Happy New Year! Here is the next chapter!
So I worked my ass off to get this chapter finished in time for this holiday, especially since I discovered there will be a "Descendants" movie marathon later on today. I didn't actually start this chapter until about five hours ago.
Now a couple of you made a request last chapter about a certain object. I am somewhat considering it, but you won't see my decision for some time. After all, Mal still needs the spell book to save a certain someone.
Enjoy.
On a gazebo overlooking the calm green pond and surrounding lush tree-filled countryside, Mal and Ben sat at a table covered by a gold tablecloth, which boasted all sorts of treats: soup, hors d'oeuvres, beef ragout, cheese souffle, pies, puddings, pastel-colored cakes, fresh fruit tarts, a loaf of warm bread, and tiers of appetizers. Mal spent nearly three days baking everything, not once using magic like her best friend believed.
"Would you like a hot hors d'oeuvre?" Mal wondered as she offered her boyfriend the delicious food.
At that moment, she wore a pale blue dress that complemented her long ice-blond hair, which was hanging loosely down her back. Mal always tried to keep her hair down when she's around Ben, since he commented numerous times that he loved her hair. Meanwhile, Ben was dressed in another variation of his blue suits. Someone should really tell him that he should wear different colors . . .
With a gracious smile, Ben gladly ate the appetizer that was fed to him by his beloved. Taking a moment to enjoy the delectable treat, he commented, "This is the best thing I've ever ate."
Mal leaned forward in her seat with a smile. "So, you like it?"
"Of course!" Ben agreed as he took another bite out of the extravagant array of perfectly prepped dishes. "This is nearly every dish Mrs. Potts made for my parents! How long did it take you to make everything? Three days?"
"Good guess," Mal teased as her smile grew slightly. "I had to hide some of the dishes so no one would eat them. It seemed like every day I had to keep Carlos out of the kitchen so he wouldn't eat everything."
Ben chuckled as he took another bite. "Did you and Carlos have a sibling relationship on the Isle?"
"Actually," Mal began almost reluctantly, "I didn't become friends with Carlos until the first week of sophomore year. He would come over sometimes for dinner because our parents are friends, but we never hanged out. Until I turned ten, I was best friends with Uma."
"Cruella's other god-daughter?" Ben wondered. "The one she nicknamed Shrimpy? You don't talk much about her."
"Our friendship ended a little sourly," Mal insisted with a slight huff. "Uma is the daughter of Ursula and our mothers were friends. We spent every summer together since we lived on separate sides of the island. One day, she decided that we needed to prank our god-mother. Long story short, I stopped the prank and dumped a bucket of baby shrimp over Uma's head in retaliation."
Ben snarled his nose at the mental image. "That doesn't sound like something you would do."
"I did have a little bit of a villain streak in me," Mal admitted while as her smile turned genuine at the memory. "Of course, my parents made me apologize to Uma and then I was grounded for a month. They could have given me a worse punishment if they really wanted."
"Well . . ." Ben began as he attempted to change the subject. "It means a lot that you did all of this for me when you have so much craziness happening to you."
Pausing for a moment, Ben took one of Mal's hands in his as he used the other to gently turn her face toward him so their gazes could meet. "I've missed you," he confessed as he caressed her cheek lovingly. "We never have any time to be just us. I hope we can change that after Cotillion."
Mal didn't reply immediately. Instead, she wiped away the sauce that was dripping from the corner of Ben's mouth. Touching the sauce himself, Ben cracked a smile. "Can't take me anywhere, right?"
Mal laughed gleefully at the question, remembering when she said the same thing during their first date at the Enchanted Lake. This picnic date had the same vibe as their first date. Knowing that made Mal cheer up and finally relax.
Then everything started to turn into chaos.
With his hands now messing, Ben looked around almost bashfully for something to clean himself. "Do you have any napkins or something?"
"I do!" Mal looked toward her side, but the basket wasn't there. Turning her head, she turned pale as she watched Ben reach into the picnic basket that was set between them. "I can grab it—"
But before she could finish her sentence, Ben pulled out Mal's spell book instead. Inspecting the cover, Ben snarled his nose once again as he recognized it from earlier that day. "What's this?" he wondered rhetorically.
Wide-eyed, Mal stammered, "I . . . threw it in last minute. Just in case I needed to intervene if there's bad weather."
Ben raised a raised a curious eyebrow. "You just lied to me," he noted slowly. "Why?"
Surprised by his observation, Mal questioned. "How did you . . . ?"
Instead of answering the unfinished question, Ben flipped through the various pages marked with sticky notes. "Speed-reading spell? Cooking spell?" He raised his gaze to Mal accusingly. "Did you use a cooking spell for this food?"
"No!" Mal denied immediately in hopes of controlling the situation. "I didn't use a spell on this meal. I considered it, but never did."
"That was the truth," Ben mused, once again surprising Mal by his correct deduction.
Changing his attention back to the book, Ben seemed taken back by a certain page. "Blonde hair spell?" He looked up at Mal in complete shock. "You spelled your beautiful, magical hair? Why?"
"I—I wanted a change," Mal claimed with another stutter. "I was tired of my purple hair—"
"Another lie," Ben interrupted as he angrily slammed the book shut.
"How do you know I'm lying?" Mal interrogated with an equally angry huff.
"You advert your gaze when you're telling a lie," Ben informed as he handed over the spell book. "During, before, or after you tell it."
Mal's jaw dropped at the reveal, surprised that he knew something so insignificant about her. Almost reluctantly, she took the spell book in her hand, unsure what she should do with it. "Ben . . ."
"Why did you change your appearance?" Ben questioned before he could give Mal a chance to explain herself. "Why did you lie to me?"
"Because I don't fit in!" Mal shouted as she stood from the table, Ben unconsciously following her lead. "I'm not a prissy pink Auradon princess! I'm not a hero! And I am not the daughter of villains! My parents were falsely accused of their crimes and were punished for it when they were the heroes. Just like them, I am a fake!"
Her eyes shimmered with tears at her proclamation. She broke her stare-down with Ben so she could move away from him. However, Ben reached out to her and softly brushed her arm. "Mal . . ." he cooed softly.
"No!" Mal shouted as she shrugged him off. "No," she repeated as she stormed away, leaving Ben all alone.
The king walked toward the railing to gaze over the pond. Across the calm green water, Ben could see the land on the other side, the Isle of the Lost—the very island that Mal was raised on. Ben couldn't help wondering. . .
How many others were blamed for something they didn't do?
Mal burst into her dorm room, relieved to find that Evie and none of her clients were nowhere in sight.
After changing into an outfit more like her old self—a purple, green, and black ensemble—she wrote a quick note meant for Ben and placed his school ring on top of it, knowing the ring wouldn't help her clear her mind. Evie will find it eventually, but by then she would be long gone.
Mal moved to Evie's worktable and found a small empty black box with a blue lid. She took a sharp pencil and punctured the lid of the box repeatedly. The pencil dropped from her hands as she was suddenly overcome with gloomy sobs.
"I don't belong here!" Mal cried as her sobs started to turn worse.
Mal rushed over to her bedside table, which held an aquarium tank with a lizard inside. The container bore a sign that said DON'T FEED MY MOM, for inside was none other than Maleficent, who had transformed at King Ben's Coronation ceremony into a puny green lizard to create the façade that the Core Four were heroes.
Opening the lid of the tank, Mal lifted the tiny lizard out of her prison and placed her safely in the box. She looked down at her mother and let out a little laugh through her tears. "Let's blow this Popsicle stand, yeah?" Mal asked rhetorically, knowing her mother couldn't answer.
Auradon was not where she belonged.
Mal belonged on the Isle of the Lost, as the Queen of the Isle.
Riding on her brand-new scooter through the Auradon forest, Mal halted at the shore of the Sea of Serenity. It was the only thing separating her from her home. The magical barrier flickered and shimmered over the Isle of Lost, like it was a distant memory, beckoning Mal to go further.
She flipped her goggles on her helmet up and wiped away her dried tears. Mal had left Auradon Prep hours ago, but she didn't expect it to take this long to reach the shores of the kingdom. She would have to make this quick to make a clean escape.
Pulling her trusty spell book out of her bag, Mal hurriedly flipped through the pages for the spell she needed. Once she found the exact spell she was looking for, she incanted, "Noble steed, proud and fair, you shall take me anywhere."
The scooter roared to life, bearing a new glittering graffiti paint job.
"Please work," Mal pleaded quietly, yet desperately.
Mal zoomed across the surface of the sea toward the isle of exiled prisoners, gaining speed with each yard that brought her closer to the island. She headed toward the barrier with her on the edge of her seat. With a brilliant flash, Mal's enchanted scooter disappeared through the magical barrier.
However, when Mal broke the barrier, she experienced a little more turbulence than usual. Once her bike touched land, a HUGE explosion was heard from behind her, causing the scooter to lurch forward unexpectedly. Afterwards, the ride seemed to smooth out on its own, so she ignored and momentarily forgot the strange occurrence.
In a matter of minutes, she rolled through a dusty lane filled with disheveled, grubby pirates selling knickknacks at their rotting storefronts. Mal's scooter was dinged and battered-looking. It must have taken a great beating from traveling through the barrier.
Mal didn't seem to care though as smiled happily at finally being home.
A short ride later, Mal rolled through an alley infested with grungy thieves, minions, and pickpockets. Her bike sputtered and spat as it slowed down to her crew's old hideout. Her scooter finally lost the rest of its life was Mal parked it under the old stairway.
Once she did, Mal noticed her reflection in a nearby broken mirror. Crossing the barrier had broken her spells, returning her hair back to its original, yet beautiful purple color. Except, her hair had an extremely red hue to it now—
Showing just how angry she truly was.