Time Trekkers and Emotional Wreckers

Chapter 3/11 - Everyone Thinks Time Travel is Cool

Older Ben crouched down beside the hourglass. Blackened glass, as if it had been burned by the destruction, was scattered across the concrete floor. And a small bit of sand remained. Maybe between a cup and half-a-cup. "She didn't get away with all of it," he said. "There's still some left."

"She's going to go back in time!" Older Mal fretted. "She could be anywhere! She could go back to when I was an infant, and-"

"No, she can't," Older Ben interrupted. "We can track her easily."

Older Mal paused, thought, then relaxed. "You've… already figured it out then?" Older Ben nodded. "Oh. You're kinda a genius, right."

Older Ben raised an eyebrow at her. "It only took twelve years of marriage for you to figure that out?" he asked. "You've known me for half my life."

Mal crouched down beside the hourglass with him onscreen. "So… what's your hunch?"

Older Ben touched her cheek and then got up and out of his crouch. He found a glass bowl on a shelf. "Put the remaining sand into there," he said.

"We can't use it. Not without the hourglass."

"Maleficent is using it in her sceptre."

"True… but I don't have a sceptre."

"No, but you do have a genius who has been experimenting with energy conduction anyway."

Older Mal used a spell to gather the remaining sand into the bowl and handed it to Ben. "What have you been doing with energy conduction?"

"Not me," Older Ben replied. "Zachary. He was asking for carbon fiber because it holds energy differently. It's the filament originally used to make lightbulbs light. I bet if we give this to him, he can figure out how to make it work without the hourglass."

"He's just a kid," Ben muttered under his breath, squinting at the screen. "Really?"

"And then do you know where to find my mother?" Older Mal asked.

"Yes, by reasonable thinking," Older Ben replied. "You lived on an island with a barrier around it for sixteen years, remember? The only thing that works in that barrier is Fairy Godmother's wand, because that's what made the barrier in the first place. Right?"

"And she doesn't have Fairy Godmother's wand, because it's still in my desk…"

"Meanign she's not gone back to grab it... at least not without you pre-emptively stopping her... meaning if she went back in time that far you would be out of reach. She could enter the Isle, but be trapped all over again. She might not even be able to get inside in the first place. Time travel is different from teleportation. And so we don't need to worry about her murdering infant you. Now, strategically, it would be best for her to return to a time she knows the details of. That leaves us the five-day gap of between you arriving in Auradon and turning her into a lizard. Easy peasy."

Older Mal was starting to relax again. "Oh. Yeah. Five days. The most fragile and vulnerable five days of my life, for sure…"

"All you need to do is keep your past self from noticing anything." Older Ben paused. "And me. Actually, just everyone."

"And see if Zach, our nine-almost-ten-year-old, can build a time machine." Older Mal looked at the sand doubtfully. "Though… you could help him, right?"

"I'm a genius, Mal, not a mechanist. We could call Carlos. Carlos understands mechanics."

"He did build a device that punched a hole in the barrier on the Isle when he was… what, eleven?"

"Fourteen," Older Ben corrected.

Ben turned towards the four VK's on the blanket beside him, all looking sheepish, shocked, and intimidated. "Did the movie make that up?" he asked.

They all just looked at him. That was answer enough. "You broke the barrier to the Isle of the Lost?" Ben demanded. "At fourteen? With a machine?"

"It was an accident!"

"No, that's great! It's just… Evelyn Deavor is also on that island."

"Come on," Older Ben said to Mal on the screen. They left the workroom and the next scene opened up in Zachary's bedroom as Zach poked at the sand with a normal metal spoon and stirred it thoughtfully.

Older Ben sat on the floor with Tyler, the purple-haired child. He was examining a robotic action figure and toying with a controller. Older Mal appeared in the door with the baby asleep on her arm, wrapped in a blue blanket. "Anything yet?"

Older Ben looked between the three small ones. "Well, one of our three is asleep. That's progress."

Older Mal chuckled, but her smile faded quickly. "Do you think there's a chance she could come back here?"

Older Ben nodded. "Yeah. I've been thinking about that." He put a hand on Tyler's head and got to his feet. Older Ben went to the door and drew Older Mal into his arms, kissed her brow, then switched out the baby from her. "Hello, Belle," he whispered.

And behind Ben, his mom squeaked. "Belle?" she repeated, very excited. "Belle?!"

"Mom," Ben said, "She is not a real child."

But the idea of him naming a future daughter Belle was so cute that everyone across the lawn began chatting about it enthusiastically. "That's so cute!" "Aww!"

"Do we need to keep them somewhere?" Older Mal asked Ben onscreen. "So if she comes back…?"

"Probably, for safekeeping," Ben agreed. "And maybe we should split them up too. So if she does come back and finds one, she doesn't have them all."

Older Mal took a deep breath. Ben was surprised to see some tears in her eyes. "Right," she agreed, and Older Ben took her face and passed his thumb near to her eye to wipe the moisture away.

"They'll be back." He looked towards Tyler, on the floor. "Tyler," he called, "Would you like to stay with Jeon and Josh for a few days?"

Tyler immediately abandoned the action figure. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Yes, yes! Can I take my sword? Because Aunt Lonnie said she'd teach us swords and Uncle Jay said he'd tell me about pirates! Please, please?"

"Ugh, Pirates," Older Mal said, and rolled her eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Ben could see all the VK's doing the exact same thing. Must be pirates on the Isle of the Lost. Pirates they didn't like. "Zach, would you be okay to stay with Carlos and Jane for a few days?"

Zach didn't look up from his scribbles. "How long will you be away?" he asked.

"We'll be time travelling," Older Mal reasoned. "Couldn't we leave now and come back to the exact same time?"

"No more than a day," Older Ben said. "Let's not count on getting the magic science down to the minute." He kissed baby Belle's forehead. "And what about her? Should we call Hades?"

Sounds of disbelief erupted from the audience. Even Ben choked a little. "Hades?" Adam demanded behind him. "The god of the dead?"

"We're right there!" Belle said, softly.

"Yeah, I could call my dad," Older Mal replied, brushing the little one's hair with her fingertips, and the audience erupted into shouts and gasps. Ben's mouth opened with a pop. "Get him out of the underworld for a bit."

Ben's head swivelled towards Mal – the real Mal – and he saw that Evie, Carlos, and Jay had all done the same thing. Her cheeks were burning bright red in the dim light from the screen. "You're kidding," Jay laughed. "She's kidding… the movie is kidding, right?"

But Ben could see that Mal's lips were sealed on this issue. This movie was not kidding on too many different things.

"Mom, Dad," Zach said, turning in his chair. "I think I've got something."

Everyone both in the movie and on the grass leaned forward as Zach held up a strange contraption. It appeared to be a glass beaker with two metal ends and the time sand in the tube. A sphere of glass protected the beaker and most of the metal ends, with only a bit peeping out on either side. In front of Zach were several scattered parts from an alchemy set.

"I checked my math… there's a filter hidden in the sand. I'm pretty sure if you run a spell through it, it'll trigger the sand's ability to move time around. And with focus, just like any other spell, you can end up roughly where you need to go."

Older Mal picked it up gingerly. "Do I need to be touching the metal ends?"

"Yes," Zach affirmed. "Dad's old paper on magic says that magic and electricity can substitute each other out. Metal is a good conductor."

"Ah," Older Mal glanced towards Ben. "This would be the paper you wrote when you were ten?"

"That would be the paper."

Really? Ben thought. The paper that had been dismissed as the ramblings of a kid who thought he was special because he had a private tutor. Interesting. He folded his arms.

Zach, leaning on his chair and waiting for approval, said, "Dad always knew he was going to marry a magical. That's why he studied up early."

"I wish that were true, because then we could talk to Auroria normally," Older Mal replied.

"Oof!" someone wheezed nearby and Ben's cheeks turned bright red. People laughed.

"I'll call Jay, Carlos, and Hades," Older Ben said, not commenting on Auroria. "Are we going together, or am I staying here in case she returns?"

Older Mal paused, set the sphere down, and turned towards him. "You think… I need to do this on my own?"

"We are the ruling monarchs, Mal," Older Ben replied. "And we're parents. If this takes a while and you don't come back as fast as expected… what will happen to Auradon and our children?"

Older Mal settled a hand on Zach's shoulder. "Well.. who has the better chance of catching her, do you think?"

"Catching her, or killing her?"

"Ben," Older Mal rolled her eyes. "You are not going to kill my mother."

But Older Ben muttered and scowled and kissed his daughter's head again. "Not if I don't get the chance to."

Belle gasped horribly loudly behind Ben's head. Ben was shell-shocked. He'd never wanted anyone or anything to die before. Killing for the greater good wasn't a good in his book. Maybe this really was just funny coincidence at all. He couldn't grow up to be someone who would want to kill anyone. Even someone as bad as Maleficent.

"What do you care about Maleficent?" Evie asked beside Ben. "It's none of your business!"

Ben shrugged. "I have no idea," he replied.

The scene changed to the front steps of the palace. The sun was setting. Tyler was yawning on Older Ben's shoulder. It was kinda funny, but they looked similar next to each other. Similar face and smile and eyes. Zachary, who was reading a very thick book on the palace steps, looked similar to Ben, but his chin was more pointed and his mouth more like Mal's.

Older Mal hovered with the baby carrier, looking very upset. A very tall man with bright blue flaming hair walked up from a black limousine. He wore a gunmetal grey vest over a blue shirt and black pants practically made out of pockets. His fingernails were also blue and he wore shredded fingerless gloves. It was quite the statement. Ben felt as if he were sitting in ice cubes, staring at him.

"Hello Mallie," Hades said, tone almost bored. "Off on another quest?"

"Unfortunately," Older Mal agreed. Her fingertips were tight on the carrier. "But I hopefully won't be gone long… a day or hour or so. Depends on how good I get at this magic time travel."

"Eh, hopefully the old bat doesn't give you much trouble." Hades looked straight at Older Ben over Older Mal's shoulder. "I hate that woman."

"Ditto," Older Ben replied, scowling.

Hades's face broke out into a smile. "What do you think, Ben? Making her run through a field of Legos in hell, or eternal crunches?"

"Pull her fingernails out, one by one, slowly," Older Ben replied. Ben was scandalised. He covered his mouth. How could anyone be that cruel?

"Ben!" Older Mal said. "The kids can hear you."

"They know I hate your mother," Older Ben replied. "I don't hate anyone. Literally anyone. But I hate your mother."

Hades reached for the carrier and Mal let it go. "I'll take good care of her," he told her. "No pomegranate seeds."

"And no loud music," Older Mal added. "And again, it won't be for long. It'll only be a little while…"

Carlos's fancy car pulled in behind Hades's and the doors opened automatically. A beautiful woman with long, curly brown hair got out. Ben did not recognise her for a moment, then realised it was Jane. Jane had finally outgrown the page boy haircut. Her bangs were gone. She was smiling and emotionally mature and really, really lovely.

Someone catcalled as Carlos got out behind her. Jane hurried up to hug Older Mal. "Hello!" She said. "Now, don't worry, he'll be so busy helping Carlos with things that he won't notice you're gone. Carlos has a bunch of projects he's working on… Zach will love them."

"I'm sure he will," Mal nodded.

Behind them, Carlos was approaching… and Jay, who had apparently been in the car as well. "Lonnie's trying to get our boys into bed," Older Jay said.

"Tyler's almost gone as well." Older Ben replied. "Take care of our kiddos, please. We'll get Maleficent nabbed and then be back."

"Nabbed, or obliterated?" Carlos asked, laughing. Jane left to go grab Zach off the palace steps. "Because if Ben goes after Maleficent, there won't be anything left of her."

Jay laughed as Ben passed Tyler off to him. "Yeah, no kidding. Mr. Second-Chance has sixteen years of hatred bubbling."

"Remember when we thought he wouldn't hurt a fly?" Older Carlos asked.

"Or when he jumped in between Uma in squid form and Mal in dragon form and said fighting wasn't the answer, and they needed to listen to and respect each other?" Jay replied.

"You what?" Mal demanded in the darkness in real life, quite loudly.

"You what?" Ben demanded right back. His frayed nerves were finally grinding on him and he couldn't stand to be quiet much longer. "Dragon form?"

"I mean, I've never tried… how have you not gotten yourself killed in this universe?"

Ben was feeling extremely overwhelmed and conflicted. The version of himself that was being described as long gone onscreen was how he saw himself… And he couldn't imagine himself in any other manner. The person onscreen…

"There are always exceptions," Older Ben said on the screen, crossing his large arms. "Maleficent is mine. I would light her on fire myself if I could."

This garnered quite a few laughs from the audience, though Ben's stomach rolled. Hades onscreen laughed. "I like you," he said. "You can keep my daughter. And don't worry, I'll take good care of your little one." He lifted the carrier to eye level – that took some considerable strength – and smiled at the little girl inside it. She was fast asleep.

Tyler, the middle child, ran through in a blur, hugging them both. He hugged Older Mal before she could really return the hug and Older Ben narrowly managed to catch him so she could properly squeeze him before he was off and climbing into Jay's car – front seat, funny enough.

Zachary, the oldest, hugged them both. He had two large books under his left arm. He did not seem terribly worried, even as Older Mal kissed his forehead. "I love you so much," she whispered.

Zachary made a face. "You'll be back in like, a day," he replied. "Grandma's no match for you."

And off he went, to Carlos and Jane's car.

The vehicles turned out of the driveway as the sun was going down. Older Ben moved to be behind Older Mal, which was a good thing as she suddenly became very emotional onscreen. She covered her mouth with her hands, only waved once, and then bowed her head. Tears ran down her face. She sniffed, and Older Ben turned her towards him and hugged her, rubbing her back slowly.

In the darkness, Ben recognised the figure of Fairy Godmother struggling to not trip over anyone or step on blankets as she hurried towards him. He got to his feet and she, having a better sense of direction now, headed towards him. "Prince Ben?" she whispered.

His parents stood up behind him too. "Fairy Godmother, what's going on?" his dad asked. "What is this movie?"

"We have no idea," Fairy Godmother replied. "It looks as if we've lost control of the monitors. We can't pause it or anything."

Ben heard a rustle from the VK blanket. "Fairy Godmother," Carlos said, "Can I take a look at it? Maybe I can get it."

"Did you do this?" Adam asked, concerned but not angry.

"I want it off as much as you do," Carlos replied. "It's… interesting but… private."

Ben looked to Fairy Godmother. "I'm fine with him trying."

"None of the tech team can stop this," Fairy Godmother said. "I'm willing to try anything."

And so she and Carlos vanished into the dark. Ben and his parents sat back down. Onscreen, Ben and Mal were back in their apartment, and Mal was examining the device Zachary had built. "I don't even know where to go," she said aloud.

"Maleficent is most likely to try for the moment you're off the Isle," Older Ben said. "It was broadcast to the Isle. She knows where you were and what you were doing. But she could also try for Coronation, or maybe even the day of your video call home. Places she has background information. An advantage."

Mal exhaled. Ben gestured at the sphere. "Are you going to try it?"

Mal reached for it. "I think I have an idea…" she hesitated.

To the right of the two came another voice. "Your idea will work," the voice said. Both jumped a little and spun and… there was Mal. Same outfit – a leather suit not unlike the one she had come off the Isle in. Purple scale texture and green accents. They looked exactly the same.

As the two looked upon the doppleganger, Onscreen Mal suddenly gasped and leaned to the left. The screen swirled with colours. Had Carlos managed to do something to the movie? Ben glimpsed flashes on the screen – trumpets playing and Audrey with her brown hair briefly. But then Onscreen Ben and Mal were back in place and she was looking at him strangely. "Did you… feel that?"

"Day one," Onscreen Ben replied. "I was right."

"No need to gloat." Older Mal glanced toward where the other her had just been, but she was gone. She exhaled and picked up the sphere. "I, uh, don't know how long I'll be."

"I know."

"I haven't done a mission without you… for years now."

All of the air left Ben's lungs at the look on her face. She looked sad and worried. Older Ben finally cracked a smile. He took her hand and brought it to his mouth. And when he kissed her knuckle, the sound echoed slowly through the speakers. "You'll be missed," he said. "But you'll be back soon." He dropped her hand and took both sides of her face. "I love you."

They leaned in and students catcalled and made sounds. Ben waited, wondering if Carlos had made it to the front yet, but the video didn't turn off. Older Mal told Older Ben she loved him and then took a few steps away, towards where her other self had been. She muttered a spell and a bolt of green energy zapped through the beaker in the sphere in her hands. And Older Ben began to move in the reverse, walking backwards a few steps with another version of Mal. She was now where her doppelganger had been. "Your idea will work," she said, and the two jumped and spun towards her. Just as before. But when they were overcome with dizziness, Mal sidestepped the couches and ducked into the hall where the entrances to the bedrooms lay. Then she focused, calmed herself, and zapped the sphere again. The world began to move in the reverse again, very rapidly.

Light crossed the hall from left to right very quickly. People sped up and down the halls. Doors opened and shut. Ben vaguely remembered the paths the royal family had been taking at the beginning of the video. He could see them retracing their steps now. Faster and faster… the boys crossing their paths seemed shorter. Older Mal was just as entranced as they all were as she held her hand up to Zach to measure height, even as he seemed to shrink by feet in seconds. She crouched down as a toddler in red pyjamas dashed towards his bedroom. Then there were no kids at all, and Older Ben and Older Mal were glimpsed rushing back and forth down the hallway.

Suddenly, all the paint was stripped off the walls. The drywall vanished, leaving sheetrock, which was dismantled and carried out, leaving the skeletons of walls. These also were quickly removed and then flooring that had been torn up to make room for the construction of the royal apartments was laid back down. A large table was moved in and paintings and Ben realised that the apartments had been built in place of one of the grand war rooms. Older Mal glamoured her purple jacket into a simple brown leather one and her pants to match.

There was currently a mirror hanging in the war room and it was this mirror that Older Mal peered into for a few seconds, messing with her bright purple hair. It would be a dead giveaway, Ben thought, as to her identity. She obviously thought so too. Another charm turned her hair into deep brown, velvety locks. Then, directing her attention to a window, she turned it transparent – the same way she had when she'd battled her mother earlier in the movie. Music was beginning to play – the subtitles detected it as "Descendants 4 Score – Rotten to the Core." But it did not last long. There was a beat as Older Mal exited the palace, walking towards the front exit, and then someone sang, "I'm rotten to the core," and the screen went black.

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.

Tracie Adams(Penname) requested more flirting... I made a few changes to this chapter in regards to that comment and have a few others planned for later.