Time Trekkers and Emotional Wreckers

Chapter 6/11 - Everyone Gets on a Boat

Ben knew where they were by the music alone. It was family day. They were performing the musical number he'd been a part of just hours ago.

Bright pastels, big banners, flowers and chocolate. The VK's appeared in the clothes they were now wearing. Evie felt up and down her outfit. Jay and Carlos gave themselves once-overs, looking for discrepancies.

Watching himself perform… Ben wasn't thrilled. The handkerchiefs didn't quite have the desired effect. The bowing was awkward. Doug really carried the rap and the dance and no one appreciated him for it. It was kind of a let down.

The exhaustion of the day was catching up to him. He wanted nothing more than to put his head down and forget that any of this had happened.

Older Mal wandered through the student body in a different outfit, though Ben suspected this was just a glamour. She was clearly scouting for danger and just trying to blend in. But she did stop to squint at the musical number before continuing on.

When the torment was finally over, onscreen Ben went to embrace his parents. His mom was saying, "That was so wonderful!" and he thought, "meh."

Older Mal paused as onscreen Ben and his parents made it to the front of a line for a photo. She was pinching a smile away behind her lips and watching as they posed. Before the photo could be taken, onscreen Ben said, "Oh, by the way, I have a new girlfriend!"

Belle and Adam reacted nicely, smiling and acknowledging the news. But Ben's blood ran cold as his mom spoke. "I always thought that Audrey was a bit self-absorbed. Fake smile… kind of a kiss-up."

The student body erupted. People were shouting and screaming as if they'd been personally attacked – Ben had to lean forward to make sure they hadn't been. To Ben's left, Mal and the VK's snorted and laughed. He looked behind him – his mother was covering her mouth with horror, cheeks bright red.

But hey, if you don't want it known publicly, don't say it privately.

Ben almost missed his dad asking who his new girlfriend was on the screen, and turned around just in time to see himself call to an onscreen Mal. And as he did, his parent's expressions dropped into dismay, surprise, and fear. The photographer snapped the photo, then looked up, confused. Older Mal, spectating from a distance, chuckled.

Ben didn't look behind him again. He hadn't realised his parent's reactions earlier. That was… a little disappointing. He supposed it was natural though. He was their only son. They wanted to make sure… she wasn't actually a villain.

They stumbled through the most awkward introduction ever. It hadn't felt this bad in real life. Onscreen Mal looked terrified to be meeting the King and Queen. She clung to Ben's arm like a lifeline. When he turned her around to ask if she'd played croquet, he saw the concern all over her face. "You'll be fine," he heard himself saying and his voice echoed in his head.

His mother, behind them, slumped against Adam's side. He took her to a table, patted her hand, and then headed to get drinks. Older Mal took a glass from a passing waiter and then offered it to Belle, who took it with a "oh, thank you."

Older Mal sat down across from her. "You look startled," she said. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes," Belle agreed. "Just… big surprises, you know." She searched the crowd and found Ben with the villain kids, smiling.

Older Mal followed her gaze. "Maleficent's daughter?" she asked. "Must be nervewracking."

"Are you a teacher?" Belle asked. "What's she like?"

Older Mal shrugged, eyeing her younger self. The camera levelled with her. With her glamoured hair, she seemed like a different person. But he was catching glimpses of her personality shining through. "She's just… trying to figure herself out. Who she wants to be." Belle shook and took a long drink, and as she did, Older Mal said, "I don't think you have anything to worry about, though. Ben's a good kid. He's smart. If she's not the one, then he'll figure that out. And if she is… he'll figure that out too." She reached across the table and took Belle's hand. "You raised a good kid, Belle."

Her words visibly calmed Belle, and Belle squeezed Older Mal's hand. Oh, the poetry. She was squeezing the hand of her future daughter-in-law, worried about how said girl was dating her son.

Ben turned on the picnic blanket. "Did that happen today?" he asked.

Behind him, his mom's mouth was ajar. Her eyes were big. There was no colour. She nodded slowly and carefully.

Older Mal got up onscreen, and Belle asked, "Are you a teacher?"

Older Mal shrugged and smiled. "I'm… sort of one of his advisors," she said, and kids in the audience laughed. An advisor. Because she was married to a future version of him. Ha.

Older Mal scarcely left before Adam was sitting down. She bumped into Queen Leah, who was peering around with a frown. "Whoops!" Older Mal said. "Pardon me, Queen Leah."

"No worries," Queen Leah said, still looking around. "Have you seen the daughter of Maleficent around?"

Ben's hand would have smacked the lawn had Mal's hand not been in the way. As it was, when he made to hit the ground in a fit of rage, he squashed her knuckles clenching the grass. She yelped, and he immediately burst into apologies. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there! It's just… that old bat!" His voice had risen to very nearly a shout and people were gasping as much at his reaction as they were at Queen Leah searching for Mal. They had not yet realised what he had.

Older Mal furrowed her brow. "You know she's here?"

"She just broke up my granddaughter and her boyfriend," Queen Leah said. "I intend to have her thrown out. She'll regret ever coming here." She pointed suddenly. Ben and the VK's had grabbed croquet sticks and Ben was demonstrating how to play. "There she is," Leah said, and disappeared in that direction.

Older Mal was left behind, mouth open, eyes dimly glowing. But she quickly shut her mouth and pursed her lips. When she exhaled out of her nose, a little steam formed. But she did not follow Leah.

The camera panned slightly to the left. Behind Older Mal was Maleficent, hiding behind a gazebo pillar. She was pointing the sceptre at Mal.

"Look out!" someone yelled, desperately.

But Older Mal was hit with a spell and the screen began to swirl in a very similar way to when something in the past had been altered and Mal needed to go fix it. Maleficent flashed by briefly. Then a clock on the wall. And then the image of Ben, lying on the ground, blood trickling from a cut on his head. Older Mal gasped and immediately withdrew her sphere out of a pocket where it had been shrunk to the size of a golf ball. With the zap of a spell, time began to rewind around her.

When it stopped, it was dark outside. Older Mal dashed towards Auradon Prep, obviously distraught about what she'd just seen. Ben did not recognise the night, but he did recognise the path she was taking. Somehow, Older Mal knew the path to his dorm. She kept the travel sphere in her hand.

She hauled the distance and made it to his door and banged on it. When no answer came, she unlocked it with a spell and flung open the door.

The inside was destroyed. A smashed chair. Shredded bedsheets. People shouted. Ben's hair rose on end. As far as he knew, his dorm had not been left like that once this week.

Older Mal swept the room, kicking broken things up, peeking in certain spaces he may have been hiding and holding her hair as she took deep breaths. Her face was frozen into a look of severe anxiety that seemed to be mirrored in the crowd. Everyone was holding their breaths.

After finding nothing, she left the room and did a pretty logical thing in swinging by the VK's rooms. Ben hoped – oh, he hoped – that all of them were there because he could tell it was late at night. In the boy's room, Carlos laid on the window seat with Dude the dog, lightly running his hand down the dog's back. Jay had a lamp on beside his bed and was examining the tourney trophy for Most Valued Player. There was no sound. The mood was somber.

Next room over, Evie was sitting on her bed with her chem test in hand, thinking. She seemed equally as bothered as the boys. But Mal's bed was untouched and empty. Older Mal swept down the hallway, listened, and then continued on. Soon, she passed the kitchen and glanced in through the window on the door. There was Mal. Bent over a bowl of batter, head in hands, and shoulders shaking. Without stopping, Older Mal passed by.

A hunch formed in Ben's head. If Mal was crying, and in the kitchen, then she was probably breaking the love spell she most likely had in her spellbook. Of course, there were dozens of decent love spell recipes out there. But he'd done a tiny bit of research yesterday and figured that Maleficent's likely matched the one from Auroria and would require a tear of human sadness. The countercurse also required this.

If Mal was breaking it, then his hunch about her warming up to life in Auradon had some evidence. As well as his suspicion she really had developed a crush on him.

While this story is completely written, I can easily add details if they are requested. Leave a comment letting me know what you want to see.