Mal had been in her cell for about two days, if she counted by meals. She never had the energy to get up and eat, but she knew she got three meals a day. She almost laughed. Three meals a day. She's a prisoner, and she gets treated like she's been sent away for a timeout. She doesn't even have any guards watching her.

Mal hadn't moved since she was put in the dungeon. Everything ached, and it hurt to move. A few times a day, her stomach growled, but Mal just ignored it. Death was fast approaching, and it wasn't like she could feel anything anyways. She was numb.

The cell door creaked, and Mal forced her eyes open. Another serving girl had brought food. She let her eyes close. She wasn't going to eat. There was some shuffling, but the cell door didn't close. Mal opened her eyes again to see the serving girl hovering over her with a chunk of bread.

"You need to eat," she says.

Mal turns her head to the side.

"You need to eat," she repeats, holding the bread out to her.

Mal glares at her.

The girl forces the bread into her mouth, and hold her hand over Mal's mouth until Mal swallows the bread. She gingerly sits Mal up, and then looks at all the food on the tray. She grabs the soup, and starts to feed Mal.

At first, Mal tries to resist, but then she chooses to let the girl feed her. It was either that or getting the soup spilled all down her front. When the bowl is about halfway finished, Mal finds herself full. She pushes the next spoonful aside, and the serving girl puts it back down on the tray.

The girl carefully lays Mal back down, picks up the tray, and walks out the door. She closes it, and turns to leave when Mal asks, "Why?"

She turns back to look at Mal and she says, "Not everyone wants to see you die."

Then she leaves, and Mal is left sitting there, thinking about what she said. Who could be left that would want her to live? But now, she's tired. The soup was warm, and now she's full, and it's making her sleepy. She closes her eyes, and drifts off to sleep.

When Mal woke up, she felt like she was burning up. The whole cell seemed hot, but the floor felt soooo cool. Mal shifted, trying to press up against the floor even more, and then she screamed. A burning pain shot up her legs, agonizing pain that would have crippled her if she was standing.

She stays still, and the pain recedes to a throbbing, dull ache. She pants, trying to get air back into her lungs again. Nice, cool air. She doesn't move again, afraid of the pain returning. Auradon really had spoiled her.

Time passes. It shifts from time to time, sometimes passing by quickly in a blurry haze, sometimes passing by slowly, drawing out the pain. Mal thought she saw the serving girl arrive again, but nothing's certain. Everything is starting to blur together, the only constant being the pain in her legs.

She drifts out of consciousness again.

She wakes up to fingers prodding her legs and her feet, which creates bursts of pain. She tries to move her legs away, but her muscles are not listening to her. She tries to lift her head to see who's hurting her, but all she can manage is to moan. Her head rolls to the side.

"She's awake," a voice says.

Someone lifts up her head and puts it on something soft. She looks up, and through her blurry vision, she sees blue hair.

"Evie? Tha' you?" she slurs.

The person stiffens and looks up at someone else. Mal doesn't bother to look over and continues talking to her.

"I miss yooou. Bu' you came back. 'M happy. Was lonly," she says.

"Shhh," Evie says, "Just be quiet."

"Why? Wanna talk to you."

"You're sick. We need to take care of you. Okay?"

"Jay n' Carlos ere too?"

"Yes. But you need to rest now. Go to sleep."

"Kay."

Mal closes her eyes again and goes back to sleep.

When Mal wakes up again, she lies still for a moment. She's afraid to move, but she knows she's going to have to. She takes a deep breath, and then shifts her legs. Pain shoots up her legs, but not as intense as before. She struggles up onto her elbows, and the first thing she notices is that she's on a bed. Not in the cell.

The room is small and white. The door is iron door, closed. There are no windows to the room. The only light comes from the florescent lights above her.

She lifts up the sheet that covers her legs and sees that her legs and feet have been bandaged. In fact, any patch of skin that had been scratched up is covered.

The door opens, and a person walks in. He has gray hair and wire framed glasses on his face.

"Hello, my dear," he says, "I see you've woken up."

"What happened?" Mal asks.

"You had an infection, as well as a high fever. I had to clean your wounds and give you antibiotics. You've been out for three days."

"Oh," says Mal.

So, her friends hadn't really been here.

The doctor sees her face fall and asks, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Actually, yes. Why was I healed?"

The doctor's eyes dart away, but then he looks back at her and says, "The King ordered it. He wants you alive."

Suddenly, it's like a switch has gone off. Mal starts speaking, but it's in rhymes again.

"The Kingling, hmm?

Why's he want me alive?

What's the point?

I'm a criminal, I must die."

The doctor looks a bit startled at the sudden change, but he says, "He wants you alive for the... the execution."

Mal starts to laugh. It echos around the room. The guards outside can hear it faintly, and they shiver.

The laugh cuts off abruptly, and Mal looks down. When she looks up again, tears are shining in her eyes. The doctor is taken aback. Her personality kept changing. Bipolar, or maybe DID?

Her voice quavers as she asks, "Ben ordered that?"

"Yes, he did," he says.

He has no idea what to do. He's not used to dealing with people, let alone someone about to cry. He's saved from having to do something when the door slams open. The King walks in, followed by the two guards from outside.

His head whips back to look at Mal, but her face is both ice cold and blank at the same time. The only way that you could tell she had been crying would be if you had been there. He scoots towards the door and leaves as fast as he can. He doesn't want to be caught in the middle of this.

Mal says,

"Little Kingling, up on a throne,

You won't bring me anywhere near home.

You're here to send me to die.

Well guess what. I won't cry."

The King glares at her before saying, "Yes, you are going to be executed. Right now, in fact. Do you have a final wish? I do not guarantee that it will be granted."

Mal's face softens into a melancholy expression. She asks, "Can you send the guards out of the room? I promise I will not attack you."

She looks at the floor, waiting for rejection.

Ben waves his hand, sending the guards out of the room. Mal looks up, surprised. She takes a step forward, and then she leans in and kisses him. Ben stiffens, but by then Mal has stopped.

"Good bye," she says softly, and then she walks out of the room.

The guards grab her by the arms, and lead her out of the castle and to the courtyard. They lead her up the steps of a makeshift stand.

Mal looks out at the crowd. She cannot see an ounce of sympathy in anyone's face. Most of them are jeering at her. The royals are sitting behind her in the balcony. She steps up to the block, and kneels down.

The King stands up, quieting the crowd, and calls out, "Anything left to say?"

Mal says, "I curse this city, I curse the people, and I curse you. One day, you will face destruction, and you will regret this."

The King just sighs and waves his hand, signaling the executioner.

The executioner steps up beside her and raises his blade.

Mal closes her eyes.

The axe swings.

Thunk.