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Mal took a breath as she neared the door to the detention tower, she pushed open the wooden door which creaked loudly and she began to ascend towards the top. It was a long hike which was all the more time to think, I need a drink being the most common thought to pass through her mind. She hadn't had one since leaving the isle and she really wanted some. Finding a drink had been an issue in Auradon, she had learned that apparently there were age limits here. She huffed as she passed another floor on her way up the tower stairs. The isle had no short supply of drink. Sometimes wine made its way over on the barges but Medusa also had her still on the riverboat, and Gaston had his pub. No one cared if you were just a kid, as long as you could pay. With all the shit they dealt with on that hell hole, drinking was sometimes the only way to escape. Here Mal was in Auradon which, although not perfect, at least provided food, a place to sleep, and relative security, still she longed for a little reprieve; her dreams still took her back to the isle every night.
"Ah, you must be Mal, please have a seat." A voice said as Mal entered the top room of the tower that had a little sign on the door that said "detention"

The girl looked around, confused; she couldn't see who was talking. The room appeared empty of life, although there were piles of books everywhere.
"Who said that?" she asked.
"Me, Archimedes." And a little owl hopped up on one of the stacks of books "Now then shall we get started?" And the bird began chattering away.

Mal just looked at the bird and shook her head THIS was detention? Boring yes, but not at all horrible. She found a place to sit and began to do some of her homework. As Archimedes rattled on she absentmindedly rubbed a scar on her upper arm. She had gotten that from the last time she had detention on the isle. With no entertainment of any kind the villains had devised their own, and they called it detention. Every week the kids that had been, selected, were thrown together in a ring to fight, last one standing was the winner. Sometimes they would pit one fighter against the other in special matches. Mal vs Uma tended to draw a crowd. Bets were cast on who might win.

The smell of dirt, blood, vomit, and alcohol still burned her nostrils as she stood in the ring looking at a child who couldn't have been more than 7 and held a doll tightly in her arms. Mal knew not to underestimate the girl, even 7 year olds on the isle could be lethal, but she just couldn't do it, she couldn't fight the child who looked up at her with obvious fear in her eyes. After what had felt like forever with the insults and jeers and even some objects thrown at her two huge henchmen had come into the ring, held her down, and pressed a red hot iron onto her arm as a punishment for not fighting. Burning flesh now took the place of all the other smells and screams filled her ears, later Mal had realized that it was her own screams. When she finally had crawled out of the ring to where her mother stood she struggled to her feet, why she bothered she didn't know, because as soon as she stood at looked at her mother Maleficent had slapped her so hard she fell over again.

"Pathetic. You are weak, Mal. You are an embarrassment. If you show up at my house tonight I will kill you myself." Maleficent hissed at her looking down at her daughter lying at her feet with utter contempt, and walked away.

"Mal, get up. You need to get up." Carlos had been there to pull her to safety and away from the men that saw easy opportunity in front of them although he too had paid dearly for it when Cruella had found out. His words kept repeating over and over as he started to tap her on the head.
What's with all the books? Mal thought as she slowly woke up from her dream the incessant tapping on her head would not stop "You need to get up now" Finally Mal put her head up and the little owl perched there flitted to a different pile.

"Detention is over, you can go back to your dorm now" Archimedes said to her before going to the window and flying out.

Mal walked over to the window and watched as the owl flew across the grounds. She wasn't tired any more, not after that dream, she walked down the endless steps and found her way to the front doors that she carefully pushed open and made her way to the enchanted lake. It was peaceful there and she could relax.
"Mind if I join you." Someone said and Mal almost jumped out of her skin, she hadn't heard anyone coming, she looked over to see a boy there.
"Ben?"
The boy chuckled and sat down next to her. "I saw you leave the school. I couldn't sleep either." He took a puff of something he was holding on to then held it out to Mal to take. She didn't hesitate. It wasn't a drink, but she could use a smoke. She smelled it cautiously first before taking a puff of her own. She paused for a moment before exhaling,

"That's good." She said handing it back.
"There are certain benefits to being a prince." Ben smiled at her as he took another hit and passed it back. He leaned back on the tree that they were sitting under and looked across the lake. "So how do you like Auradon so far?" the young prince asked.

Mal exhaled again slowly, "Its ok. Eating regularly is nice. All the rules are annoying though."
"Are there any rules on the isle?" Ben asked with a genuine curiosity.
Mal looked out over the lake thoughtfully, "Don't get caught."
Ben looked at her, "That's a rule everywhere."
Mal laughed, "Yeah, I suppose it is, but on the isle we didn't have rules like 'be in your room by 10' or 'show up to class on time and do your homework' and no one cared what you did."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a long time just passing the joint back and forth. Mal traced the scars on her arm without thinking about it and Ben just watched, he started to count them but there were too many. He noticed some were from cuts, others burns, one looked particularly large, it must have been excruciating he realized.
"How'd you get this?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Mal tensed for a moment, before looking at Bens face. "Detention on the isle is, shall we say, a bit different."

Ben looked a little confused by the answer but didn't want to press her on it. The two teens continued to talk for what must have been several hours. Mal asked Ben about what sort of stuff he had to do once he was king and what he had to do now. She was surprised by how full his schedule was and how very little time to himself he got. The pressures of always being in the public eye sounded daunting.

"We should head back" Ben eventually said as he realized how late (or early as the case may be) it was. He explained to Mal the best way to sneak back in without being caught and quickly headed back to where he needed to be too.