Descendants: Dyad Reborn

Hello again! 2nd chapter in just two days? Yep. I was too excited to take a break, work not included in that. I also want to give a shoutout to KayeBell for favoriting this story. Thank you very much for that, it really means a lot to me. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Ben's New Life/Reawakening

True to Agathe's word, Ben did have a few years of a peaceful childhood. He was born with honey brown hair and hazel green eyes. He was a cheerful baby who only cried when he was hungry, tired, or the other typical baby stuff. His new parents loved him dearly. Belle would always read stories to him before bedtime and sing sweet lullabies to him. Adam would take him around the castle grounds and play with him. But whenever there were times that Adam and Belle had to leave to perform kingdom duties, Ben was left in the care of Mrs. Potts and Maurice, Belle's father. He would also spend time with others around the castle like Lumiere and Cogsworth although Mrs. Potts would have to drag Ben away when the two men started to fight with each other. Chip, Mrs. Potts' son, was like a big brother to him always taking him on adventures in the forest surrounding the castle.

Ben grew into a adventurous toddler always keeping his parents and guardians on their toes. He became very bright for his age as he learned things very quickly like reading, writing, and so much more. Belle smiled and said, "He seems to take after me." Adam chuckled and said, "But he also has great athletic skills, like me." The king gave a small wooden sword to Ben on his fourth birthday and Ben took to sword fighting quickly, much to the amazement of his parents.

Adam and Belle took him all around the kingdom that would one day be his and Ben was amazed at all of the sights he saw. On one such day traveling through the kingdom, he saw the Isle of the Lost out at sea. "Daddy," Ben asked. "What's that?" Adam's smile dropped and he sternly said, "That is the Isle of the Lost. That is where all the evil people are kept. No one will ever come out of there. Do you understand, son?" Ben meekly nodded as he turned his head back toward the Isle. He did understand what his father said, but something was telling him that his father was wrong. That not everything on the Isle was evil. Like he felt a gentle light coming from the Isle. He couldn't explain it as he didn't really understand what he was feeling and why he was feeling it. He was only four so he already knew that there were things he didn't fully understand yet. So he kept quiet and focused back on the trip throughout the kingdom. He didn't realize that soon his peaceful childhood would change.

The night of his fifth birthday was when the nightmares started. He started to dream about a boy with black hair in a place far far away who became a man in black who wore a creepy mask and did evil things. He would hear the whispers of an old man in the boy's ears telling him to come to the dark. He felt the power this boy had and how it was used for terrible things. He even saw the man in black put his laser sword right through an old smuggler who looked at the man in black with caring eyes. Ben would always wake up crying for his parents and they would charge into the room holding and comforting their son. After a whole month of continuous nightmares, they took Ben to the doctor, who examined him and said that Ben was normal. Adam and Belle weren't satisfied so they took him to Fairy Godmother, who had her own child, a daughter named Jane. She looked over the young prince and said, "I don't sense anything evil at work here. I could give him a calming drought that will help him sleep better at night. That is all I can do, I'm afraid." She handed a bottle with blue liquid inside to the king and queen and they had Ben take a spoonful that first night despite Ben opposing to taking it as it tasted bad.

He tried to sleep but his body was reacting badly to the calming drought in his system and he was sweating profusely. He noticed that his sweat droplets were the same blue as the drought. He only felt better when the sweating stopped and he could no longer feel the drought in his system. He got out of bed and grabbed the bottle and ran into his bathroom and poured the rest of the medicine down the sink. He then got scared thinking, "What if Mommy and Daddy find out what I did with this?" Suddenly an idea came to him and he filled the empty bottle with water then carefully walked over to his play area and found some blue sand that when added to water it would change the color of the water to the color of the sand. Ben put in a few pieces of blue sand and the water changed to blue. He grinned to himself and put the bottle back on his nightstand and crawled into bed. He heard footsteps coming and pretended to sleep as he heard the door open and his mother whisper, "It's working. He's sleeping peacefully." "Thank God," Adam whispered. "We can ask him in the morning if he had any nightmares." Ben heard the door close and he sighed to himself. He realized that he didn't want to worry his parents about his nightmares or else they would get more of that yucky stuff so he decided to keep his dreams to himself.

His dreams continued on, with his parents unaware of them as Ben just told them that they vanished. But his dreams weren't always nightmares. Sometimes he dreamed of a princess singing the boy lullabies, or of the smuggler teaching the boy how to fly a spaceship, or even a giant fuzzy bear creature who gave the boy big hugs and walked around with him on his shoulders. But sometimes he would dream of a wizard who showed the boy how to control his powers, which always ended with the wizard standing above the boy while sleeping with a green sword about to bring it down on the boy, scaring Ben to awake. He would cry to himself but never loud enough to alert his parents. Those were the nights he didn't get a lot of sleep and his parents would notice and ask about it, but Ben would just say that the wind/storm kept him up. Other nights would have Ben dream about the man in black who would wear his dark mask and shout, "You must remember!" Ben would wake up always after that and could never figure out what the man in black meant.

After his sixth birthday, he started to dream about a girl. A brown haired girl with 3 buns in her hair who would challenge the boy with swords that glowed different colors, who seemed to care about the man in black. He never found out her name, heck he never found out anyone's names in his dreams. But on some nights instead of the brown haired girl, he would dream about a girl with purple hair on an island, which looked a lot like the Isle of the Lost. He dreamed of her crying when her blue haired father left her alone with her crazy mother, when she was left out of a blue haired girl's 5th birthday party and her crazy mother banished the blue haired girl and her mother to the far side of the island as revenge, and seeing her wish for a friend, even though her mother told her that she didn't need friends, just minions. Ben's heart went out to this girl whose name he did not know. She seemed very similar to the brown haired girl with 3 buns in her hair. They felt like they were one and the same to him, despite looking completely different. He secretly hoped that this girl was real, because he wanted to meet her and become her friend and show her that everything will be OK. In fact, it seemed like he was starting to fall in love with her, which was crazy to say as a six year old. Like his other dreams, he kept his dream girl secret from his parents as remembering how they reacted to his nightmares by making him swallow disgusting medicine to get rid of them made him realize that they wouldn't understand. He also didn't share any of his dreams with Chip, Mrs. Potts, his grandfather, or any of the staff. He loved them all, but he felt that they will side with his mom and dad. That made him feel alone.

A few weeks before his 7th birthday, Ben had his dreams as usual: man in black with creepy mask doing bad things, girl with 3 buns fighting man in black, and purple haired girl living her life on the Isle of the Lost. But they all started to end in the same way, with a mysterious woman wearing a dark cloak and hood who always said, "The time has come, young prince. Time to find me and regain what you have lost. Come to me, Prince Ben." Ben would wake up drenched in sweat as the words of the mysterious woman echoed in his ears. "What does she mean?" Ben asked himself. "What did I lose? Does it have something to do with the dreams I have been having these past couple years? But what about the purple haired girl? Does she also have something to do with this?" His head was hurting thinking about all of this. He sighed and looked at his bedroom door thinking, "There's no way that Mom and Dad are going to understand any of this."

The day of his 7th birthday arrived. It was a hot summer day and the king and queen had a big birthday celebration on their castle grounds. Kings, queens, princes, princesses, and all sorts of other people that represented the kingdom of Auradon ranging from the Seven Dwarves to Peter Pan and his Lost Boys were there. Along with all of their children, some of which Ben had been having playdates with since forever. Ben felt like this wasn't a birthday party but rather a grand ball with him as guest of honor. Why couldn't he just have a quiet birthday with his family? But Ben knew that this was more for his parents than him, since pretty much all of Auradon seemed to be here, along with friends of his parents. They were particularly close with King Phillip and Queen Aurora, King Charming and Queen Cinderella, and Fairy Godmother. So that meant Ben had playdates with all of their children. Mainly Audrey, Chad, and Jane. The only one that Ben actually liked was Jane, even with her shy nature. Ben found her charming to hang out with and she was smart, like him. Chad, King Charming and Queen Cinderella's son, was as dumb as a doornail sometimes. He was very arrogant and prideful about himself and always seemed to bully the other kids in kindergarten, mainly kids like Doug, Dopey's son, but Ben and Lonnie, Mulan's daughter, always helped Doug feel better. The main problem with Audrey, King Phillip and Queen Aurora's daughter. She acted nice and sweet when she was around Ben, like she was trying to impress him and get into his good graces, but when she wasn't around him, she became quite mean and spoiled, mainly to people like Jane.

Ben had seen one of these instances when Audrey thought he wasn't looking where she pushed Jane off the playground and left her crying and bleeding from her knee. When Audrey walked away, Ben ran up and helped Jane up and walked her to the school nurse. Ben said, "You should tell on her, Jane. That wasn't nice of her to do to you." "Please don't," Jane said. "Even if I wanted to, no one would believe me. Audrey is an angel. That's what everyone thinks. She gets all of the pretty dresses, lavish vacations, and everyone waiting on her hand and foot, while little old plain Jane wears clothes her Mommy picked out and can't defend herself. I'm nobody." "Not to me," Ben said. "I believe in you. You don't need girls like Audrey to be your friend. I'll be your friend." Jane started to tear up and said, "Thanks, Ben."

Ben smiled remembering that day. He never wanted to be around Audrey ever again, but both of their parents seemed pretty insistent on having them spend time together, which he really didn't understand why. He would rather spend time with the purple haired girl from his dreams than hang out with Audrey. Speaking of which, she and Chad were walking over to him. Ben groaned internally but put on a fake smile and said, "Audrey, Chad. How are you two?" "Your party rocks!" Chad shouted. Audrey glared at him and said, "Chad, why don't you go eat some chocolate fondue?" Chad shrugged and walked away, leaving Ben along with Audrey who looked at Ben with a smile and said, "Thank you so much, Prince Ben, for inviting us to your birthday celebration." Ben tilted his head to the side and said, "You don't have to be so formal about it, Audrey. It's just a birthday party." Audrey giggled and said, "It's more than just a birthday party, Prince Ben. You are the Crown Prince of Auradon. It's a huge deal and everyone who is anyone is here to celebrate with you. Including me." Ben internally rolled his eyes and said, "Glad you are enjoying yourself then. Can you please excuse me? I need to greet the other guests." Audrey simply nodded then proceeded to curtsey him which made Ben roll his eyes internally again and she walked away, probably to find Chad or one of her girlfriends. Ben sighed and looked around for his parents. As he was walking around, he heard a voice in the wind whispering, "The time has come, young prince. Time to find me and regain what you have lost. Come to me, Prince Ben." He looked around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was the same one from his dreams. Now it was talking to him while he was awake. "What is going on?" Ben thought to himself. "Now my dreams are happening while I'm awake?" "Hey, Ben," Chip said startling Ben out of his thoughts. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. You OK?" Ben nodded and said, "It's fine, Chip. I was actually looking for my parents. Have you seen them?" "Yea," Chip answered. "They went to the king's study along with King Phillip and Queen Aurora, along with Queen Leah." Ben tilted his head in confusion. Why were his parents spending private time with Audrey's parents and grandmother? He nodded Chip his thanks and ran inside the castle straight to his father's study.

He got to the door to his father's study in a few minutes as he knew the layout of the castle inside and out having lived there his whole life. He noticed that the door was cracked open a little and he heard his parents talking to Audrey's family. He crept to the door and peeked in to see and hear what was going on. "Today is a joyous day," King Phillip said. "Indeed," Adam replied. "My son turning seven means that soon enough he will take my place as King." "He still has some growing to do," Belle said. "And his childhood to live through. I am just still blessed to have a child at all. Adam and I haven't been able to have any more children after Ben so I treasure every moment with my son. Ben is precious to me." "I understand how you mean," Queen Aurora replied. "Audrey is my world. She is growing up so fast. My little angel. She is the perfect princess." Belle sighed to herself knowing that Queen Aurora could be a little pretentious at times but kept her mouth shut. Queen Leah cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, we are most gracious that you have chosen my granddaughter to help strengthen this kingdom in the near future." Ben tilted his head in confusion. "What does Queen Leah mean by that?" Ben thought to himself. He listened closely as Phillip laughed and said, "Indeed. We should have known that Ben and Audrey would get along so well with each other. My daughter can't stop singing the praises of your son, Adam." Ben knew that wasn't true at all. He tolerates Audrey, but he absolutely doesn't like her. Her parents must be insane to think that. He heard his father laugh and say, "I agree. I can't think of anyone better than Audrey to have as a future daughter in law." Ben's eyes widened. "What?" Ben thought. Queen Leah smiled and said, "Today will mark the first official day of the betrothal between your son and my granddaughter." "Betrothal?" Ben was aghast. He may be only seven, but thanks to all the reading he did with his mom, he knew what a betrothal was. He looked down at the table all the adults were sitting around and he saw a scroll lying on top of it with pens lying next to it. Ben squinted his eyes and he saw the signatures of both of his parents. "They agreed to this?" Ben thought. Phillip raised his glass of champagne and said, "A toast. To the future King and Queen of Auradon, Ben and Audrey." "To Ben and Audrey!" The others adults raised their glasses and joined the toast.

Ben was horrified. "It can't be!" Ben thought to himself, upset at what he heard. "I have to marry that mean, spoiled princess! No! I hate her! She's not the one I want! I want my dream girl! This isn't fair! Mom and Dad married for love, not an arranged marriage. So why are they forcing it on me?" Tears started to fall down Ben's face and he couldn't stand there listening anymore. He turned and ran away from the study, away from his party.

He ran through the garden outside of the west wing of the castle and stopped just outside of the garden where it showed the forest next to the castle. He cried and cried. He wanted to choose what he did with his life, not his parents. How could he be a great king if he had to married someone he hated? Why couldn't it be the girl from his dreams? He held his face in his hands and cried, tears leaking down his face.

Suddenly the wind picked up and rose petals flew through the air toward the forest and a voice called out, "Ben." The young prince looked up and saw the mysterious woman from his dreams standing at the forest's edge staring at him. "Ben," The woman said. "The time has come. Time to regain what you have lost and what you need so you have start your true destiny. Come to me, young prince." She disappeared into the forest and Ben stared at her retreating form. He should have been scared to follow her, but a piece of him begged him to follow the woman. She said that she will give him what he lost, what he needs in order to have his own destiny as Crown Prince. Wiping the tears from his eyes and without looking back at his home, he ran into the forest after the mysterious woman.

He ran and ran through the thick forest trying to catch up with the mysterious woman, but she was fast, almost in a supernatural kind of way. He tripped over a tree root, tearing a hole in his pants and causing it to bleed, but he got up and keeping going. He pushed through thick thorns, getting cuts on his face and arms, but he keeps pushing through, determined to follow the mysterious woman. Eventually he saw her pass through an old tree standing in the middle of a clearing. Ben thought, "How am I suppose to follow her now?" "Pass through, young prince," he heard the woman say. "It is magic. Come to me." Ben gulped and stuck his hand out and moved toward the tree. He was shocked to discover that his hand went right through the bark of the tree. He pulled his hand back in shock, then took a deep breath and walked into the tree itself, disappearing from sight.

Ben ended up in a tall, dark room where nature grew from all angles. And standing on the far side was the mysterious woman, who smiled at Ben and said, "Welcome, Prince Ben. I have been expecting you." Ben stared at the mysterious woman and asked, "Who are you?" "I am called Agathe," Agathe answered. "But you might also know me as The Enchantress." Ben gasped and said, "You cursed my father into the form of a beast!" Agathe nodded and said, "I did. But only so that your father had the chance to have love in his life. And through my curse he was able to meet your mother. And you wouldn't be standing here before me." Ben realized that she was right and asked, "Why did you want me to come here? Have you been sending me those dreams for the past two years?" Agathe nodded and said, "I have. But I must tell you those aren't dreams. They are memories. Memories of your past life." "Past life?" Ben asked. "Indeed," Agathe answered. "In your past life you were Benjamin Organa-Skywalker-Solo, son of Princess Leia Skywalker-Organa and Han Solo." "I was the boy with black hair I have been dreaming about?" Ben asked. Agathe nodded as Ben continued, "But that means I was that man in black with the creepy mask! He did awful things! I'm nothing like him! You're wrong!"

Agathe smiled sadly as she waved her hand and a ball of light appeared startling Ben out of his anger. The ball of light shifted its form into the man in black causing Ben to take a few steps backwards in fear. "Do not be afraid, young prince," Agathe said. "This is not the actual man in black, known by name as Kylo Ren, the name Ben Solo chose to call himself. He is just the form your memories took when you gave them to me all those years ago." The form of Kylo Ren took over his helmet and Ben saw the man's face clearly: the dark eyes, shoulder length black hair, and the scar cutting down the right side of his face. Ben stared at the man in front of him and asked, "This is me? What do you mean he is the memories I gave you?" Agathe nodded and suddenly eight other balls of light came out of her and materialized around Ben into different people. He recognized some of them from his dreams. "Wait," Ben said. "I recognize some of you." The older woman wearing a regal dress smiled and said, "My boy. Look how handsome you are. I am Leia, your mother from your past life." "Please," the smuggler next to Leia said, "He was always handsome. Hey, kid, Han Solo, your father. And this furry guy is Chewbacca, or Chewie for short." Chewbacca roared softly. The wizard stepped forward and said, "Hello, Ben. I am Luke Skywalker, your uncle. Also here are your grandparents, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, along with two of my teachers, the old man is Obi-Won Kenobi, and the little green guy is Yoda." The four other spirits bowed to the Prince as Padme said, "You have grown, Ben. It is nice to finally meet you in this life." Ben tilted his head in confusion and looked back at Agathe and asked, "So why are you here? Why are they here? Why was I reborn here?"

Agathe smiled and said, "A little over seven years ago, your spirit came to this world along with these spirits as part of a wish made to something called the Force. I was chosen to be your guide to help you be reborn into this world. The Force wanted you to live a few happy years in peace with no memories of your past so I separated your memories from your soul. The dreams you started getting two years ago was the Force slowly reawakening you to your true self. The time has come to regain your original memories and complete your destiny." Ben looked at Agathe and said, "That want you mentioned earlier. My destiny. How will regaining these memories help achieve my destiny?" "You were reborn to help this world," Agathe answered. "When your father placed all of the villains on the Isle of the Lost, he disrupted the magical nature of this world and he banned magic as well. When you become King, you will help return this world to its rightful place and bring balance to all things." "But Auradon is at peace now," Ben countered. "Is it?" Agathe asked. Ben thought for a moment and realized that even though the kingdom was at peace, he couldn't help but feel that something felt off. From his dreams of the purple haired girl, he noticed her along with several other people there, mainly children, who were suffering for crimes they did not commit. Speaking of her….

"Wait," Ben said. "What about the purple haired girl I've been dreaming about? And she seems similar to the girl with 3 buns as well. Why am I dreaming about her?" Agathe smiled and said, "She is part of your destiny too. She was reborn here just like you were. The purple haired girl and the girl with 3 buns are the same girl." She waved her hand and the girl with 3 buns appeared before Ben similar to Kylo Ren. "Her name is Rey," Agathe continued. "She is your equal in the Force. You two are a dyad. Two that are one. She was the one who made the wish to the Force all those years ago and her spirit came here along with yours. These are her memories. She was reborn into Mal, the purple haired girl you keep dreaming about." Ben stared at the form of Rey and smiled saying, "Rey. That sounds like a prettier name than Mal." "Indeed," Agathe agreed. "But Maleficent is arrogant and named her daughter after herself. Not even listening to my casual suggestion to name her Rey. But at least that's what Hades calls her. Anyway, she like yourself doesn't have her original memories and is trapped on the Isle along with everyone else there. Your soul is trying to reconnect with hers, hence why you started to dream about her." "Does that mean she's dreaming about me too?" Ben asked. "Not sure," Agathe said. "That magical force field Fairy Godmother created limits how much of the Force can reach her. Along with magic. You are able to see her, but I don't know if she can do the same to you." Ben thought about the purple haired girl, Mal, or Rey, and that brought a smile to his face. He definitely felt a connection with her without ever meeting her and he wishes that she would be his future queen instead of Audrey. Seven years old and he already has a crush.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, Ben asked, "So this is my destiny? To reunite with Rey…Mal, and bring balance to this world?" Agathe nodded and said, "Correct. The Isle of the Lost was created in horrible circumstances. Your father forced Hades to bring previously dead villains back to life only for them along with him to be imprisoned on that Isle. And banning magic has weakened this world and those who thrive on it. If you can bring Mal to Auradon, you two will be the hope that this world desperately needs." "But I can't just beg my father to release everyone from the Isle," Ben countered. "Not even one girl." "Maybe not now," Agathe replied. "Maybe for your first proclamation as king you can bring her, and perhaps a few others, to Auradon to show that people on the Isle are suffering and need help. Then slowly you can help the people of Auradon understand that the Isle must be freed and magic must return. That will take time, I am sure of it. But the choice is yours, young prince. Will you regain your past memories, make your own choices, work to reunite with your lost love, and help this world, or will you walk away back to the life you know, with a betrothal you don't want and a future decided for you?"

Ben thought for a moment. Did he want to regain those painful memories of a man who did horrible things but have the chance to meet Rey…Mal and bring balance back to this world? Or did he just walk away, back to his castle where a girl he hated was waiting for him with a future that would leave many people, Mal included, suffering? "No," Ben thought. "I am not going to let my kingdom suffer. Including those on the Isle of the Lost. Especially Mal. I want to save her. Save all those children on the Isle. I want to bring magic back to Auradon. This is my choice." He looked up at Agathe with all of the spirits watching and said with confidence, "I'll do it." Agathe smiled as the eight spirits cheered. "Wise decision," Agathe said. She waved her hand and the memories of Rey went back into her with Ben asking, "Once I bring Rey….Mal here, will she get her memories back too?" Agathe sighed and said, "Not right away. The Force will give her the memories back when it deems it time. Just like you. Please don't push her. Just be patient." Ben nodded then asked, "Will this hurt?" Agathe chuckled and said, "Not at all. It will just feel like you are waking up from a pleasant dream. These spirits who brought you here will bond with you again and help you along the way. Once your memories are returned to you, your powers with the Force will reawaken. You will learn how to expand them and become a powerful being in this world. I will continue to guide and help you. Are you ready, young prince?"

Ben nodded and closed his eyes as Agathe started her chant as one by one the eight Force spirits floating to Ben and merged with him. Finally, his memories in the form of Kylo Ren, or rather Ben Solo, floating down and slowly merged with the young prince, his face superimposing over the prince's face for a few seconds, then faded. Ben opened his eyes and looked at Agathe with a new weight on his shoulders. "Ben?" Agathe asked. "Do you remember?" "I remember," Ben paused to take a deep breath and finished saying in his original deep voice, "Everything." "Wonderful," Agathe cheered. "But just be careful about that deep voice of yours. Your original self may slip in if you lose control of yourself. But it seems your memories are merging perfectly with you. How do you feel?" Ben closed his eyes and said back in his new form's voice, "Calm. Peaceful. But sad. I remember everything I did in my original life, but I also remember my first seven years of this life. And I feel everything. I feel the Force again. And very faintly, I can feel Rey. Or rather Mal. Her sadness. Her anger. Her loneliness. I want to see her again. Reunite with her. Tell her how sorry I am. For everything." Leaves and rocks that were in the room started to float around the prince as he rediscovered his connection to the Force. Suddenly the leaves and rocks thrust in many different directions, with the rocks blasting through the walls of the room. Ben looked sheepishly at Agathe and said, "I guess I need to relearn how to control my powers." "In time," Agathe replied. "Your powers are reawakening quickly. Luckily the Force spirits who brought you here will help you with that. They will always be with you. Don't worry, only you and I can see them. Now, this is where I will leave you for now. I will return to you soon to help guide you on the next step for your destiny. For now, you must return to your family. They have noticed that you have disappeared from your birthday party." "I need to come up with a story about where I went," Ben said. "I don't think they'll appreciate me running off to meet the woman who cursed my dad and now have powers beyond their comprehension." Agathe thought for a moment and said, "I think I can help with that."

Back at the castle, Ben's birthday party was still going with no one realizing that the guest of honor was missing. Audrey was looking around with Chad standing next to her asking, "Trying to find your boyfriend?" Audrey glared at Chad and said, "He'e not my boyfriend. Not yet at least. He will once the announcement is made." "What announcement?" Chad asked. "You'll see," Audrey said as she saw Lonnie walk past them and Audrey called out, "Have you seen Ben, Lonnie?" Lonnie turned around and said, "No. He was suppose to meet with me and Doug a little while ago. Why? You couldn't keep your claws on him?" "Shut up, Lonnie!" Audrey growled as Chad laughed at her which earned him a whack on the head by Audrey. Lonnie grinned and walked away, knowing that she got one on the spoiled princess. Audrey looked up and saw King Adam and Queen Belle along with her parents and grandmother walk out to the party and towards the stage where the birthday cake was and Audrey said, "I'll see you later, Chad. My moment has arrived." Chad shrugged as Audrey ran up to her family and Aurora gave her daughter a big hug and said, "There's my little angel. Let's go. It's time for the big announcement." "But Mother, I can't…" Audrey started to say but Queen Leah interrupted her and said, "No dwindling, Audrey." "Yes, Grandmother Leah," Audrey said as Phillip took her hand and the group followed King Adam and Queen Belle up to the stage.

"Good afternoon," Adam shouted to the crowd, getting their attention and all of their heads turned to the stage. "My wife and I would like to thank all of you for coming today to celebrate the birthday of our son, Prince Benjamin." The crowd clapped and cheered as the king continued, "Now, before we have the birthday boy blow out his candles, I have asked the royal family of Auroria up here to give an important announcement about the future of the United States of Auradon. So, Ben, if you could please come up here." The crowd looked around to see the prince, but no was nowhere to be seen. "Ben?" Belle shouted out to the crowd but no one answered. "I was trying to tell you," Audrey said with a snobby voice. "I couldn't find Ben for the past hour or so." "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Phillip asked in a harsh tone. Audrey tensed up to her father's voice and started to cry as Aurora hugged her daughter and Queen Leah shouted, "We need to find that boy. Now!"

Adam jumped off the stage and shouted, "Guards! The prince is missing! Spread out and search for him!" The palace guards spread out and started their search for Prince Ben. Some of the guests offered to help, which the king and queen greatly appreciated. They ran into Chip and Belle asked. "Chip, have you seen Ben anywhere?" "Well," Chip answered. "Last I saw him, he went looking for the two of you, Your Majesty." "We never saw him," Adam said. "Do you have any idea where Ben could have gone?" Chip thought for a moment then said, "Ben likes to go hiking with me in the forest." "Then that is where we will search," Adam declared as he led the search party to the forest surrounding the castle.

They searched far and wide through the forest for the missing prince. They had to act fast as they were losing daylight. "Ben!" Adam shouted out to the forest. Suddenly a person from the search party, Mulan, shouted, "Your Majesty! I see something on the ground about 50 feet west of here." Everyone ran west with King Adam and Queen Belle leading the charge. They all stopped in their tracks when they say what was in front of them: Prince Ben lying on the base of a tree with muddy clothes, cuts all over his face and arms, and torn up pants with a bloody knee. "Ben!" Belle cried as Adam ran forward and picked Ben up carefully bridal style and turned to the crowd and said, "Thank you everyone for helping find my son. I am afraid to say that the party must end early as Ben needs medical attention." He and his wife walked through the crowds accompanied by their guards as everyone else turned around and went home, except the royal family of Auroria. "Adam," Phillip asked. "What about the betrothal announcement?" "We need to postpone it," Adam replied. "As you can see, my son needs to be looked at and that takes precedence." "Agreed," Aurora replied. "Right, mother?" Queen Leah clenched her jaw, but nodded, putting her hands on Audrey's shoulders. The little princess stared at the prone figure of Ben hanging limply in his father's arms. Despite all of her faults, she still felt bad for Ben. Phillip nodded and escorted his family to their limp to head back to Auroria. Adam carried his son back to the castle followed by his wife and the palace guards.

Ben opened his eyes and looked around. He discovered that he was in his own bedroom. He heard his father's voice talking to someone about him, with a female voice, who he recognized as his doctor, reply back, something about him needing bedrest. He heard his mother crying so Ben said, "Mom? Dad?" His parents heard him and ran to him with his mother crying, "Ben! You're awake!" "How did I get here?" Ben asked. "We found you out in the forest," Adam answered. "The doctor said that you scrapped your knee and have several cuts all over your face and arms. Why were you out in the forest, son?" "Um," Ben answered. "I remember feeling too overloaded by all the people here so I went to go look for you and Mom. I heard you two were busy so I decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. I didn't realize I walked that far from the castle. When I discovered that, I panicked and tried to run back, but then I fell to the ground. That's the last thing I remember." "Oh, honey," Belle said as she hugged her son. Adam sighed and said, "What were you thinking, Ben? You could have gotten seriously hurt today." "Dad," Ben started but Adam started to pace the room and interrupted, "We had almost the entire kingdom here to celebrate your birthday! Your mother and I were about to make a big announcement about you and you went missing! We were worried sick! A perfect day ruined! And all of our guests too! All because you…."

Adam stopped pacing when he heard sniffling. He turned to see Ben crying and looking at his dad with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, Dad." Ben said. "I didn't mean to worry everybody. I was just overwhelmed by all the people here that I wanted to get away for a little bit. I'm sorry I ruined the party." He cried into his hands as Belle hugged her son and let him cry into her shoulder. She looked at Ben and said, "It's not your fault, sweetheart. We just wanted to give you a special birthday party. We didn't realize that it would upset you like this. Next time we will plan something smaller, right Adam?" The queen gave Adam a glare that took all of the anger out of him. Whenever his wife put her foot down, he stopped and listened. He sighed and said, "Of course. I am sorry I yelled at you, son. But next time, don't go off into the forest by yourself. Do you understand?" "Yes, Dad," Ben replied. "Now we just have to make all this up to the royal family of Auroria," Adam added. "Why?" Ben asked. Belle sighed and said, "Don't worry about that now, sweetheart. We can talk more in the morning. You need to get some rest." The prince turned to his mom and asked, "What about the presents? What about the cake Mrs. Potts made?" "We can do all of that tomorrow," Belle answered. "Now get some sleep. Goodnight." She kissed her son's forehead and got up off the bed and took Adam's arm. Adam looked at his son and said, "Goodnight, son. Happy birthday." "Goodnight," Ben replied, closing his eyes and falling asleep. Adam and Belle crept out of the room and closed the door. "What are we going to do about the betrothal announcement?" Adam asked. "We can worry about that later," Belle said. "Right now, our focus should be on our son's wellbeing. Plus, we should have told him first about the betrothal before trying to announce it to the kingdom without him knowing beforehand. It's not fair to him. For now, we let him rest and recover. Then we can tell him about it then discuss it with Audrey's family. Agreed?" "Agreed," Adam said. "Come. Let's retire for the night."

Once Ben heard his parents walk away from his bedroom door, he opened his eyes and sat up. "Glad to see that worked," Ben said to himself. "You were quite the little actor." Ben turned and saw the spirit of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker standing next to his bed. "Top marks all around." "I had to do something," Ben whispered, not wanting anyone outside his room to hear him. "How else was I suppose to explain why I was gone for a couple of hours? I couldn't walk up to them and say, "Hey guys. I just decided to follow the woman who cursed Dad into the forest and have myself reawakened as Ben Solo and now I have these powers thanks to something called the Force." Plus, did all of you guys really need to knock me out that much?" "Absolutely," Anakin answered. "Agathe thought it would be a good idea. You already had some injuries running into the forest. You just needed a cover story." "Too true," Ben replied. "Now I just need to start getting all that I need to do into motion. Starting with getting rid of that betrothal agreement. My parents seriously didn't think to let me know first before announcing it to the entire kingdom? Are they nuts? If I have any chance of reuniting with Rey…Mal, then that contract needs to go."

"Patience, grandson," Anakin said. "These things you need to accomplish won't happen overnight. It will take time and patience. For now, you need to rest. Regaining your memories, reawakening your powers, and having your body become the vessel for all of us Force spirits on top of your soul has worn you out. We can talk more later. For once you are healed, the training begins." "Seriously?" Ben said. "I am perfectly trained in the ways of the Force, thank you. I just need to relearn control." "The Force has evolved," Anakin replied. "Your powers will be stronger in this world. Plus, there may be some new ones on top of it. You remember all the knowledge Agathe shared with you when you first arrived. There is a lot you don't understand or have control over. If you want all of this to succeed, you must listen to all of your guides and master all that you are. Do you understand?" Ben nodded as Anakin chuckled and said, "It's funny. You look more like a younger me in this form than you did before." "Really?" Ben asked. Anakin nodded and said, "Goodnight, grandson." Anakin's spirit merge back into Ben's body as Ben whispered, "Goodnight, grandfather." Ben looked around and saw a book lying on a table on the far side of his bedroom. He reached out his hand to test his Force powers. Within three seconds, the books rose from the table and flew into Ben's hand. Ben smiled and said, "Let my destiny begin."