Loyal To The Core

"Ben..."

"Not now dad!" Ben snapped and Adam stared at his son in shock. Not once had Ben ever raised his voice to him. Not since getting his crown or before his coronation either. But there was no denying that Ben was acting stranger than normal.

For one thing he brought this girl...this Uma to Cotillion. Neither he nor Belle had seen this girl before and they didn't quite understand why she was here. Especially since, to their knowledge, Mal and Ben had no issues in their relationship.

Granted, they had been out of contact with Ben and Mal as they went on their trip but Adam knew that if there'd been any major problems, Ben would have called. Or texted. Or emailed. Or gotten a carrier pigeon involved if he really needed to.

But he had not. And now they needed to smile and be polite to this girl that they knew nothing about. And from the look on Mal's face, it was clear she hadn't been expecting this Uma's appearance either.

He could tell that Belle's heart broke for the purple haired girl and Adam couldn't deny that his did the same. Despite their shock at discovering their son was dating not only a girl from the Isle of the Lost but the daughter of Maleficent, there was no denying that Mal was exactly what Ben needed.

And then there was that comment. Ooh boy. In all his years, Adam never thought his son would have made a comment like the one Ben had made to Mal.

"You knew that we weren't meant to be together. That's why you never told me that you loved me."

Thankfully Lumiere had gone off script and unveiled the stained glass window of Ben and Mal. It seemed to have done something—not only to Ben who had stepped forward upon seeing it almost dazed but also Mal. The purple haired girl, who had been in the process of leaving, had stopped and Adam could see a slight smile growing on her face.

It was then Ben had made the announcement of taking down the barrier bringing them to the moment they were at.

"Excuse me?" Adam asked, his voice low. You may be the King now Ben but you're still my son. You do not get to talk to me like that.

"Hey Shrimpy!" Mal's voice called out from behind Adam. "What in the Gods name did you do to Ben?!"

Of course. Mal's dated Ben for six months, she'd know he would never talk to anyone like the way he just talked to me, Adam thought and caught one of Ben's former team mate's eyes. They would do anything for Ben—if they could get him away from this Uma girl and actually talk to him, they'd figure out what was going on.

He had to blink in shock as what looked like the entire Tourney team minus Chad, Jay, and Carlos stepped forward and started escorting Ben toward a private room. Adam would have been more alarmed at the lack of the Charmington heir had it not been for the fact that Kit had mentioned earlier that Chad had gone to help Audrey with a problem with her carriage.

He also didn't blame Jay and Carlos for staying by Mal's side instead of whisking Ben away. No matter what had happened, Ben had more than likely hurt a girl who was a close friend to them.

Ben struggled against the grip of his friends as they dragged him off. He didn't know why but all he knew was that he wanted to get back to Uma. Everything felt... right when he was with her. It was like he was in a cloud.

But as they got further and further away, as the ability to look deeply into her brown eyes faded, all Ben was left with was a feeling of confusion. The cloud became more of a fog.

"You're so full of crap, your eyes are brown Shrimpy!" He could hear Mal faintly exclaim as they turned a corner and snorted softly in amusement. He immediately felt disgusted with himself. He'd brought Uma to Cotillion, shouldn't he be sticking up for her?