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Ben and Mal play an interview game testing their marriage.
"How long have you been married?"
Mal balked at the question, even though she knew it was being asked for historical reasons. Ben jumped to her rescue. "One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-ninety-nine days," he announced. "Five years, two months and thirteen days."
"And tomorrow it'll be five years, two months and fourteen days," Mal thought. " One-thousand-nine-hundred."
"Wow," the interviewer responded over a speaker. The cameras were rolling and focused on them, but the interviewers were off-screen, standing behind the camera line and microphoned. "That's impressive. Well, we're going to be playing a few games here today in our interview, testing your marriage just a little bit."
Mal knew this. Ben knew it too. The waivers and releases were all signed and filed in the back room. This was only being said for the viewers.
"You each have a team of people who know you very well. Can you introduce them?"
Ben and Mal turned around. There were two groups, one of boys and one of girls, standing behind them. "This is Adam, my dad, along with Doug, Jay, Carlos, and Mal's dad Hades. Over there is Evie, Jane, Lonnie, my old girlfriend Audrey, and my mom," Ben explained, pointing to each person in turn. "These are the people closest to us. They're here to challenge and assist us.
Everyone nodded. Mal squeezed Ben's hand. She was so nervous. Why was she so nervous?
"So the goal today is to prove you know each other the best. For the first round, it's going to be pretty simple. Each of you will pick one person from the other person's team who you think knows you the best. They'll be competing in a short trivia game about you and your spouse."
Ben nodded and turned around. Mal followed him a moment later. "It's between Audrey and my mom," Ben hummed.
"The trivia is relationship-based, not person-focused," the announcer reminded Ben.
"Fair point," Ben nodded. "Audrey." The blonde-haired girl stepped forward with a nod.
Mal skimmed over her husband's team. She and Hades were closer now than when she'd married, but he probably didn't know enough to hold his ground against Ben. "Jay," she decided.
"Who wants to go first?" The announcer asked.
Ben looked at her and Mal swallowed. "I will," She volunteered.
"Ben and Jay are up," the announcer declared. "Now, Mal, we're going to put you in the hotspot here. Then we're going to ask five questions. The boys get the chance to answer on paper and then we will see who does know more. If Ben knows more, you earn points. If Jay knows more, you lose points." A stagehand in black directed Mal to sit in a wooden chair in the front and center of the room. A red circle was painted around it. She nodded and rubbed her hands on her knees as she took a seat. With luck, no one outside of Ben and the VK's would see her nervousness. Ben walked to one side of Mal, about five yards away, and then Jay took up the opposite side. Both men were handed a clipboard with paper and a pencil. "Here are the questions," the announcer called as the cameras panned into her face. "One, what is Mal's full name? Two, name the person outside of the both of you two who Mal is closest to. Three, where does Mal see herself in ten years? Four, name Mal's biggest regret. Five, name the thing that makes Mal feel appreciated."
Mal took a deep breath and pretended not to notice the boys scribbling. She, having approved her own questions, had been confident in them before they'd been asked. Now... what if Ben didn't know them?
"Gentlemen, ready?" The announcer asked. Both Ben and Jay nodded. "Okay, gentlemen, what is Mal's full name?"
Ben gestured at Jay to go first. Jay straightened his paper. "Maleficent Stephens," he announced. Mal wrinkled her nose.
On her other side, Ben pinched his lips together. "She has a middle name," he called.
"She does?" Jay blinked. "Welp, I'm screwed."
Everyone laughed. Behind the three, Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ben, what did you have?" the announcer called.
"You kidding?" Ben snorted. "I know better than to say that to a camera." He walked over and showed Mal the top of his paper. She scowled to see the ugly name scrawled across the top, then nodded.
"That's it," she agreed.
"Okay," The announcer confirmed with laughter in his tone. "Now, who is she closest to, outside of the both of you?"
"Evie," Jay responded immediately.
"I actually said Hades," Ben replied. He'd retaken his spot apart from Mal. "She's been hanging out with him more and more now the last few years."
Mal flushed. 'Actually, I would say Evie too," she admitted.
A loud penalty buzzer sounded. Ben groaned. "It's okay!" Lonnie called. "You're the only one who actually matters - everyone else shares her spare time."
Ben shrugged. "Oh well." he smiled at her, but Mal's heart was thudding. He hadn't known? Why not? She supposed that yes, she'd been spending more time with Hades, but Evie had always been her confidant and her supporter... second only to Ben.
"Where does Mal see herself in ten years?"
"Married," Jay replied in a dry tone. "And old. Maybe with a kid or two." Mal turned bright pink.
"I also put 'still married to me'," Ben agreed. "But we aren't really a couple to plan ahead. Children aren't on her radar, or mine. We don't know what we'll be doing. We just know that we want to be together."
Mal pointed to Ben and nodded. "That's right," she affirmed.
"Name Mal's biggest regret."
"Taking the wand at Ben's coronation."
"Closing the barrier after we were engaged."
"Those are both really good ones," Mal chewed on her lip. "The one I was thinking of was the thing with the Isle." Ben pumped a fist and Mal found herself smiling. They were on the same page. It was all okay.
"Name the one thing that always makes her feel appreciated."
Jay exhaled. "I just put when people follow her plans."
Across the room, Ben shook his head. "When someone tells her that they're proud of her and she can see the effects of her work." By now, Mal was blushing so hard that she had to cover her face with her hands. Still, she nodded. The teams cheered and Mal took a moment to glance behind the camera lines, where the point counters read four to one. Ben had won - even if he'd lost the second point. Now, it was her turn.
Mal's hands shook as she took Ben's place. He squeezed her arm as he walked to the hotspot chair. "Loosen up," he whispered. "We've got this." Across the room, Audrey replaced Jay.
Mal couldn't hear the announcer but still laughed a little when Ben's questions appeared on an off-camera screen in front of her. Despite the fact there'd been many optional questions about politics and families and work, she and Ben had picked similar questions based on similar subjects. Now, in front of her, were: "What is Ben's full name? Where does Ben see himself in ten years? If Ben was locked away who, besides the two of you, would he count on to release him? What is one thing in a relationship Ben requires? If Ben is feeling sad, what makes him feel better?"
"You're going down, Mal," Audrey teased from across Ben. Mal let out a dry laugh. She scribbled down her answers on a piece of paper and then glanced over to her rival and friend.
"What do you have for Ben's full name, Mal?" The interviewer asked.
Mal glanced over at Ben. His middle name was open record, but not formally used. Still, she waited for his little nod before clearing her throat. "Benjamin Florian Stephans."
Audrey looked up across the room in surprise. "Oh, I did King Benjamin Stephans," she admitted. "I didn't know he had a middle name. But don't you have to have his title?"
"I don't think so." Mal shook her head. "Right, Ben?"
Both girls turned to stare at Ben. A look of severe anxiety passed over his face. "Um, I don't know," he admitted. "I know that you don't, Mal, because you're the consort, but I'm, uh, official. If my title's not used, it's not considered legitimate..." He leaned back in his chair to face the rest of his team. "Dad?" He called.
"You need the title," Adam affirmed. "It's considered part of your legal name. They're both wrong."
"No points!" The announcer declared. Mal's heart dropped into her stomach. No points? She didn't even know Ben's name?
"Where does Ben see himself in ten years?"
"Married," Mal blurted out immediately. "He'd like to have children at some point but, as he said before, there's no schedule. He's still going to be king and he's hoping to be passing laws making it easier for humanoids to live in society."
"Oh, that's not in ten years," Ben shook his head. "I want to have that done by next year, or the year after if everything goes wrong and takes forever."
"I put happily married to Mal, maybe a father, and he mentioned two weeks ago that it'd be nice to not have to live in the palace, so I put that as well," Audrey announced. Ben hesitated, then nodded.
"Audrey is right. But Mal wasn't too far off the mark."
"Oof, Mal!" Carlos called. "What's up?" Meanwhile, Mal's hands were shaking. She'd been so sure... and she'd known all of that too! Her little exaggeration had cost her that question when she knew it.
"If Ben was locked away, then-"
"My friends," Mal interrupted. "Evie, Jay, and Carlos."
"I specified Jay and Carlos," Audrey agreed.
Ben frowned. "Geesh, I put my mom. I was thinking legally incarcerated, not being held as ransom or anything."
"No points," the announcer affirmed. "What's one thing Ben requires in a relationship?"
Mal had to compose herself before answering. Number four and she hadn't gotten a single point. Hades had raised his eyebrow and everyone else was exchanging glances. "Ben likes to be touched and held," she began. "He grew up with hugs and kisses and that's what he associates with relationships."
Across the room, Audrey blinked. "I put conversation," she admitted.
"Mal's right," Ben smiled over at her. "And you can calm down. We're not going to divorce just because you forgot the title that we both never use." scattered laughter echoed around the room from the camerahelps and their friends. Mal clutched her paper.
"What helps when Ben is sad?"
"Beef ragu," Audrey chirped from across the room, folding her paper in half. "It's his favorite comfort food."
"Weighted blankets and cuddles," Mal shook her head. "Right, Ben?"
"I feel like I'm being fought over," Ben complained. The interviewer had to cover the microphone to laugh. "And you're both right! My full response when I submitted the questions was eating beef ragu on the couch with a blanket and a movie and my wife."
"Well then, you're tied," The announcer declared. "Two for two, making for a total of Bal six and friends three."
Two? Ben had gotten four over Jay's one! Mal clenched her teeth together.
"Who wants to go first on round two?" the announcer asked.
"I'm already sitting," Ben volunteered, "Isn't this the one with the blindfold?"
"It is," The interviewer affirmed as one of the stagehands took a blindfold from where it had been set on a nearby chair and held it up. It was a nasty color of teal that made Evie and Audrey both flinch. "Could the boys come off-screen, please? Ladies, if you could all please remove rings and bracelets? This game is to see if Ben can find Mal based on her hand. For every incorrect guess, the other team will have a point added. For every person Ben correctly rules out, he and Mal score a point."
Mal watched the stagehand bind the blindfold around Ben's eyes. "Oh, this is gonna be fun," Evie smirked, pulling her wedding band off and handing it to Doug as he walked away. Belle, Jane, and Lonnie all quickly removed their rings as well while Audrey unclipped several jangly bracelets. Mal took off her ring with a deep breath and took it over to Ben. He smiled and tucked it into his breast pocket. Horrible visions of Ben refusing to give it back filled her head. "It'll be okay," Ben whispered.
Why had she agreed to do this? Why was this considered fun?
Now that Ben was blindfolded, he couldn't send her the reassuring looks she'd been relying so heavily on. Evie gave her a quick shoulder squeeze, but Mal brushed her off because the cameras ere directed at the girls as they gathered into a group. "Okay, ladies, hold up your hands!" Evie commanded in a whisper. Everyone did and began quickly comparing sizes, lengths, and noticeable differences. Jane and Audrey had the smallest hands with Mal and Belle lose behind. Mal's were longer and harder than Belle's, but also more narrow. Evie and Lonnie had the largest hands.
I'm probably going to be ruled out," Evie mumbled. "My hands are too soft." Mal nodded in agreement. Evie stepped up and then took Ben's hand. Mal's stomach turned.
Ben immediately turned his hands so that his and Evie's fingers weren't in-between and then began to feel the tips of her fingers instead. It looked like he was-
"Are you feeling her nails?" Carlos demanded.
Everyone burst into laughter as Ben found Evie's manicured nails and then dropped her hand. "Evie," he declared with a smug smirk crossing his mouth. Evie shrugged with a sigh and walked off the stage. Jane and Audrey were ruled out by similar methods, though a skeptical look had crossed Ben's face upon touching both of their hands. Mal had barely been able to keep a growl out of her throat when Audrey had tangled her fingers into Ben's.
With her, Belle, and Lonnie left, they went through a quick pointing match of who's next. Belle finally stepped forward and everyone tried not to laugh as Ben held hands with his mom. Ben finally frowned. "I'm not sure about this one," he admitted, then stopped holding her hand to run his fingertips up and down her skin. "Her nails are the same shape... her hand feels pretty close... but it's still just... something's different."
"Do you want another hand?" The interviewer asked.
Ben nodded and Lonnie gestured for Mat to step forward. She swallowed as she went back to Ben's other side and then took his left hand. Ben immediately whipped his head around with a smile. "Here she is!" He exclaimed, letting go of Belle and squeezing Mal's palm with both hands. He pulled her forward to kiss her cheek quickly and used her presence to get to his feet. "I think that other person was probably my mom and I haven't had Lonnie's hand yet. Is that right?"
A winning buzzer echoed across the room. Ben smiled as he pulled the blindfold off his eyes. He fished her ring out of her pocket and gave it back to her before twisting his own off his finger. Mal's mouth fell into a pout as he put it in her palm. Around them, the boys were switching rings with their partners and heading into the arena. Mal watched Hades removed his gloves, roll up his sleeves, and rub his hands to warm them up. Jay cracked all his knuckles. Ben helped Mal sit down before a stagehand came on to take the blindfold from him and secure it around her eyes. Then, she waited while everyone whispered around her.
The first hand was not Ben's. Their fingers were not as long and their hands were cold. Their skin was rough. Mal bit her lip. Jay had long fingers which he had used for pickpocketing. Carlos's fingers were shorter, but his hand was warm and he had a hard scar at the base of his thumbnail from working with electronics. Adam, she didn't know. Doug, she didn't know. She squeezed the person's hand and they squeezed back with a strong vice grip. Mal let out a breath and tried to focus when she caught a whiff of leather and earth. "Dad?" She asked, and heard a winning buzzer ding in the distance. Hades let her go.
The next person also had cold hands. He also had crooked fingers and a bitten thumbnail. Mal recalled seeing Doug bite his nails when puzzling over hard problems. "Doug," she decided, much quicker than she had on Hades.
She knew Jay's hand the moment it brushed against hers from all the years she'd watched him stealing and fighting. The winning buzzer didn't even matter. She knew it was him before he'd even finished taking her hand.
Then the fourth hand threw her.
They had thicker fingers than Jay and Doug but thinner than Hades's. Their hand was warm. Their fingers wrapped around her knuckles just the way Ben's usually did. For everything that counted, they were exactly the same. Mal bit her lip. She turned their hand around and felt their nails. Well-kept, just like Ben's. Kept a little shorter on his thumb and index fingers so that he could tap a phone screen without a clicking sound. A smooth spot on his wrist where a watch normally was.
This felt like Ben's hand. But what if she was wrong? Something just didn't feel right, and she didn't know what it was.
"What do you think, Mal?" The interviewer asked.
Mal's shoulders shook. "I don't know," she admitted, slouching forward a little. "It... it feels the same. There are the same grooves in his palm here and he squeezes my hand the same way and it feels like the right size, but I just don't know!" She could feel tears welling in her eyes under the blindfold. She'd have black marks under her eyes when the blindfold was removed. Ben had known her the moment she'd touched him. "I need another hand. Can I have another hand?"
There were footsteps, and someone else took her other hand. Mal's heart dropped. They were equally similar. And when they squeezed her hand, she reacted without thinking and squeezed back. And they were warm and had also been wearing a watch. Mal found a deformity on their pinkie nail, but she couldn't remember for the life of her if Ben had had something similar coming into the interview. She leaned forward, chewing on her lip in inner turmoil. "Oh, my gosh," She moaned.
Who was left? Carlos? Carlos had a callous under his thumbnail. Mal dropped the first person's hand and traced her fingertip over the newcomer's thumb. "Carlos!" she announced upon finding it and shoved his hand away. "That one is Carlos!" She took the first person's hand again. "Last hand, please."
"Mal, it's okay if-" Evie started to say from offscreen.
"Last hand," Mal cut her off firmly.
There were heavy footsteps approaching from behind and then Mal breathed in the scent of something spicy and soothing and so, so familiar. "Oh!" She exclaimed, spinning around and letting go of the other person. "There you are!" She was crying in relief underneath the blindfold. When they took it off, everyone on TV would know how nervous she was.
"You didn't even take his hand!" Lonnie sputtered off camera. "How do you know it's him?"
Part of Mal knew that if this other person wasn't Ben, she'd be mortified, but she was so relieved at the thought of having him near again that she got to her feet and held her hands out for the other person. She caught the lapels of his suit - his suit, when only one of the men had been in a suit today and buried her face into his. Ben's low laugh slowly eased her fears away. She did know him. She knew his scent. She knew his footsteps. She didn't even need his hand.
The buzzer went off. Mal stayed facing Ben and slowly removed the blindfold. Ben's smile dropped as he immediately brought his hands up at edge away the mascara marks. "You okay?" He whispered.
Mal nodded. "Just stressed," she muttered. She glanced over her shoulder and glared at the Ben Imposter that had had her stumped. "It was you!" she hissed.
Former King Adam only looked impressed as he rubbed his hands together and nodded. "Well done," he congratulated her. "I thought I had you stumped."
"Like Father, like son," the interviewer laughed. "Okay, it's time for our last and final challenge. Mal wasn't able to guess Adam correctly, so she gained four points plus the one for identifying Ben, and Ben scored a perfect five on all his imposters with a sixth for finding Mal."
"She would have gotten him if she hadn't removed the blindfold after finding me," Ben shrugged. But still, he sighed and accepted the readings for the round. They were far ahead of the other team anyways.
One of the stagehands stepped forward into the camera's view. "I'm Bliss!" She announced, both to the camera and them. "I have a Ph.D. in psychology and own a clinic in Auradon where we specialize in hypnotism. I'm also half-fairy, and my clinic is known for combining magic and practical medicine to help people overcome additions, disorders, and other issues." She shook both hers and Ben's hands before turning back to the cameras. "What we're going to do here today is I'm going to use a combination of magic and hypnosis to make King Ben and Queen Mal temporarily forget everything about each other. The goal is to see if they can find themselves without any memories to help them. When they've successfully managed t guess each other, their memories will return. Every person they guess wrong will be counted against them."
"That's right," The interviewer confirmed. "Are you ready?"
Ben looked down at her. Her hands were still clutching the front of his suit. "Are you ready?" He whispered.
Mal was entirely aware of the cameras panning in on them. A microphone hovered a meter from her mouth, suspended from the ceiling so they could hear her response. "Yeah," she nodded, squeezing his hand.
She'd done interviews before. She and Ben had played interview games together and she'd answered questions and it had been normal. But this one, testing their relationship, was different. She felt like she was being tested on her compatibility with him, which was ridiculous. She knew she loved him. She knew he loved her. She knew they were close. But what if this just proved what she'd been suspecting for years? That she couldn't love as deeply or as true as he could? What if, by some stroke of fate, whatever she felt wasn't "real love" because she just wasn't able to feel it? What if she was broken?
Ben sat down first. Just like before, all the married women took off their wedding rings so as not to give him any hints before lining up behind him. Mal hesitated before passing her ring back over. It'd been off far too many times today. Mal ended up on the far left side of the line as Bliss approached Ben. As the cameras moved to better focus on her expression, Ben turned back around and gave her a reassuring smile.
What if he didn't love her as much as they both thought he did? What if he picked wrong - how would she feel? What if, when he got his memories back, everything was different?
She smiled back.
Evie left her place in line to give Mal a comforting hug as the hypnotist drew Ben's attention back to her to begin the process by flipping a glowing coin in front of his eyes. With a snap, Ben slumped forward, asleep. Bliss caught him before he could fall and announced to the room: "When you wake up, you won't remember anything or anyone until you have chosen your wife out of all of your friends."
There were other things. Spells and commands. Then, she snapped again, and Ben jerked back to life. "Can you hear me?" Bliss asked.
"Yes," Ben nodded.
"Can you tell me what you're doing here?"
Ben looked towards the cameras and the people behind them in something like amazement. "No," he replied, holding his hands up and staring at them incredulously. He pulled off his wedding ring and held it up to the light. "It sparkles," he muttered and the camera crew laughed. Mal had a feeling that his reaction would become a meme that the kingdom would use for the next twenty years. Hades, behind the line, let his gaze flicker from his daughter to his son in law. Ben hadn't noticed them.
"Do you know who you are?"
Ben was genuinely disturbed by the question. He thought about it for a very long time and then shook his head. "No," he admitted. "Do you know?"
"Yes," Bliss assured him. "Your name is Ben and you're here playing a game. You agreed to it before we put you to sleep. The goal is to find your wife. Once you find her, all your memories will come back."
Ben looked around. "Where?" he asked, then saw Lonnie out of the far side of his vision. "Oh!" he exclaimed, jumping in surprise as he whipped around in surprise. "There are people back there!"
More laughter. Ben stared at them all. Mal's stomach churned when his eyes flit over her without pause. "One of them?" He asked Bliss.
"Yes," Bliss agreed. "We're going to time you to see how long it takes. Every wrong guess is a point against you, though, so be careful."
"What if I guess wrong?" Ben asked. Bliss blinked at him with a deadpan expression. "I mean - I know that I'll lose points, but will she get mad at me?"
"Well, she's going to do the same thing after you, so it'll depend on how well she does." Bliss motioned to the group and began to retreat. "We're starting the time now. They all know you quite well, so you can ask them questions about them and you, but you can't ask about relationships or any related subjects."
"I don't like this game," Ben said aloud, getting to his feet. He wobbled as he found his center of balance and then took a few focused steps forward. "Um, can I know everyone's names?"
"I'm Belle."
"I'm Lonnie."
"I'm Evie."
"I'm Jane."
"I'm Audrey."
"I'm Mal."
"Mal," Ben repeated, staring suspiciously at her. Mal tilted her head to the side and watched Ben examine her face intently before turning towards Belle. "How old are you?"
Mal's stomach dropped when he turned away, but she couldn't resist laughing at the question. Belle pinched her lips together. "I'm fifty-one," she told him.
"How old am I?" Ben asked her.
"Twenty-four."
Ben hummed and then shook her head. "I don't think it's you," he told her. "You're not her."
A ding sounded around the room. Ben jumped and looked all around as Belle smiled and walked off.
"Does that mean I was right?" Ben asked.
"Yup," Lonnie nodded, biting her lip at his startled expression.
Ben glanced back down the line and this time, his eyes hovered on Mal. But then he looked back at all the other girls and Mal notice his eyes clinging to Evie.
He pointed to Audrey. "If you had to give a number, how many people would you say I've kissed?"
Audrey looked startled by the question. "Um..." she trailed off. Mal wanted to spit out 'Four' but kept her lips locked. Ben glanced at her again and she schooled her anxiousness away. "Um, maybe two?" She glanced away, slightly towards Mal, and then caught herself and averted her gaze. Ben, however, glanced at the next person in line, who was Evie. He admired her face, her clothes and shoes, and then hovered on her mouth and eyes before clearing his throat.
"How long have I known you?"
"About eight years," Evie replied.
"Are we close?"
"You can't ask that."
Ben pinched his lips together. Mal watched Evie twist her hands. Her best friend was probably as nervous to be mistaken for Ben's wife as Mal was to see if Ben would mistake her.
"What's... my favorite place to go to?"
"To eat?"
"Sure."
"You don't like going out to eat. You like to stay at home."
"Where do you like to go?"
"Auradon Accelerated's Campus Diner."
Ben hummed and glanced surreptitiously at the other girls down the line. Mal tried not to ball her fists. The clock behind Ben told them that five minutes had gone by. Ben ran his fingers through his hair. "This is hard," he murmured.
Audrey shifted her weight. Ben chewed on his lip and then pointed to both her and Evie. "What's one thing you hate about me?" He demanded.
Both looked startled. They looked to each other and then Audrey swallowed. "There isn't really... a thing, but you've done some things in the past that hurt me."
"I dislike some of your political views," Evie shrugged. "But there's not much else."
Ben looked at Jane, who answered: "I think you're a bit disorganized when it comes to detail management."
Ben ignored Lonnie and looked past Jane to Mal. Mal swallowed. "I don't like how you're always a little unsure of yourself when you're around your parents."
It was a gutsy thing to say on TV with both parents behind the line, but Mal waved away her blush and watched Ben's eyes narrow at her. He took Evie and Audrey and moved them to stand beside her. The clock was counting up to eight minutes. "I think it's between you three," he mumbled, then blushed and turned towards the other girls. "I hope I'm not wrong, otherwise I'll have to go jump off a bridge somewhere."
"You're doing great," Evie soothed. "It's all going to be okay."
Ben took a deep breath and shook his head. "I have this feeling," he murmured. "It's like... I know who she was. In my bones, I know what she was like. But questions and looks and everything... that's only scratching the surface. I knew her as a person, not an image."
Mal felt like melting into her shoes. Ben exhaled and then looked all around at them. Noticed Audrey's jangly bracelets and the tan line on Evie's ring finger. Noticed the slouch of Mal's spine and the way she kept trying to focus on his eyes to see what was there. Then, he looked toward Evie and winced. "Is it you?" he asked uncertainly.
Mal's heart plummeted into her stomach.
A penalty buzzer sounded as Evie shook her head. Ben covered his face with his hands. "Oh no," he mumbled. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm trying... I swear I feel like I know her... she's right on the tip of my tongue, but..."
Evie patted his arm and walked offstage to where Doug was waiting, looking anxious. Ben looked heartbroken he'd failed to find her as he glanced around at the last four girls. Lonnie and Jane gathered into a circle with Mal and Audrey around Ben and began to offer suggestions.
"Try saying our names and see who feels the most familiar to say."
"Maybe you could ask us questions about what we think about her?"
"You were able to find her by hand-holding. Do you want to try that again?"
Ben shook his head and then sat down on the floor. "I just don't know," He mumbled. "I don't know."
Mal reached forward and patted his arm. A spark flew from her to him and he jumped. Static electricity, but he still looked up at her curiously. Then, he got back to his feet.
The clock was going on eleven minutes.
Ben opened his arms. "Can I have a hug?" He asked.
Mal nodded and slowly wrapped her arms around him. His own hands found their usual places, one on her back and the other behind her waist, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh," he realized. "Here you are."
There was a winning buzzer as Ben's hands steadied on her. His final time was eleven minutes and thirty-seven seconds. She felt herself being hugged so tightly into his frame that it wasn't really "Mal and Ben" but "MalandBen". "No room for Jesus here," she laughed.
"I'm so sorry, Mal," Ben moaned, burying his face in her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I saw Evie's ring line and I just thought... I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Mal whispered, running her fingertips up and down his back. "All over."
"Except now it's your turn," he laughed. And Mal's heart stopped.
She heard him calling her name but couldn't respond for several seconds. "Ben," She mumbled into his ear, "I don't think I can do it. I won't be able to find you."
"You don't have to," Ben whispered, though the hypnotist was waiting for her now. "We can go home now. It's okay. I know it's scary."
Scary. Yes. She was scared. She felt like she was being measured up to and she knew she was going to come up short. And then what? What would she do?
But on the flip side, if she didn't, she'd never know the truth.
"I... I'm going to try," She mumbled and Ben nodded. She slowly unwrapped herself and then, with shaking hands, let him go to walk to the hotspot.
"Hey," Ben pulled her back and revealed her ring. "Don't forget. This is still yours. It's always going to be." And then, on that note, he slipped his off and hid it away in his breast pocket. Mal swallowed and nodded.
She sat down as the boys and girls were switching on-camera roles. The hypnotist held out a glowing coin that immediately drew her in. The rest of the world seemed fuzzy.
"Focus on my hands," she commanded as Mal chewed on her lip and tried to focus on Ben. It was becoming harder and harder now.
"Stay calm. We're just going to put you to sleep."
And she snapped. And the world was dark.
A sound like thunder woke her and she jerked away and toppled out of the place she'd been sitting in, bringing her hands up to fight. "Who's there?" she demanded before focusing on a white-haired girl in front of her. "Who are you?"
"Calm down," the girl put her hands up. "I'm Bliss. I'm here to help you. Do you remember what happened?"
"No. What's going on?" She spat, bringing her fists up in front of her face and bracing her feet into the ground.
"Listen, your name is Mal and we're only playing a game here today. Let me explain-"
"You've got about ten seconds before I give you a blissful black eye!"
"Calm down. You agreed to this beforehand. The object of the game is to see if you can find your husband without any memories. You agreed to it before we took them away. The moment you find him, you'll remember everything. I promise." The girl's hands were still held aloft. Mal stared at her, trying to comprehend everything. She slowly let her hands down. Bliss carefully outstretched a hand, which Mal smacked away. They weren't alone. On her left side was a line of... cameras. And there were people behind the cameras. People behind black lines on the ground and behind the cameras behind the black lines. And on her right was a line of men, staring in concern. She looked away from them and found a ring on her left hand, which she blinked at and lifted to the light. "Who'd want to marry me?" she wondered. Someone let out a choked sound in the room, though she couldn't tell who.
"It's one of the people over here," Bliss directed her attention to Mal's left. Mal slowly got up to her feet. She looked down the line of people. Bliss kept talking, but Mal was ignoring her now. The first man was older, with grey hair mixed in among the brown and with big, somewhat meaty hands. He stood next to a man with blue hair whose outfit more resembled Mal's personal style. Black and brown leather with vibrant blue hair. Then a man with thick glasses and blonde hair and another with broad shoulders hidden under a white jacket with black and white hair. Another with long brown hair and red earrings. But it was the last one who immediately fascinated her. He also had blonde hair and wore a blue suit. He glanced over her with minor recognition, but there was something in the way he was hiding a smile behind his hand that immediately caught her attention. The shape of his shoulders... the arc of his brow... the sparkle in his eyes. It was as if she already knew everything about him when she didn't know anything at all. This, she decided, must be him. He was her person. She felt an itch across her skin and on the tips of her fingers as if they remembered everything about him and wanted to rediscover everything they already knew.
"They know you, so you can ask them questions if you want," Bliss finished.
"Starting when?" Mal demanded.
"Starting now," Bliss pointed to a clock, which began ticking on her command.
"Well, you can stop the timer," Mal scoffed and began approaching the men. "I know him. I know the way he is and what he does and I know him. I know the way he exists. This is him." She waved the others aside and stepped up beside the man in the suit. "You can stop the timer."
She blinked, and suddenly everything came back. "Oh!" she exclaimed, spinning to look up at him. "I did it!"
"In three seconds?" Jay sputtered incredulously.
"I give up!" Hades moaned into his hands. "You know, Mallie, I was looking forward to teasing you for the next few hundred years with this. Why'd you have to ruin it?"
"You did it!" Ben laughed, blushing hard. "I feel like a massive failure now."
"You should," Adam laughed. "You guessed her best friend and she didn't even think twice."
"I do love you," Mal mumbled, pressing her fingertips to her head. "I can't believe... is it... I did it." She released her skull and found her way into his side, burying her face away from the world in his chest. "Oh my goodness."
"You've been married for five years," Hades declared. "Shouldn't you know by now whether you love him or not?"
"Hey," Ben laughed into her hair. "It's gonna be okay. All over now." They'd won by a lot, too.
"I know," Mal mumbled in a small tone. "I know. Just don't let go."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I know. Just let me hold you."
"We've got to finish the interview."
"Ben."
"Okay, okay," Ben laughed. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you."
"I love you too." And finally, she could be sure of what that meant.
There's a Descendants Fanfic Poll up on my profile page. Please go cast a vote so I know what I should work on next.