Zach's writing slowly climbs to a middle-school level. He doesn't struggle with word choice or sentence fluency, but he's used to quick answers and writing only short notes to help him remember things. It takes him a while to grasp the idea that he has to explain himself to someone on paper. His handwriting isn't the best either. Ben gets him a letter book to practice forming letters in, but he hates it so vehemently that Mal doesn't even protest when he runs it through the shredder the second week.
"I already know what letters look like!" He snaps at Ben when Ben asks what his alternative will be. "I don't like learning over and over again!"
Impatience, Mal thinks, might be Zach's fatal flaw. He utterly hates anything that can't be immediately memorized and applied. Practicing things is of the devil, as far as he's concerned. Still, he's got to learn to write legibly, and if he won't do it the way Ben learned, then they've got to figure out something to help him. Mal suggests art classes. If he can control a brush or a pencil, her reasoning is, he shouldn't have a problem with lettering. However, Zach responds to that proposal with so much hate that she immediately backs down. Zach likes art, but he hates trying to make it. Dozens of Christmas coloring books have been buried or burned or thrown away under his care. Crayons and markers are only useful when pens and pencils are scarce. In his opinion, restaurant kids menus waste too much space with pictures and should devote more paper to riddles, trivia, and word searches. Her son thinks in words, and not pictures.
In the end, Mal comes up with a solution. They purchase a composition notebook, sit Zach down at the table every night, and have him write two front-and-back pages about his day. It turns out to be very therapeutic for him - the first few pages spew insults and rants about how awful his parents are for doing this to him and how much his hand hurts, and then once his hand gets used to the motions he's able to convey his frustration about his brother and his parents and his sister in a much more effective manner. On the night summer begins for kids in Auradon, Mal reads to Tyler on the couch while Zach fills five pages straight at the bar, ranting about how Tyler smashed a soda can on the ground and caused it to blow up everywhere before going straight into talking about how he's annoyed at his guitar classmates because all they can talk about is how school is getting out. His handwriting is becoming more consistent, but it's big, so Mal improvises a new strategy. The following night, she tapes off the back portion of Zach's book and tells him to only write two pages, front-and-back. There's a small tantrum and a few scathing remarks, and then his handwriting goes from covering two lines to having two neat lines fitting inside of one line. His handwriting is smaller than Ben's, and that's saying something. She doesn't comment when he requests sticky notes from Ben and continues filling the book with his thoughts about his day in shades of blue and yellow.
Eventually, Mal doesn't even have to remind him that he has to do some writing because his composition book sits in his room on his headboard with his dictionary and textbooks. She lifts the ban on using more than two pages and Zach takes advantage of the added space by letting his handwriting get a bit bigger to fill the lines properly. The last exercise she makes him do before letting habit take over entirely is to set a timer for twenty minutes and tell him that he has to write to fill the time, not the pages. It's the final thing that tips Zach's handwriting from legible to acceptable. Now that he's tapping his pencil along to the seconds and not caring about how many pages he can fill with his seven-year-old rage, he's taking the time to make little embellishments on his handwriting and takes care to have it stretch evenly across the page. It's not glorious, but it's understandable and neat. It's also good for Zach to have something he can fill with his thoughts on his family and his studies without fear of Mom and Dad picking it up and examining it. Mal feels a little like a genius when she notices that the more he spews out his frustrations on paper, the less annoyed he is the next day.
Once he's managed to grasp the concept of "you need to explain your ideas to other people, not just spit out random facts", his essay writing improves ten-fold. There are usually ten or so different places where he has to go back and re-write a part that doesn't fit into his thesis, so he's not perfect, but it is certainly an improvement. And it's just enough for Mr. Jensen to agree to let him sit in on Mathematics 1010 and Biology 1010 at Auradon Prep. If he handles it well, they'll add him to classes in the Winter semester. His student ID arrives a week before they leave on their trip to Motuni. Mal can barely see through her tears as she snaps a picture, but she passes it off as happy tears to Zach and holds off the worst of it until she's alone with Ben.
Zach gets new textbooks, but Ben makes him leave them behind for the week they're gone from the palace. "You will disengage," he says slowly as he locks them into the family safe. "You will not go and hide in a book, Zach. You need to be present and in the moment. We're going to take lots of photos and go look at lots of different places and I don't want you staring at a book the entire way there and back."
He does get to bring Ben's old laptop and his composition notebook as compensation. The notebook loses a considerable amount of pages during the plane ride when Zach starts watching a little kid's spelling and math show on one side of him and Baby Belle begins to cry on his other side. Mal has to scoot past Zach to walk around the plane with Belle and she budges his extra pens onto the floor as she tries to quell the crying. Other passengers glance at her, do a double-take at the purple hair, and Zach's in-use pen flies more furiously across the page with every whisper of "Queen Mal?"
Ben finally offers him a pair of headphones, but the thing about Zach is he doesn't appreciate much music outside of guitar and instrumental, while Ben prefers current pop bops. The poor kid is about to kill someone or break something by the time they finally land.
They have to wait until everyone else disembarks because of security. When Tyler's show ends and a new one starts with its catchy, silly intro music, Zach slams his head into the chair in front of him and lets out a feral growl of frustration.
Mal begins to wonder if they're going to survive this trip.
The thing about the boys is that they've always had their separate spaces. Zach's room is Zach's and Tyler's room is Tyler's and the boys have their specific seats in the car and their belongings and spaces and everything is separate. And on the ship, it's not like that. Ben and Mal keep Little Belle in one room, but the boys share the next room over. At first, it's exciting for them. Zach wants the bottom bunk because there's a lamp beside his pillow. Tyler wants the top bunk because it's higher up. Zach wants the desk all to himself. Tyler wants the TV. Zach gets the high shelves in the dresser. Tyler gets the lower ones. There is a division of space.
She should have known it was too good to last.
Ben is out taking a phone call on the deck when she hears a thump'n'crash from the next wall over. She hurries to put Belle into the portable crib without waking her up and by the time she makes it into the wall, there is screaming coming from the boys' room. The door is unlocked, so she opens it and steps into a war scene.
"I told you not to jump!" Zach howls in a tone so loud that Mal's eardrums threaten to burst. The left side of his forehead is bleeding and the top bunk bed, which was screwed into the wall, is lying on Zach's bed. His face is all purple as he shouts at a crying, stunned Tyler. "I told you no and you didn't listen, you idiot!"
"I'm not an idiot!" Tyler yells right back. Green light fills his eyes. "You're just a stupid, smart-aleck bully!"
"At least I don't break everything I touch!"
"At least I don't make momma cry!"
"You make mom cry all the time because you're insensitive and blind!"
"Well, at least I'm normal!"
"What on earth?" Mal interrupts from the doorway. Neither boys notice her.
"Maybe if you could calm down for once then this wouldn't happen!" Zach yells in this deep, throaty voice that sounds like a growl as tears stream down his face. Could she be imagining it, or do the sides of his face seem darker the angrier he gets?
"Mind your own business, you rat!" Tyler howls back with purple smoke curling out of his nostrils. "Go back to not talking to anyone because no one wants to talk to you anyway!"
Zach lets out a deep, vicious growl and Tyler screeches right back at him. A fountain of flames spills forth from Tyler's mouth. Mal panics. "No!" She shouts, jumping forward and shoving Zach and Tyler apart as green flames catch on the floor and on Zach's shirt. Mal stomps out the flames on the ground and tries to brush away the fire on Zach's shirt but he wrenches himself away from her and takes a swipe at Tyler. His fingernails aren't there anymore – they're claws and they leave three cuts across Tyler's face before he throws himself to the ground and starts sobbing and thrashing around in a complete meltdown.
The fire alarms go off. The floor is on fire; the beds are on fire; Zach is on fire. He howls and claws at himself and Mal grabs him by the neck as his shirt starts to rip open and burn away at the same time. Horns are curling out of his head and his knuckles are becoming horribly knobby and crooked as she shoves him into the bathroom shower and turns the cold water on full blast.
Purple smoke is still emanating from Tyler on the floor and Mal catches on too late, distracted as she is with trying to contain the bedroom fire with her powers as Zach collapses under the cold shower wall, sobbing. His face is longer and deformed, but he seems to be going back to normal or at least not morphing any further. Tyler sneezes, and his body explodes into a new form. A tiny purple dragon is now writing on the floor, spewing green flames as he thrashes about.
"No!" Mal shouts though yelling isn't doing much good. Tyler flaps clumsy, frail wings and rolls onto his back accidentally, coughing up green flames and sounding a lot like a dying chicken. Fire singes Mal's heels, and she hears people running down the hall to her. Cruise ship attendants appear and their mouths fall open at the dragon on the ground and the sparse fires everywhere. Mal makes a split-second decision and grabs the first part of Tyler she can touch before he writhes away from her. It turns out to be his tail, which she uses to pull him, squawking and crying, into the shower beside Zach. Zach hisses when he sees him, but Mal claps her hands in front of her oldest and Zach flinches away from the noise miserably. She slams the door to the bathroom before the attendants can see Zach and then turns to extinguish the flames before finally taking a deep breath to try and explain all of this to them.
The baby is crying next door. Where is Ben?
"Hi," Mal coughs a little. Her voice is hoarse now. "I'm so sorry about the chaos." She waves her hand at the fire alarm a little helplessly and it turns off without much prompting. Thank goodness. "The boys… they got into a fight… I can fix most things and we'll pay for what I can't fix."
"Was that a dragon?" One of the attendants asks, looking white even though he has darker skin and tan lines.
Mal winces. "Yes, uh, he should be fine in a moment. I'll help him as soon as you all leave… do you happen to have a screwdriver?"
"A screwdriver?" A girl with a braided bun squeaks. "Is he going to eat it?"
"Ah, no," Mal shakes her head and takes a few steps further into the room to put a hand on the fallen bed. "I just… the screws came out of the wall and I was hoping to screw them back in?"
The first man looks around, shell shocked, and runs a hand down his face. "Perhaps we should simply… move you into a different room?" He asks feebly. "You may fix this one if you like, but, uh, it might be easier to simply move everything."
Mal smiles a tight little smile. "My husband is on the deck," she explains through her teeth. "I'd like to discuss it with him when he gets back. Now, could you please leave, so I can attend to my children?"
"W-would you be requiring anything?" The man stammers out.
"Some hydrogen peroxide would be lovely," Mal forces a smile and then steps out into the hall. Belle is crying even louder now and others in the hall are exchanging odd looks and looking down to where the commotion was. She quickly scoops up Belle, but Belle only starts to cry even louder as she's jostled into her mom's arms. Mal locks her door behind her. The attendants stand, stone still, outside the boy's door. From down the hall, Mal sees the tall, steady figure of her husband appear from the stairwell. He heads down, pauses when he sees everyone standing outside their doors, and then walks faster as Mal hovers in the doorway of the boys' room, trying to quell the distraught baby.
"Is everything okay?" Ben asks, glancing between everyone's faces. He peers into the room and his mouth falls open. "Oh, dear…"
"Thank you," Mal addresses the attendants and gestures him in. He steps over the threshold and Mal finally gets to close the door.
"What happened?" He gasps as she shoves the baby into his hands and storms over to the window to start letting the smoke out before the alarms go off again.
"The boys fought," Mal responds briefly. She opens the door to the bathroom and shuts off the water to the shower before Ben sees their two young charges. He lets out a ragged, shaky breath. The only thing holding them both together is all the crazy experiences they had as teens together.
Zach has the nose of a cat in a dark shade of pink, like a baby lion. Tiny horns are peeping out of his shaggy locks and his hands are gnarled paws with long claws attached. He has red marks like sunburns on his neck and chest. His button-down shirt has been ripped open and the remnants of hair stretch down his torso, visible through the rips. It's his appearance that has Ben about ready to hyperventilate, despite the fact he doesn't look as bad as he did before and his normal features are quickly returning.
Tyler's body shape has returned to normal. He looks wiped out as he leans, exhausted, against the shower tiles opposite Zach. His hands are curved talons with four fingers each. Dragon skin still stretches down the left side of his face and when he breathes, smoke curls out from his lips. The cuts on the right side of his face are still bleeding, but he doesn't seem that hurt now that he's wasted all that energy in dragon form.
Mal wets a rag hanging on the wall, rubs a bar of soap against it, and starts cleaning Tyler's cheek off. He whines as she does so and then curls up with his head on her leg as she treats the cuts. He's not burned. Like her, he must be resistant to his own flames.
"Well, Beastie," Mal sighs, pulling Tyler's cheek down so she can clean the cuts out, "Maybe you'll have your own marks like Mom's after this."
Tyler whines and pulls his face away as the soap stings the flesh of his cheek. He struggles to sit up and peer into the mirror before falling back down beside her. "I don't like them," He mumbles, and curls his face away into her belly.
"Zach?" Mal calls softly. "Are you hurt?"
Zach lifts his arms, feels his face, and shakes his head. "I just bit my tongue," he mutters angrily and then distracts himself by pressing on his nose to feel the shape of it while his fingers slowly return to normal.
Mal nods and glances up at Ben, who's managed to calm Belle down. She flicks on the bathroom fan with a sigh. "Ben, please get them some new clothes," she requests and reaches down to start tugging Tyler's light-up sneakers off of him. He moans a little, but she manages to get his socks and shoes off before Ben starts tossing things her way. The dragon skin on his face is fading.
First one child, and then the other, is undressed, dried off, and fixed up. Mal has Ben take them into their bedroom to rest while she tries to figure out what to do about the room. Zach has burns on his upper body and Tyler's cuts go almost all the way through his cheek, but they're both asleep now, so she'll have to deal with their complaints later.
"What happened?" Ben asks as they work together to heave Tyler's collapsed bed off of Zach's. Books have been crushed between the two, but they all look okay.
"Tyler was jumping on the bed and I think it caught Zach on the way down," Mal mumbles tiredly. "Your son has some very cruel insults in him."
"Which one?"
"Both."
They manage to reattach the bed to the wall and Mal starts pulling off singed, bloody sheets. She's not sure what to do with them. Ben lifts the books off of Zach's bed with pinched lips. "Do these look familiar?" He asks Mal.
Mal squints. They're textbooks, not uncommon of Zach, but specifically, they're the new ones that Ben locked in the safe before they left home. Beside them is Zach's well-loved composition notebook. Mal is suddenly understanding why her son chose the route of screaming at his brother instead of just sighing and coming to get her. "How'd he get those?" She asks.
Ben shakes his head. He doesn't look happy, to say the least. "I don't know," He responds. "You're sure he doesn't have magic?"
Mal gestures around the room. "After this? I'm positive."
Burn cream, hydrogen peroxide, and nail clippers all go on their expense list for their trip.
At dinner, two equally annoyed but still respectful princes sit side-by-side by each other. No more mottled skin, no more twisted hands.
"Zach, how did you open the safe?" Ben asks, not looking up from his menu as he shows Tyler what he's allowed to order.
Zach flushes. None of them need to ask what he got out or how Ben knows. Even Tyler isn't surprised – he must have been keeping the secret with Zach. "I know the code," he admits, sliding into his chair with the tips of his ears red.
"How?" Ben flicks his eyes up to examine his oldest.
Zach's ears turn completely red. "I saw you punch it in on my phone." He's referring to the restrictions passcode. Ben recently learned you can keep kids from clearing their history and while they trust Zach (a lot less after today but still) he decided it'd be a good precaution to take.
"Hm," Ben hums and glances over at Mal, who rolls her eyes to the ceiling. "I don't know about you but I think I could use some wine right now."
"If you get drunk, you're sleeping with the boys and supervising."
Zach turns eight. They survive the rest of their family trip and manage to have some fun on the beaches together. Mal fills a section of hers and Ben's suitcase with shells that she plans to decorate a frame with when they get home. School restarts a month later and Zach enters college while Tyler begins the wonderful world of the second grade.
Zach's first four classes in either subject are difficult until he figures out what subjects everyone else already knows and finds a book to fill him in on it all. Then, once he knows the subject matter, he's back to downloading everything the teacher mentions into his brain. His first tests come back all nineties and ninety-fives. So that's that. Mal has an eight-year-old who is acing college and no, she's not bitter about it at all.
She just really has to fight the urge to set the school on fire.
Tyler is acting now with the children's theatre program. The opening show for this season is Julius Caesar, which Mal had no idea could be adapted for children, but the closing show is Beauty and the Beast and Tyler has his heart set on being Grandpa Adam. Math is still hard for him, but sometimes he and Zach will sit at the bar table so Zach can help him and that helps keep them from fighting. Sometimes, after school, they'll sit at the bar working on homework together while Mal pulls out snacks. Belle will be sitting on the floor all by herself, bopping her head along to whatever beat is playing and switching her hair color from purple to dirty blonde. She must have some sort of magic in her but hasn't done much besides switching back and forth between looking like Ben or looking like Mal. Hades thinks it's something called a Split-Gene disorder, where Ben and Mal's chromosomes didn't cross over correctly due to her being a fairy and him being a human. Therefore, she has the ability to switch back and forth between looking like Parent A or Parent B. Zach supports this theory, but Mal doesn't quite understand it. The other alternative is that she has the ability to change her appearance at will but only chooses to mimic her parents(and possibly Zach and Tyler, but who could tell) because that's who she's around the most.
School is in session for about two and a half months and nothing interesting happens except for when Zach brings home a few papers from his professors asking to test him out and move him into more advanced classes and also asking if he'd like to sign on for more classes at the semester change. He signs on for chemistry and physics and Trigonometry and Statistics. He asks Mal if he can take Calculus alongside all the others but they both agree he shouldn't push himself too hard. He also signs on for his first English class with the college, which he's a bit nervous for since essay-writing is still a small struggle for him. He hasn't had all the training that the other students have. So he starts staying after to work with the librarian in the college and that helps him feel a little more secure.
On October the third, Mal is in a meeting with the council. This is one of the few meetings she gets to attend with Ben, and she's rather enjoying the feel of his hand atop hers when her cell phone dings and rings against the table, drawing all conversation to a halt.
"Sorry," Mal blushes as she reaches for the beeping object. "I must have forgotten to silence it." She flips it over to reach for the end call button, and then pauses and narrows her eyes suspiciously at the contact.
"Who is it?" Ben asks, nudging her and glancing over her shoulder. Mal holds up a finger.
"Sorry, I need to take this real quick," She mumbles and slides the dial to accept the call. "Hello? This is Mal?" Ben gives her an incredulous look. Everyone else exchanges miffed looks. It's quite rude for the hostess to be taking a cell phone when Audrey of Auroria was so carefully trying to explain about climate changes in her kingdom.
"Mal?" Ben raises his hand to the phone at her ear to try and draw it away, signaling her to head outside to take the call or end it.
Mal gestures with her finger at him even more firmly. "Yes?" She asks in a low and dangerous tone that makes a few royals take their hands off the table. Ben continues trying to catch her gaze up until her eyes flash like lightning and smoke starts to drift out of her hair. The royals surrounding them jump up out of their seats and withdraw from around her. "Is he still there?" She asks, lowering her tone and squinting at the grains in the table carefully.
"Who is it?" Ben whispers urgently. "What's going on?"
"Give him the phone," Mal commands through gritted teeth before she begins packing up all her notes, her pens, and the papers needed for the rest of the meeting. Ben watches in confusion until she starts hissing into the phone again, and then his blood goes a little cold. "Tyler James, I will be there in a half-hour unless God is really liking you today. Don't you dare move from that chair until I walk through those doors."
Ben backs off. He backs far off.
"No, no," Mal snaps over the sounds of someone crying on the other end. "You may ask your father for grace when you get home but not even the law can protect you from me, young men." She snaps her fingers towards Ben to indicate she's talking to him now as she gets up from her chair. "Ben, cover this all for me."
"Are you going to go get him? Is he hurt?" Ben asks, starting to get to his feet. Mal gestures at him to sit down.
"No, no he's not hurt. Yet." The last word she hisses into her phone and Ben hears Tyler crying on the other end of the line. "He's coming straight home." She hangs up without even a goodbye and shoves her chair back under the table with a screech and a thud.
"Is he in trouble?" Ben asks as she walks away.
"Big trouble," Mal affirms. "Hope you feel like playing the good parent tonight, because I'm about ready to barbecue a six-year-old snot."
Without another word, she snaps the door open and leaves. Ben stares at the closed door in something like shock. What could Tyler have done? Sure, he's energetic and hot-headed and he's fallen or gotten in an argument or two, but never bad enough that Mal had to leave to go get him. And he hasn't heard her get that angry at one of the kids in… ever.
Everyone's looking at him for answers, and so Ben takes a deep breath and forces a smile. "Sorry, Audrey," He apologizes to the miffed woman. "Family emergency. Please continue."
He glances at his phone for the rest of the meeting, hoping for some sort of update from his wife. No such thing comes through. The meeting finally lets out and then he walks everyone down to the front entryway, still checking his phone for any sort of correspondence.
As everyone is coming down the front stairwell, the door opens, and Tyler walks in, sobbing unashamedly and keeping his face turned towards the ground. Mal enters after him, madder than mad. Tyler reaches the staircase, looks up and sees his dad, and then collapses to the staircase crying. He buries his face into his knees and lets his backpack fall beside him as Mal starts to storm up the stairs. Some of the royals who don't quite care as much about drama in the head family start heading out the door, but others stop and stare at the purple-haired prince in concern.
Ben catches Mal's arm as she starts to head up to their apartment, so angry her face almost matches her hair. "What happened?" He demands, casting worried looks at the child on the steps.
"Oh, you'll never believe it!" Mal exclaims in a moment of flamboyant rage. She completely forgets about the other royals surrounding them as she whirls down to direct her statements down the stairs. "I can't believe such a horrible thing would happen in our family and especially that one of our kids did it. I'm never been so embarrassed and upset at one of them!" Down the step, Tyler only cries harder. He's hiccupping so much he sounds like he's about to cough up a lung. Mal has no sympathy as she turns back around. "He's going to tell you all about it because I can't stand to look at him right now!"
"I'm sorry!" Tyler whimpers from the bottom steps. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry,"
"No you're not," Mal hisses. "But you will be."
She turns and leaves without another word. Ben's left to gape open-mouthed as other royals start shuffling towards the door, some still trying to hang back and see the drama. He starts trying to lead people to the exit, walking around Tyler until everyone is finally gone and left. Then, he goes over to sit in front of Tyler and pull the details out of him. It's all in hiccups without looking at him once, but that doesn't make Ben feel any sorrier once he figures out what happened.
Hmm. Turns out Mal wasn't overreacting. She might have been underreacting.
He hasn't felt this much rage towards one of his children before.
"You better scram," He growls when Tyler's finished explaining everything to him. "Because I have never been this disappointed in you. I don't want to look at you either. You go straight up to your room and don't you dare come out until we come to get you."
Tyler sprints away immediately, crying in sadness and fear, and Ben only feels a few pangs in his chest before he has to get up, grab Tyler's backpack, and head up the stairs.
Up in the kitchenette, Mal is balancing the baby on one hip as she nurses a glass of ice water with the other. Ben hangs up Tyler's backpack and goes to stand against the bar as she takes a few deep breaths.
"How many kids?" Ben mutters in a harsh whisper.
"They're saying eight now," Mal replies. Her voice is much calmer now that her eyes are closed and she's balancing Belle and her water. "But it might be more. They're asking his old classmates and everyone in his grade right now."
"How'd they catch him?" Ben asks.
"One of the kids broke down when the teacher asked how they'd liked their treat," Mal says nonchalantly. "They think he's been threatening kids since before school let out last year."
"He doesn't know who told, right?" Ben asks. He doesn't want the poor kid under more stress.
"No, he does know. The teacher was talking to the whole class when it happened. That's how they found out it was so many kids all at once. Once one kid admitted it the rest broke down too. The teacher took the entire class straight to the office and they've been going through everyone and calling parents for the last two hours. They called us last when they knew how many kids were in his class that he'd threatened."
"Greedy little punk."
"What're we going to do?"
Ben has no idea what to do. Zach never even went to school, much less bullied his class into giving him stuff. And the stipulation… he hasn't been this mad in a very, very long time. "And he used us?" He asks, voice trembling with barely concealed fury.
"Some of them he did. He said we'd get them and their parents in trouble. Others he just used his magic to threaten them."
"And no one got hurt?"
"No, but everyone's pretty scared of him now," Mal sighs, shaking her head. "He's suspended all this week and next. Maybe I should pull him out and make him tutor at home?"
"I don't know," Ben shakes his head, taking a seat at the bar. "He's got to apologize to his whole class, though. And we've got to figure out a good punishment for him."
"I don't think we need to yell at him anymore," Mal sighs. "I traumatized him enough just walking into the building. He wet himself on the way out to the car. What did you do?"
"Told him I was disappointed and that I couldn't look at him and to go sit in his room." Ben runs a hand down his face. "It won't be as effective though. He's a momma's kid."
Mal nods with a hum and kisses Belle's forehead as their five-month-old sleeps against her chest. She's currently wearing Ben's looks right now, as she often does when she's asleep. She tends to take on Mal's hair and pallor when she's angry, hungry, excited, or when she's having a particularly colorful dream. "I wonder if we made him pay dividends out of his own pocket for the class?" She asked. "Aladdin and Jasmine had Aziz do that while he was growing up if they caught him stealing."
Ben tosses the idea back and forth and then nods in approval. "I like that idea, actually," He sighs. "Maybe we should pull him out until the winter semester and give him a tutor until then. Keep him under wing so he doesn't lash out at anyone until then."
Mal hums her approval and then flicks her eyes towards the door. "Should we go talk to him now, or give him more time to cool down?"
"I don't want to look at him right now," Ben growls and leans forward to put his head on the table. "Oh… that child… he's got such a sharp tongue."
"You're telling me," Mal muttered, taking a seat beside him.
"You know he gets it from you, right?" He turns to stare at Mal. "Him and Zach both. All their wit comes from you and your parents. They talk circles around me."
"That's flattering, Ben," Mal rolls her eyes. She sighs and leans her head on his shoulder, balancing the baby in her lap far enough away that Belle's not breathing the underside of the table. "I need a nap."
Ben laughs. "Only a nap? I need a full winter's hibernation."
"I need a grave," Mal responds dryly.
"Here lies Mal Betha's patience."
"And Ben Florian's wit."
"Ouch."
"…"
"Should we go talk to him now?"
"I thought you needed a hibernation?"
"Oh, believe me, wrestling with that kid is going to put me into a coma, easily."
Tyler does extra chores around the castle all the days he's home from school. Lumiere puts him to work mopping floors, scrubbing windows, polishing silverware, and vacuuming. In the evenings, he still has to do all the schoolwork he missed at the bar while Zach reads through his textbooks and writes in his new hardback leather journal that he got for his birthday. His composition notebook is full and in a prized position in his bookcase while the journal gets to take up the treasured place on his headboard with his old dictionary.
When Tyler has to go back to school, he's still a bit short of being able to afford what he and Ben and Mal agreed would be honorable compensation for the class – a bunch of goodies for them each with extra items for the kids he was heckling – but Ben and Mal aren't willing to be very merciful in this case. Tyler and Ben go through his room and clean out a bunch of things for Tyler to put up for sale on the internet. Ben and Mal go ahead and buy the supplies so he can spend his last Sunday evening at home making gifts for the rest of his classmates, but they make sure he knows he owes them now.
Tyler is sick of doing so much extra work and sick of having his parents so mad at him, so he wakes up early for school and gets ready without prompting and is excited to get out from under his parent's thumb.
At the school, Mal walks him inside with pinched lips and makes him stand by the teacher's desk while the rest of the class does their exercises. Mal can tell which kids were the most traumatized. They're the ones who refuse to stare at her as their little hands shake.
Tyler gives an apology to the entire class, refusing to lift his head more than a few inches and with his cheeks stained bright red. His voice shakes and is much quieter than usual. Occasionally, he glances at the back to make sure his mom isn't getting more mad at him. Mal watches the teacher's face. She looks pretty darn impressed as Tyler passes out his apology gifts after explaining briefly about them. Finally, Tyler is done and he does his best to not pout as he looks back at his mom.
Mal gets down on a knee so she doesn't have to stand over him. "I'm proud of you for doing that," she tells him, loud enough for everyone else to hear. "But if I ever hear about you doing something like this again, and especially if you're using Dad and me as a threat, then we're going to make sure the punishment is a lot worse than this."
"Class?" The teacher calls for attention as Mal gives Tyler a quick hug and pushes him to take a seat. "What should we say to Tyler?"
"Not Thank-you," Mal interrupts before anyone can say it. She gives Tyler a firm look. "He shouldn't have been a bully in the first place. So, don't make anyone say thank-you if they're still hurt by him."
"I'm gonna say thank you," someone mutters from the front and then turns around. "Thanks, Tyler."
Tyler just shakes his head and puts it down on the desk. "I'm sorry," He repeats and hides his face.
The teacher is impressed. "If everyone parented like you, we wouldn't have problems with bullies," she says.
The compliment helps. It does. But Mal doesn't let it show as she rests a hand on her son's neck and runs her fingers through his hair comfortingly. "I'm going to go now," she announces slowly, and he sits back up and twists around in his seat to hug her. In front of all his friends, too. Hmm. "Love you, Beastie."
"Love you too, Mom," He mumbles under his breath and then turns back to the class. The teacher starts the day as everyone fidgets with the things Tyler brought as an apology. Mal sneaks out the door silently.
Where do years go so quickly? Tyler seems to climb another grade every other day… and now suddenly Auradon Accelerated is asking Zach to specialize because he's completed all of the general education courses. He's already eligible for a degree in mathematics or biophysics and he's only eleven. Ben and Mal agree to let him go for his old favorite; Microbiology and Metaphysics.
Tyler ditches dance fully for theatre and focuses on acting and performing, just like Mal thought he would. He graduates from the children's theatre to a small-town acting organization. He's not a bad dancer still and not a bad singer either. It makes her proud because she can see some of her qualities in him when he's acting or helping to build backstage props. She has to pitch in a lot to help, and it's hard, but it's also really fulfilling with how much fun he has with it all.
Belle reaches four. She learns to dance practically right after she learns to walk and is singing in babbling tones before she can even talk. She's a big blanket lover, which is new because Zach enjoyed books and Tyler enjoyed action figures. Mal's never had to look after one blanket that gets dragged out of the house, through the mud and dirt, into the car, and around the palace. She has to time when it's washed just right, or Belle will notice it's gone and break down. So long as Ben is around to cuddle with her while the blanket is absent, then she's fine. She's a big daddy's girl. It makes Mal a little jealous because her last little baby is probably the least like her out of all of them. She loves being her dad's princess and wearing the heels that Mal hides in the back of her closet and stealing makeup and using markers as lipstick. If not for her purple hair, which she likes wearing all of the time except when she's cuddling with Ben, she'd be more like Evie's daughter than Mal's.
At the end of the year, before school lets out again for Tyler and Zach decides to stay on for the summer semester of college, he creeps into Mal's room with a little blush and asks if he can ask her something. She closes the door so they can sit on her bed and talk. Zach sits at the edge of the bed, twiddling his thumbs like Ben does when he's trying to find the right words for something and rocks back and forth with a blush. "Mom?" He finally asks. "How do you get girls to like you?"
Part of Mal's world stops. She tilts her head to consider the question. Not only who it's coming from, but how it's being presented. Her son is twelve. That's only four years younger than Ben was when he met her. She should probably start getting used to this idea now. "Well, Baby, it depends," She sighs, and Zach wrinkles up his nose at the nickname he still hates. Mal doesn't care. She'll use it when he's eighty if she's still around. She's his mother and that's a right she holds. "If it's someone specific, she might have something special that she likes you to do. If it's girls in general, then there are a few things you could try."
"Like how?" Zach asks, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. It occurs to Mal how big he's gotten. How tall is he? He's not taller than her yet, right?
Mal hums and tugs on her hair as she thinks. "Okay, listen, I'm going to tell you this, but you have to keep it a little secret, okay? I figured this out after I married your dad when I was watching all my friends and his friends get married. And it's a little sneaky, but it works almost every time." She exhaled and spread her hands out a little. "If you want a girl to like you, then you need to go and find out who her dad is and who her brothers are or if she has any close guy friends. Then, you go and become friends with them. The more you act like and hang out with people she already likes, the more she'll like you."
"But dad says you shouldn't act like something you're not," Zach frowns.
"And you shouldn't," Mal affirms. "But when you hang out with lots of friends of one type, what happens?"
Zach falls silent as he thinks. "You… start acting like them," he answers finally.
"Exactly," Mal nods. "So hang out with her friends, do things you all like together, and she'll notice you like that. The second thing is to talk to her, and that's where most people stop or go wrong. Because you don't want to come right out and confess love or anything. You want to wait so that you have a good friendship first. So ask her about her day and about things she likes to do and if she mentions she'll be doing something, ask her about it later. It's really impressive when you remember things about other people. Your dad remembered my entire schedule for me when we were dating, and that helped me a lot because I sometimes forgot. And now, he remembers everything I told him about the Isle, and that's good because he knows how to talk to me about it."
"That makes sense," Zach nods, looking very comforted. "I'm glad you give straightforward answers. Dad just said to be yourself and everything will work out."
"That's important after you start dating." Mal rolls her eyes. "Taking initiative is a little different." She elbows Zach a little. "So, is there someone special you like?" She teases.
Zach blushes. "No," He protests. "No, that's silly, mom." He falls quiet, still twisting his thumbs around. "Mom? Would you be mad if Tyler or Belle or I fell in love with someone who was the same gender? Like if I fell in love with a boy or if Belle fell in love with a girl?"
"I wouldn't be mad," Mal shakes her head. "You're my son and I love you and that's the way you feel."
"But you wouldn't want me to change?" Zach asks. "Because kids at school talk about their parents and their parents sound mean."
"Zach, baby," Mal exhales and tilts her head. "What happened to me on the Isle of the Lost?"
Zach's shoulders hunch over and his eyes go wide as he gulps. "Lots of bad things," he says.
"And why don't we talk about it?" Mal asks.
"Because it hurts you."
"But it was a long time ago. Shouldn't I get over it? Shouldn't I change?"
Zach stays silent for a long, long time. Then he finally manages to shake his head. "No. It's just the way you feel."
"Exactly," Mal agrees in a hushed tone. "It wouldn't be right to tell me not to feel the way I feel. You can't argue with feelings."
Zach nods amicably at this description as if it makes a lot of sense to him. "I think Grandpa Adam might be mad," he tells her.
"Well, I think Grandpa Adam doesn't get a say in what happens in our family," Mal replies. Zach starts laughing. She smiles and leans forward on the bed to focus on Zach. "You should know one thing though," she cautions. "Because you're going to be king one day, you're going to have to decide where the kingdom will go. So if you have a son or daughter, it'll go to them. Or you might have to appoint someone else to the stead." She shrugs as if it doesn't matter that much, even though it's a pretty heavy decision. "So keep that in mind."
"I don't think I like boys very much," Zach admits with a deeper blush. "But I know lots of pretty girls. It's kinda hard to find out who's pretty and mean versus who's pretty and nice."
"That is hard," Mal agrees. "I knew lots of mean boys growing up, so when I met your dad I didn't believe he could be as good as everyone said he was."
"Dad told me that I should look out for girls like you," Zach says, puffing out his chest a little. "Because I said I wanted to love someone like Dad loves you, and so he said to find someone like you."
"Like me?" Mal laughs, putting a hand over her mouth. "That's a very mature thought, though."
"I haven't found anyone yet," Zach shakes his head and squints at the ground. "But I know lots of funny and strong girls my age, so maybe I'll talk to them first."
Mal's touched. She feels a blush rising into her cheeks as Zach stares off into the distance. "That's very sweet, honey," She whispers.
"Honey is not better than Baby, mom."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
Zach sighs irritably and hops off her bed. "Thanks, mom. That helped me a lot." He wraps his arms around her waist. Mal hugs him back, then stands up. A quick glance reveals he's now up to her mouth. Pretty soon, he'll have to lean down so she can kiss his head. A few stubborn tears fill her eyes.
"Anytime," she whispers. Zach steals one last hug and then leaves without looking back.
Tyler brings home his sixth-grade field trip permission form for both of them to sign and looks a little tense as he slides it onto the counter. "Mom, Dad?" He asks. "Our class is going to be going to the Memorial for the Isle of the Lost next week. We're going to be walking around some places on the old Isle with a tour guide. There's an alternative video, but I want to go! All my friends are going and I know it's not your favorite place but there is going to be a quiz on it and it's part of the curriculum so pleasepleasecanIgoplease?"
Ben pauses in reading his paperwork and watches his son dance back and forth anxiously with his fingers crossed for luck as he awaits their response. He's forgotten how he'd instituted Isle culture as part of Sixth Grade Curriculum. He glances over at Mal. Her expression is blank. She doesn't quite seem to have an opinion as she turns the page over and examines the details of the trip. "Bargain Castle," She whispers as she reads. "That's where I grew up."
Ben reaches across the table for her hand, but she gives him the paper instead before turning to pull out some chocolate pudding for Belle. Tyler explodes a little in his excitement. "You could come to be an advisor!" He exclaims. "You could go on the trip with us and-"
"No, Tyler," Mal shakes her head. "I don't want to go there." She flips on the radio in the kitchen and turns on the Hot 100 station. Belle starts bopping her head to the beat along with Ben as he reads. It makes her laugh to see them doing the same motion without realizing it. "I have no problems with it if you want to go, though."
Tyler deflates a little but looks over at Ben with hopeful eyes. Ben holds out a hand. "Pen?" He asks, and Tyler quickly dashes to grab him one
They don't say much else on the Isle of the Lost.
Zach is fourteen when he graduates with his first official degree in Metaphysics. It's a very long, hot, hard day. Belle sunburns since she's wearing Mal's skin when they go out. She likes the attention that the colorful hair garners, and she's pretty enough to keep people's attention after they notice her. It makes Ben antsy. He doesn't like older boys taking glances at his little seven-year-old.
Zach is the shortest person on stage, but everyone regards him as someone cool that they like. He's an inspiration to be graduating with something that advanced in such a short amount of time. Also, his parents are the King and Queen, and he's two years off of becoming King, so there's a certain level of respect that has to be garnered.
Zach stumbles off the stage at the end of it all and rushes over to them for photos. "Look!" He exclaims, smiling broadly as he waves his diploma. "Look! I did it!"
He stops in the sunlight so Mal can take a few photos of him, and then he jumps to her side. "I want a photo with you!" He exclaims. "You and Dad. Hey! Tyler! Can you take our photo?"
It is a very weird feeling to be standing beside her graduated son while her other son takes a bunch of photos. It is even weirder when she looks over and Zach and realizes she's now looking up at him. He's officially passed her.
Belle first asks about the Isle of the Lost when she's nine and both Zach and Tyler hush her before Mal can even start to formulate a response. Their reactions are so perfectly timed and so right-off-the-bat that it takes her even longer to figure out what to say. "I don't talk about it much, do I?" She asks aloud. Zach and Tyler both shrug noncommittally and turn away.
Evie and Jay talk about their experiences on TV and in interviews and every year on the anniversary of the barrier falling. Carlos will talk about it with anyone who asks. But not Mal. She's never been too comfortable sharing her experiences with others.
"Would you like to go with me sometime?" She asks her children.
The boys look shocked at the offer, but Belle perks up. "Sure!" She agrees, ever eager to go somewhere with her mom.
"We'll have to go before Zach is crowned," Mal decides. They don't have a lot of time. Already, Zach is being booked with suit sizings and cake testings. Ben's been pulling him into the office more and more to show him how things work and the cathedral is already booked for coronation day.
A week later, Mal returns to the Isle for the first time in a long time. She drives them in herself. Ben stays behind in Auradon. He's never quite liked the Isle. But he promises to have dinner ready for them when they get back and asks them to call when they make it across the bridge.
"I remember this place!" Tyler announces from the backseat as they start to cross into the older parts of town that will never be renovated because they are a memorial to the horrible conditions people lived in.
Belle wrinkles her nose up. "People lived here?" She demands.
Mal stops the car outside a crumbling lot and lets the kids get out and wander. Only Tyler has been here before, though Belle will probably come with her sixth-grade class when the time comes.
"Do you see that big stone building?" Mal asks, pointing to a high-rise home.
Belle wrinkles her nose even further. "It looks like it's about to fall over."
"That's where I grew up," Mal reveals. All three kids fall silent. Mal offers her arm to Zach and then begins to lead them in. Mal shows her pass to the security guard as they step in, proving who she is and what this place means to her. They let them all pass without much comment.
The door to Bargain Castle swings on two rusty hinges. Rust and dust float to the ground as the door slides open. Belle coughs and Zach wraps an arm around her small frame. She and Tyler light their eyes up in an effort to see more, but Belle and Zach simply wait for the dust to settle. "When I came home from school," Mal begins, entering her old home and opening a window to let the daylight in, "I always took my stuff up to my room because my mom had friends who would steal my stuff and sell it if I didn't keep track of it."
The room is probably as big as their living room, but much taller because part of the second floor caved in and added some jagged height to the room. The wallpaper is peeling off worse than it was when Mal lived here and some things are knocked over, but it's overall the same. Rusty kitchen utensils hang along the wall beside a hazardous stove. Mal peels off her jacket to reveal a tank top, which she wore today on purpose. Tyler's face goes red as he watches her turn and put it down on a chair and she knows he's reminiscing when he drew all over himself because he wanted her 'battle marks'. He has scars now – the three marks Zach gave him in their fight years ago, a few things from getting hurt on set or being too reckless. And now that he kinda has an idea of how hard something has to hurt to leave a permanent mark, he doesn't talk about any of Mal's stark white shapes on her back.
Mal turns the underside of her arm over as Zach peers cautiously at the fridge magnets, which have been arranged to say 'Wicked' and "Evil'. "My mother was delusional," She calls, fighting to keep her voice from clamping up as she tries to explain these hard, hard things to her children. "She was sure that that was a safe and decided she didn't know how to open it. She used to go over and throw herself at it until someone helped her."
The scene she describes is almost comical, but no one laughs. Mal holds up her elbow and shows them an odd mark hidden behind her elbow, right on her tricep. "You had to be the right person to help her though. She usually wanted the Evil Queen or Cruella to help her when they were over. I tried once and she was so furious that she held my arm to that stove as punishment."
Zach jumps away from the stove like it's alive or dangerous. Belle spins away from Mal so she doesn't have to look her mom in the eyes. She goes and curls up in her oldest brother's side and they draw comfort from each other as Mal fingers the odd patch on her skin. She glances at the creaking, crumbling steps that lead to the second floor. "Let's go upstairs," she decides, turning to head towards the steps.
"I don't want to go up there!" Zach yelps, peering at the gaping hole in fear.
"It's safe," Mal assures him. "They lead tours through here, remember Tyler?"
Tyler's face is white. It's looking like he does remember, but he didn't exactly get this rundown the first time he was here and he doesn't want to be getting it now.
"That's not what I meant," Zach trails off. His face is pasty white as his gaze flickers between his mom, the stove which will probably haunt his dreams, and the upstairs.
Mal starts up the stairs, and slowly all three kids follow.
Up here, it is cleaner than it was when she lived here. She used to have to navigate piles of metal, bricks, and glass in the dark. And all the doors are open so people can peer in as they walk through. Mal lets the kids examine the bathroom briefly before pointing to the door closest to the stairs on the left side. "This is my old room."
One by one, the kids peer inside. She can see them drawing up visions of their comfortable rooms at home and comparing them. Her old room is much, much bigger than any room in their little apartment. A very large and cushy bed fills most of the space, which would look inviting if not for the broken, rotting posts, the moldy grey and green sheets, the rips and tears visible along the entire thing, and the odd depressions scattered along in the mattress. On one side of the room is a wall of shelves. Plastic and metal and wooden shelves that she built out of old boards and rusted nails or little plastic sliding drawer compartments that she screwed to the wall to discourage her mother from stealing them. Large gouges of sheetrock have been punched out of the wall – literally in some cases. Mal points to the back of the room where the paint has been stripped away in most places and the wall is full of holes like a honeycomb. Old blood streaks the walls. "That was my area," she says and even now, thirty years later, can't keep the hints of pride out of her voice. "I practiced hitting there. You can't tell from here, but I once punched a hole through the sheetrock and out through a board that was serving as the exterior wall. I was so proud – even though my room was cold after that."
"It's so… dark in here…" Belle whispers, leaning into the room and peering from side to side. A velvet rope across the door forbids them from going any further.
"We didn't have lights," Mal nods in agreement. She sets a hand on Zach's shoulder and he almost jumps through the roof. "I think Dad told you something about my mom when you were younger? About how she used to take money and information?"
"She sold you," Zach confirms flatly, face going a bit green as he avoids her eyes. He's older now, and he mostly knows what that statement means though he avoids thinking about it. Tyler jolts in shock to hear it.
Mal nods to the bed, with its flamboyant oversized-ness and odd depressions near the middle and the edges. Her shakes shake against her sides. "That often happened here," she tells them and then turns away.
Maybe she can't see their reactions, but she can hear Tyler and Zach breathing carefully like they've been punched as they gape a few seconds longer at the room. Part of Mal wants to dig a little deeper. She's never really felt brave enough to tell them about all of this and doubts she'll ever be able to again. She wants to describe the horror she felt every individual time and the struggle it was and how her mother would bang on her door and shout to not make so much noise if she happened to cry.
But part of the boys are still young and innocent to her past. And the bigger part of Mal wishes they'd always stay like that.
"This is Grandma Maleficent's room," Mal announces when the three finally stop comparing their lives with her old one and wander down closer to her. Maleficent's room is by far the filthiest, with piles of black fabric and heaps of charcoal and half-drawn blueprints of the Isle of the Lost strewn about. They can't see her bed from this angle; only the trash and a few random stools and a large foreboding statue are visible from the door. "I wasn't allowed in this room."
Not much is left to be said.
The last room is one that Mal doesn't introduce. She leans against the doorframe as the kids look inside. Tyler knows what it is but doesn't announce it. Zach catches on quicker than Belle does. When he realizes, he stumbles back down the hall, shaking his head. "No, mom," he moans, covering his ears with his hands. "No more stories, please?"
"You can go back downstairs if you want," Mal says softly. However, Zach doesn't. He just hovers where he can't see the inside of the room.
Inside, the room is almost entirely made of stone except for one patch of wood underneath four hanging chains. On the wall hangs a variety of scary-looking tools ranging from knives to screwdrivers to handsaws and forks. Everything is twisted and rusted over with age. A few things probably still have blood on them, though none of the kids will know that in the dim light. They can, however, see the state of the wood on the floor. She doesn't say anything as they take in the depressions made from dripping liquid over a long time and the thick brown stains on the floor.
"This is where I would stay if my mother was mad at me," Mal says simply. She has to keep it simple, otherwise, her brain will remember everything and try and block out the bad memories. "If I did something wrong or if I couldn't finish something she told me to do or if she was in a bad mood, then I'd stay here instead of in my room."
"And she'd chain you up?" Belle asks softly.
Mal nods. A dull ringing is filling her ears. "Do you see all the things on the wall?" She asks.
Tyler and Belle nod. Zach covers his ears down the hall.
"My mother's favorite was the fork," Mal reveals.
There are several long moments of silence. Then, Tyler manages to croak out: "Did she just… rake you with it?"
Mal shakes her head. "No. See, it was harder if I had the energy to struggle, so she'd string me up by my wrists and shoulders for a few days until I was hungry and too tired to move as much. Then she'd use the knives to make the cuts before sticking the fork in and twisting it. That's why I have so many ugly marks on my back. She also liked to separate my skin using the screwdriver."
She turns away then and walks back to the stairs because the ringing in her ears is getting louder and she feels dizzy. It's been thirty years, but she can still feel her mother's maniacal laugh as she pulls skin straight off of muscle by running that thing between the two layers.
"How are you alive?" Belle asks in a shaky voice as they wander down the stairs again.
Mal shrugs. "I guess I was too stubborn to die," She decides. "Or maybe I just got used to it."
"But Grandma did try, right?" Zach croaks out as he stumbles back onto the ground level.
Mal nods. She should have figured this would come up. "Every so often," She confirms. "I usually just left home and went to stay with friends until she forgot about it."
None of them feel like wandering anymore, so they all sit out in the sunshine on the hood of the car while Mal pokes around at her past, telling stories about Evie and Jay and Carlos and the chaos they'd cause or what school was like over here. She works her way from the beginning slowly, skipping over the worst or the longest stories because it's not what she can handle. She ends with her version of the one they know the best.
"My mother's goons moved behind my friends. She told us we'd been invited to go to a different school in Auradon. This was about an hour before the limo picked us up. We packed up and our parents gave us a mission to steal the wand. A long, sleek black car pulled up right here. All the other kid's parents came down to see the car but my mother stood up there so she could watch me get in. One of her fingernails was green." She drums her fingers on the car's hood and then glances over to see her children staring at the sky while they listen intently to her. "And then I went to Auradon that day."
"And met dad," Zach huffs, watching the clouds roll on by.
"And met dad," Mal affirms.
Belle curled up. "I want to go home," She moans, closing her eyes. Her hair shifts color from purple to blonde and her skin tans over. "I want to go see dad."
Mal snorts and sits up. "Me too," she whispers. "Let's go."
The drive home is mostly silence, though they stop and get ice cream through a drive-through on their way home. "This is where we told Zach and Tyler that we were going to have you, Belle," Mal calls to her youngest as she passes towering ice cream cones around.
"I'm still mad you're not a boy," Tyler grumbles, sinking into his chair.
They stumble through the door; an array of kicking shoes off and dropping coats and balancing ice cream as they come. Ben watches, amused. It's been the same show every day of their lives. Zach hugs him first, burrowing his face into his shoulder before stumbling off to the hall to go down to his room. Tyler is next, giving Ben a quick hug before sitting down at the bar to finish his ice cream. Belle burrows into Ben's side and nuzzles against his chest for several long seconds before her hair starts to pick up purple streaks again. "I don't like the Isle of the Lost," She whispers in his ear.
"Me neither," Ben mumbles, running his fingertips up and down her back with a glance to Mal. "Are you gonna go sit in your room for a little bit?"
Belle nods and withdraws from him. "I might try to write a song again," She sighs and disappears. She's taking piano now, and so a keyboard is set up in her room for when she doesn't feel like going down to the palace sitting room to use the baby grand piano. Mal sets her ice cream down on the counter and pulls out two spoons to share with him. Tyler takes chocolate syrup out of the fridge, coats his ice cream, and leaves for his room. They wait until piano tones are floating down the hall and Tyler's door has closed before Mal sits beside Ben and leans her head against his shoulder. He wraps an arm around her without a word.
"I did it," She whispers against his shirt.
He hums, a deep rumble in his chest that almost immediately lulls Mal to sleep.
"It wasn't so hard to talk once I got there."
He rubs his fingertips up and down her back.
"Do you think I've raised them right?"
This is the first thing he responds to after he hoists her off her chair and into his embrace fully. "Well," he sighs against her ear, tickling her hair against her lobe, "Considering we're putting a fully-fledged genius on the throne in two weeks and he's set to gain a degree in both psychology and political sciences next year, I don't think there's any way you could be considered a bad mother. Not to mention Tyler's a talented enough actor to be looking into television roles and Belle's set to perform the national anthem at Zach coronation."
"Even though I just dragged them through the worst place in Auradon and traumatized them?"
"Traumatized? Hardly. Zach's been asking things since he was six. And he needs to know what's out there. They all do. It's good you finally told them."
"Are you sure?"
He kisses her hair and squeezes her tightly until she can't feel her mother's thirty-year-old hands on her skin and all she can feel is him hugging her. "Positive."
It's today. Today is it.
Mal puts her crown on for probably the last time before it goes to the museum to wait for Zach to find a bride. Her hair is already done. Her dress is a slightly different version of the one she wore to Ben's coronation over twenty years ago. In the bathroom, Ben is dabbing on cologne and messing with his hair. He stops when he sees her and pulls her towards the mirror. It's somewhat a tradition for Ben to do her makeup for all these fancy royal events and has been ever since she and Evie stopped living together. He brushes powder over her eyelids and cups her face as he finishes her eyeliner and mascara. She still blushes when he picks up a tube of lipstick and drags his fingers along the underside of her jaw before sliding an even coat over her mouth. More than twenty years and it's still a sensual act. He smirks as he does her bottom lip, pausing to let his gaze flick to hers. She squirms a little and he laughs.
"Care to kiss this all off of me?" She asks with a sigh.
"Not right now," he rolls his eyes as he slides a hand around her back and pulls her flush against his side. "Are you ready now?"
She examines their reflections. He's wearing a very similar suit to the one he was coronated in as well. She tries to remember what they both looked like when he was first crowned and compares them now. Her hair is less vibrant. She's getting older now, and the purple doesn't grow in as strong. There are smile lines around her mouth. Her hips are wider and her skin is much, much softer. Both age and not fighting as much have softened her. Ben is taller. He finished his growth spurt after sixteen. He has muscles in his jaw that he didn't have before from clenching it during meetings. They both have this light in their eyes that must have sunk in at some point during their marriage and subsequent raising of three children. It's something reflected in both their irises that tells the world they love each other and they love what they've chosen to do and they love each of their children on top of all of that.
"Where's Zach?" Ben finally asks, leaning his head on hers.
"I think in his room," Mal parts from his side. "I'll go get him."
She wanders back through their home and past the living room to go find Zach's bedroom. His door is open, and she's not all that surprised to find him sitting on his bed and reading through his very old, well-loved dictionary.
He looks up when she enters and smiles. "Hi mom," he whispers. Mal smiles like it's the first time he ever said that word to her and sits down beside him for a hug. He towers over her, just a little bit shorter than Ben is now, and Mal mourns the days he could fit in both of her hands.
"Hi baby," she whispers against his shoulder. He chuckles at the old, still annoying nickname. On days like today, when they're alone, it's not as annoying. Only endearing. "You ready for today?"
"I guess," Zach sighs and leans back against the wall. "I'm just kinda… taking it all in."
He looks like her. No one can deny it. Her face is hidden underneath all of that hair he inherited from Ben. He's her son and he has her mouth and eyes and nose and everything. It somehow seems masculine even though she knows she has a very feminine face.
He exhales as he looks around the room. Mal sees his gaze land on the bookshelf that they built together, her him and Ben. His eyes drift to his diploma, framed on the wall, and to the pictures of their family and his friends and girls he thinks are pretty taped up behind his desk. They skim all the journals he's gone through over the years and his mouth twists into a chuckle at the one lone composition notebook. He reaches for the guitar leaning against his headboard and strums the chords softly, looking for something to fill the room.
"I didn't feel like I was growing up that fast, but now I'm confused at what happened to all the time," he exhales and glances over at her. He blinks in surprise for a few moments as if he doesn't recognize her. Mal touches her hair self-consciously.
"It goes by fast," she nods. "Of course, you went a bit faster than Belle and Tyler, but they're still growing fast too."
Zach's mouth turns into a little smile that she's seen all too many times in the mirror and captured by nosy cameramen. "Thank you," he whispers and puts her hand on top of his. "For everything. I mean, Dad helped a lot, but you were always my favorite parent."
Mal almost jumps back in shock. "Really?" She gasps and wipes hurriedly at the tears filling her eyes. "Why? I thought that Ben… Dad would have been your favorite. I mean, he's so smart and patient…"
Zach shakes his head and reaches on his headboard for something hidden behind his pillows. He pulls out an origami action figure. A beast. On his blue coat is written the year Zach received him, at age seven. "Well, Dad did know a lot, and I couldn't always talk about what I was learning to you, but you were there for the real stuff. You drove me to school and you made us snacks and you skipped meetings when we were sick…and when I was little I remember that even if Dad was the one tucking me in, you'd still come in and kiss my forehead." He gives her this sheepish, shy smile that isn't quite hers, but she could still imagine herself doing it. "I always pretended I was asleep."
He puts the action figure back down in its protected spot and keeps talking. "You carried us inside when we pretended to be asleep in the car and let us fall asleep on you during movies. You made me do things I hated because you knew it'd teach me patience and hard work and you fixed things when I didn't do them quite right… Mom, I love you. You were the one person I knew would love me and keep me safe no matter what."
Mal feels a bit embarrassed to be crying as hard as she is over this. She wipes furiously at her eyes, knowing she'll have to get Ben to redo all her makeup. "Don't you think I'm an idiot?" She asks, hiccupping. "I'm never going to be as smart as you are."
"What? No! I could never think you were an idiot! To be honest when I was a preteen I just assumed you knew everything because you always had the answers I needed when I went to ask you stuff and you always knew how to say things so that it helped."
"But I don't know about cells and DNA and the spiral things!"
"Who cares? You knew about how to get girls to like me and how to keep me safe and I'm pretty sure that if I had needed to hide a body, you would have known how to help with that too. I mean, Mom, we didn't need security around if you were going with us because the guards knew you'd keep us safe! Do you know how annoying it was to have to take two guards for every person when Dad took us somewhere without you? Of course not! You didn't need them. We knew you'd protect us."
Mal waves her hands at her eyes frantically. "You really think I'm a good mom?" she gasps, trying to stay her tears. "Because I've seriously been thinking all these years that you were going to grow up and accept the fact I know nothing about math and science and just cease to talk to me."
"Mom, I would never do that!" Zach wraps his arms around her and buries his face in her shoulder. "You're the most important person in my life. When I grow up, I want to find someone just like you."
Mal sobs unashamedly, kissing Zach's head and drawing little patterns on his back until her tears calm down. When all is silent again, she hears Zach take a breath and whisper: "It sucks that I'm too tall for hugs like these." He ducks out from under her arm and instead picks her up so he can hug her to his chest, almost exactly like his dad does when she needs extra comfort. She kisses his cheek and hugs him around his neck for several minutes before there's a knock at the door and they both look over to see Ben standing and waiting for them.
Ben rolls his eyes. "You've ruined your makeup," he reprimands softly.
Mal hiccups and wipes her eyes. "I bet," she mumbles.
"The carriage is ready to take you down to the cathedral, Zach," Ben calls. "We'll be taking the fast way in the family car."
"Okay," Zach sighs and sets Mal back down on the bed. He gives her one last hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Mom," he says.
"I love you too, Zach," Mal replies, wiping tears off of her cheeks.
Zach shakes his dad's hand and they exchange hugs and 'I love you's before Zach leaves the room and Ben helps Mal stand back up.
She looks around the room one last time. She remembers bringing him home to this room. Remembers taking down the crib. Remembers guiding him through his first books. There's the guitar in the corner she made him play and the sheets she picked out for him. There's the bookcase she put up and the journals she made him write. This room is his but the fingerprints of all her hard work are all over it.
Ben fixes her makeup and then Belle's. Mal helps Tyler with his tie and his wild hair. They get in the car and head over to the cathedral together, arriving twenty minutes before Zach will. The car feels empty without her oldest reading in the back or passenger seat. His girlfriend is in the carriage with him – they picked her up on the way. Live TV is rolling, cell phones are out as her son comes down the road. He helps her out, they come up to the doors where Ben and Mal wait, and Mal can't help but think everything about this day is perfect.
Nothing about it is easy, but everything is perfect.
And when she watches Ben's old crown go down on Zach's head, she wouldn't have her life go any other way.