Hey guys, this idea came to me out of the blue and there was no way in which I was going to ignore it. I know that I have worked hard to get my story count down and it has gone back up slightly. However, the story ideas that I have come up with aren't stories that I just wanted to leave out, I wanted to explore them. But anyway, I can't wait to see what you think of this story. There are going to be some rough periods in this story, but I know that we can get through it together. Much love, RSD xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.

*Ben's POV*

It was eighteenth of July which meant one thing. It was four years to the day that Mal just disappeared out of all of our lives. And to be honest I still didn't have a clue why she decided to leave that day, and I was probably no where near finding out where she currently was – and even after all this time her not being here was breaking me! I knew that Mal was and would always be my soul mate, no matter of time we were apart was going to change my mind, soul or heart.

Even after all this time I couldn't stop thinking about the lead up to her disappearance. Me and Mal had been together for two years and we had been through so much together; from cotillion, Mal struggling with my royal lifestyle to the pair of us trying to keep our relationship alive due to the number of royal commitments the pair of us had. But this had all passed, Mal had settled into her royal note nicely and we were going strength to strength. I felt that as we had been through so much, we could get through anything – or so I thought.

The week before she went missing it was our second anniversary and it was a very special time for the pair of us for many reasons. Of course, the first reason was that it was our second anniversary, but after sharing a picnic at the Enchanted Lake we retired back to Auradon Castle and we both lost our virginities to each other. We had talked a lot beforehand, and at the time I was led to believe that it was what we both wanted. Sleeping with Mal meant a great deal for me, she was my world, my reason for breathing. And I knew that taking this step together wasn't something that either of us were going to take lightly.

I started to notice something was going on with Mal was around three or four days after we had slept together. She was very quiet and withdrawn, I did try numerous times to talk to her about it, but she wouldn't really give me an answer. A little thing I did notice that even though it was in the midst of summer she was choosing to wear dark purple or bright green long sleeved jumpers or jackets and she wouldn't take them off, even though you could tell that she was noticeably sweating. This did prompt me to ask her again if she was ok, but she just simply said 'I'm fine Ben, just leave it'. The way she said it was so cold and distant, which only made me worry even more.

I felt as if she was becoming more distant with me, as I felt like that, she was trying to make excuses to not see me. One time that I will remember for as long as I live was when I went to see her in her dorm room, we had already arranged to have a revision session together, and when she opened the door to me her eyes opened in a panic. It was that look in her eyes that send a chill down my spine, it made a sort of thoughts start to enter my head. She claimed that she had forgot that I was going to see her, and she told me to wait there as she needed to get changed – something that I thought was strange.

When I entered the dorm room, I noticed that she had another dark purple long-sleeved jumper on with her dark purple sleep shorts. She apologised for forgetting our revision session, I quickly dismissed this but stated that I wanted to talk to her about something – which made her freeze once more.

After we both sat down on the right-hand side of her bed, and I asked her what was on my mind – did she regret sleeping with me. She quickly told me that she didn't regret sleeping with me, as it had meant a great deal to find someone who wanted to be fully with her. I did appreciate this, but I couldn't help but note that when the subject of sex was brought up, she froze again. I did want to believe her; her words were what I wanted to hear but her actions made me doubt what she was saying to me.

Her behaviour only got more and more distant as more days went on until I decided that even if Mal didn't want to talk about what was going on I needed to try and support her through this. There was obviously something bothering her; and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Mal was my soul mate and I couldn't bare seeing her like this – I only hoped that she would finally let me in.

However, when I arrived at her dorm, I was met with a very sorry sight I was met with a crying Evie. When I questioned her what was wrong, she told me that Mal had gone, it was at this point that Evie let me into the dorm and I gasped. Mal's side of the room was completely empty, it looked as if she hadn't even been there in the first place. The only thing that was left was a letter from Mal, with her promise ring and my signet ring on top of it.

My heart broke into a thousand pieces as I read her letter, she told me that she needed a break, and she wanted some time away. She also added that the reason that she had left her rings was due to the fact that she understood that due to the way she left she knew that this was going to hurt me, and I might not want her back. I found this to be a silly thought, of course I wanted her back! She was my Mal! She did stress in her letter that she didn't regret sleeping with me, in fact she was glad that she did but there was currently a lot on her mind which apparently didn't have anything to do with me. I didn't know how she could feel like this, we had been a couple for two years, so for her to feel like this obviously was something to do with me.

Since receiving that letter I had done everything in my power to try and speak to her again, I have looked over every part of the kingdom, left her texts and voice mails and even reached out to her through the press. But nothing, I haven't spoken to Mal since we both told each other that we loved each other on the morning of her disappearance – and this was killing me.

I have never given up the search, and neither has our friends, family or the kingdom. I did find it strange how Mal could just disappear like this – especially given the kingdom knew who she was! The only reason that I knew that she was still alive was that money was still being taken out of her bank account (which was password protected). It was however being used all of the kingdom, so I was unable to find her that way. I couldn't even trace Mal through her mobile phone, as the 'find my friend' option had been disabled, which told me that she had either turned the phone off or she had destroyed it. Both circumstances scared me, as it showed me what lengths she was prepared to go to to make sure that she wasn't found.

Mal's disappearance hadn't only upset me and my family, but it had also affected the kingdom deeply. The kingdom had come to love Mal, and they couldn't wait for her to become Queen, so a lot of people were broken hearted when I made the announcement that she had gone missing. And since then, the Kingdom have helped me look for Mal, to no avail. Unfortutely.

I know that both the kingdom and the council were concerned about me as my father had to act as regent. I did feel bad for the fact that my father had to take back his King duties, but I couldn't concentrate on anything else apart from finding Mal. He in fact had to do this for nearly nine months before I was talked back into my royal duties. I understood that I had to do this, but I stressed that I was never ever going to stop looking for Mal, and everyone around me understood this.

When I started to get back into my royal duties, I could tell that people were still worried about me – especially my parents. In the news it was claiming that I wasn't looking after myself, and I had to partly agree with this. I had lost weight due to not eating very much and my hair was now shoulder length, and I had a beard. After seeing numerous articles on my appearance, I finally snapped, I now had my hair and beard trimmed every now and again – I still had the length, but I didn't look like the homeless man that the press had painted me out to me.

I can't believe that it has been four years without Mal, and even though we hadn't given up the search I was still filled with a mixture of emotions. I felt somewhat settled at the fact that we were still doing everything in our power to find her, but when we eventually did what were we going to find? She had been gone that long she obviously didn't want to come back; and this was something that I was struggling to deal with. I missed her so much! And I would do and give anything to just see her again. But I couldn't get rid of the feelings that the more time that passed the less chance there probably was of finding her, I just hoped and prayed that I was going to go against the odds and find her. I needed Mal, and I knew that she needed me. So hopefully one day soon I was going to be able to see my beautiful purple haired princess once more.