For a moment, Ben sat there stunned. Even though his body hurt, he watched with rapt attention as Mal fought her mother.

Flashes of magic and light threatened to him, but he couldn't look away. His wrists ached and stung where he had fallen. His friends and classmates shouted from behind him as they joined him, but he was only focused on Mal.

His breath caught in his throat as he watched them. He feared if he breathed, or moved, something would change between them. The intense zing of magic in the room gave him a headache, but he couldn't pull his gaze away.

Finally, spell after spell, Mal had her mother cornered. The older woman fell back, dramatic as ever, to the broken tiles of the ballroom floor. Mal charged her. She landed on top of her mother and held her down.

Ben wated. Something didn't feel right.

"I win, Mother," Mal said. "I don't want to kill you. Give up."

Under her, Maleficent laughed. "Have I taught you nothing, daughter?" Even with her hands held down, her eyes flashed a voilent green.

Mal was tossed back into her own forcefield with a grunt.

Maleficent stood and brushed the dust from herself. "Auradon has made you soft, despite your growth into your magic." Her cackle made Ben's chest tighten. He didn't dare close his eyes. "You think you, in your mere eighteen years, still a child, could best me?" She brought a spell to her hand and in the blink of an eye massive groups of people appeared in the forcefield. Classmates, castle staff, most people he recognized, some he didn't. "If you think your magic is so powerful, let's watch you handle the consequences."

With a snap of her fingers, every single eye turned on Mal, their eyes full of hate and Faerie Lust. He turned to Evie and the others to ask what he could do, what they could do to help. Then he spotted them in the forcefield with her, their eyes just as dark.

In an instant, Mal stood, taking a defensive pose, magic coming forth to her palms. "What are you playing at?" The hoard stood behind Maleficent, just waiting. "This is between you and me mother, not any of these simpletons."

Maleficent laughed. "On the contrary," she said. "This is between you and me, and all the magic you stole from me to use on them."

Ben watched with rapt attention.

"The—" Mal started then faltered. "The magic I stole from you?" Amongst the crowd of students and adults more and more faces appeared that he recognized.

"Did you forget the simplest law of magic, dear?"

Mal froze. "No!"

"Yes!" Maleficent said, her smile wide, like she knew she had won. "Anything you have done, I have control over until you're 22." She cackled. "So you were never going to win against me, daughter." Ben waited, his breath caught in his throat, waiting for something else to happen. "But my offer does still stand," She said next. "You can still rule under me."

"Never!" Mal shouted. "I am done being your underling! I am done with you and I will find a way to defeat you even if it means I'm not around to see it!"

Maleficent's smile changed, growing wider. "Careful, Daughter. That sounds like a promise to me. Wouldn't want you to make that mistake again."

"No!" Mal shouted. Ben could tell she was choosing her next words rather carefully. "I will never let you bring me down again. This ends right here, right now."

"Have it your way," She said. Then, with the smallest wave of her hand, the other people in the force field with them began to charge for Mal.

Ben gasped as he lost her in the sea of bodies, tangles of arms and limbs, dresses and coats. Everything was moving too fast, there was too much magic in the air. His head pounded.

He couldn't bear to watch.