Chapter 1 the day he knew of father
It was already evening when it happened, the sun jet to set. Mal, Ben and the young king´s parents have just finished dinner and were now sitting on the couches of the living room. The fireplace illuminating the room with a warm orange glow. Ben was sitting in the corner of the two-seater with Mal curled up against his side enjoying the quiet and warmth. It took her some time to warm up to the idea of showing her feelings openly and still will not do so if there are strangers or people out of her close familiar circle present. So it was a gift to Ben when she choose to cuddle or the occasional kiss on the cheek.
The former King and current Queen were sitting on the other sofa. Belle reading an extremely old book. The pages yellowed and some ripped on the edges. The book was partially written in an ancient language. Sadly, there were no pictures helping the bookworm to understand the context. After a chapter and a halve Belle was frustrated enough to close the book rather loudly spooking Mal in the process. "Everything ok Darling" Adam asked his wife with concern written across his face.
While hearing his dad talking Ben looked. Mal focusing her gaze on the book Belle had in hand as if it had done somethin evil. Which it did by destroying the comfortable silence the four had been in.
"This stupid book claims to be fully translated from ancient Greek to English but it´s not" Belle stated angrily "I´m only 20 Pages in ant 5 out of those I could not understand." Adam was trying to calm his wife by awkwardly patting her back. To distract his Mother Ben asked: "What was the Book supposed to be about?".
Belle let out another huff and started to explain:" Since you started to get the Children of the isle I´ve got the feeling, that not all stories the supposed Heroes told are true. So I´ve been reading up on the tales." This made Mal perk up, interested in the argumentation the Queen just proposed. "On the back of the book it says that it was Written by one of Hades´ minions he was verry close to. I just want to get a different perspective on the whole story." Belle rambled on.
Mal on the other hand sat up: "can I have a look at the Book?" the Fairy asked. Without stopping her tirade about the flaws of said book the monarch tossed the Book over to Mal who opened it on page one and began reading. Ben now also intrigued by his Girlfriends interest in the book, was now reding the English parts of the pages.
After some time Mal spoke up:" The Greek parts are basically quotes of Hades, some of them are like an interview." While speaking Mal did not look up from the Novel, thus she missed that the eyes of the royal family went big.
"You can read that" Adam chimed in. Mal nodded still with her nose deep into the literature furrowing her brows. "And understand it" Belle questioned marveling about the teens abilities. "Yea" Mal confirmed "perks of having a Greek God as Dad." She muttered the last part.
For a second the room was back to a complete silence. One could only hear the crackling of the fire. "What" Ben exclaimed. Due to his slight Beast-DNA it almost sounded like a roar. Mal looked up from the book startled by her Boyfriends voice. "I might have said that last part to loud" She muttered again.
"Honey, what do you mean by a ´Greek god as a dad´?" Belle asked with caution. She knew, that Mal did not like to talk about her Blood-family and her life on the isle in general. Often, she would crawl back into the shell she had built up over the years. Luckily, Ben was able to ship away at it little by little.
Mal really did not want to say anything wrong right now. Her Mother forbade her to ever talk about or to her father. She had only talked to him a couple of time on the isle and he was quite nice. Sure he had a temper you did not what to mess with but he really cared about his daughter. A concept completely new and foreign to Mal. There were just four or five occasion she talked to him, the last time getting caught by her mother. She was not ready to face the consequences again. Last time there were more green and blue spots in her skin than her actual skin color. Mal knew that technically her mother could not reach her here in Auradon but the fear keep lingering in the back of her mind. "I´m not really allowed to talk about it" Mal stated quiet and timid.
Adam, who´s curiosity now getting the better of him, spoke up:" Who said thar?". Mal shrunk in her seat and stammered a quiet "my Mother".
The royal Family knew that the girl in front them, was verry scared of her Mother and this very situation. This broke Belles heart. A child should never be afraid of their parent(s). All of the four VK´s showed those behaviors in different levels. Jay always checked his pockets or the persons around him for something good enough for his father when somebody around him talks about Jafar. Evie straitens her clothes, combs through her hair with her fingers and checks her appearance to please her Mother when someone in her proximity talks about the evil Queen. Carlos flinches when he touches something soft that is not alive and cowers when hearing Cruella d´Villes Name.
With Mal it is a little different. Her Mother always discouraged showing al other emotions than hate and in this context, discouragement meant punishment for smiling or crying. Thus Mal learned that showing what you feal or think is extremely bad. Adjusting to the opposite is awfully hard. Whenever someone speaks about the Mistress of Evil, Mal losses all her emotions and her eyes go dull.
Belle hated seeing the children sad ore in fear. That's why she is all the prouder of Mal and her friends for going against Maleficent and saving Auradon. Belle was determined to take over the role as a mother figure as long as they would let her. "Mal, Honey, your Mother can not hurt you here" Belle encouraged her. She got up, kneeled bevor her and set her hand on Mal´s knee. Ben still sitting next to her put his arm protectively around her shoulders.
Adam leaned forward as Mal took a deep breath mentally preparing to tell her story. "My mother always told me that m father mas a `mortal useless piece of crap` and that he left as soon as she was pregnant. Other than that she never did talk about him. And for a verry long time I believed her. That is till my hair started to turn Purple when I was six."
Mal took another deep breath. She knew that what was coming next the Auradonias were not used to hearing. Adam had a gut feeling, that something bad had happened to Mal at that time of her live. What he did not know was how truly bad it was and how cruel Maleficent was. Belle, now sitting on Mals other side, stroked Mal´s knee to encourage her and Ben pulled her closer. Mal had put her Head in her hands, elbows resting on her thighs. She knew that the faces of the royals would show sadness, pity and remorse within the next minute.
"When I asked she said that it was all my father´s fault and I started thinking how a mortal without magic could turn my hair purple so as the naïve and dump six-year-old I was I started asking a ton of questions, became verry excited and started smiling. Worst Mistake ever. " She took another deep breath and went on "To say I got a beating would put it lightly. I still have some scars left from that day. Something like this was always my mothers reaction when I was in her eyes not evil enough"Belle gasped but did not dare to say a wort, fearing Mal could stop.
But thanfully Mal went on. "A year before Ben pulled us of the dump I got to meet Hades and then I knew that he was my Dad" The young Fairy smiled a bit. "How much do you know about Fae?" Mal asked wanting to know, how much she needed to say about her heritage.
"I for one don't know much other that Fae are a subcategory of Faries" Adam answered her while Ben and Belle nodded along. Before Mal could proceed Ben cut in lightening the mood: "Seems like we need a little biology lesson" Mal chuckled at her Boyfriend´s antics
"Yeah, seems like it". Adam having the same thought as his wife´, was marveled how easily their son could male her laugh even in this rough situation. They knew, that one day in the near future Mal would not wear the title `Lady of the court` but Queen and she would be perfect for the position. Their son was happy and the Kingdom was save and that was all that counted. With another chuckle Mal began the biology lesson
"Adam was right. Fae are a subcategory of all Faries. Our magic is tied to the elements, the stronger the connection the stronger the spell. This is in contrast to other Fairies whose powers are tied to the cause of the spell. Many lines of Fae come from the Moors, just like my Mother and Me and nearly all of them have ether horns, wings or both, like my mother."
Before Mal could explain further Ben interrupted " but you neither have wings nor horns od did I miss something" Bens mind wandered. Did Mal use some kind of spell to hide them? Are Fae born with them od do they grow? How do they grow … if they do? While doing so he had this absolutely adorable look of his face Mal knew and loved. He always had this look when he was deep in thoughts or working on something important. She took his hand in hers to gain his attention and pursued her tale
"Technically I do. Just like my Mother I would have wings.".
And again Ben interrupted "wait. You have wings. What else did I miss." This made Belle chuckle while Adam was equally interested.
"If you would let me talk I would tell you more" Mal scolded him which made Belle chuckle again. "Wings and horn would grow like teeth at a young age. Most likely around two years old. But due to the lack of magic on the isle it took much longer fort them to start showing signs of sprouting. And due to that my Mum and I knew that it would hurt much more yet she did not care."
After another gasp from Belle, Mal fell into a rather fast ramble. She wanted to get the next part over as fast as she could:
"I don´t think you Auradonians know much about pain but if it gets too strong it can blind you. All you can see then are white and black spots. As that happened I was at the Marked place the barge from Auradon just came in. Apparently my Mother and Hades had a deal or rathe she was blackmailing him. I did not know this till the day bevor I came here. According to Lady Persephone Maleficent threatened Hades to kill me if he ever talked to me. Why she did that we all have no idea. Well ether way that day he did not care and took me to his cave. He tried to explain to me that there was a spell to prolong the sprouting to an undefined time. In short they´ll come in when he decides it. I heart of this spell before but there is a catch. You can not perform them yourself and one of your own blood has to perform it. Lucky for me Hades was my Dad and hat due to the fact, that he is a good he had enough magic to do it."
Mal paused to take a deep breath and see if the royals what to ask or add something but other than a surprised sound from Ben and a grunt from Adam it was silent and Mal continued.
"Dad performed the spell and what we both did not know was that it took much more energy from me than him and because of the pain I was in for the past weeks I had not much to spare. I was knocked out for about a week. And that is how I met my Father and after the week my Brother too. My Dad is actually really cool he since that day he always made sure Hadie and I had stuff to eat and cloth." Mal finished with a smile and look up at the royals bracing herself for the reaction.
Belle was the first one to show a reaction and talk. She let out a good amount of air "So just to get it all clear. You were abused by your mother, you have wings that are suppressed by a spell, not all magic on the isle is canceled and food and cloth are not widely available on the isle." Belle listed while counting on the facts her fingers.
"Yeah basically you got that all right. But I was not the only one who was abuses by their parents on the isle and there are many people who starve because the food ration are not enough."
Belle let out a deep breath. It was all too much for the older Queen. She knew that the Isle was not the best place to live and to rase children, but she did not anticipate that it was truly that bad. Belle just like Adam and Ben needed some time to stomach what they just heard.
In all her years on the Ile Mal learned to read people but when she came to Auradon she lost this ability slightly. All those new emotions confused her in her perception. One thin was always the same. The feeling she got when she was no longer needed or whished to be in the room. So she let go of Bens Hand and stood up, which made Ben look um with a questioning look.
"I´m going to get us all something to drink. I think you three want to talk about all this." Me mere nod from Adam was enough encouragement for her to leave the room.
