Auradon

The famous peace is appearing. Mal is happy with the arrival of her baby and Ben is trying to stay cheerful, despite all the mess his kingdom is experiencing.

The Queen of Auradon's belly has grown too much in the last week, and it's not that she thinks it's bad, it's just uncomfortable, painful and the feeling of growing like a balloon is very bad.

"So, today was very tiring, but your grandfather came to help me and your mom worked her magic too." Ben continues his habit of talking to the baby, even though Mal finds it strange. He talks under her debauched gaze. "You'd be amazed how your mother is able to shut up the government people, in fact, shut up anyone."

"What? Hey!"

She protests, slapping the boy on the head.

"Just kidding, just kidding."

"Feel this."

She takes his hand and places it where she feels a slight movement, like a kick.

"What's that?"

He asks with a smile.

"I don't really know, it feels like a kick or Madame Samovar's candy taking effect inside me."

Ben laughs along with her.

Gradually, she felt part of the family that was forming. She's happy, trying to enjoy every little moment.

(…)

"Good morning."

Mal wished his in-laws, sitting down with them at the table.

"Good morning Mal, good morning, son who won't get off his phone even to talk to his parents."

The woman says, glaring at Ben. Mal laughs at the scene, even though Ben is twenty-four and soon to be a father, he's still Belle's little prince.

"Forgive me, Mom."

"Everything's fine. How's the pregnancy, Mal?"

Belle asks.

"It's calm now, in a little while Rashid will show up to make sure everything's okay."

Mal replies to her mother-in-law.

"One of these days, I want to accompany her to see my grandson." Mal smiles with gratitude at the thought that this baby will have a really loving grandmother around. "What about Nanny? Have you seen her?"

"Not since that day, but I should see her sometime."

Mal's still thinking about idea of Maleficent having had a mother and her now having a grandmother. It's a lot for her to take in, everything she's learned about the past needs to be processed, and she won't be able to do it so quickly.

"She seems like a lovely woman."

Adam comments.

"And she really is, it's hard to believe that my mom was taken care of by her and yet, you know, became evil."

"I think it's a person's choices that make them, I mean, you were raised by her, and you're not a monster." Adam gives his opinion and doesn't notice that he's unintentionally called his daughter-in-law's mother a "monster". It's in Belle's eyes that he realizes he's said the wrong thing. "Mal, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's okay, Adam."

Although, all or most would accept Mal, the ghost of Maleficent is still there. They can forgive all the villains, but their fear of her will never cease. Maleficent single-handedly destroyed entire kingdoms and had astonishing magic, but this woman is still her mother and that will never change.

(…)

Gothel has never been to Auradon, so everything is new to her, and she doesn't even know which street she's on. For someone who has been on the island for so many years, even the sun hurts her. Seeing so many buildings and people constantly smiling, happy and cheerful is nauseating.

However, it wasn't so difficult to find out where her "friend" was.

Maleficent is in the Beast's castle and is still a lizard, but luckily there's magic here and frankly the speech:

"Your mother did. She shrank to the size of the love in her heart. That's why It's so itty-bitty."

Fairy Godmother said after breaking out of Maleficent's spell. Ben's coronation was a day of happiness and disaster for everyone, from Auradon to the Isle of the Lost.

"Is she gonna be like that forever?"

Mal asked, worried about her mother.

"Well, forever is a long time. You learned to love. So can she."

Fairy Godmother with her air of kindness answered the young girl.

This isn't exactly the magic that Gothel believes in. Auradon is an infinite world of magic and people don't know how to take advantage of it.

At every corner she feels magic and the mind of Rapunzel's villain seems to explode at the sight of everything around her. However, the power she wants is inside Mal's belly. A baby with magic made from Maleficent's blood DNA, born between a villain's son and a fairy tale prince.

How could such a powerful baby not be usable? If only she'd known that this power went far beyond what she'd imagined.

Anyway, now she has to come up with a good plan to get into the castle, find Maleficent, free her and convince her to kidnap her grandchild. The last part will be the easiest, as Maleficent is sure to be thirsty for revenge on her daughter.

(…)

"Good morning, you beast."

Rashid says to Mal as he enters her room.

"When will your nicknames end?"

She jokes with him, lifting her blouse to do the ultrasound.

"I have several, if you must know. So, how are things going?"

"You mean from yesterday to today? It's unbearably hot, I've got three events to go to, and I think I felt a little kick from the little beast here."

She informed him in her most debauched tone.

"Look who's coming up with nicknames too, I prefer little fire-breathing dragon."

"Shut up, Rashid."

She laughed at him and at herself for liking the nickname.

"I've been reading some tedious biology books and from now on the baby should start moving inside you." He turned on the machine and connected his magic to it. "Is Ben coming today?"

"No, he's at a conference with Aladdin and Jasmine."

"No King Ben today, so here we go, little dragon or little beast on the television. And there he is, bigger, I must say. Wow! He's a lot bigger." He's now learned how to work the technological machine that in his mind is too advanced. "Magic… well, magic…"

"What about magic, Rashid?"

She's not an idiot, and you can see how his countenance changed when he saw the baby's magic.

"It's bigger, much bigger than yesterday."

He's scared, but he won't tell her that, at least not now.

"Can you tell whose magic it is yet?"

"No, not yet. Your child is stubborn, like you. The magic in the heart, see?" He pointed at the screen. "It doesn't have a specific shade. In fact, magic doesn't have a predefined color. I think that's it for today…"

"You know you're talking like the Mad Hatter, right? You're keeping something from me."

Mal says when she sees him talking too fast. After all this time together, she can say for sure that she know him.

"What? No, I never would."

He tries not to make it clear, but his voice has become high-pitched and his eyes are changing color.

"Rashid."

She called him seriously.

"Okay. Look, babies tend to have a certain size and that size doesn't change much with such a short time of pregnancy, but he's growing too fast and so is the magic and you…"

He doesn't want to say anymore.

"Rashid, you'd better tell me everything."

Mal orders worriedly.

"Okay, I thought it was just a silly concern of mine, that's why I didn't tell you anything, but your color has been changing, you've been getting paler and your body is losing energy and I don't know Mal, I can't say anything without checking, I don't want to alarm you for no reason, you know?"

He says everything very nervously and distressed, which is noticeable not only by the tone of his voice, but also by the strands of hair he's pulling out without realizing it.

"You're suspicious of something, what is it?"

"It's too early to say, I want to make that clear. However, it's possible that there's a magical mismatch."

"What? Speak my language."

"Okay, come on… there are two big possibilities here." He comes close to her, who pays attention to everything he explains. "There's a chance that baby can't withstand such a large amount of magic or…"

"Or me not being able to withstand his magic?" Mal notices his silence and assumes that Rashid can't speak. "Is that what you're trying to say?"