This scene was cut in favor of the much heavier fight that was included.
Far away at the palace, a girl with short purple hair was trying to accustom her friends to everything she'd come to love in Auradon overnight. The Villain Kids – Evie, Jay, and Carlos, the King and Queen – Mal and Ben, Belle and Adam and Sophia and Stewart. Lumiere was taking the day off.
The couches and tables had been moved out of the way on account of there not being enough space, and everyone sat on the floor with blankets as the smell of flowers drifting in with the evening air. Summer was officially here, and southern Auradon was beginning to warm up.
Mal sat surrounded by her friends as everyone jumped in to tell them stories of things that had happened in the last year.
"Mal told Audrey, Ben's old girlfriend, off when she tried to say Mal wouldn't be around much longer. It was pretty extreme." Adam chuckled as he held Belle's hand.
"Yes, and once Lumiere came into Ben's office in the middle of the night and they'd managed to fill the room entirely with dust, and they were covered head to toe with moth balls and dirt." Sophia laughed.
"I let Ben and Mal out of the palace once or twice, and Ben asked me to walk Mal down the aisle." Stewart added to the conversation. He was holding an icepack to his face as Sophia rubbed his hand softly.
"That's… pretty extreme." Carlos sighed. Out of the three, he was the one starting to relax the most.
"Oh!" Mal exclaimed. "I have to tell you guys about Christmas. Christmas is amazing." She clapped her hands together. "So, Auradon has this weird tradition where they bring a live tree inside and they put decorations on it. Ours had a star of top, and lots of pretty colorful lights, and we had so many ornaments! There were icicles and bows and snowflakes…"
"Snowflakes?" Evie asked primly. She sat with her back completely straight, sending judging looks to the Auradon citizens in the room.
"Snow falls differently in Auradon because of the barrier." Mal explained. "It's like tiny piece of powdered sugar, and it's white."
Evie folded her hands in her lap and said nothing. Jay leaned forward. "I'm glad you're safe." He told Mal. "We've been really worried about you."
Mal smiled and patted his hand. "It's been wonderful. Ben and his family are amazing, and they really took care of me. I owe them a lot." She smiled over at Belle, Adam, and Ben.
Belle waved her hand. "You owe us nothing, sweetheart." She said with a smile. Her fingers were inching towards a book a few feet away, where she'd put it when the conversation had first started. "We love how happy you and Ben are together." She put special emphasis on the word 'together'.
Jay rubbed the back of his neck carefully. "How long until the curse is broken?" He asked.
Mal blinked, surprised at the sudden change. "Oh, it's already broken. It's been broken since the beginning of this month."
Evie perked up. "You're already free?" She asked.
Mal raised an eyebrow. "Yeah."
Carlos looked at both of his friends. While he had been immediately cautious of Ben, it was becoming clear to him that the King had his heart in a good place. Mal was magical and strong-willed. No way she'd not have left yet if he was mistreating her. She was clearly happy – anyone could tell just watching her smile. But it still felt weird to not worry after spending so long examining her on TV, watching to see any measure of fear or exhaustion in her eyes. But she was healthy, happy, and stronger than ever.
"What are your plans now?" Carlos asked.
Mal smiled at Ben. "Well, we have three kingdoms to run between us, I have to repair the Isle of the Lost, and Mercy, May, and Myth will want to return to the Moors soon so that they can begin renovating the moorland for all the creatures there. We need to rescue everyone in on the Isle, but that might have to wait until August because I have to leave next week."
"Leave?" Evie sputtered.
"I go to the moors every month." Mal smiled. "It's not public knowledge because I don't want people to start tracking me and stopping the car or anything, but I leave on the last day and arrive on the first, every month."
"So, you'll be gone for an entire month?" Jay asked.
"Yeah." Mal nodded.
"Okay." Evie sighed. "I guess I'm just not… cluing in." She twiddled her thumbs before stilling herself again. "Are you two… staying together?"
"Yes." Mal said at the same time as Ben. They laughed at each other. Mal leaned back. "You explain, Ben. You're better at feelings than I am."
"Not true." Ben shook his head. "But I'll still do this." He relaxed and faced Mal's friends. "It took a lot of mutual trust trying to work together those first few months. But I gained immediate respect for Mal and her talents and abilities, and I think I speak for both of us when I say we both genuinely wanted to the other to succeed. Marriage should be about always being in someone's court, cheering for them even if you have to correct them. I hope I speak for both of us when I say that I can't, and don't, want to let go. What we have here is really, really nice." He immediately looked at Mal and sighed when he saw her nodding along to his words.
"I agree. Thank you, Ben." She told him. Then, in a small moment of silliness, she blew him an air kiss. He pretended to catch it with a small smirk pulling at his laps.
Belle thumbed down a page. "Out of curiosity…" She said, closing her book and leaning her head against Adam, who elbowed her. "Alright, and my own selfish desires." She rolled her eyes at her husband as he gave her a knowing look. "Are you and Ben planning at all for… down the road… kids?"
Ben choked, but Mal only rolled her eyes at her mother in law. "Selfish desires?" She asked sarcastically. Sophia and Stewart began to laugh, but Jay and Evie looked startled beyond measure.
"We haven't talked about it for a few months. Been busy. I think we last talked in April, and we decided to not try anything because we were so busy. So, at the moment, no." Mal answered while Ben hid his face from a laughing Sophia and Stewart. Then, with a mischievous glance, Mal smirked and quipped: "Maybe Sophia and Stewart will have kids before we do."
Sophia smiled. "Maybe." She agreed before she kicked her legs up across Stewart's lap. He moved his sunglasses from his coat pocket to the top of his head and put an arm around Sophia, who winked at Mal.
Belle looked between the two of them. "Okay, the signals I'm reading are that either Sophia and Stewart are planning to get married soon, or I'm going to have to wait a great many years from grandkids. I just want you all to be aware I fully cast my vote into the first option." Belle opened her book as Mal, Sophia, and Stewart all laughed. Ben was too busy trying to cast the blush from his cheeks to be much help.
The three villain kids exchanged looks. Was this really Mal, who had denounced love when she was only eight? Was this really the child who had tried to cast Evie into a hundred-year slumber and demanded Carlos hold a party at his house, upon which she threw Evie into his mother's closet?
For Jay especially, he felt like the world was slowing down. How could any of this be real? It all felt so… intangible. He felt like, at any moment, someone would yell: sike!
How many months had he worried that she would be okay? How many times had he figured every word coming out of her mouth was a carefully orchestrated ploy of the palace? How many times had he laid awake at night, imagining the evil crown prince taking unfair advantage of his and Mal's impromptu marriage?
All those moments were reduced to a single, clouded experience as he watched Mal smile across the room as Stewart told a joke to the old King and Queen. Ben was shrugging off his blush, smiling over at Mal, looking downright pleased she still chose to notice him, like her very presence blessed him.
Jay wasn't quite sure how to react to this.