With Ben human once again, things went relatively back to normal in the barrier. People went about their business and their jobs, but something new had entered them.

Hope.

Mal couldn't see why. The only thing that has changed was Ben was back with them and human. Maleficent was still just as much of a threat. But their king had returned, and was much more fragile as a human, Mal realized.

Even after weeks, he was still frail from his time in the forest, his muscles not as toned as when he had been playing tourney 24/7. But he didn't let it stop him.

Every meeting of the counsel, or what remained of it, he was there. Every morning, he rose with the sun and went off to train with Jay and Carlos, even if he was already drenched from his morning activities with her.

Even better, he refused to be acknowledged as their king, or treated any different from a normal citizen, even though she reveled in it when anyone shrank from her title.

Still, after weeks, they hadn't acknowledged the fact that her mother was still an issue. All the citizens of the barrier cared about was that Ben had returned and everything was good. Even though it wasn't.

Mal knew she had to do something about it, so while the citizens were fawning over Ben and his still relatively new humanness, She called together the VKs. It was time to do some plotting and do the wrong things.

It was wonderful to get the gang back together again. Even if it was a huge secret to everyone but the four of them.

"Tell me why we can't involve Doug and Jane and any of the other kids from Auradon?" Evie asked as they sat huddled in a small circle around a burning campfire.

They were hidden well by magic, but the smaller the area she had to magic the better. They were used to smaller quarters anyway.

"Don't you usually invite heros to defeat a villain?" Carlos asked. "That's why we're here, isn't it?" He asked, looking to the rest of them.

Mal gave a short nod. "It's the four of us because to defeat a villain like my mother, we need to fight dirty, and the other kids won't do it when it comes down to it." She looked to Jay for support, he had always understood her the best.

"You're worried they won't be able to follow through with anything dark and gruesome," Jay said. He was only mostly right.

Mal nodded again. "They didn't grow up like we did. They're frail and weak to magic." She looked to the three of them. "I don't want my mother to use them against us, so if you are willing, it's going to be the four of us against my mother again." She took a deep breath. "I just don't know how yet."

Carlos looked the most scared out of all of them. "What if we can't defeat her this time?" He looked to each of them for a brief moment. "What if she's too strong for us and we lose people we love?" Mal didn't miss the subtle look he passed to Jay, but she had suspected for a while.

The fact that they could all die, some of them could die, was a fact she hadn't wanted to acknowledge, but she knew she had to. "No," she said, feeling courage roar through her. "I promise you none of us are going to die." She looked to each of them. "If anyone of us is going to die, it will be me."

"Mal!" Evie exclaimed. "No!" She knew exactly what Mal was doing, and Mal expected no less.

"Just keep Ben safe, whatever the cost," Mal said instead. "Whatever happens, keep him safe. Promise me." The theee of them resisted. "Promise me!" She said again.

Reluctantly, they each promised.

"Do whatever you can to keep him safe."

As much as he had never gotten used to being treated as a king before he was a beast, it was even stranger now that he had been a beast and was a man once more. Everyone treated him with the same reverence, but he did his best to correct them every time. He was merely a man. It wasn't the time to be thinking about the royal line and the line of kings.

There were more pressing things.

As much as he wanted to find a solution to the Maleficent problem, he knew she wouldn't go down easy with a simple conversation. Mal was terrified he would be in danger, since he was human and fragile, in her own words. Still, he wanted to be able to do something. He just didn't know what just yet.

He jumped as a branch snapped behind him. He had never been scared as the beast, but being a man once again was different. Audrey stood behind him, looking unlike herself, drawn in and nervous, the large scar prominent across her face.

He knew he had been the cause. He knew Audrey hadn't been the only one. He hadn't apologized to any of them; they refused to let him. Still, he tried, but Audrey raised her hand to stop him, like everyone else had in some way or another.

At least he knew Audrey would be more honest with him than anyone else, except perhaps Mal. Still, he kept trying to apologize.

"I'm sorry," He said, looking right at her and the damage he had caused, "For what I did to your face." His mother had told him it was always best to explicitly explain what you were sorry about so they would know what you were apologizing for.

Audrey raised her hand once more. "I knew what I was getting into," She said. "You don't have to apologize for anything. I was asking for it."

Ben shook his head. "No," He said, still shaking his head. "No, you weren't."

Audrey shook her head in argument. "You told me what was going to happen all those years ago, and I knew the risks. I knew what I was doing in that forest that night." She stopped and sighed. "I—" she started, the faltered again. "I had hoped I could be the one to save you," she admitted. She sniffed, real tears, not the fake ones she pulled so often before. "I wanted to fulfill the role our parents had groomed me to be."

For a long while, the words wouldn't come to Ben. "It's not easy trying to live up to the expectations of your parents, is it?" He finally asked, looking up at the shimmering stars. The thought struck him faster than he expected it to strike him, something he hadn't thought about in quite a while. "Were you ever happy when we were together?" Had they even been together in a relationship if they had never done anything mildly relationship like? "Or was it merely to please your parents and mine?"

She looked to him and smiled, the gashes making her smile permanently lopsided, but she was still the same Audrey deep down. "We did have a few fun times before everything got so-" she hesitated. "-twisted." She dropped her smile, but her words were still warm. "I never thought I would say this, but you and Mal truly do deserve each other. You make each other better."

It felt strange and awkward to have an honest conversation with her after so long. "You really think so?" He asked. "It really means a lot coming from you." He realized in some way they were all suffering. "I'm sorry your parents fell prisoner to Maleficent. With any luck, her reign won't last much longer."

Audrey simply smiled again, but this one was much more sad, much more hidden behind it. "We reap what we sow I guess," she said, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I suppose you're out here trying to find a way to get rid of her."

He hated how she could do often see right through him. "Guilty."

"I don't think it will be easy," Audrey warned. "I don't think we'll all get out unscathed like the miracle at your coronation." She looked up at the stars and out into the trees. "Sacrifices will need to be made, so make sure you have everything in order."

It sounded almost ominous.