Rashid threw the potion Clarion had delivered and suddenly they were back in Pixie Hollow.

"Mal?"

Belle went out to meet the young people she considered her children.

Mal was still leaning on Jay and Evie, her tiredness was clear, but when her mother-in-law came to hug her, she went to meet her.

"Where is everyone?"

Evie asked when she realized that only Belle, the Fairy Queen and the former guardians were there. When no one answered her friend's question and especially when she saw the look on her in-laws' faces, Mal was afraid.

"Where's Ben?"

She asked, worried about what they would answer.

(...)

Hours before - Auradon

"What can I do to exercise my magic?"

The witch asked herself as she leafed through the Darkness' large spell book.

"Are you dead?"

Chad asked her, because after walking around the place for a short visit, he realized that apart from her, everything there was old and gathering dust.

"Two decades I think, why?"

"Nothing, you're... you're doing fine."

He was afraid, but he wasn't going to say it.

"I found it."

She said with a huge, strangely evil smile as she read the page of her book

"Found what?"

Chad asked.

"Chad, what's the most important kingdom, apart from Auradon?"

She asked looking at a specific spell.

"Auroria, Queen Leah's kingdom."

"Queen Leah. Maleficent, if you could see that."

Agatha smiled victoriously and ran her fingers over the phrases described in the book.

(...)

Hours later- Pixie Hollow

"Ben can't see that."

Adam was talking to one of the fairies to convince them to turn off the screen.

"What can't I see?"

All it took was for the king to ask and his vision was taken directly to the images being shown on the screen.

"Auroria has just suffered a heavy attack, the death toll is still unknown..."

When the hazel eyes saw Queen Leah's beautiful city totally destroyed, they lost ground. What could they do?

(...)

"Ben, try to stay calm."

Doug urged his friend, who was in a state of shock.

"Stay calm? People are dead, families are dead. These are my people and there's nothing I can do."

He was shouting not just at Dunga's son, but at everyone.

(...)

"Okay, here's the map of the forest and Auroria."

After receiving the news, Ben lost his footing, but then all the anger he felt drove him to take action.

"Son, you know..."

Adam had been trying for hours to convince him that what he wanted to do was crazy, but it seemed impossible.

"Queen Clarion says there's a shortcut behind us, I mean, on top of us. There are ruins below the castle, maybe we can take some of them there, I've already contacted Dr. Stive and he's being sent."

He totally ignored his father and passed the information on to Doug, Lonnie and Jane.

"How do we get there?"

Lonnie asked, because he knew that one way or another they were heading towards danger.

"Agatha's not there anymore, so we can go. The queen has made a potion available so we can go back and forth. We'll just get the people to safety, understand?"

"Yes, King Ben."

Everyone answered in unison.

(...)

Now

"How long have they been gone?"

Carlos asked when they were informed of what happened right after they went to Neverland.

"How could you let them do that?"

Mal asked nervously. Her green eyes were shining and she was ready to come out of hiding, even though she couldn't stand on her own two feet.

"Hey, stay calm, okay? You can't go through strong emotions just yet."

Rashid reminded her when he saw her eyes.

"Stay calm?"

She laughed at his statement.

"Who's Tommy with?"

Evie asked without taking her eyes off Mal

"He's sleeping in my room, Evie. He's fine."

Belle answered her.

"Mal, you need to go to your room and rest, the magic you've absorbed is still too much."

Rashid reminded.

"I'm not going to rest, Agatha destroyed an entire kingdom, she's on the loose, Ben and the rest of us are there too and..."

Mal collapsed in his friends' arms.

"Mal? Mal?"

Jay tried in vain to wake her.

"She'll be fine. Take her to her room, she needs to rest." Queen Clarion spoke up. "You rest too, we'll let you know as soon as the others arrive."

For a while it seemed calm again, but it was only a while.

"Jane! Are you all right?"

Fairy Godmother ran to hug her daughter who had just appeared in the smoke.

"Ben!"

Belle ran over to her children.

"Mal's here? Where is she?"

Ben asked, his eyes shining when he saw Carlos's hugging Jane.

"She's in her room, these last few hours have been really hard."

"All right, I'll go and see her."

Despite being visibly dirty and having seen too much in the kingdom, he needed to see her.

"Ben, if I were..."

Evie tried to tell him not to go to his room, as Mal was burning with anger at him.

He went up to the bedroom and it was dark, she was still asleep. How good it was to see her there. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw those purple hairs there. The king went over to her, caressed her cheeks and gave her a light kiss on the forehead.

"Ben?"

She slowly woke up.

"Hi."

He said quietly.

"Ben!"

When she realized that it was her husband who was there, Mal threw herself at him for a strong hug.

"Good to see you too."

He squeezed her tighter.

"Are you crazy?"

When she remembered what he'd done hours ago, she pulled out of the embrace and slapped his arms.

"What?"

He asked without understanding the reason for the blows he was receiving.

"What's your problem, Ben? Do you mind being safe and secure?"

She snapped at him.

"Says the person who was in Neverland."

"It's different! I didn't go on a suicide mission! Even more so without warning."

"Mal..."

He tried to speak.

"Did you think about me, Ben? You haven't thought about how I might feel when I arrive and don't see my husband and discover that he's gone to the woman that he wants to kill everyone and..."

One of the things Ben has learned about Mal is that when she gets angry or nervous she talks non-stop, or shut up completely so he just pulled her around the waist and kissed her.

"I love you."

"What? Do you really think that kissing me will make me forget what you did? I'm angry, Ben! You left without caring about anything."

"It works with me."

He remembered the times she'd shut him up with a kiss.

"Because it's you, you're silly and you like kissing me."

"Oh, and you don't like kissing me?"

"It doesn't change things."

"Come on, Mal, I missed you and I haven't slept because I was worried about you." He asked her to calm down. "Now please come back with your green eyes and give me a kiss, please."

"There are times when I hate you, you know that?"

She finally gave in, wrapping her hands around his neck and giving him the long-awaited kiss.

"Tell you what, I'm mad at you because you didn't tell me it was so dangerous and you're mad at me because I did it, so why don't we just get some sleep and then have a fight?"

"Great idea."

"I'm glad you like it, now come on."

Ben lay down on the bed and opened his arms so that Mal could sleep on his chest as usual. A little peace and quiet, at least for the time being.