This was inspired by Xez2003's The Black Arrow; A Tale of Two Kingdoms. I do not own Disney Descendants.
There was a loud crash from across the road and the ground shook as Ben, Jay, and Carlos were rolling up all their few possessions and packing them tightly into the very back of the cart. "Don't drop the teepee so hard!" Evie commanded, stomping over to where three young adults were sheepishly looking over. Ben felt the ground continue shaking as she walked past, and then turned to help Carlos heave a collection of wires, metal attachments, and whirring parts into the cart. Carlos said it was going to be a fan, but Ben couldn't quite see the vision yet.
"Ben!" Someone shouted, giving the 'e' in his name a little bark to it. "You finished yet? We could use your help down in the docks!" It was Uma, looking like she was ready to murder anyone who got in her way. Consequently, a path opened up. It was interesting, Ben had noticed, how everyone regarded the three – Uma, Mal, and Evie – as unspoken leaders who had no higher standing in comparison to each other.
"He's helping us pack up!" Jay declared, hoisting up a group of large, curved sticks that had been entrusted to his care by Evie for some sort of invented game. If there was one thing Ben had learned during these last few days, it was that the Islanders, now that they had left, knew how to have fun. They were always coming up with new activities and games. Ben hoped they'd be able to stop in Charmington to grab some cards so he could teach them card games. "Go get your lackeys and have them help you."
"They're all busy," Uma refuted, leaning against their cart. "I need help dismantling the last of the smoke system. So I'm coming to fish him out of your dump. My part of the camp's the important one anyway."
A leering voice came from the next cart over. "Just like your mother, always a catch." Ben turned to give Mal and exasperated look. He momentarily forgot his goal in the face of her new outfit – a neon green pantsuit with black streaks across it – but still managed to give her an exasperated look.
"Relax, Mal, I'll give your pet back unharmed," Uma rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, feel free to do whatever. Not like it'll hurt me at all," Mal arched an eyebrow. "Besides, it's about time you did something useful anyway."
"You eat, don't you?" Uma challenged. "Unless you'd like to eat raw meat with all the blood still in it?"
"We both know I wouldn't have a problem with that and it'd only make me look tougher than you," Mal deadpanned. Ben gave her a cautious glance. There was no joking in her voice.
"Last I checked, your mother thought she had things all sewn up too. How'd that work out for her again?" Uma asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Okay, enough," Ben rolled his eyes. "Mal, why don't you come off your perch and help Jay and Carlos finish? Unless you'd like to go help Uma pack things up?"
Jay gave him a sideways look with raised eyebrows, which only made Ben set his hands on his hips. Mal looked utterly offended. She hopped off her cart and took two steps so that the top of her head was about two inches away from his chin. If he really wanted to, he could lean forward and kiss her forehead, but he knew he wouldn't.
"What makes you think you can give me orders?" She asked with a low growl building in the back of her throat. Her teeth were clenched together.
"I didn't," Ben shook his head. "I asked why you weren't hopping down. I never told you that you had to."
"You insinuated it," Mal hissed.
"You assumed I did," Ben replied.
Uma crossed her arms and looked at Mal expectantly. Mal was fuming. He could practically feel her steaming. "I could hurt you," she threatened.
Ben shrugged. "Not without permission, I bet," he conceded. He doubted she'd hurt him anyways.
Mal let her gaze settle into something offensive and angry. She turned away from him and walked away with her hair flying out over her shoulders as she stormed off. Ben chuckled a little, knowing she'd hear it, and then turned around. Carlos's mouth was open a little and Jay looked like he was positive he'd started hallucinating.
"Wow," Uma nodded her approval. "I've never seen anyone do that."
Carlos reached out and tapped Ben's arm. "He's still alive?" He whispered. "She must be killing you from a distance."
"She won't," Ben rolled his eyes. "If she comes back, see if you can put her to work. She spends too much time perching up there."
Uma snorted and then nodded her head back to where her area was. Everyone called the area "the docks" because apparently, that had been Uma's territory on the Isle. Mal and Evie, meanwhile, shared "the city", though Evie was allowed to go wherever she wanted because she was a good diplomat. Apparently, Evie had been part of Mal's gang but had risen to a leadership position when Mal and Uma were unable to compromise without a mediator.
Uma showed him to an area mostly untended and set him to work dismantling things. She didn't stick around to help though. She never did, and Ben had a suspicion that it was because Harry Hook was still unsure of him.
After an hour of breaking apart wooden beams and stacking them into small, easily-maneuverable piles, Ben felt all the hair on the back of his neck rise up. He knew why. It always did when Mal entered the area.
He didn't bother searching for her. Part of the reason why was because Evie had picked up on his hypersensitivity and was a bit sore over it. He didn't know if she was around, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The other part was that he was curious to see if she'd seek him out.
He'd almost blocked out the prickling of the skin on the back of his neck when a pair of pale hands snatched the bundle he was reaching for and held them off the ground as he tied a rope around them. Ben almost jumped out of his skin. He glanced up and met Mal's bright, electric green eyes, then focused his gaze on the ground and on the task at hand.
She helped him tie up the smoking racks and then, when all twenty-four were tied up, gathered a few stacks into her arms. Ben watched her pick up two, then four, then eight stacks, and silently set out to do more than her. Not to prove he was stronger, because that was a useless endeavor, but to prove he was strong enough to help her. He lifted two with ease, then four with a bit of an awkward shift, then lifting six was like lifting Little Belle, and eight wasn't too bad, so he went to ten and then twelve and then found himself again staring into Mal's eyes as they both reached for the last one, her twelfth and his fourteenth.
Mal turned her head to the side a little. Ben cleared his throat a little bit. "Would it be more chivalrous of me to take it so you don't have to lift it, or let you take it so that I'm not coming off as underestimating your strength?"
"I know you don't underestimate me," Mal assured him softly. "But you should let me take it so that we're equals."
Equals. A title, not a description. Just like how Mal was "dangerous". She was offering an equal status. And she was offering to take it. Ben tilted his head at the same angle she had hers at. "This is your olive branch for threatening me earlier, huh?"
Mal's face turned scarlet and her hand shook above the pile a little. Ben smirked a little, picked up the bundle, and handed it to her. He and Mal took their stacks and headed towards Uma's carts. Ben hefted his into the cart and then jumped up to help Mal stack hers beside him. She didn't say anything as he pressed each stack into place, but she did nod an approval when he hopped back down. They stood beside each other for a second, and then Ben turned to head towards where Harry was packing up cooking supplies.
"Where are you going?" Mal asked, wrinkling her nose and turning to watch him leave.
"To go help Uma," Ben replied. "Aren't you ready to hit the road? You have a kingdom waiting for you."
Mal blinked slowly and said nothing as Ben walked away. He knew she was gone when his muscles relaxed and his skin began to warm again, but it still filled him with sadness when he glanced over his shoulder and she had vanished from view.
God, what kind of womanizer was he trying to make himself into?
"We need two to every wagon!" Evie commanded, walking down the road early the next day. Everything had been packed up, tucked away, secured and tied into the carts. The carts, it should be mentioned, were of various varieties. Some had tiny awnings raised over them, some had two wheels and a handle, others had four and were pushed with handles screwed into the side. Most were wood, though some were metal, and now everyone's belongings were cramming into them. Until they arrived, this would be where everyone slept and kept their things.
Jay and Carlos picked up the handle of the cart without even turning to Ben. They began chattering – a conversation about their parents on the Isle that they'd started hours ago – and Ben twisted his hands before turning away. "Evie!" He called, and the blue-haired girl turned on her heel. "Do you have any community carts that I could help with?" He asked.
Evie considered him and then nodded towards a rather long cart that had teepee poles and clothes stacked in most of it with several dozen hides weighing them down. Ben nodded and went to pick up the handle at the front of it. The wood was rough, but it would smooth out in a few days. The opposite was happening to his hands. Before, he'd only had calluses where he wrote, but now he was gaining thick patches all along the insides of his hands and on his arms a little bit. He had, for the first time in his life, a farmer's tan where he kept rolling his shirt up.
"Ben! Ben!" A group of nine-year-olds ran up with bright smiles and giggles. Ben quickly dropped the handle to give them all hugs. These kids were so much more expressive than moody Little Belle. They never begged for toys or candy, instead pleading for loves and hugs and the chance to be thrown into the air. Ben was happy to oblige – he didn't want to imagine how often they'd gotten bear hugs on the Isle. If only he knew how to help Little Belle be more like them – happy with small things, patient, and always wanting loves. Maybe it was the outside air? Or the chores?
Maybe he'd let Belle's nanny go when he got home. Let her go and downsize her room – make her spend time outside with other kids her age and without the endless expanse of colorful toys that didn't even entertain her anyways.
Of course, Audrey would complain. What were the chances he could do the same thing to his wife?
A little girl shyly extended a bouquet of white daisies that had been carefully pinched off their stems and arranged with little grass strands tying them together. Ben made a show of gasping in surprise, reaching for them carefully, pulling one out to put back into her hair, and then carefully tucking the rest of the bouquet into his suit pocket.
"Speak French!" One of the children begged, tugging on his arm.
Ben laughed. "Je parler pas Français!" he protested. "Tu es dingue!"
"To-eh you!" a little girl reached up and patted his cheeks as she tried to repeat what he'd said.
Ben kissed both of her cheeks and gave her a quick hug before standing back up. "Alright, little language learners, we have to get this show on the road. Go find your carts so you don't get left behind!"
They left gradually, bidding him dozens of farewells that left a bright smile plastered on his face, even when he felt his skin grow cold and his hair begin to stand on end again.
Did she always have to watch him? Why couldn't she just come talk? Instead, he always had to keep from looking for her, trying to keep Evie, Uma, or anyone else form thinking he was anticipating her arrival. Trying to convince himself to not anticipate her arrival.
"Alright, everyone!" Evie yelled from further down the road. "Jay and Carlos are in the lead. Anthony Tremaine is at the rear. Let's go!"
Slowly, one by one, carts began to pull out. Ben fished in his pocket for a handkerchief, still ignoring the icy feeling that told him a fairy was watching him, and then wrapped it around the handle before picking it up and heading forward. The weight of the cart was heavy, but not horrible. Ben could manage it with one hand for a short amount of time and then switch hands. His shoulder might kill at the end of the day, but he'd be able to manage.
As he hit the main road, he felt the wheel catch on something. He pushed a little more, and the wheel skidded but didn't continue forward. He glimpsed purple out of the corner of his eye and then chose to neither react nor meet her gaze as Mal ducked under the handle and then pulled out her own handkerchief to lay across the handle. Together, they shoved, and Ben felt a rock come loose in the ground before they moved forward and into a long line heading west into the forest.
"Thank you," Ben bid Mal. He wondered if she was sticking around to help him, though she should be helping Evie with their cart. She and Evie, being close as sisters, shared a living space, though Mal tended to go where she wanted when she wanted and only returned to the cart when she wanted to perch and observe all her subordinates.
"Yeah," Mal shrugged carelessly. She was silent for several seconds and then asked: "You're serious about all this, right?"
"Mal, I gave you my oath," Ben reminded her. Mal remained tight-lipped. "I won't be going anywhere until I've helped you guys resettle."
At this, Mal gave him a cursory look. "Why didn't you go help Uma?" She asked, changing the subject.
Ben blinked a little. "Well, Jay and Carlos kinda took over my cart, so I asked Evie and she directed me to come here." He tilted his head at her. "Why aren't you at your cart?"
Mal squinted at him. "This is my cart," She nods to the back.
Ben turned and furrowed his brow at the teepees and the hides. "I thought you had the one next to Jay and Carlos?" He asked.
"That's Evie's," Mal nodded in agreement. "I bunk with her and I watch over my gang." She shook her head. "Isle stuff. You wouldn't understand. But this is mine."
"Oh," Ben's cheeks turned a bit red. "I'm sorry for grabbing it so suddenly. This is… a little awkward."
"It's fine. Evie's fault anyway. She probably orchestrated it." Mal nodded to the front and Ben looked up just in time to see Evie turn around. She wasn't pulling a cart, but she was walking next to Carlos and holding a magnet. Ben admired her courage – strutting through the woods in stilettos. Even Audrey would have worn sneakers.
Ben pinched his lips together as he realized what has happened. A set-up. Evie must have known Mal would ask what he was doing. He wondered what her intentions were – to see if he would fall over himself again, to see if Mal would incinerate him or… what? "Is everyone trying to set me up to be beside you?" He asked with a little frustration. Behind him, the camp disappears. Beside him, Mal gave him an odd stare.
"Not me," she replied after several long moments. The cart clatters over several rocks.
"I would believe that, except I can feel your gaze wherever I go," Ben shot back. "You think I don't notice you watching, but I do. And things keep happening – you keep appearing – and I know they're not coincidences."
Mal furrowed her brow. "What are you implying?" She snapped.
"You know exactly what I'm implying," Ben fixed his gaze on hers. He may not have fire behind his eyes, but he's served as a father and as a king and knew how to do a pretty good death stare. Mal kept her gaze focused on the road and curled in her shoulders a little. "Is this what you do on the Isle?" He asked. "Hang out and scope out gentlemen and bewitch them into asking for dates?"
"We don't really date much on the Isle," Mal replied. "It's more like… gang activity."
Ben kept his eyebrows arched as the trees grew denser around them. The children are singing group songs around them as they march alongside the carts, picking up flowers and leaves and pretty pebbles. Many of these items will end up gifts for Ben later on. Finally, Mal broke. "I don't hand out to scope for… boys. I like being high because then I can see danger faster. That's how we spotted your company in the first place. It's how we kept safe on the Isle. They call it a hierarchy for a reason – whoever's at the top is the safest."
"Actually, second-highest is safest," Ben reasoned. "Everyone's always trying to knock the top person off, so if you're right below him or her, you're mostly safe." He elbowed her a little. "Which, I suppose, is why I'm the most-protected person in this camp. I'm right below the three and above everyone else." It also helped, he supposed, that the three all seemed to like him.
Mal debated his ideas with a snort and then a nod. He took that as a good sign.
The trail continued. Ben wondered briefly where it was coming from – there hadn't been any followable trail in the days he'd been in camp, but then he realized that must be the reason Mal's eyes were still lit up like she was doing magic – she had been creating the trail, due west, despite being stuck in the middle of the line. And with this knowledge, he tried harder to push the cart himself so Mal didn't have to overexert himself. Mal, however, matched her speed to his and he had to back down before they ran into the cart in front of them.
"I have a question," Ben announced when his mouth began to feel a bit dry. "You mentioned when I first came here that your middle name was worse than mine. And I've been thinking; what could possibly be worse than Florian?"
Mal panted a little as they walked. Ben reached back with one hand and found a dinged water bottle – a treasure from the Isle – tucked inside. He handed it to her, and she let one hand off the handle to take a drink before passing it to him and then answering. "Bertha," She replied. "My middle name is Bertha."
Ben almost dropped the water bottle. "Bertha?" He repeated. "As in Mal Bertha?"
"Yeah," Mal frowned. "Just my mother doing what she does best; being really, really evil." She brandished a finger at him. "Now, don't you go spewing that around!" She warned.
Ben blinked at her nail, dangerously close to his eyes. He squinted a little at her and then managed to take a drink before re-stowing the water bottle away. "Wait," he frowned. "Who else knows?"
Mal kept her lips sealed shut and Ben formulated his own answer. Evie, Jay, and Carlos at the most. At the least, only him. "What makes me so special?" He asked.
Mal shrugged, furrowing her brow together. "You asked," She decided.
That sort of makes sense. Mal wasn't very approachable; chances are no one had ever bothered to ask. But that didn't explain how she didn't want him telling anyone. If she'd were honest with anyone who asked, then it wouldn't be a problem if he said anything. "Mal?" He asked.
Mal sighed in something like agony. "Ben," she began, "Shut up and walk."
When they stopped for the night, Ben made sure Mal had a place to sleep either in her own cart or in Evie's. It looked like she'd be staying in Evie's, as she was back up on her perch again. Evie's cart had a little bench overlook on top of it, which made it a bit heavier, but they can also fit emergency supplies and some sparse weapons in there, so it doesn't matter. She watched him as he walked by, glanced at the small space they'd cleared out, and noticed her spellbook set on her pillow.
"You're doing it again," He teased a little without much humor in his tone. "Perching and scoping out gentlemen to kidnap and bewitch."
Mal let her face twist into a little thing of amusement. "What does that say about you?" She asked.
Ben, once again, was at a loss for words. He hadn't meant to convey his predicament so obviously… that he is being bewitched even though he really shouldn't be. He swallowed as Mal leaned down from her perch to examine him. Her green eyes had faded to grey, and he could see those golden flecks sparkling in the setting sun. "Is it working?" She asked softly, curiously.
Ben jolted out of his thoughts and shook his head furiously to clear it. "Goodnight Mal," He bid her and then left.
"This is worse than any punishment my mother ever gave me," Mal growled as she kicked a rock out of their path. Ben snorted. It's the third day of walking. Their faces are all sunburned. Ben's hands had cracks running up them. Mal's fingernails were chipping off and her nails have little brown streaks in them. Everyone had splinters, but theirs's are less because of the ingenious idea of the handkerchiefs.
Mal had entertained him occasionally with stories of everything under the sun – the Isle, setting up the camp, and – his favorite – her childhood. He'd decided Mal definitely had a height complex – she wa a dragon, meant to be in the air anyways, but this combined with the fact she grew up in a tower on the Isle of the Lost and one of her chores was to scope for danger while her mother slept and then later they built a hideaway that was forty feet off the ground and Mal used to stay up all night watching over her friends… it's no surprise she acted the way she did now. He had noticed, however, that she had shifted her post to be of equal distance between him, Jay, Evie, and Carlos since he'd arrived. He was in her circle of protection now, and he was creeping steadily towards his own circle of danger.
Part of him knew he should come clean about Audrey now. Part of him hoped that someone else would mention it to her. A very naïve part of his brain wondered if she already knew and was only doing these things – watching him, dropping small remarks, examining him – to see how uncomfortable she could make him.
If she was, there was a problem with that plan – he wasn't uncomfortable. On the contrary, a week of eating Uma's food and doing real work and having real conversations with people and sleeping under real stars had done wonders for him. Part of him wanted to throw Audrey's ring in a bush and let Evie rip up his Auradon crest shirt for scraps and never, ever look back, but the other part whined uncomfortably and conjured up a feeling of disappointment and guilt in such a strong manner than Ben was almost left gasping for breath. He wasn't uncomfortable; he was desperate for change. And that realization was despicable because really, if he needed more love, he should ask Audrey to be more affectionate. To come into his office from time to time and smile. To attend dinner with him and Little Belle. To go places with him and go see their old friends. He shouldn't have been running off with other women and over-analyzing the amount of time they spent watching him whenever he's helping to do any heavy-lifting or when he's playing with the other kids or… anything.
"Yeah?" he snorted as Mal continued to complain under her breath. "I don't know about you, but this is the best thing that has happened to me."
Mal rolled her eyes. "You were obviously spoiled rotten, then."
"Guilty as charged," Ben affirmed in the driest tone he could conjure up. Maybe that's the problem with Little Belle – he and Audrey have spoiled her too much. Would it be too drastic to take everything away and start from scratch? Perhaps if he could keep Audrey out of the picture long enough, then…
God, he couldn't decide if he wanted his wife closer or farther.
Mal tripped a little over a sparse rock and Ben snatched her arm before she could fall forward. Her face turned a little red as she regained her footing. "Sorry," she mumbled quickly and then kept her gaze fastened on the ground in embarrassment. Ben let a little smile pull at the corner of his mouth. He decided not to mention it.
"What's Auradon like?" Mal asked, huffing a little harder as the trail turned steeper.
Ben shrugged. "They're very... selfish. I mean, I'm going to probably work until the day I die for them, but I'll never get any credit for it."
"Or at least until the throne is passed on," Mal reminded him nonchalantly. Her words made him stumble. She snatched his arm and hoisted him back up as he stared at her with a bit of a wild tone in his eyes. He hadn't mentioned to anyone, yet, that he had a daughter. Jay, Uma, and a couple of other people knew about Audrey, but the fact he was also a father hadn't been raised yet. How would Mal know?
"I wasn't trying to insinuate anything," Mal snapped a little, wrinkling her nose at his reaction. "Geesh, did I hit a sore spot or something?"
Ben stared at her, trying to puzzle out what she meant, and then slowly shook his head. "No," He mumbled. "My apologies. I misheard."
Mal examined him a little bit more and then turned her attention back to walking without any further questions or prodding. Ben, too, focused on taking one step before another as the cold sweat dried off his skin, and his heart thudded in his chest.