Mal left her bike in the middle of the shop area, knowing it would be stolen. The girl was glad to be rid of it. The next thing mal was going to get rid of was Ben's influence over her look. Mal had Missed her signature purple hair and she knew just the place to get it back. The girl walked over to the infamous curl up and dye.
Mal saw Dizzy sweeping the floor of curl up and dye as she walked in. Mal let the girl figure out she was there on her own, smiling a bit at the young girls jump before getting gripped in a deadly hug, which was gladly returned. Mal gave Dizzy complete creative control over her hair, hoping that Evie's opinion of her skills was not exaggerated, and regretting her decision for only one second when Dizzy pulled out some massive scissors.
Once she was finished, mal looked in the mirror and finally saw herself again, even if she had a few new scars. Mal smiled genuinely at Dizzy and gave her all the money that Ben had given her. Another thing of his gone.
Just a Dizzy went to put the money in the register, a hook slammed down on the counter, demanding the money. Mal tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at harry hook. She didn't really care who got the money, as long as she got rid of it, but she couldn't help but get mad that Harry was stealing from someone who had been under her protection.
"Still acting as Uma's errand boy Harry?" Mal drawled out to harry, getting his attention.
"Well well well. what a nice surprise." Mal forced herself to stand her ground as Harry approached her. This was not Ben it was just Harry. "Just WAIT until Uma hears you're back." Mal Had to fight to keep from flinching at harries barked out his words. The girl just kept up her mental chant of "just Harry, not ben". Mal couldn't tell if harry had noticed her forced stillness or if it was just his normal Mannerisms, ether was she was grateful when he began to softly drawl in his usual tone. "She is never gonna give you back your old territory."
Mal tilted her head and thought about her next move. She could fight him off herself and get the money back for Dizzy or… "well that's okay, cuz I was hopping to talk to her." Harry's reaction to her words was priceless as his eyes went wide and jaw fell slack, and Mal just Barely kept in her laughter. However, the son of captain hook recovered quickly.
Harry reached forward with his hook to push Mal's new hair away from her neck, causing mal to feel a brief flash of fear. This fear, however, was nothing compared to the anger that followed. Mal was tired of being scared and she was going to fight back, even if it wasn't the person she really wanted to fight.
Just as Harry's hook reached Mal's neck, she reached out, fast as lightning, and grabbed the arm holding the hook. Mal smiled sweetly at Harry who was looking even more confused at her action. "Do you have Uma's permission to do that?" Mal could see she was right as Harry's jaw tightened, showing that he was grinding his teeth together.
Instead of responding, Harry lashed out with his non-hooked hand and shoved Mal in front of him to take her back to the pirates' ship. Mal took the opportunity of the close proximity to pick Harry's pocket and take back Ben's money, subtly placing on it back on the counter and winking at Dizzy before leaving with a frowning Harry.
Evie was watching Ben closely. He had snapped at her twice during their fitting for Ben's Isle clothes. Evie didn't even have to make them new as she had an outfit she made for Jay from the time she had tried to convince her crew that they should all wear blue as a group color. Surprisingly, it was Carlos who refused and shut down the idea, but Evie had already made an outfit for Jay.
The king had lashed out at her during the brief time the dress maker had taken to measure him to make sure jay's outfit would fit him. Evie tried to tell herself that he was just stressed about Mal, but she could feel there was more too it.
Jay and Carlos agreed to return to the isle easily and Evie was watching them show Ben how to act on the isle. The king seemed… uncomfortable to say the least. He tried to avoid mud puddles like there wasn't another a few feet away and practically tried to use Jay as a human shield every time someone walked by.
With every step they got closer to the clubhouse, Ben seemed to get more… twitchy. Like he expected a fight. Evie had seen the boys before a fight often enough to see the signs. She was even starting to get annoyed at Jay and Carlos for not noticing Ben's weird behavior.
By the time the group reached the clubhouse, Evie was really second-guessing letting Ben go up and talk to Mal first. She was going to suggest that she talk to Mal first when Jay threw a rock and lowered the latter for Ben to climb up. Evie took up her post as guard and watched Ben go up to talk to her best friend. The girl just hoped she was misreading the situation, but also wondering if she missed anything else. Whatever happened, Evie knew that Mal would never let Ben get away with anything.
Mal heard Ben come up and decided to ignore him and continue painting. She knew how he hated to be ignored. She didn't even turn around when he cleared his throat, only turning to her former boyfriend once she was done with her painting.
Just as she predicted, the king was fuming. If looks could kill, mal supposed she would be dead four times over. Mal smirks at him knowing she was getting under Ben's skin and he couldn't do anything about it on the isle. Oh how she missed this.
"Come home." Ben growled out the words in a tone that he had always used to finish debates with Mal in the past. But now all the girl did was laugh at him.
"I am home, Beasty-boy." Mal had missed insulting people this way and baiting them into a fight. It had been far too long.
"I'm taking you back to Auridon. Get in the limo. NOW." Ben tried again while taking a step closer. Mal almost thought it was cute that he was tying to control her again, trying to scare her again. At least she would have if she didn't remember everything he had done to her. She had the scars to prove it.
"Awww, you gonna make me?" Mal put a fake pout on her face to further taunt Ben. It worked beautifully.
Ben charged Mal with his hand out to slap her across the face only to have the girl catch it mid-strike. The king looked at her in a mortified confusion. "You don't have your beastly strength here Benny-boo. That puts you at normal human strength like the rest of us." Mal told the king as she twisted his arm hard enough to make him wince under her strength. "Although, I'm betting that since you have never had to build up your muscles naturally, you are a bit weaker than the rest of us without your magic." Mal theorized as she moved closer to get into Ben's face and spits in his eye, just like she had that day at the lake.
Ben jerked back and wiped the spit out of his eye then whipped around and growled at Mal. He realized that he can't overpower her the way he would beck in Auridon, but while he didn't have his strength, he did have her weakness. "I Didn't want to have to use this again but-" Ben reaches his hand up to fiddle with the Iron ring, only to find it missing from his finger.
"Looking for this?" mal held up the ring in her full leather glove. Ben moved toward her to snatch it back, but Mal took a step closer to the open window.
"Don't. You. Dare." Ben growled out lowly. Mal simply raised her eyebrow in return.
"You see Ben, you ran Auridon, but this is my terf and I make the rules here. The fist rule is no iron." With that Mal threw the ring out the window and Ben saw about 12 children pounced on it then ran away so he couldn't even tell which child got it. "the second rule is I do what I want." With this statement Mal kicked her ex-boyfriend hard in the side, causing him to crash into the window frame and fall, ungracefully, into a heap on the floor. Mal only laughed at him.
"I am going to make you regret that. I WILL bring you back to Auridon and you WILL face consequences for your actions. I don't care what it takes you WILL be my first lady, publicly or hidden away." Mal forced herself to repress a shudder at the king's words and what they implied. Mal knew that even one more night in that iron hell would be the end of her. She couldn't end up down there, not again.
The king must have seen the brief flash of fear in Mal's eyes because a smile that was just a little too wide to be genuine, grew on his face. "See Mal, I am your best bet. Just get in the limo and let me take you back to Auridon. I'll forgive you just this once, but only if you come home now."
Mal steeled herself at the word home. Was Auridon home? The more Mal though about it, the more it wasn't about the place, it was about the people. The other VKs had always been her gang on the isle, they never tried to hurt her (not after they formed the gang at least), they all looked out for each other, and any threats made between the friends were all in good fun, not to actually intimidate. If someone had done what he had done to anyone else, Mal would never even consider letting them into her gang. Ben might have bad his good moments, but what he had done was unforgivable.
Wherever home is, Ben wasn't there. Mal was still confused as to what love is, but she was sure that it didn't involve the lying, angry boy currently throwing a tantrum in front of her.
Mal shook her head, steeling herself. "You want to me to go back? You are going to have to take me down and drag me there yourself, because I am never going back. Not with you." Mal then turned Back to working on another painting, fully intent on ignoring Ben until he ether left or lashed out again.
Once Ben got too frustrated with his misbehaving girlfriend he turned toward the stairs, turning around only to call back "you'll never be anything more than a villain! See if you can do anything without me and your friends. They'll abandon you after this, no one will believe a villain over the king." With this, Ben stormed out of the clubhouse, needing to get away before he fell into a beastly rage.
Evie watched Ben storm down the stairs, wondering what happened to make him that angry.
The king stormed away from the VKs before even jay could stop him. With a quick nod from Evie, Jay went after Ben to make sure he didn't get into trouble. She then went up the ladder to speak to Mal herself. And hopefully get some answers.
Mal was working on the portrait of the four VKs. Evie knew that Mal already figured out she was in there so Evie let her finish and turn around when she was ready.
Mal Kept her back to Evie, she knew that the other girl would question the claw marks on her face and ask her exactly how she got them. "What do you want E?" Mal asked.
"I just want to know what happened M." did Evie mean what happened with Ben or what made her runaway from Auridon? The fairly frowned, knowing that the daughter of the evil queen was the champion of finding out anything about any person, it was part of her charm after all. Mal knew she wasn't going to be able to hide, not for long at least.
"I don't know what you mean." So Mal was stalling. She wanted to know what Evie knew so she could adjust accordingly.
"Yes, you do Mal. I know something happened, something big, and I want to know what it is. And why it seems to hurt you so much." Mal tensed as Evie was closer to the truth than she thought. At least she didn't guess it was Ben.
"Evie I…" Mal wouldn't find the words to explain that she lied to her best friend for months.
"Mal-" Evie Grabbed Mal's shoulder to turn her around and look at her, but Gasped at the Open wound on her face. The witch didn't say anything but reached for the first aid kit kept in the hideout to treat the wounds, just like she did before the four left four Auridon. The girl cleaned Mal's wounds, disinfecting them and stitched them closed, even if the fairy didn't think them to be a big deal.
"Does this have something to do with the weirdness that is going on with Ben?" Mal stiffened up at the question, not know what exactly her best friend was asking. Evie remained silent, waiting for an answer, but her friend only avoided her eyes. The two avoided Evie's question until Evie finished cleaning Mal's wound and took to staring at her intently.
Mal kept her eyes fixed on the floor, not willing to look Evie in the eyes. The lack of eye contact is what tipped Evie off. "Mal?" the witch tried one more time.
"I don't want to talk about it, E." this only worried Evie more as Mal had been working on communication in Auridon.
Mal was terrified that Ben was right. That Evie would simply leave her once she told her the truth and take the boys with her. She had been so hoping to put off this conversation for a while.
"Mal. Tell me who did that." Evie knew she sounded hostile, but she couldn't help it. Old habits die hard.
Mal flinched at her tone. "You wouldn't believe me." Evie only got more confused by Mal's response.
"What won't I believe?" Mal kept her gaze down.
"it… it was him." Was the only information Mal offered up.
"Who was what, Mal?" Evie was getting more nervous with every non-answer that Mal gave. Her concern only grew when tears formed in Mal's eyes.
"He did this, Evie. Has been. Since… since before the coronation." Mal rolled up her sleeves just enough so that Evie could see the new scares that decorated her skin. Evie rushed to grab her best friend's hands, only hesitating slightly at her flinch.
The realization struck Evie as she connected the dots. "No…" the witch whispered, backing away from her friend as she realized just what her friend was telling her.
Mal felt sick to her stomach as she watched her best friend back away from her and let loose a hollow laugh. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."
Evie's heart broke when her leader uttered those words. She instantly grabbed Mal and pulled them close so that their foreheads touched, just like they used to when one was destressed during their time on the isle.
Mal Jumped at the contact, having fully expected Evie to flee from her in disgust, not comfort her as she had done… before Auridon.
"I believe you Mal. I will always believe you." If Mal cried a little at the confession, Evie would never tell a soul. Mal spent the next few minutes telling Evie everything ben had done, finally convinced that the other VK would believe her. Mal told Evie all about the prison's designed for each of them and about her time in the iron hell. Evie cried when Mal told her just how much Ben had come to control her daily life and just how much fear was involved.
In those few minutes, Evie vowed that the "King" would see justice, if not, vengeance. No one hurt her leader best friend like this. No one.
"Evie! Mal! Ban is gone! Jay can't find him and harry hook claimed that Uma took him!" Carlos Broke into the girls' conversation, informing them of the situation. "He said Uma wanted Mal at her ship at noon tomorrow with fairy godmother's wand or she will throw Ben overboard!"
Evie looked at Mal for her reaction but found her best friend's face blank as she barked orders to Carlos. "Uma doesn't know between the real thing and a fake. Carlos, take Jay and make a fake wand using your 3-D printer, Evie and I will make a distraction. I'm thinking smoke bombs." Mal looked to Evie during the last part and glared, signaling the VK to keep her mouth shut.
Carlos ran away to follow his leader's orders as Evie staired in confusion at Mal. "trust me on this one, Evie." Mal had that evil smile on her face that instantly related Evie, reminding the witch of the group's evil plots during their time on the isle. "I have a plan."