Mal woke up screaming.
The last thing she remembered was getting carried away by someone on the isle, right after Uma, Harry and all those people had given her the beating of a lifetime.
All the events that had transpired quickly played in her head before she started to calm down. She had kept her eyes closed after waking up, scared of what she might see. The realization that she was no longer on the isle quickly set in though. She felt a comfy mattress below her, and a warm blanket around her.
She opened her eyes, looked around and saw a large and neat room. From the white sheets and bed and the beeping machine standing next to her, she guessed that she was in a hospital room.
She looked down at her body. She was lying in a clean bed and wearing pajamas that were not her own.
When she tried to sit up, she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her chest and fell back down with a slight yelp of pain. She tried to raise her arms to feel her chest but found that surprisingly difficult as well.
She looked at her arms. Her right arm had an infusion hooked up to a bag containing some sort of liquid. Her lower left arm was in a cast, which explained why it was a bit difficult to move around. Her upper left arm was encased in bandages, which was even more uncomfortable.
When Mal examined more parts of her body, she saw that nearly every piece of skin was covered in bandages or band-aids.
She again tried to sit up, only for the pain in her chest to force her back down.
She tried to move her legs to move around a bit but felt some form of resistance. When she looked at her feet, she saw her right ankle encased in a tight cast, and both her knees were heavily bandaged up.
Only then did she suddenly feel the headache, which made her feel nauseous and forced her head back on her pillow yet again.
Mal slowly raised her right hand and brought it to her face.
She felt even more bandages there and couldn't help but notice that her face was still very much swollen.
She had no idea how much time had passed. No idea how long she had been laying here in this hospital.
Then the sudden shock hit her. What had happened to the others? Archer! Aden! Royce! Alex! They must have been the ones that had rescued her. Had they all made it out alive? Had they been wounded? And how was Freddie doing? Had Ben and her friends been brought up-to-date on her situation?
Mal's eyes shot through the room, trying to look for answers, only to notice something she had thus far completely overlooked.
Ben was sitting next to her bed, slumped in a low chair. He was fast asleep. His left arm had been draped over the side of Mal's bed, as if he had fallen asleep holding her hand.
Mal got overwhelmed by emotions when she saw him and could already feel the tears start to well up.
"B-ben." She croaked. Her voice sounded like she hadn't used it in a while, all dry and scrapery.
Ben did not wake up, simply continuing to lay there with his eyes closed and mouth wide open, snoring slightly.
"Ben." Mal said again with a bit more volume this time.
Ben stirred in his sleep, moaning a bit.
"Ben!" Mal almost yelled as her emotions got the best of her and she already started sobbing.
Ben suddenly woke up, shooting up straight as if someone had tased him. He looked around in bewilderment, before his eyes met Mal's sobbing ones.
"Mal!" He immediately exclaimed as he jumped up from his chair and pulled her into his arms. "Oh my god, Mal! You're awake! Thank god you're awake!" He rambled as his tears started flowing too.
He hugged Mal even tighter and she suddenly felt the stabbing pain in her chest return tenfold, and thus screamed out in pain.
Ben let go of her startled and watched her fall back onto her bed in pain.
"Oh my god, Mal. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Ben immediately apologized as he bent over her started inspecting her bandages.
"Ben!" Mal said, and he looked back into her eyes. "Ben!" She sobbed, and she grabbed him around his neck and pulled him into another hug. "I was so scared!"
"Me too. You have no idea." Ben said as he hugged her back eagerly but gently.
They separated again as they looked over each other's tear stained faces, and then met in the middle in a passionate kiss.
This went on for a while, until they eventually separated and just stared at each other for a while.
Ben used that time to brush some of the hair out of Mal's face and softly stroke her cheeks. "For a second, I thought that I had lost you." He eventually mumbled.
"What?" Mal croaked, her throat hurt. She suddenly realized how thirsty she was. "Can I have some water, please?" She asked.
"Of course! Of course!" Ben immediately said and he pretty much tripped over his feet when he hastily stood up and ran over to the sink on the other side of the room.
Mal thankfully gulped down the large glass he had filled for her and calmly laid back her head after finishing it all. Ben just looked at her like she was the most precious thing he had ever seen.
"Ben, what happened? How long have I been here?" Mal eventually asked.
Ben hung his head. "Y-you were, ehm, pretty roughed up when they got you back from the isle. That was the worst moment of my life."
"I'm so sorry." Mal started sobbing again. "Ben, I'm so sorry for what I did."
"Don't! Don't, Mal. All that matters now is that you're gonna be okay. Trust me when I say you really had us worried." Ben replied.
"What happened?" Mal asked again.
"You were tortured. Horribly. If what Archer said is true, then it's almost a miracle you came out of this relatively unscathed." Ben said in a sad tone.
Mal looked down at her body again. "What is all this?"
"You had so many injuries. Cuts and bruises everywhere. You broke four ribs, your wrist and your ankle, as well as your nose and cheekbones." Ben explained as he softly grasped her hand.
"Well, that explains the horrible pain." Mal said somewhat sarcastically.
A small smile quickly appeared on Ben's face before he turned serious again.
"You were in a coma for four days." He then said.
"What!? Four days!?" Mal pretty much yelled.
"Shh, calm down! Calm down sweetie. It's okay, you're all fine now. You suffered no brain trauma as far as the doctors could see." Ben reassured her.
"And you've been here all this time?" Mal asked.
"Always, I never left your side. Well, except from when I had to go to the bathroom and all." Ben told her.
"Ben. Why?" Mal asked in a pleading tone.
Ben looked perplexed. "What do you mean why?"
"Why stay here? With me? I betrayed you, I lied to you. Ben, I don't deserve you." Mal sobbed.
Instead of replying, Ben hugged her again and Mal simply kept crying.
"I was angry at first, and disappointed." He eventually said. "But when I saw you when you got back from the isle, all beaten up, I just realized something."
"What?" Mal asked as she looked into Ben's eyes.
"You kept this from me, you went behind my back, you endangered yourself and other people." Ben summed up and Mal hung her head in shame. "But I realized it didn't matter. Mal, I told you I loved you no matter what, and that's still true. I'm not saying that I condone what you did, but I still love you, I always will. I don't want to live without you, in fact I can't."
Mal immediately threw herself at Ben again and kissed him again. When they separated, Mal couldn't stop herself from smiling.
"I felt so horrible going in there, thinking about maybe never seeing you again. And the thought that the last thing I did was lying to you was the most painful of all. But I was so scared, Ben. Scared that you would hate me for letting Freddie go in there alone." Mal said tearfully.
Ben once again hung his head. "I could never hate you, as much I would maybe want to. But Mal, I told you that you could always come to me, whenever and for whatever. Don't forget that. Whatever happened, we can move past it. I believe in us."
"I do too, I really do." Mal pleaded. "I was a fool, a stupid fool. Ben, you really should hate me!"
"We'll move forward. The past is past. I can't forget what you have done, but you can be damn sure I can forgive you." Ben reassured her.
Mal felt herself tearing up again, but then realized something else. "Archer! Aden! The righteous sons! Where are they?"
"They're all fine. Well, Archer and Alex got wounded but they will make a full recovery. They're actually in the next room." Ben said.
"What!? They got wounded! Oh no! This is all my fault, I asked them to come!" Mal wailed.
"Please Mal, don't blame yourself for all this. They are soldiers. They knew what they were getting into. But they're fine, you will see for yourself." Ben tried to reassure her.
"They tried to talk me into letting you know, they really tried. Don't be mad at them!" Mal pleaded.
"I'm not, trust me. Well, I was a bit at first, but not anymore." Ben told her.
"Why were you mad at them? They got me out of there, right?" Mal asked.
Ben hesitated for a second. "After you and the guys got back, I first stayed with you, until it was definitely sure that you would make a full recovery. Then I talked to them. Archer explained the plan, and how they initially believed to get you out unharmed. But then, you know." Ben said, and he gestured to her wounds.
"We hadn't really taken the severity of Uma and Harry's hatred towards me into account." Mal replied with a vague smile.
Ben did not smile. "You got hurt, you were practically half-dead when we finally got you to the hospital. They should have made sure that this wouldn't have happened to you!" He said with volume.
"They couldn't help it! Ben, there were so many people there. All of them wanted to see me get hurt. Even Archer and the guys could not have fought them all. They got me out, alive! Ben, they're heroes!" Mal pleaded.
Ben looked her in the eye again. "I realized that myself eventually." He told her. "They risked life and limb to get you to safety and have new scars to show for it."
Mal groaned. "They got hurt. Oh my god, I feel horrible."
"Please don't, Mal. I talked to the guys and all they wanted to know was if you were gonna make it. Those wounds don't even faze them." Ben tried to reassure her.
"I want to see them, please. I want to thank them." Mal said.
"You will, but later. You only just woke up. You deserve some more rest." Ben replied. "I will soon tell everyone that you've woken up and tomorrow we'll all come and visit you."
"Oh my god, what did the others say? Evie? Carlos? Jay? Are they mad?" Mal suddenly asked as she started tearing up again.
This question made Ben a bit uncomfortable. "They are happy that you're okay, and they will definitely be happy to hear that you've woken up."
"But?" Mal questioned with a bit of fear.
"Well, they were pretty angry at first, especially Evie. They just didn't understand why you didn't approach them. Mal, they want you to know that you can always go to them, whatever happened." Ben answered.
Mal put her head in her hands. "I betrayed them, I'm such a horrible person. They have every right to hate me."
"They don't hate you, Mal. You're all still family. They love you, you will find out tomorrow." Ben reassured her.
Mal tried to steady her breathing. "And Freddie? Is she okay?"
This question made Ben purse his lips and look down.
"What? What happened? When I got her out, she looked okay." Mal said.
Ben looked up again but avoided Mal's gaze. "Something happened to her, on the isle. Something bad."
This made Mal shoot up straight. "What? What happened?"
Ben seemed a bit lost for words. "T-they, ehm, they took her magic."
Mal was shocked, unable to fully comprehend what Ben just told her.
"W-what does that even mean? They took her magic? What are you talking about?" She eventually asked.
"S-she can no longer use her magic. From what Lance has been able to explain to us, she might never be able to again. Someone else has basically taken her magical essence." Ben sadly replied.
Mal was appalled. "Who did this? How?"
Ben started speaking fast. "Look, Freddie hasn't given much details, she's still pretty shaken up. What it came down to though, was that after she arrived on the isle, she got approached by someone who wanted to make a deal about something. She refused, and the bastard then sucked her magic away through some ritual."
Mal was now completely flabbergasted. "W-who? Who did this?"
"She said some guy named Solomon." Ben said. "Apparently he's the son of the Horned King."
"Solomon!?" Mal loudly exclaimed. Of course, it had to be Solomon. Besides Uma, he was one of the few powerful magic wielders on the isle and also one of the biggest assholes Mal knew. It didn't help that he had been a part of her gang in their youth and had later become one of her biggest enemies when he betrayed her. "H-how did he even get to her? I teleported her into her room. How did he find out?"
"Apparently, when Freddie arrived in her room, there was someone else already." Ben said.
"Solomon was in Freddie's room? How? Why?" Mal immediately asked.
"No, not Solomon. Apparently, it was CJ Hook." Ben explained.
"CJ!?" Mal once again exclaimed. There was the other half of the awful puzzle. Besides Uma and Harry, Solomon and CJ had to be Mal's least favorite people on the isle. Mal knew that Freddie and CJ had been close friends on the isle, with lack of a better word. And while Mal held no hard feelings towards Freddie, CJ was an entirely different story. They had crossed each other countless times on the isle, and Mal had to shamefully admit to herself that she had behaved far from innocent in these times. "Did CJ and Solomon work together? Did they hurt Freddie?"
Ben shook his head. "We are not certain. Freddie keeps saying that CJ is innocent, that the only thing she'd done was bring Solomon to her but had no idea what he would do."
"Why would CJ bring Solomon to Freddie if they were not working together?" Mal asked.
"Freddie said that CJ had been blackmailed, and that when she found out what Solomon was doing, she tried to stop him." Ben said.
Mal felt a small stab of pity for CJ. If what Freddie had told was true, she had been a victim as well.
"There is some more concerning news." Ben said grimly after Mal had been lost in her thoughts for a while.
"What?" Mal asked.
"Freddie told us about the conversation she'd had with Solomon. He told her some things, some incredible things." Ben began.
"What did he tell her?" Mal asked insinuatingly. "Ben? What did he say?" Ben was really scaring her right now, he had never acted this grim or serious about anything.
"Freddie said that he told her that he had escaped the isle during Maleficent's escape attempt as well." Ben said.
"What!? How!?" Mal was perplexed.
"Mal, please. Don't get too worked up, you're still wounded." Ben pleaded.
"Ben! You just said that one of the most dangerous and despicable people I know has escaped the isle!" Mal shouted.
"Not anymore, he's now trapped inside the barrier again." Ben tried to comfort her.
"So, what's the concerning situation then? If he's trapped inside?" Mal asked.
"He told Freddie that he had escaped into Auradon and had retrieved his father's old cauldron." Ben quickly said, a bit dismissively.
Mal's mouth fell open. "His cauldron? The black cauldron? Impossible! That was destroyed during the war."
"That's what we thought." Ben said as he grabbed Mal's hand again. "We have absolutely no evidence that what that bastard said has even the slightest hint of truth."
"But, why did he tell that to Freddie?" Mal asked.
Ben shrugged. "Freddie said he wanted her to join him. Apparently, he said that he needed more magic to activate it or whatever. When she refused, he thus just went ahead and took it."
Mal did not respond as she once again got lost in her thoughts. She was disgusted by what Solomon had done. Taking Freddie's magical essence!? That was cruel, even for his standards. And poor Freddie, the reason why she even went to the isle was to gain better control of her magical abilities. Now she had not only lost those, but they had actually made somewhat of a mortal enemy of theirs stronger.
"Wait! They were inside the barrier! How was he able to use magic?" Mal then asked.
Ben nodded. "That is the one thing we are actually worried about. We don't know if that Solomon lied about escaping the isle and finding the cauldron, but he has taken Freddie's magical abilities. We suspect that if Uma and Harry had been successful, they would have brought you to him as well, and then you would have also lost your magic."
Mal swallowed. That thought was horrifying, even for her. Ever since she came to Auradon, her magic had been a large part of her life, something she treasured very much.
"Lance is checking right now if the ritual he used actually required magic, if it did, we might have a problem." Ben finished.
"Ben, if Solomon can use magic inside the barrier and actually has the cauldron we may have more than just a problem." Mal said in a serious tone. "And if Uma has teamed up with Solomon we might actually be dealing with a much larger force than expected."
"I know and trust me when I say I will not just stand by this time. After what they did to you, I really am done playing nice with Uma and especially with Harry." Ben replied with a frown.
Mal felt her insides flutter. "What will you do then?"
"I'm not sure yet, but there has to at least be some punishment." Ben said.
"Getting sent to the isle is kind of the largest punishment around here, isn't it?" Mal asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, so we may have to come up with something different." Ben said thoughtfully.
"Are you sure that that will be the right move?" Mal asked.
"What do you mean?" Ben replied.
"Wanting to go after them. I thought revenge was something that is looked down upon in Auradon?" Mal continued.
"This is not revenge, Mal. If you could only see what they have done to you, you would want them to face repercussions too." Ben said.
Mal did not reply, instead just slowly nodding. She suddenly felt extremely tired again, and she let herself fall back on her pillow.
"Mal? Are you alright?" Ben immediately asked.
"I'm fine." Mal replied with a small smile. "Just tired, very tired."
"I understand." Ben kindly said as he started stroking her hair.
"Ben, can you come into bed with me?" Mal softly asked.
"Of course." Ben quickly said, and he removed his shoes and jacket. He then climbed into the bed behind Mal and she cuddled into him. She felt more secure than ever when she felt his warmth and the slow, calming heartbeat in his chest.
She looked at him. "Don't leave me, Ben." She whispered.
"Never." He softly replied.
They shared a brief kiss before Mal snuggled back into him and he draped his arm over her torso. It took barely a minute for her to fall back asleep.