Chapter Seventy Six
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
Woo hoo, here we go! I think this and the chapter after it are two of the most highly anticipated chapters so far for Truth or Fiction! Apologies for the delay but the muse was pulling me in a million different directions! Plus I wanted to give people the chance to read the previous chapter lol :D
slytherin4thewin: When it comes to Emir and Akiho, I think of it less as threats and more as promises lol! So glad you're liking the story! :D
Lauriverfanboy1: Sorry for the delay with this chapter but I hope you enjoy it!
cass585339: Hope you enjoy it!
Marcus Emrys: Hopefully! Though if that chapter doesn't bounce her out of her leahification, the chapter in Choosing Home just might! Lol Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries, go away or I may taunt you a second time! I love when I recognize the reference :D
twilightgirl587: True Hook would be the oldest pirate family but they're not pirate royalty. LotusQuil has a seating chart of everyone who's in the room on their Tumblr—if I could put the link on my profile I would but FFN seems to eat links. Akiho will always be guard obsessed because I'm guard obsessed :D And yep, sea cows are a thing :D
JaclynnM: Oh thank you! And yeah we might be near the end of the Natalie era but we're coming up toward the scene II know you're referring to.
Katt Kiki: So close! :D
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Just two chapters away and yet it feels like an eternity! :D Lol Now imagine if they were in denial about being in denial about being in denial :D
CrystalKaouri: Oh that's a good point, hopefully those ear plugs will still work for the little ones otherwise they're in for an ear full from Hades! And I don't think you have a problem—they're iconic for a reason lol :D And yep, it's right around the corner! Oh and never apologize for a long review—I love all reviews! :D
danifan3000: We're almost there!
jedblack1997: You're so welcome and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
BriarEvans: Hope you enjoy! ;D
Lyz135: Hope you enjoy this chapter! I know it's been long awaited! :D
OceanBlueSeaEyes: It's definitely going to be some talk—and oh, if only!
smc: Glad you liked it! :D
jessaminego5134: Glad you enjoyed the chapter! Yep, Mal'll soon be free!
BAL4ever: I can promise you, at some point Audie will tell the others about the rivalry.
Lord of the A.U. FanFiction: It'll happen soon, Audie telling the room about Mal and Uma being rivals in her timeline.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Ariel sighed softly as she unfurled the scroll. While she was glad that scroll Mal was finally getting the support and relief, she just wished it hadn't taken so long.
Uma sighed as she walked into her dorm.
"Are you sighing because it took you so long to do this or because you know it's not going to be easy?" Celia asked.
"Probably both," Uma said.
She figured it would be the best place to start looking for Mal, even if she was constantly on the move.
"I mean, she's got a point," Rowyn nodded. "At some point Mal'll have to come back to her dorm."
Even if she wasn't there, there was a chance that she'd come back and Uma could grab her then.
"Exactly what I said!"
"No one disagreed with you Ro," Ruby chuckled.
Even better would be if Estelle was with her because then Uma would have backup that Mal couldn't say no to. Well, Estelle or Hadie would work but Uma wasn't picky.
"If I hadn't had the fight with Mal, scroll me would be able to help…" Hadie said, his voice soft.
Luckily, Mal was in their dorm but Uma had to pause as she saw Mal put something in her eye. What in the world…?
"Contacts…" Malinda muttered with a small sigh.
"I thought there might have been something different going on with your eyes but I wasn't sure," Uma said as she walked into their dorm.
"So…you're the only one who noticed the difference?" CJ asked.
"I'm her cousin, I should hope so," Uma said.
Unfortunately, their dorm was empty but as long as Mal was there, Uma wasn't all that disappointed.
"If Mal's there, doesn't that mean that the dorm's not empty?" Celia asked.
"Your eyes were not that dark when you were younger. I'm your cousin, I should know."
"Exactly," Uma said with a small nod.
"It's nothing Uma," Mal sighed and shook her head, setting the contact down since it seemed that Uma was insisting on talking.
"Last thing I wanted to do was poke myself in the eye while I was talking," Malinda said, shaking her head.
She wasn't so skilled that she could do two things at the same time.
"It does take some practice," Elle nodded. She'd tried contacts when she was in middle school but her glasses just were easier to have. She would still wear her contacts for super formal events like Cotillion though.
"I just...I just wanted a change is all."
Ariel couldn't help the sad smile that pulled at her lips. "Mal…I think you've changed enough."
"Hey it's not a big deal Mali. It's not like they're turning yellow or anything. But…why? I thought you were over the whole 'hating your eyes' thing?" Uma said, keeping her voice gentle.
You'd be wrong there cuz, Malinda thought as her hand gently brushed her stomach. Please…please have your father's eyes little one.
Sure they were probably wasting time on this but Ben would probably appreciate the extra time to get Aunt Steph into Auradon.
"So…then you're not wasting time," Sammy said. "If Ben would appreciate the extra time, it is the opposite of wasting time."
Besides, if she was sarcastic or anything other than gentle, Mal might get her back up and that would just end up in a fight.
"Sadly…you were right," Malinda said, her voice soft.
"I don't really like the sound of that," Jay told her.
It was rare when such a thing happened but when it did, Mal and Uma usually didn't speak to each other for a day at most. Hey, they were cousins. Cousins fought.
"You can say that again," Phil Jr. muttered as he shook his head. "I think I've had more positive interactions with Audrey than I have Ariana or Aaron."
But they didn't have time for a fight right now so if handling with kid gloves was the only way to do it, then Uma would.
Esmeralda nodded. "Sometimes the 'gentle and slow' way works better than trying to force someone out of their comfort zone."
It took Mal a moment before she answered. "I...I don't want to be connected to Maleficent," she whispered. "It's the only thing Auradon has right now to claim I'm actually the Dragon's spawn instead of mom's daughter."
"Well…other than the fact that you can turn into a dragon," Robin said.
"Not helping," Rachel sighed.
"Okay...and you're doing it manually why? I mean you have magic! What's the point in living in Auradon if you're just going to insist on doing it manually anyway?"
Fairy Godmother sighed. "That's the whole reason why we have classes like 'Life Skills without Magic', to make sure kids don't grow addicted to having magic for every little thing."
"But if it's a part of you, why not use it?" Uma asked.
"Spell might wear off and I'd have to keep applying it. This is a one and done sort of thing.
"Until you run out of the three month supply and you have to order more," Rowyn pointed out. "At least with a spell, you wouldn't have to worry about the package being lost or delayed or delivered to the wrong person—."
"I don't think you're helping," Rachel told her sister.
"Come join the club," Robin teased as she looked over at Rowyn.
Sure my eyes dry out faster but there's no risk of them failing in front of mom or Ben."
David shook his head. "Oh sure, you're just causing yourself discomfort but at least there's no risk of a spell failing."
Uma frowned slightly and sat on her bed. There was something…off about the tone of Mal's voice. "Mali...do you need to talk?"
"Yes she does!" Most of the VKs exclaimed in unison.
Mal sighed and turned to face her cousin. "Uma...what's there to talk about? No matter what I do, they're going to find a way to connect me to the Dragon.
"Yeah well those people are idiots," Herkie said, shaking his head.
"Well said, Herk!" Macaria nodded.
To them, it doesn't matter what I do or what mom does. They only see my 'evil' DNA. Changing my wardrobe didn't change anything, they're still writing articles saying I'm really Maleficent's kid because of my eyes. So...I'm changing that too. Besides, they're only a shade or two darker...Ben hasn't even said anything…"
"Well the people 'reporting' that are idiots," Hyllus said.
"You can say that again," Macaria nodded.
"Mal, if I hadn't seen you putting in those contacts, I wouldn't have known," Uma said, a little taken aback at how easily Mal had told her all of that but worked to keep it off her face and out of her voice.
"It didn't work," Malinda said with a small chuckle.
"…Really?"
"I've known you since we were three Um. You know me just as well as I know you."
"Granted, I thought they were darker than they were on the Isle but I just chalked that up to the sun. After all, you've been living here longer than I have."
"Is that possible?" Hadie asked.
Belle nodded. "Prolonged sun exposure can lead to a change in eye color though it's usually the iris darkening," she said.
Mal shrugged slightly. "If that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. I should probably get the other one in before I'm walking around with two different colored eyes."
"Though…would anyone notice?" Neal asked. "I mean, it's clearly such a minute shade of green that no one's noticed the change or at least commented on it since clearly Uma noticed."
Uma nodded slightly, her attention more focused on something sticking out under Mal's mattress than on her cousin's words.
"Feeling the love there, cuz," Mal teased as Uma shook her head.
"Mal? What's that?" Uma asked, pointing to whatever was poking out from under her cousin's mattress.
"Yes! Yes Uma! Find them!" Emir cheered.
"What's what?"
Ruby snorted in amusement. "That's not going to work."
"Yeah, when Uma's curious about something she's going to latch on to it," Celia nodded.
"That thing under your mattress, what is it? Why do you have something stuffed under there?"
Malinda flinched softly. "Because it was supposed to be the place too obvious to look," she whispered.
"It's just a bit of paper, Uma. It's nothing."
"You don't hide nothing under your bed," Uma said and went to pull it out.
"She's right," Meg nodded. "Nobody hides anything they consider to be nothing."
"Uma, don't—!"
"Too late cuz, I'm curious now," Uma said and pulled out the paper.
"And it's finally out!" Harry said, throwing up his hands in celebration.
Or rather, pulled out the multitude of papers from under Mal's mattress. Gazelle articles from the past few months spilled out on to the ground as Uma stared in shock before combing through them, putting each one back on the bed before moving on to the next.
"How long was this allowed to go on?" Naveen asked, shaking his head. "It sounds like there were almost six months worth of articles there."
As she read, her eyes began to narrow and her fists curled up against the paper in rage.
"Burn them like the kindling they deserve to be!" Neal nodded.
Uma raised an eyebrow. "Um…I would but I don't have fire powers."
"You know someone who does though! Two someones actually!"
"Mal, what is this nonsense?" Uma asked as she kept reading. Mal's words from before began to echo in her head: they're still writing articles saying I'm really Maleficent's kid,...changing my wardrobe didn't work…
Uma shook her head. "They're dead, those vultures are dead," she muttered, glaring at the scroll.
"What anyone who's not the crew, Ben, the Tourney team, mom and dad think," Mal muttered. "So basically all of Auradon."
Evan snorted slightly. "Wow. You've talked to all of Auradon? Cause trust me, The Gazelle actually makes up more of a minority than anything else."
"Evan, have they been reporting on you?" Rachel asked before either Rapunzel or Eugene could ask.
Evan shrugged. "Haven't they reported on everyone?"
"And you believe them?" Uma asked, looking at her cousin in astonishment. "Mal, it's complete and utter trash."
"Oh come on Uma," Emma shook her head. "Don't insult trash like that by comparing it to The Gazelle."
"Of course I don't believe them!" Mal exclaimed, turning to look at Uma, her eyes flashing green for a split second in her irritation.
Mal couldn't help but flinch slightly, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Uma.
"Don't worry Mali," Uma said, looking over at her cousin as if knowing her thoughts. "You're not going to hurt me."
"I know exactly who my mom is. But...that doesn't mean reading the articles doesn't sting a little. I mean, I turned Maleficent into a gecko for Auradon but all they see is the fact that the Dragon gave birth to me."
"This is ridiculous!" David exclaimed. "What more does Mal have to do to prove herself?!"
"Has Ben seen these? Does he know about them? Mal, if he does and he hasn't done anything, I'm going to remind him you're not the only child of the Gods here! Plus Harry would be happy to introduce him to the business end of his hook!"
"Uma, believe me, if I had known and I hadn't done something, I would have let you hurt me," Benji told her.
"Uma don't!" Mal exclaimed "No, he doesn't know and I don't plan on him knowing!"
"You're a bit too late for that," Harry said. "Considering scroll Benny knows something's up and I don't think he's the type to just let the matter drop when it affects someone he likes."
She could live with Natalie implying Ben would be embarrassed by her, she could live with the articles implying Ben was making a mistake dating her…she didn't know what she would do if Ben learned the truth and truly was embarrassed or ashamed.
Benji sighed and held Malinda close to him. "I would never be embarrassed or ashamed of you," he whispered to her.
"And why not? Your boyfriend's the king, he could put a stop to this garbage once and for all! Bad enough you're busy all the time but you don't need this poison being hurled at you either!" Uma exclaimed, gathering up all the newspapers into an easy to grab pile in the event she needed to.
"Exactly! Ben should have known about this months ago!" Akiho exclaimed.
"Uma, Ben has enough on his plate without worrying about what some stupid, no brained 'reporter' writes about me."
"Mal, when something or someone is hurting you, I don't care what else I've got on my plate. I want to know," Benji said.
"Mal, you're changing stuff about you to try to get these 'reporters' off your back! Don't think I haven't noticed you're not wearing your dragon stuff! Your jacket for instance! The only time I remember seeing you without your jacket was when you fell off the dock when we were nine and Uncle Hades told you to take it off so it could dry!"
Hercules nodded. "I think this has gone on far too long. There's no shame in admitting you need help."
Mal shrugged slightly and turned to take out the one contact she'd managed to get in before this all started. "It's not a good look, walking around with dragons on my clothes in Auradon. It provided me protection on the Isle but here…"
"Mal, even if you don't think dragons will protect you in Auradon, I have a feeling the Gods will," Macaria said. "If you want to wear dragons, then wear them."
"Says who?! Who in their right mind would say dragons are a bad look? Because you rocked that look when we were on the Isle!" Uma exclaimed, standing up and putting her hands on her hips.
"And dragons are a good look!" Lonnie said, crossing her arms.
Mulan sighed. "I know that and you know that Lonnie but you're not dating Ben—."
"So?" Lonnie asked. "Ben likes dragons too."
"I do," Ben and Benji both nodded.
Mal shrugged again and Uma shook her head. A shrug wasn't an answer but if anyone was giving Mal a hard time…she was already making a mental note to reach out to her cousin Hermes.
Posideon gave his granddaughter a small smile. "It seems that we're on the same brainwave in terms of people to talk to in order to make sure this Gazelle stays far away from Mal," he said.
"And Hadie," Mal said quickly. "As Prince of the Underworld, he'd be royal enough to fit The Gazelle's qualifications on who to 'report' on apparently."
"I'd like to see them try," Hades said, narrowing his eyes at the scroll.
As a Messenger God, the mortals considered him a God of Communication—meaning he'd be able to look into things like revenge against The Gazelle.
"Even if he wasn't a God of Communication, he's also considered to be a trickster God," Zeus said. "Either way, I'm sure he'd be happy to help."
As much as she hated the puffed togas on Olympus, her cousin came first.
"And she always will," Uma said with a nod.
"Feeling's returned cuz," Mal said with a small smile.
"Mal, do I need to get Ben involved?" Uma asked, not mentioning the fact that her cousin's boyfriend was already involved. In fact the whole reason why Uma had been looking for Mal in the first place was on Ben's request.
"You know, thinking about it, maybe it's better if Mal doesn't know that just yet," Abby nodded.
"No!"
"Well I think I do now, since you're changing your clothes and your eye color because what these fools are saying! What next, you'll change your hair color? Am I going to come in here one day to find you've gone blonde or something?
"Which apparently is possible," Uma said, shaking her head. "Seriously, why did no one in the other timeline ask about that?"
"Because they're apparently filled with idiots," Malinda sighed. "No offense Audie."
"None taken," Audie said.
Mal, you don't exactly have much more to change before you're not you anymore! Come on!"
"As we've mentioned, the only thing left to change…would be your hair," Audie said softly.
"Wha—no! Uma!"
"Oh yes Mal, we are going to see the person who can legally do something about this! If not, well then I'm all in favor of bringing round some Isle style justice to these vultures!"
"Yes! Now we're talking!" CJ grinned. "You gonna introduce them to the hyenas?"
"I feel like as a mother I should say that's a bad idea but also as a mother…I'm all in favor of this," Milah nodded.
"Isle style...no Uma!"
"Yes Uma!" Harry nodded.
"Yes Mal! I'm sure Shenzi would not mind letting us borrow one of her cubs to scare these morons straight! And if not, well then use the tools at your disposal! Get Estelle growling and bob's your uncle!"
"No!" Mal exclaimed. "Uma, we do that and they'll take him away! No one's taking my boy away from me!"
"Mal, don't worry," Uma shook her head as Estelle trotted over to Mal. "I don't think Estelle would let anyone take him away from you."
Estelle yipped softly and rested his heads on Mal's leg, as if to show Mal that he agreed with Uma's point.
"First off, I don't have an Uncle Bob. I have an Uncle Zeus and an Uncle Poseidon and I'm sure a multitude more over on Olympus. Second of all if I did that, how soon do you think it would take before they wrote an article about how I was allowing a dangerous animal to be around the King and Fairy Godmother had to take Estelle away?"
Jane shook her head. "Mom's seen Estelle though and she's seen how he's interacted with the other students. Just because The Gazelle writes about it doesn't mean mom does what they say."
No one noticed the slight smiles on both Zeus and Poseidon's faces at hearing the scroll Mal call them 'Uncle'. Even if they hadn't interacted with her much (or at all in Posideon's case), it was still nice to hear.
"Then you sue their ass for slander!"
"Libel. Slander is spoken," Mal said softly.
"Really? Do we really need to nit pick?" Harry asked. "They're the same thing!"
"Actually they're not," Hyllus spoke up. "While they're both defamatory statements, libel is written while slander, as Mal said, is spoken. When the two were analyzed under different sets of standards, libel was recognized to be the more serious wrong so you'd probably get a bigger bang for your buck if you sued for libel."
"Semantics," Uma told her, waiving her hand in front of her face as if shooing away a fly.
"What I said," Uma nodded.
"Our uncle is the God of Law and as you pointed out earlier, I'm dating the King. I kinda have to know the difference," Mal sighed. "Uma, just leave it okay? If I just make it till Cotillion, it'll all be over."
"I…I don't think you'll last until Cotillion though Mal," Jane said, her voice soft.
"You can't last until Cotillion!" Uma exclaimed. "You're always rushing around, scurrying to meetings or class or Cotillion prep...when's the last time you relaxed? You do remember how to relax don't you?"
"Sometimes it didn't feel like it," Malinda muttered.
Mal sighed again before she stiffened up and looked at her phone. "Gods is that the time? Uma, I got to run! I am so late for—."
"Let me guess, another meeting with one of the many spawns of Satan?" Harry sighed and shook his head.
"A meeting? Why yes you are," Uma nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "With Ben."
"Finally!" Harry, Jay, Emir, and Akiho all exclaimed.
"Very funny Uma but I really do have to run," Mal said, gathering up her books and making her way to the door. Or at least she was until Uma grabbed her arm, preventing her from walking any further.
"Oh no, you're not getting out of this one Mal," Hadie said, shaking his head.
"I wasn't joking Mal," Uma said, her voice soft. "You need to talk to someone...you used to talk to me but if you don't want to do that, at least talk to Ben."
Both Benji and Ben nodded fervently, almost resembling bobble head dolls.
"He can't do anything Uma," Mal whispered, her eyes flashing green once more only this time out of worry rather than irritation. "And I don't want to stress him out by telling him. It's not fair to put this on his plate."
"Like Tartarus I can't do something! Mal, I want to know!" Benji said firmly.
"Mal, I know we're VKs and I know the 'touchy feely' stuff isn't what we're used to but it's clear to anyone with eyes that Ben cares about you. He'd walk through fire to make sure you were okay."
"That's clear as glass," Lucas said.
Mal gave a weak chuckle at that. "He almost did too. At his coronation...when Maleficent attacked and transformed, he tried to fight his way to me to make sure I was alright. It took Jay, Akiho, and Emir to take him out of the room."
"And by the sounds of it, we were just barely able to get him out of there with the struggle he put up," Jay said.
"See?" Uma said, keeping her voice gentle even though she was seething mad.
"And no one blames you Uma," Elle said.
But it wouldn't help anyone if Mal thought she was mad at her. She'd just clam up or worse, try to rush out of the room to whatever meeting she was trying to go to.
"Uma, if I have to, I will walk in and pull Mal out of her 'meeting' with Natalie," Ben said. "This ends today."
"He was willing to face off with Maleficent as a dragon for you. Last I checked, the only other guy who had done that was Phillip for Aurora."
"...are you implying that I'm Aurora in this scenario?"
"I just heard the implication myself and unfortunately yes, yes I am. However that does not mean you are in anyway like Sleeping Brat."
"Hey!"
"Oh dear Gods, I did not miss the ear-drum bursting screams," Emir muttered. He actually thought Audrey was turning over a new leaf…though to be fair, he'd be pretty annoyed at a derogatory nickname too…
…Wait, was he giving Audrey the benefit of the doubt?
"Good. Otherwise you know what'd I have to do to you right?"
"Kill me?"
"Got it in one."
Weak chuckles filled the room.
"I'd deserve it." Uma told her before shaking her head. "But anyway, that just proves my point! Ben cares about you! Hell if Blueberry was here she'd probably say Benny loves you...where is Blueberry anyway? I'm only asking because it's been five minutes and she hasn't said anything to completely get on my nerves and make me wish I had a smoke bomb."
"Wait…didn't Harry say that Evie was at the hospital?" Mal asked.
Uma shrugged. "You matter more, Mali."
"She's with her dad," Mal said, shaking her head. "Honestly Uma, how is it I could room with her for a month and be fine with her but you've been here for months and still despise the ground she walks on?"
"Talent," Uma said with another shrug.
"Trust me Mali, I've asked myself the same thing," Uma said with a sigh. Harry had mentioned that Blueberry was at the hospital, why hadn't she…oh that's right. More important things on her mind. Things that started with 'm' and ended with 'al'.
"Uma…" Malinda shook her head.
"No Mal, Uma's right," Evie said. "In this instance, you are more important and should be the person Uma was focused on."
"But anyway, you've distracted me yet again. We're going to Ben!"
"Mal…the jig's up. I'd just go along with it," Carlos said, his voice soft yet gentle.
"Uma, there's no need to bother Ben with this! I'm handling it the best way I know how!"
"But you're not handling it!" Kitty shook her head. "You shouldn't have to handle it!"
"Mal, the way you're 'handling' it has resulted in you giving up parts of yourself to try to appease people who don't seem like they want to be appeased! Your eyes I can sort of understand because you've hated them since I've known you but your dragons? Your spray painting? Your jacket...hell your Isle garb in general?"
"Never give up part of yourself to try to please people," Hades said.
Mal sighed and shook her head. Uma didn't get it. She didn't have all of Auradon's eyes on her almost every second of every day. She didn't have to deal with Natalie and her comments nor deal with The Gazelle and their articles.
"I'm surprised they haven't reported on Uma yet," Elle said.
"Yeah," Melody nodded. "Remember when they reported on Arabella and how she still calls a fork a 'dinglehopper'?"
Ariel looked over at her children. "I'm sorry, they did what now?"
"…Arabella's going to kill us, we promised we'd keep it secret," Elle sighed.
"Yes well I'll be talking to Alana about this after we get out of here," Ariel said, shaking her head.
"Mal, what did Uncle Hades tell you all those months ago when you and Jay were heading out to Auradon?" Uma asked.
"Exactly," Hades nodded.
"He told you to never apologize for who you are and not to change yourself for anyone. Boreadon doesn't deserve it and Ben would never ask you to do that."
Benji nodded. "Uma's right. I would never ask you to change anything about yourself Mal. I love you too much to do that."
"Uma, what else can I do? I break out the dragon clothes or the spray painting, the reporters will just find more ways to connect me to the Isle and Maleficent! It has to be done Uma! And no one, not even Ben can change that!"
"You don't know that unless you try though, Mal," Persephone said softly.
"He should at least know about it!" Uma exclaimed, getting fed up with how stubborn her cousin was being. "And we're going to tell him even if I have to drag you to him!"
"And you know she'll do it too if the scrolls are any indication," Jay said with a small snort of amusement.
"You wouldn't dare!"
Rose shook her head. "You really need to stop tempting fate, Mal."
"I did it when we were seven and then again all those months ago when you got the invite off the Isle. What makes you think I wouldn't do it this time?"
"You really need to stop telling me what I won't do, Mali," Uma said as she nodded her head.
Mal shook her head. "Because of what people might think?"
"Since when has Uma ever cared about that?" Celia asked.
"You honestly think I care about what some prissy princesses and pansy ass princes think? The only ones I remotely like are your boy, his shadows, their girlfriends and Lonnie" Uma stated, moving her hand so that it was on Mal's wrist instead of her forearm for ease of dragging. "Right. To Ben we go!"
Harry snorted fondly. "The day the cap'n cares about that is the day I dislike swords."
"Uma, you're insane!"
"Complements won't get you anywhere Mali!"
"Now why does that sound familiar?" Chip asked, turning his head to look at Emir and Akiho.
"You hang around Harry, Jay, Akiho and Emir way too much if you think that's a complement!"
"No such thing!" Benji said, shaking his head.
"Mal I've heard worse. Remember, we're from the Isle? Freddy boy's called us 'witches' and 'demons' so many times it's practically lost its meaning. Besides Ben calls Emir and Akiho insane like twice a day and it barely phases them."
Ben snorted. "They consider it a compliment now."
"That should tell you something about them!"
"That they're insane but that they're good people to have around when you need them," Chad said, his voice still soft and slightly raspy from lack of use.
"Thanks Chad," Emir said, his voice not the normal up beat, jovial one he normally used when being called insane but more soft. He knew the Chad who said that was the same Chad that Ben considered one of his closest friends. Not the Audrey sycophant he had been.
"That they're good people!" Uma stated firmly as she continued to drag her cousin toward Ben's office.
"Oh why thank you Uma!" Akiho and Emir grinned.
She wasn't lying either, Emir and Akiho were in fact good people. She would spend many an hour with them as they would commiserate about what Benny used to be like before Mal appeared.
Emir and Akiho shot Uma a smile, a smile that Uma returned.
Honestly, Uma didn't know how those two didn't go insane before now; acting like the responsible party in the friendship.
"You realize that implies that they are sane right?" Ashaki asked.
From constantly having to bring Ben either dinner or breakfast to sometimes dragging him out of his office so he'd go to bed at a decent hour. Sometimes, Akiho had told her, the only way he could really get Ben to take a break was to threaten to go to their coach.
"Why didn't you guys just go to Coach Jenkins?" Audie asked, looking at Emir and Akiho. "I mean, in my timeline, he really cared about the team and everyone on it. I doubt that's changed much in your timeline."
After all, Ben was their captain. He had to set an example for the boys on the team and if they were worried about him, then that would be something they should bring to the coach since they all knew he'd do the same if the situations were reversed.
"Of course I would," Ben said.
It would work for a week or so, if only because Ben knew that Akiho wasn't bluffing. He also knew that their coach, on top of potentially benching him from games, would be honor bound to go to Belle or Beast with his concerns and that was the last thing Ben wanted. He didn't want his parents to think he wasn't taking care of himself.
"He should have gone to Belle and Beast," Shang sighed. "Though to be fair…I should have as well."
Never mind the fact that he clearly wasn't, it was still a good threat.
"Hey! I'm taking care of myself!" Ben exclaimed.
"Uh huh," Emir and Akiho deadpanned.
But it was one that never truly lasted as sure enough, Ben would find his way back burrowed in his office under a mountain of paperwork.
"And that will change," Malinda said.
Uma couldn't help but smile a little as she thought about Emir and Akiho, or as Mal had called them, Ben's shadows. They truly were almost glued to the King's hip but considering the boy had no guards around him it was almost understandable.
Emir sighed. "Yes, it eats Akiho alive that we are Ben's guards."
At first, Uma was a little on edge considering they were always around. But Ben had explained that they were always like this—it wasn't a recent development with the arrival of more VKs as Uma had thought.
"I could see though why you would think that," Melody said. "They're not exactly the most subtle at shadowing Ben."
Akiho and Emir also clearly cared about Mal too.
"They most certainly do," Malinda nodded with a small smile.
Sometimes, Uma noticed, Akiho would pass Mal a sandwich during class or Emir would slip her some grapes or a baggie of strawberries if he passed her in the hall.
Benji smiled as he heard Ariel say that. He hadn't known about that.
"Thanks you guys," he said.
"Think nothing of it," Emir shrugged. "We like Mal so we'll make sure she eats. Just like we did or do for you."
They had gotten the others on the Tourney team to do so as well—Jay and DeVil needed no prompting and a lot of the others did it with no issue but Charming Jr. almost seemed to drag his feet in checking on Mal.
"And I wonder why that is," Alexandria said, glaring slightly over at Leah's cell.
That was, until one of the Tourney boys pointed out that if something happened to Mal, then Ben might have to go back to Audrey and his betrothal contract. Then Charming seemed to almost lead the charge in making sure Mal was okay. Much to Mal's annoyance.
"Why? Just why?" Henry asked. "It's sick—Chad doesn't deserve to act like a puppy for Audrey to toy with."
"I know why he's doing it," Mal muttered to Uma after one such instance. "The idiot told me himself. He thinks if something happens to me then Audrey could pressure Ben back into their betrothal contract. Never mind the fact that Chad's a better person when he's away from Audrey…but I never said that."
"Well we all know why that is now," Kitty said though she frowned as she saw Chad wince slightly. She didn't mean it to be a barb toward her brother though Chad would probably be sensitive about the hypnosis for a while.
"Of course not," Uma chuckled. "But seriously, betrothal contracts are a thing here? What, do the people who got together because of True Love not think lighting will strike twice for their kids or something?"
Aurora sighed. "To be fair, we weren't the ones who set up the betrothal contract though Uma raises a good point."
"Do you honestly think Audrey of all people has a True Love waiting somewhere for her?"
Audie smiled slightly. "I do."
"…You do?" Phil Jr. asked. "Who?"
"You."
"…I'm going to say he did not expect that answer," Neal chuckled at Phil Jr.'s shocked look.
"Judging by how she acts…I'd say she has a True Lust."
Malinda shook her head. "I didn't need those images Uma!"
Charming had met his fair share of smoke bombs since then but Uma wasn't going to complain about that. Smoke bombs were normal for Mal. Prissy dresses and caring about what other people thought was not.
"Happy to help…I guess?" Chad said, his voice still soft.
"Uma, I swear to all the Gods, if you don't let me go…"
"You'll what Mal? You won't hurt me," Uma said.
"What are you going to do Mal? Make Blueberry dress me in some prissy dress?" Uma chuckled as they continued to make their way to Ben's office.
"Well…to Uma that's probably not a bad threat in a way…" Celia said.
She couldn't help but hope that Ben had had enough time for her Aunt Steph to arrive and be made aware of what all what's happening with Mal. Otherwise, it'd be a tense meeting while they waited and something told Uma that Mal would rather see her mom first thing than have Persephone burst into the office.
"Oh I'll do more than just burst in there Uma," Persephone said.
Though that would be an awesome thing to see.
"It really would, now that I think about it," Harry nodded.
Persephone shook her head. "I'll save that for The Gazelle if I need to storm anywhere, Harry," she said.
"Honestly Uma, at least knock first," Mal said as they reached the door to Ben's office. It was closed but that was usually how it was, despite Ben's open door policy. "What if he's in a meeting with someone?"
"The fact that Dean's not there to tell you that he's in a meeting with someone should stand to reason that Ben wants you in there," Akiho said.
Uma sighed and shook her head but knocked once on the door, loud enough to count as a knock but soft enough that there was no way that Ben had actually heard that if he was in his office.
"Actually, I might have," Ben said. "I've got enhanced senses from dad's Beast enchantment."
Benji paused. "I forgot about that," he said softly.
"How did you forget about that?" Malinda asked in shock before shaking her head. "Wait…were you just excited about the possibility of two dragons in the castle?"
"There. I knocked. Happy now?"
Malinda chuckled. "Never change Um. Never change."
"Why are you the way that you are?"
"Because I'm just that amazing," Uma said with a smirk.
"Would you have me any other way?" Uma asked as she opened the door and couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight before her.
Mal shook her head. "No, I wouldn't. If you were any way other than how you are now, then you wouldn't be Uma."
There, standing in front of Ben's desk and looking over at her, was her aunt.
"Finally!" Hades sighed in relief.
"Mom?" Uma heard Mal whisper but that was all she heard before Uma was knocked to the side as Mal rushed into Persephone's open arms, Mal's books clattering to the ground with a loud crash.
"That took way too long to finally happen," Malinda whispered.
Uma frowned as she watched Mal cling to Persephone like she was a drowning woman and her mom a life raft.
"She…Mal are you…oh this waste of oxygen is dead!" Hades snarled. The scroll might not have said it but it was clear based on the descriptions that Natalie, the waste of oxygen, had made his daughter cry!
As she continued to watch, Uma's brow furrowed as Mal's shoulders began to shake. Was...was Mal crying?
"It was more out of relief than anything," Malinda said, her voice soft as Benji rubbed her back. "Like I knew with my mom there, I didn't have to put up the act anymore. I could fall apart and someone would be there to catch me."
"Shh, shh, it's okay Mali," Persephone said, gently rubbing Mal's back as Mal's body continued to be wracked with silent sobs. "I'm here."
"I took far too long to get there though," Persephone sighed.
Ben walked over to Uma to try to give the two of them as much privacy as possible, bending down to pick up Mal's books and set them on a nearby table.
Chip shook his head. "Oh sure, his girlfriend's having a near break down but Benji's got to protect the books!"
"You were longer than I thought you'd be. Did you find out what's going on with Mal?"
"You could say that," Harriet nodded.
"Oh yeah," Uma nodded and sighed. "There's a stack of newspapers about four or five months old back in our room. If you want to, read 'em but what Mal needs to hear right now is that you don't want her changing anything about herself."
"I don't want you changing yourself," Ben and Benji said simultaneously.
"What? Of course I don't want her to change anything Uma!" Ben exclaimed but tried to keep his voice down as Mal was still being comforted by her mother.
"Exactly," Benji nodded. "I never have and I never will want Mal to change anything about herself unless it's a change Mal wants to make."
Her muffled sobs continued to break his heart and he looked down at the ground to brace himself for the conversation that was about to happen.
Benji shook his head. "I swear, if I'd seen Natalie in person that day…"
Mal needed her mom right now. She didn't need him butting in.
"As hard as I know that must have been…thank you Benny," Malinda whispered and gently kissed Benji on the cheek.
"Tell her that," Uma said and Ben looked back up at her. "Trust me, I'm already planning on dragging Mal back to the Isle so she can have a reboot or at least time away from those vultures. We've got friends back on the Isle anyway and we need to check on the crew and our allies."
"And dad should get a chance to see Mal as well!" Hadie added. "It's not fair to him to go months without talking to Mal and then all of a sudden mom's whisked off the Isle to help Mal out while he's sitting there clueless."
Malinda shook her head. "Mom had her link open, dad was listening in," she said. "But I agree with you on the whole 'dad should get to see me' thing."
Ben nodded. "Before you do that though...I think I need to learn everything that's been going on."
"You're not going to like it Ben," Emma sighed.
Ben shook his head. "I don't care. I still need to know…or scroll me needs to know."
"That would be a good idea, King Ben," Persephone spoke up. "As I would also like to know why my daughter is still sobbing in my arms and why I'm just now learning about it!"
"As surprising as it is for me to say this, it's not his fault Lady Steph," Harry said.
"We didn't know Aunt Steph," Uma said softly. "We...well we thought something was going on with Mal but we didn't know what it was and it didn't seem fair to worry you since you were on the Isle for your six months."
Hera shook her head. They really needed to find a way to rework that agreement now. Clearly, it was hurting more than it was helping.
Persephone sighed and shook her head, looking down at her daughter. "Mal, honey? Are you up for talking? What's wrong sweetheart?"
"Mal, please, talk to your mother," Hades said.
Mal sighed and nodded, breaking from the embrace and wiping away any sign of her tears.
"Mal…it's okay to cry," Alexandria said, her voice soft.
"Hey, hey," Persephone said gently, grabbing her hands as to stop her from wiping away the tell tale sign of her crying. "You don't need to be ashamed of your tears Mali. You don't need to put on a brave exterior. Not here. Not around me."
"You never have to pretend that you're not unhappy or hide your tears around me," Persephone said, looking at both of her children.
"Or me for that matter," Hades said, nodding his head.
"Or me," Uma nodded, mentally making a note to talk to Harry and Jay so that they could take care of anyone who was giving Mal a hard time outside of the vultures that called themselves reporters.
Jay and Harry nodded as Ariel read that. Without a doubt, they would gladly handle any problem that Mal was facing.
She was their 'little sister', they would always protect her.
That, she would take care of personally.
Harriet nodded. "Let me know if you need help Uma. I don't care if I'm still on the Isle, I'll find a way."
"Same here," Sammy, Henry, and Claudine nodded.
Mal looked over at Claudine, a little surprised and more than slightly touched. "Really?"
"You accepted my relationship with Henry without any questions or distrust," Claudine said with a small smile. "Besides, I think in this case we can drop gang lines and treat it like an attack on a VK is an attack on all VKs."
Maybe she'd even rope in Benny's shadows.
"We gladly volunteer our services!" Emir and Akiho nodded.
Hell if needed she'd talk to her grandfather! Those vultures would have a hard time working if their offices were flooded!
"That's still a possibility even though they've yet to do anything to Mal," Poseidon said as he glanced over at Elle and Melody. If he found out that rag reported on his great-granddaughters…
"Or me," Ben said softly as he walked over to her. "Mal...talk to me. What's going on?"
"Mal's being mentally tortured, that's what!" Celia shouted.
"You know scroll Benny wasn't asking you right?" CJ asked.
"Hey, I answered his question."
Mal took a shaky breath before looking over at Ben. Ben's heart broke as he saw how unsure and terrified Mal looked. And yet...she also looked as though someone had removed a large weight from her.
"That weight should never have been on you," Ben said, shaking his head with a small sigh.
How long had she waited for someone…for me to ask her what was going on? How long had she been waiting for me to ask her if she needed to talk? Ben thought, almost feeling like he'd been hit in the stomach by the realization.
"Too long," Benji whispered.
"If you want, we can go someplace with a bit more privacy," Ben offered.
"If it was anyone other than Ben who said that, and I didn't know the circumstances, I'd say that was very smooth," Akiho said.
Benji shook his head. "Seriously? You've known me how long and you think I'm going to take my then girlfriend someplace private when her mom's there?"
"This is your office," Mal said, her voice soft. "I don't know if there's anyplace with more privacy?"
"Well there's our clubhouse but you were probably referring to places in Auradon weren't you?" Harry said.
Ben couldn't help but give her a look. "You and I know perfectly well that Akiho and Emir love to randomly burst in here if they think I've been working too hard. That's not much of a guarantee of privacy."
"But aren't they off planning a picnic?" Dizzy asked. "They're not exactly going to be bursting into your office then."
Ashaki shook her head. "You underestimate them then. Never assume you've got privacy when those two can pop up at any moment."
"Thanks sis!" Emir grinned.
Mal gave a small giggle at that and Ben smiled slightly, not noticing the approving looks from Uma and Persephone.
Around the room, people couldn't help but smile slightly hearing scroll Mal laugh.
"Come on," Ben said gently, holding out his hand.
Mal bit her lip but slowly took Ben's hand, a small smile forming as she felt his hand in hers.
"You have no idea how relieved I was when you did that," Benji said, whispering into Malinda's ear. "It gave me hope that I could help you, that this was something I, Lady Persephone, and Uma could help you solve."
"Mom are...are you going to be there too?"
"Of course dear," Persephone nodded. "And if anyone tries to stop me…well let's just say I pity them. I certainly wouldn't want to know what it's like to be a mint plant."
"A Cerberus couldn't drag me away," Persephone promised. She had a feeling that Hadie would be well looked after by Harry and Jay, after all it hadn't escaped her notice that they weren't in the room with them and they were normally almost impossible to remove from Mal and Uma's sides.
"Actually Hadie was with his friends," Malinda said. "They were hanging out by the library when you went to see them, mom."
Hadie couldn't help but smile a little at the thought of seeing his mom in Auradon though he wished he could have helped out more with Mal. If only they hadn't had that fight in the scrolls…
"Speaking of Cerberuses...where's yours?"
Hades chuckled. "Now come on Steph, surely you know the plural of 'Cerberus' is 'Cerberi' don't you?"
"With his attendant," Mal said as Ben began to lead her off. It was time they finally had their talk.
"'Finally' is right," Uma sighed in relief. At least now scroll Mal would get some help.
"That's the end of the scroll," Ariel said. "Who else would like to read?"
"I would like to read a scroll, if you don't mind Queen Ariel?" Demeter spoke up.
"Of…of course Lady Demeter," Ariel nodded.
