"But," Ben hesitated. "She said to tell you to start thinking of who could rule Auroria if you leave. You know your parents won't want to be rulers forever."

Audrey frowned. "But… I've got to rule Auroria. That's my job. I have to make decisions and figure out what's best for the people."

Ben blinked at her. "Oh." He breathed.

Audrey gave him a strange look. "What?" She asked.

"Technically, you don't have to." Ben exhaled. He picked up the papers he'd just moved aside. "That idea I've been developing for Auradon? I want to give common people more say, but I don't want to lessen the sway of the royals. What if we could call a general populace every five years that will switch out with time, and they could offer suggestions on what they want to see happen in the kingdom, and act as counselors to the royals?"

"People have jobs, Ben." Audrey frowned. "And this is time-consuming. People will want to be compensated."

"I know, that's one of the problems I've been running into." Ben sighed. "But… maybe you could modify it for Auroria. Set up a system so that the place rules itself, but runs through you for approvals." He held out his paper to Audrey, to took it and examined it. Madison tried to grab for it, but Audrey swayed it out of her reach with a chuckle.

"Do you mean, like how Mal runs the Isle?" Audrey asked.

"Mal has Evelyn and you to help her with it, not to mention me, mom, and dad if she needs." Ben reminded Audrey. "But if we work together, all things are possible."

Audrey pursed her lips. "I don't know, Ben." She said. "I'm the future ruler. It's my responsibility to rule Auroria. I might just have to… give up the Isle."

She tried to give the paper back to Ben, but he only frowned and refused to take it. "Anything is possible, Audrey. Auroria might be your responsibility, but you don't have to live there to rule it."

Audrey hesitated and looked back down at the paper. "What if the citizens of Auroria could vote on one person they wanted to represent them from Auroria and they and I could work as partners? Completely unconnected from me except the work they do, so it's unbiased. We can re-vote every two years." Audrey stood up and began to pace back and forth, bouncing Madison on her hip. "Underneath the two of us, we could have the standard advisory committee, except… the advisory committee might split over the two of us if our ideas differ…" Audrey trailed off, biting her lip.

"Dissolve the committee and propose ideas to the public when you need them. If you give multiple solutions, various experts from the crowd could have the opportunity to rise up and give advice." Ben suggested.

"That could take ages." Audrey frowned.

"Give it a week-long period." Ben proposed. "And you'll probably find, after a while, that like-minded people will band together."

"Political parties. Ugh." Audrey rolled her eyes. "I don't want this to be like in Municiberg where they outlawed supers for, like, twenty years."

"It wasn't that long." Ben murmured with a small smile. "But let's say that idea works; how does it solve the problem?"

"It splits the executive branch of the Monarchy apart." Audrey hummed as she thought. "That means that I won't have the same power as my parents, but I also won't have the same responsibility. And it also means I don't have to always be present in Auroria because someone who actually lives there will be there. I can still go back and visit, but since we have cell phones and WIFI on the Isle, all we'd have to do is call for an hour each day. Video conferences and such." Audrey looked at Ben for approval. She bit her lip as he considered.

"It might work." He nodded. "It also splits the workload of running a country. And the blame scale. I mean, from a strategic point of view, if something goes wrong, there's two people to divide blame between them."

Audrey wrinkled her nose. "Not planning on the blame shift, Ben. We both know that causes corruption. But you're right; it splits the workload, so I won't have to stay cooped up all day. I could still teach classes on the Isle and participate with the Children's Services there."

"You teach?" Ben raised his eyebrow.

Audrey flushed. "English. I'm teaching one large college class and three more smaller groups of younger kids. In the afternoons and evenings."

"You've always been good at languages." Ben nodded. "Think you might teach French too?"

"Maybe." Audrey shrugged. "We need more English teachers right now since that's the most widely-spoken language. But I'd be willing to bet eventually Mal will bring over people to teach Mandarin, French, Elvish, all sorts of languages."

"True." Ben nodded. Madison squawked and dropped the pencil, covered in slobber, onto Audrey's foot. Audrey chuckled and picked it up carefully.

"Thank you, Ben." Audrey smiled. "I owe you and Mal a lot. More than you'll ever know."

"Consider it done." Ben smiled. "She and I work for the good of all."

Audrey laughed and hugged Madison's small body to her frame. "Don't I know it." She smiled and put Ben's paper back on his desk. "I'll leave you to work now. Have a nice evening and Merry Christmas."

The sentiment 'Merry Christmas' rang in Ben's ears as he watched her go. Almost Christmas and Mal still wasn't home. Ben bit his lip, picked up a different pen, and began to scribble. He wondered what Mal was doing up on the Overland.

Ben sat back into his desk with a hard sigh and the phone on his desk rang. He reached forward blindly, keeping his eyes closed, found the receiver and raised it to his ear. "This is King Ben, who is this?"

"Hey, uh, Ben. This is... uh, Ericka? From Arendelle?" A wary, hovering voice echoed through the receiver. "I... kinda need your help with something."

Ben opened his eyes and stared at the wall. Elsa's daughter was calling him. Okay. "Is this about your coronation?" He asked, rubbing his brow line a little. It wouldn't surprise him - Ericka was long overdue to take over the throne of Arendelle.

"No," Ericka declined. "No, I'm still not ready to be coronated. But, uh, I wanted to, uh, go north?"

"North?" Ben repeated.

"North," Ericka affirmed. "To the overlands?"

"It's not a vacationing spot, Ericka. There's a war going on," Ben told her.

"I know!" Ericka assured him. "See, Ben, I was hoping to go and, well, fight."

"Fight," Ben repeated, even slower than he had the first time.

"Why do you keep repeating me?" Ericka sighed. "Yes, fight. Your wife is up there, so why not me?"

"We, uh, have a draft," Ben blinked. "You could always sign up for that."

"I would but, uh, the draft passes under my mom's desk," Ericka trailed off uncomfortably. Ben leaned forward in his desk, setting his elbows on the table.

"Pause," He demanded. "Does your mom know about this?"

"I'm an adult, Ben. I don't need her permission," Ericka spat back.

"Does she know you're calling me?" Ben asked.

"This is my phone, Ben," Ericka grumbled.

"Yeah, okay, I guess you're an adult and you can technically go if you want, but why are you going behind your mom's back?" Ben questioned. "And Ericka, you're going to be coronated soon - you could be coronated next month if you set the date. We just lost Chad."

"She doesn't want me to go," Ericka growled. "But I want to go and I'm sick of being in this castle with nothing to do but pull the same pranks over and over. I've traveled to every kingdom there is and I do all of Mom's outside-Arendelle events and I'm tired, Ben. I want to go north. I want to fight. I want to have a chance to prove myself but Mom put my name on a blacklist and she and my dad have this pact that he'll freeze me and send me back if he sees me, and I can't control my powers enough to stop him. If I can just get up there and then keep away from him... I just want to do something to prove myself."

Ben had to pause. Was Elsa allowed to blacklist her own child? Those who were blacklisted were given exceptions due to mental of physical or... magic. Ericka couldn't control her magic. Therefore she could be blacklisted. Ben slumped his shoulders. "How is your control, Ericka?" He asked.

He could hear her grinding her teeth on the other end. "I... am close, Ben. I still have explosions and I can't control the ice coming out of me, but I can reel it back in. I'm safe."

"What if you're on a battlefield and you freeze allies or hurt someone with ice shards?" Ben asked, frowning a little deeper. "Listen, Ericka, I can appreciate wanting to leave the palace and go find an adventure. Mal is exactly the same way. But this sneaking around your parents? And I don't know if I could in good conscience put you out on a battlefield if you can't control your magic-"

"I can unfreeze things!" Ericka protested. "And it's usually not a lot - you remember when I was in the palace, right? And since you lifted the ban on magic everything has been so much better, I swear-"

"Ericka, your mom accidentally summoned an arc of lethal spikes in her ballroom on the eve of her coronation. And almost hurt everyone around her. How can I be sure you won't accidentally do the same?" Ben asked. A figure appeared in the doorway. It was Lumiere, frowning as he glanced into the room. Ben became aware of how loud he'd been getting and made a batting motion to shoo Lumiere away. A cloud of black sand appeared to slam the door closed with a mighty crash. The glass inside the door window shattered. Ben's blood ran cold.

"I won't do that! I... I can keep myself away or... what was that?" Ericka broke off on the phone as she heard the sound of the blast.

Swirling black sand suddenly took up a whirlwind around the phone as Ben stared, open-mouthed, at the busted door. A fine rain of indigo dust settled onto the papers on his desk. The latest death counts from up north shimmered even as the lights flickered a little.

"B - en, you - cutt - out," Ericka's voice glitched through the phone. Ben willed himself to calm down.

Don't use it, don't use it, don't use it, don't...

Oh, the irony. He was on the phone with the daughter of the woman who'd tried to 'Conceal Don't Feel' her magic away for almost twenty years, trying the same method out with the same disastrous results. Proving all over again that he'd been correct to lift the ban. Ben slammed the phone down - using his physical strength, not the magical strength - and found himself blinded by a cyclone of sand. He fought his way through it, somehow knowing exactly where to go, and then slipped out of the office. Behind him, the sandstorm continued, swirling more and more out of control. In the hallway, Belle, Adam, and Lumiere were all standing, exchanging glances as Ben slumped to the ground outside of his door and covered his face with his hands.

Fear wasn't working. He couldn't live in fear - it wasn't protecting him from anything. All he was doing was letting that hideous power well up inside him and grow more and more out of control.

"Maybe we should talk about this," Belle suggested in a quiet voice. "Ben, what is-"

"I don't want to talk," Ben cut her off. It was a good thing his parents knew literally nothing about magic - nothing about how fearing it and not using it hurt your health in the long run. Nothing about outbursts and lack of control. They'd know what was wrong right away. "I know what's causing it, I just need some time. Can one of you please text Ericka of Arendelle and tell her my answer is no? I'll call her back when this dies down." He gestured to the screaming storm in his office and then let his head hit his door as he closed his eyes.

Lumiere exhaled and turned to walk away. Ben listened to his footsteps and then opened an eye to see his parents still standing above him, waiting. Belle took a few steps forward and then dropped to her knees beside him. She put her hands on his arms and laid her head on his. Adam stepped over his legs, sat against the wall, and then put his arm around his shoulder. Ben could hear the sandstorm dying down in the next room. He let his head rest on his Mom's and let out a deep sigh.

"We're still a family," Belle whispered when all was quiet. "You're still my little boy. No curse or war or any amount of time is going to change that."

"Thanks Mom," Ben let out a soft breath against her hair.

Adam squeezed Ben's shoulder. "And we're here," He promised. "We know you and Mal talk, but whenever either of you need us, we're still your parents and we'll always look out for you."

Ben sighed and relaxed a little. It was nice to be close. It was nice to be loved.

"I'm sick of this." Mal growled as she and Jack Frost hid out in a collection of jagged ice sculptures, all tinged with black sand. The area overlooked a gigantic valley in a circular basin down below. Dragons, Fae, Auradonian Trolls and monsters battled fiercely against the strong black sand stallions Mal had come to recognize as Pitch Black's minions. Auradonian archers and gunmen stayed up above and sniped carefully at the larger enemies.

The only Auradonians Mal knew of that were actively involved in this battle were the Incredible family, whose parents had been convinced by Invisigirl to come out of retirement, and their squad of super-human heroes. Now, on top of the Easter tunnels crisscrossing the lands and allowing instantaneous passage around the battlefield, there were also dozens upon dozens of portals that opened as windows to different areas of the battlefields and various different types of fire spread. However, the stallions had gotten smarter and knew now of their own flammability. They carefully skirted the flames and attacked those who caused them first. Where Eris couldn't work with water, Pitch Black couldn't work with fire.

Mal was sick. She was sicker that sick. She was beyond the point she wanted to throw up all her organs and become an internally-metal robot. It was the beginning of December now. The days were flying by faster and faster. Unlike when she visited the moors, however, she couldn't go home at the turn of the month. She was stuck up north with a two-month-old thing inside her, tracking a villain she had never even seen before.

"You'd think he would have shown up by now," Mal growled, slumping back and sliding down the length of the smooth ice sculpture she'd been leaning against as she clutched her stomach. "Ugh." She groaned and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, he is taking his time." Jack agreed with a disappointed frown. "Think we'll get him this time?"

This was their fifth time in two weeks trying to capture Pitch Black. They'd gotten close when they'd discovered him in the city of Chesterton, and Mal had managed to put up a barrier to prevent his escape, but then Astrid's dragon Stormfly had panicked and almost killed them all. Mal had been forced to let the barrier out, and Pitch had escaped.

Using a sample of the sand monsters, Mal had managed to scour the country and found this large gathering of them, which they had promptly decided to attack. The hope was that Pitch would show up to support his stallion army, but so far, they hadn't had much luck.

Mal squeezed her thumb to keep herself from gagging and growled. "Is it too much to ask him to make a quick appearance within the next thirty seconds?" She sighed.

Jack looked at her worriedly. "Maybe it would be better to wish him to show up in like, ten minutes." He said. "Are you going to be sick?"

Mal waved him off. "I'm always sick." She rolled her eyes. "I should call Ben and have him look up when nausea typically ends."

"Maybe you should go home?" Jack suggested.

"Yeah, after I kick Pitch's butt," Mal growled, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her face in her black armor.

"Well, just speaking from, you know, a dad's perspective, I would much rather have Elsa and the girls as far away from this mess as I can get them. I'm sure Ben feels the same." Jack floated down and carefully patted Mal's back.

"Yeah, I know." Mal sighed. She felt her insides quench and turned away from Jack to be sick on the snow. Jack flitted away as Mal groaned and wiped her mouth. "Kay, I'm done." She growled. She pulled a baggie full of the same sand they'd been using to track Pitch's stallions with and squinted at it. "You say this was originally the Sandman's sand?" She asked Jack suspiciously.

"Yeah." Jack nodded. "When we faced him off the first time, we actually managed to turn it back into his golden sand, but that was back when we had these incredibly brave kids guarding us. Now they've grown up and died. We don't want kids on the battlefield anyway."

"Fantastic." Mal glared at the sand. She glared at the sands. The whites of her eyes took on a green tone. She no longer needed to endure cross-eyedness to see the second realm of magic. The tips of her horns began to emit a faint purple light as Mal worked. Beads of sweat began to pour down from in-between her eyebrows as she growled at the sands. Jack watched in amazement as the black began to melt out of the sand – or rather, the sands melted out of the black. Golden flecks rose skyward, like the sparks of a fire, as a fine mist remained in Mal's hand. This she slipped back into the baggie, leaving only a small trace in her hand. She held it up to Jack triumphantly.

Jack examined it and then exhaled and deflated. "I'm just going to give up on ever being half as cool as you are." He mourned.

Mal chuckled. "I can just manipulate natural magic. I guess fear qualifies. You're still cool; you shot me out of the sky."

"You weren't paying attention." Jack said half-heartedly. Mal giggled and lowered her gaze into the second realm once more. She took hold of the black mist and examined it from every angle. Her wings were already appearing, growing from her shoulder blades. She rose up into the sky slowly, still looking closely at the mist in her hand.

"Ready to catch us a fear guardian?" Mal asked with a smirk.

"I was brought back to life for a reason, wasn't I?" Jack smirked at her.

Mal cackled, and the two zipped off into the darkness, leaving the battle raging on beneath them. Night falls, Pitch Black.