*Author's Note*
It has been a week since I've posted chapter 16. I am really hoping you guys liked the chapter because I did not get any reviews saying whether you guys like it or hate it.
Putting that aside. I have a very happy announcement to make which is I have finished the whole story (Hooray!) but I am still doing some final editing here and there. There may be an epilogue, I have made up my mind if I want to include an epilogue. I think the ending of this story is going to be beyond what you guys can imagine or will expect because the traces of the ending is really really small but if you can guess roughly what it is, I might pm you a small draft copy of the ending. :)
Hope you guys are up for this little challenge and you will have only until the chapter 19 because the final chapter will be chapter 20. I will pm the draft to the person with the closest guess immediately after I've posted chapter 19. This also mean that you need to have an account here cause I have no intention to pm the draft via email. Here is a little present from me to you for the challenge. My hint on the resolve - Episode.
Thank you to my beta (legend fanatic) for helping me with my story.
Disney's Descendants: Good is the New Bad
Disclaimer: I own nothing at all, well, except my OC.
Spoilers: Well, the movie and a little of the prequel novel
Auradon Prep's Cafeteria – Tuesday Afternoon
"Alright, guys. We need to talk business." Chad announced as he sat down with Lonnie at their usual table.
Everyone turned and gave him a puzzled look.
"Ben's seventeen birthday?" Chad snorted.
Everyone chuckled as they finally understood what Chad meant by business. Never raise your expectation when it comes to Chad Charming. They should have known.
"Alright, what business do you have in mind for Benny Boo for this big one seven?" Mal teased, and once again, the table was filled with laughter.
"Well, my mum and dad told me that Uncle Adam and Aunt Belle will be planning a huge party for you this year. The invitation has been sent out to all over the world this morning." Chad said.
"Really? I'm sure your parents knew that you are not big on parties. Party for interaction with ambassadors from the neighbour kingdoms, I get. But the invitation to all over the world, that's something that hardly happened in Auradon." Doug voiced his doubts.
"I know, right. It's like your parents have something huge to announce during your party. I mean you are the King of Auradon, what else will be bigger news than that?" Chad joked as he patted Ben's back.
Ben let out a cough from the strong pat Chad gave him while giving Mal a knowing look.
Crap! Chad's words hit her. They have not told their friends about their engagement yet. Mal has a feeling Evie would kill her when she found out about the engagement.
"Yeah, my mum told me that we should make it big since this will be my first birthday party after I have accepted the crown," Ben explained after catching his breath.
"Well, they are right. This will be a good time to mingle with all the ambassadors and also to build a relationship with the other kingdoms. I can't wait to go dress shopping." Audrey agreed.
"Speaking of which, when will the tailor do your measurements? I need to get mine done too." Chad asked.
"Tomorrow after school," Ben replied before turning to the former villain kids. "Jay and Carlos, my parents asked me to bring you guys along. Even Doug and his cousins too. The tailor will meet us at the castle to do our measurements."
"Measurements?" Jay and Carlos shared a look.
"Yup, well the whole school is invited, so I'm afraid you guys will need something more formal? Besides, my mum has put you guys with us on the family table. Mom wanted our outfits to match." Ben shared as he extended his hand, under the table, to hold onto Mal's when he said the word family.
Mal turned to Ben and smiled. She knew that the reason her surrogate siblings were at the family table as because of her and she felt grateful that Ben and his parents cared about her so much to do that even before announcing their engagement.
"Match?" Jay and Carlos repeated.
"Well, yeah. Do you any idea about the designs of your outfits?" Ben added.
"Outfits?"
"Excuse them, Ben. These two are lost." Evie spoke up after hearing Jay and Carlos repeated Ben's words for the third time.
"Alright, while we wait for my boyfriend to regain consciousness. What about you girls? Maybe you girls can join me tomorrow after school to get our dress fitting while the guys have theirs?" Audrey suggested.
"Sure, I have not been to a dress fitting before, this should be fun." Jane nodded her head.
"Sorry to interrupt, girls." Everyone turned to Ben. "Actually, Mal and Evie will be joining us tomorrow."
"You do know that girls don't usually wear a tux to a ball right?" Evie crossed her arms and stared at the young King.
Ben chuckled lightly as he put up his hands to calm the blue-haired girl down. "Evie, chill! It was not my idea, my mum had dresses prepared for you two, and she wanted you, girls, to meet up with her at the castle."
"Really?" Almost instantly, the anger disappeared from Evie's face as her face lit up with excitement.
"I'm sorry, Audrey. I was looking forward to doing dressing fitting with you girls." Mal apologised.
"It's ok. But you two will be joining us to get our nails done next week, right? Like we said?" Audrey asked.
"Definitely!" Evie assured.
Mal and Evie's Dormitory – Tuesday Evening
"Perfect," Evie commented as she put away her compact.
"Thanks, E. I'm really glad to have you as my best friend." Mal extended her hand to Evie's.
"Best friend. Girlfriend. Sister. Family. I am all of them." Evie corrected with a big smile on her face.
"E." Mal interrupted. "I have some news to tell you before we meet the guys for our family night later. "
"What's wrong?" Evie asked, worried. "You are not pregnant, right?"
"E!" Mal snapped, causing Evie to burst out into laughter.
"I am not pregnant, but it's somehow related." Evie tilted her head like a lost puppy while Mal took out a necklace from inside her dress. On the necklace, was the ring Ben used to propose to Mal during their summer vacation.
"Oh my god!" Evie bent down to look at the ring closely and noticed on the inner ring had the words 'For the love of my life' engraved on it. "When did he pop the question?"
"At the Summer Palace." Mal flinched as she revealed.
"At the Summer Palace? I am so happy for you, M… Wait a minute…" Evie paused as she absorbed her words. "MAL! You mean you were engaged for almost two months, and you did not even bother to tell me until now?"
"I'm sorry. I was planning to tell you that time when we were supposed to have dinner with Adam and Belle, but Heres and Gaston Jr interrupted." Mal defended.
"Yeah, but that was like a month ago." Evie started to shoot her with death stares.
"I'm sorry, E. You are the first one to know other than Ben's parents." Mal quickly revealed before Evie was going to shout at her again.
"Really?"
Mal nodded her head vigorously at her.
"Ben will be joining us later, and we will tell the boys together."
"Since I was the first one among our friends to know, I'll let this go, but if you even dare to keep another secret like this from me in the future, I will never let you off the hook that easily," Evie warned before wrapping her arms around her surrogate sister. "I cannot believe you are engaged."
"I know. Sometimes, I still felt like this is all a dream and one day I'll wake up and lose everything." Mal expressed.
"Oh, Mal. You will always have me, no matter what happen."
"Thanks, E."
"You're welcome." Evie smiled and helped her put the necklace underneath her dress again.
"So, I suppose you guys will be announcing it during Ben's birthday party?" Mal nodded. "Is this the real reason why Adam and Belle planned a big party for Ben?" Mal nodded again. "Have you guys set a date yet?"
"Not yet but not so soon either. We talked about it and have come to an agreement to only start talking about marriage after graduation." Mal revealed.
Just then, someone tapped on the door.
"Looks like the guys are here. We'll talk later." Evie announced, and Mal nodded, happily.
Auradon Prep - Friday Afternoon
Mal and Ben were walking hand in hand towards their next class, political sciences. It had been a busy week for them. After telling Evie on Tuesday evening, Ben and Mal told Jay and Carlos about their big news later that night. The boys gave them their blessing, but Jay did give Ben a five minutes' 'bro talk' after learning about the news from the young couple.
The next day, Ben along with Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Chad, Doug and his cousins returned to the Castle to had their measurements one for their formal attire for Ben's birthday. While the boys were in Ben's room taking a turn to let the Tailor for their job, Belle brought Mal and Evie back to her room to show her the collection of dresses she has prepared for them. Mal and Evie loved them so much that it took them all night to try all of them but they have finally set their heart on the one.
On Thursday night, the gang went to their usual spot, Chipotle Mexican Grill in town for their gathering where Ben revealed the good news to the rest of their friends. Everyone was happy for them and gave the happy couple their blessing.
"I'm glad our friends know now." Mal sighed in to relieve.
"And soon, everyone will know that Mal Bertha will soon be Mrs Mal Bertha Adams." Ben reminded as he peck her temple.
"Hey, guys! There you are." Doug's voiced was heard before he emerged from the crowded hallways. "I have been looking all over for you guys."
"What's wrong?" Ben asked.
"I was wondering if I could borrow Mal?" Ben eyes are gotten darker. "I wanted to get… Woah!"
"BEN!"
"Err… What's happening?"
"Ben, let him go!"
"BEN!"
"NO!"
"BEN!"
"DOUG!"
By the time everyone has regained conscious on what had just happened, Ben lifted Doug over his head and into the air but this time, his eyes turned blood red as though he wanted to eat Doug alive. Without any warning, Ben threw the poor boy towards the lockers. Jay and Chad were walking towards their class when they passed by the hall. Thanks to their quick, athletic reflexes, the two of them managed to catch Doug before he got hurt.
Ben was about to pounce on the three of them when he suddenly fainted and passed out on the floor. Ben and Doug were then rushed to the school infirmary immediately.
Castle Beast – Friday Night
Belle and Adam were standing outside Ben's room while they watched their future daughter-in-law feed their son some congee.
Adam turned towards the door when he heard footsteps to find Fairy Godmother entering the room.
"How was Doug?" the former King asked after a minute of silence.
Fairy Godmother let out a sign as she revealed, "Other than still recovering from the shock, he's fine. Evie is taking care of him right now."
"It's has gotten worst. What should we do?" Belle turned to her husband.
"This might be a good time to tell you that Carlos and Jane found some suspicious leftovers thrown away by Gaston on the day he was distributing cake to almost everyone in the school." Fairy Godmother interrupted.
"Why is it that we only know of this now?" Adam questioned.
"I did a check on the cakes that Gaston brought in, and they were all magic free. There may have something that was added to them after I checked them that morning. However, I've found traces of magic potion on the leftovers Carlos and Jane found. There was on prove that Ben or Mal or even anyone in Auradon Prep took any of them." Fairy Godmother turned and apologised to the former King and Queen. "I have done a check on Ben before heading over to check on Doug, I am certain he was not poisoned, nor I found any traces of magic in his system."
"What should we do now?" Belle asked, again, even more, worried than before
"I was supposed to make a trip down to the Honeymoon Cottage to speak with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather on Wednesday to discuss Mal and Ben's condition but I was held up by the last-minute meeting with Arendelle High. I'll prepare for my trip and leave immediately to seek their help about this." Fairy Godmother said.
Adam gave her an approval nod, and with that, Fairy Godmother took a bow before returning back to her office to prepare for her trip so she could leave in the morning immediately.
Mal and Evie's Dormitory – Friday Night
"What do you want?" Mal asked with her eyes shooting death stares at the unwelcomed guest at the door.
"I'm here to see how are you doing? Is Ben alright" Gaston Jr asked.
"Drop the act, Gaston. We knew that you drugged the cake you gave us the other day." Mal rolled her eyes and revealed. "Fairy Godmother have confirmed it."
"Drugged?" Gaston Jr repeated as he dug into his memory, "Oh, you meant the cake I used for our science experiment?"
"Science experiment?" Mal repeated.
"Yeah, for our chemistry class? My brother and I have been experimenting with magic to create a version of glowing cakes that tasted out of the world, but we made it tasted like bushes and wood, so I threw it away by the dumpsters to prevent anyone from picking them up from the trash and eat them. You can ask Mrs Delight. We had just handed in our science project yesterday. Those cakes you found were the leftovers from the failed experiments, they looked the same as the ones I handed out." Gaston Jr explained patiently, not showing a slight bit of irritated or unhappiness.
Mal eyed the giant boy in front of her with suspicious eye without a word, trying to figure out if she should believe her.
"Mal, I meant it when I said that I wanted to start over." Gaston Jr added.
Mal studied Gaston Jr's face for a bit before nodding her head at the giant boy, "I'll believe what you say, Gaston but if I found out otherwise, don't blame me if I don't show any mercy to you. I meant it when I said I will make your life unbearable if you bring harm to my friends here in Auradon. Time will be your best evidence on showing that you've turned over a new life."
"Thanks, Mal." Gaston Jr flashed his best smile at her. "Actually I'm here to talk to you about what happened on the Isle of the Lost and also about something that I've found out about Ben."
Mal stepped back and opened the door to let him in as she had not built up the courage to reveal what happened between them to anyone yet, even to Ben but she also knew that Ben will always trust her enough to not ask about what happened between Gaston Jr and her, and neither will he ever doubt her love for him.
"Mal." Gaston exhaled sharply. "I was actually the first one who found you in that alley on the Isle when we were five but I went back home to get our best blanket, and when I was back I saw Jay with you. Jay has always been by your side since then that's why when we were at Carlos' party, I tried to kiss you when you were alone by Cruella de Vil's closet."
Mal looked at him with her arms crossed over her chest while leaning against the wall next to her bed as the memory of how she met Jay came into mind. She recalled that she was chased out of the house by her mother for showing kindness to their minions. She was only wearing a purple top and jeans, but it was freezing that day. Gaston Jr found her shivering in the alley beside her house. Gaston Jr did not recognise Mal at that time, all he saw was a helpless girl seeking for warm. He could not refuse the thought of giving warmth to her but he also knew that his jacket is not enough so he turn and run home to get his good blanker for Mal. After Gaston Jr left, Jay appeared out of nowhere just as she was about to lose conscious and carried her to his place to warm her up. She may have to cough up her favourite bracelet to Jay, but she was still grateful for his kindness to her when no one was willing to help the daughter of the mistress of evil.
"Seeing how happy you are with Ben have hit me that you needed someone who will be able to see you as who you are and loved you with all his heart and frankly, I loved myself too much to give you my full love like Ben could with you. I'm sorry for not able to see that until now." Gaston Jr added.
"Thank you for being honest with me." Mal smiled a little at him.
"I've decided to tell you about this was also because this is the closure I needed for me to move on." Gaston Jr said.
"You were saying that you know something about Ben?" Mal asked, hoping to change the subject before it gets weird between them.
"Oh right, I overheard something Heres was telling Ylma that you and Ben need to know," Gaston said.
"What did she say?" Mal asked, again.
"I was hoping I could tell you and Ben together?" Gaston Jr asked.
"Why can't you tell me first?" Mal asked, again.
"I will need to check with Ben some details before I could confirm my prediction about Heres. I do not want you to rush into anything. That might raise Heres' suspicious on us, this will not be something we want, isn't it?" Gaston Jr said.
"Alright, Ben will be home for the next few days to rest and to prepare for his trip to Agrabah. He will be back two days before his birthday, maybe we could tell them about it then?" Mal suggested.
"That should still give us enough time to help work out Heres' plans." Gaston Jr nodded in agreement.
"Great, I'll come look for you after he has returned to Auradon Prep. Thanks, Gaston." Mal smiled and nodded in reply.
Little did the both know, a shadow disappeared from the window beside Mal's bed.
The only spoiler I can give for next chapter is that it's going to be tense one :)
Please read and tell me what you think :)
~ xoxo, Bella