Mal had no idea how much time had passed as there was no way to tell time from the iron cell. Her tears had long since dried but left her feeling more drained than she had ever been. So, Mal lay in the middle of her prison and let her mind wander. She thought about how her mother had treated her when they both lived together on the isle of the lost. The fairy pondered how her mother had never expressed any kind of love for her, through words or physical reassurance, but she had also never caused mal as much pain as Ben had. He had told her many times that he loved her, even after the love spell was washed away, but he had also caused Mal more pain than someone who claimed to hate her and called her a disappointment.

Mal thought about how much wonderful Ben could be at times, like during their rehearsal for the coronation and when he held her close after she was accused of assaulting students. However, this was also the boy who had locked her in a cell of the most toxic substance known to fairies and spelled her on more than one occasion.

Mal turned to lay her side and curled herself into a ball, holding her head in her hands. Her skin started to ache like she had just gotten a horrible sunburn that was only continuing to get worse, not to mention the way her head was spinning and unable to focus. Mal had never been around so much iron for so long and, while she wasn't in direct contact, the iron was still wearing away at her and making the girl weak.

Mal resigned herself to lay on the floor in pain, until a sudden thought popped into her head and she just couldn't shake it away.

perhaps this was love?

Ben had said he was trying to teach her and make her better, and her mother certainly never engaged with her enough to teach her anything. Maybe this was how a person showed they cared? If it was, Ben must care a lot. The thoughts just made Mal's head hurt worse, causing the girl to wonder if her head was actually splitting open.

Mal let out a long groan, curling farther in on herself. The VK was so focused on trying to do anything that might make the pain go away that she didn't hear the platform from the shack above lowering. The boy riding on the platform, however, was not so distracted that he missed the girl's groan and whimpers of pain.

"Mal!" the newly crowned king's shout rang out through the dungeon but elicited no response from the suffering fairy. Ben ran to his girlfriend's side and reached out to hold her. Mal flinched slightly at Ben's first touch but wasn't able to do anything more for being in such a weakened state.

"Mal, let me help you. Let me get you out of here." Still no response from the isle girl other than some whimpering. Ben placed his hands on her head, cupping Mal's face.

"Come on, little dragon. I need you to answer." The nickname finally got the effect the royal desired. Mal nodded her head to give him permission to move her. Ben then picked the fairy up, bridal style, as she couldn't support herself, and carried her out of the iron cage and to the platform.

Mal's head began to clear once she was moved away from the cage, though her vision was blurry. Mal vaguely noted that if she stayed in there much longer, she guessed that she could have been seriously hurt. She shook her head to clear her swimming vision, finally focusing enough to see the face of the king who had left her in that hell for so long.

Mal's heart immediately jumped into her throat, fear filling her veins. Mal panicked, struggling to get out of the boy's grasp. While she was unable to get anywhere, but her movements alerted Ben to her fear.

"Hey, Hey, stop." The words were firm, leaving no room for argument. Mal stopped her movements and, struggling to figure out what to do to protect herself from what ben might have planned next, she curled into the king's chest, hoping that a display of affection and vulnerability would make him forgive her.

Mal's actions got her desired effect and more. The king could swear he felt his heart soar when the girl he loved curled into him, wanting his comfort and protection in her time of need. Ben carried Mal back to his car and situated her into the front seat, laying it down so the girl could lay down on the ride. However, When Ben went to start up the car, a hand with purple nail polish grabbed onto his sleeve, causing him to pause.

"Where… where are we going?" mal's voice was laced with exhaustion and fear. If Ben noticed this, he didn't acknowledge it.

"I am taking you home. I think you learned your lesson." Ben glanced over to mal, who was desperately fighting off sleep. "I'm sorry, Mal." Mal's eyes snapped to his, an unasked question in her eyes. Ben grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers. "I love you, little dragon, and I really hate seeing you suffer like that." Mal didn't have the energy to sort through the king's words or her emotions. So, the isle girl simply nodded before slipping into a deep sleep.

Unknown to her, Mal had latched her other hand onto Ben's arm while she slept. Ben was overjoyed at her affection and decided that taking the long route home wouldn't hurt anyone.

The next few months blurred together for Mal. The days all followed a pattern of training to be the perfect first lady with ben, then ending in ether failure and punishment or success and "reward".

The first thing Mal learned was how to talk to the press. The fairy found that she hated it but could always manage okay as long as she could control her temper, and controlling her temper was rather easy when the consequence for not doing so usually involved Ben's iron ring in unsavory places.

She also learned that Ben was in control of how much Mal was allowed to eat. It became quite normal for ben to give her a quick tap on her hand with the iron ring to signal the end of Mal's meal. A couple of times mal decided to ignore him, once on purpose to defy him and once because she was still very hungry. Both times Ben struck her in the soft part of her stomach until she lost the meal she had eaten, followed by little or no food and water for the next couple of days.

Ben also pushed for Mal to take on a more "princess" type of appearance. Mal began to let Evie shove her into dress after dress every day and dyed her hair blond if only to make her boyfriend happy. Mal also committed to acting the part of a perfect lady of auradon, always making time for the press, going to all her classes (even the boring ones), and helping Jane plan cotillion as it got closer. Mal hid all the marks that were bound her cover her skin under her glamor and her strong attitude kept anyone from questioning that the relationship between the king and his first lady was anything but loving.

The most drastic change for Mal was that Ben forbit her to use magic. He hadn't learned of her mother's spell book that mal had taken to hiding under her mattress, so she never had to give that up. However, the punishments for her using magic were the worst. Mal hadn't slipped up and let Ben catch her yet, but the king had made it clear that if be did, her days alone in the iron cell would look like paradise in comparison.

In all, Ben was loving his well-trained, beautiful, affectionate, girlfriend while Mal continued to feel more confused and less like herself everyday.

These confused thoughts filled Mal's head as she made her was to class, only a few days before the cotillion. She was taking great effort to avoid Jane as the girl was driving her nuts with questions about cotillion. Mal had already snapped at the girl once, and she had a feeling she wouldn't get away with it again.

However, while Mal was avoiding Jane, she wasn't avoiding Evie. The Blue-haired VK Ran up to mal (an impressive feat in her high heels) and began peppering her with questions about her cotillion dress. Mal had learned a long time ago that the best way to answer Evie's questions was to stay quiet as let her answer them herself. Mal was in the middle of this flawless technique when Ben snuck up behind her.

"hey there." Mal jumped when Ben suddenly addressed her. The two heard Evie studder out a half-baked excuse to leave them alone. Ben waited until the blue haired girl was out of earshot before addressing Mal. "I saw your interviews yesterday." Mal shuddered at the memory. There had to have been a dozen reporters crowding her and firing questions off faster than she could answer. She had eventually zoned out into a daydream if only to ignore them. Luckily fairy godmother showed up before the press could get too out of had and told them they needed to leave campus. Mal had never been so happy about the school's strict rules.

Mal braced herself for Ben's lecture about always making time for the press and giving them your full attention, blah blah blah, but relaxed when Ben said, "they were really going after you, trying to get a rise out of you, but you kept your cool. I'm proud of you." Mal blushed at the king's words, though it wasn't uncommon that Ben told her such things, they were always hard earned. Ben leaned down to whisper in Mal's ear. "I think you might just have earned yourself a reward." Mal stiffened up completely, though if her boyfriend noticed, he didn't respond. The new king simply left his Girlfriend with one of his sideways smiles (the one that always promised more to come) and made his way to class.

Mal fought off panic as her breathing quickened. The first time the king had promised her a "reward" she had assumed it to be something like a day off her princess training, more of her isle clothes back, or some interesting food she hadn't tried yet. The VK would never forget the first time she had arrived at Ben's room, exited for whatever her "reward" was, just to find herself thrown on his bed and his lips attached to hers. In her confusion, mal had pushed ben off and asked what he was doing. He explained, rather aggressively, that this affection he was giving her was to be her reward. The king continued to kiss Mal for a little while after that then simply wrapped his arms around her, told her he loved her, and went to sleep.

Mal had not been subject to one of Ben's "rewards" since then, but she had tried to toe the line of living up to the king's high standards and not impressing him too much. Mal shook herself out of her thoughts and went to class.

Mal had not been able to focus through the rest of her classes, though she must have looked deep in thought because no teachers had bothered her. Mal was glad of that, for she didn't want them to tell Ben and make him angry at her again. The fairy hadn't decided if she hated Ben's "rewards" or punishments worse.

Upon arriving at Ben's bedroom door (something mal did almost every day), Mal didn't even get a chance to knock before the door flew open to revel Ben with the biggest smile Mal had ever seen him wear. "Mal! You are here! Come in come in." Ben ignored Mal's flinch as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his room.

Once inside, Ben let go of Mal and got out a couple of cases that were sitting by the tv. "These are some of the best movies in Auradon, I thought I could pick one, you could pick another, and we could have a movie night." Mal felt all the tension leave her body at her boyfriend's words and hopeful face. The King must have seen her small smile and took that as joy for his plan. Ben almost whooped for joy as he put in the first disk and settled onto the couch, dragging Mal with him.

Mal kept her guard up for a little while, but soon found herself relaxing into Ben's embrace while watching the funny movie about an ogre rescuing a princess with a talking donkey sidekick. Ben had also laid out some snacks like popcorn, fruit, and cookies. Mal was able to eat freely and laugh at the movie's crude humor that had flown over Ben's head.

After they finished the first movie the couple ended up watching two more, one about a kid and his pet dragon, and the sequel to the movie about the ogre. Mal found herself enjoying her time with her boyfriend, she didn't need to worry about displeasing him or a tap from his ring. The fairy had been overjoyed when she saw that he wasn't even wearing it! Mal decided that this night was the best she has had since coming to Auradon, she even dared to hope that she and Ben would be able to be like this more soon as she was about to become a lady of the court. Mal would finally be accepted and then she could finally act more like herself, or at least as herself as she could be in Auradon.

Despite her wishes that the night would last forever, Mal found her eyes drooping at the end of the third movie. Ben took notice and, once the movie had completely ended, turned off the tv and scooped up the girl bridal style, to gently lay her to bed.

**TRIGGER WARNING**

MAL felt herself get laid on the bed and then Ben climbing in next to her. Then on top of her. Mal opened her eyes in confusion to find Ben leaning over her, his arms on both sides of her, smiling a lovestruck smile. Mal knew that smile, she liked that smile. It had always meant good things as it showed that Ben was not only happy, that he was happy with her. So, when the boy leaned down to gently kiss Mal, she gladly reciprocated.

They remained this way for a while, Mal enjoying all the positive attention from her boyfriend. He had placed his hand on her stomach and Mal decided that she didn't mind it being there, until it started to slide down. Mal thought that she might have just been imagining it but there it was, sliding from her stomach and now reaching the waistline of her pants. Mal shivered when they just barely started to dip under the material.

Mal broke off their kiss for a moment and pushed Ben up to look at him. "Ben, what are you doing?" Mal put all her unspoken questions and fears into the single question. She didn't feel better after his response.

"We had such a great date Mal. This is the way to finish it off right." The king kept his lovestruck grin on his face, but the look in his eyes was one Mal knew to be pure lust.

"No, Wait-" her protests were cut off by another kiss. Mal tried again to get her boyfriend's attention and push him off again, but this only made him push down and kiss her harder. The hand that had tipped mal off had begun to dip even lower, inside of her pants and her undergarments.

Mal didn't know what to do, her head was spinning, and Ben was pushing her down so hard she was struggling to breath. Mal was simply frozen in place, not wanting the anger that would follow rejecting Ben, even if she could – nope she cut off that train of thought. The girl simply stayed frozen as the hand reached the place it had been searching for, just about to do the one think mal was so scared of-

BANG BANG BANG

**TRIGGER WARNING OVER I THINK**

The king abruptly sat up, removing the offending appendage in the process, to figure out who was banging on his door in the middle of the night. Ben let loose a low and angry growl before stalking over to the door and ripping it open to find one of his advisors (the head of the sidekicks) standing there.

"Sir I am so sorry to bother you and lady Mal so late, but there was an accident at the coal mines, and we need your help sorting it." The man spoke fast showing just how much of a rush he was in and also just how panicked.

Ben sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine I'm on my way. I'll get dressed and meet you by the front gate." The advisor bowed his gratitude and ran away to inform everyone that the king was coming. Ben sighed again and shut his door. He locked eyes with Mal, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be back as soon as this is handled. Okay?" the king spoke in a low growl and mal only hoped that his anger was not directed at her. She simply nodded to his request and watched as he changed back into his royal suit.

Ben started for the door and paused, turning back towards Mal. The fairy would be lying if she said that she had not stiffened up under his gaze but managed not to flinch as he made his way over to her. Mal couldn't fight the confusion on her face as Ben grabbed it with both hands and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. Mal leaned into his touch even as he pulled away.

"I promise I'll be right back. I love you." The look on Mal's face must have been enough for the king as he then turned and strode out the door, shutting it behind him.

Mal screamed in frustration. "One moment he was the best boyfriend ever with his affection and snacks and cuddling then the next he is trying to… do that, then he is sweet again?!" Mal didn't know how to deal with all these conflicting emotions so she stalked around the King's room muttering about "stupid feelings" until she had worked out all her energy.

Mal felt even more drained after all the adrenaline of the situation wore off. She knew the trouble she would be in if she left, so the fairy just laid down in the bed again and tried not to think about what had happened in it just moments before.

The girl managed to doze lightly for a while but was woken up by the bedroom door opening again. Mal fought to keep her breathing under control so it would appear as though she were sleeping. Mal didn't know if it had worked or if the king was also tired, but Ben simply changed back into pajamas and got into bed, wrapping his arms around mal before falling asleep himself.

Mal was then left to sort through all the emotions she felt with Ben wrapped around her. Disgust, fear, hope, anger, but the weirdest was what mal could swear was… love. Somewhere before her line of thought finished, the fairy managed to drift off into a blissful sleep.