Dark Times -2 season

Royal couple

"Maybe this baby is our doom, Ben!"

Ben didn't know what to say. He had the look of astonishment and of someone who wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"Ben, the limo's here."

Chip opens the bedroom door without warning. In his defense, he knocked on the door, but no one heard, so he opened it brutally, stepping into the middle of the fray.

"Limo? Why?"

Mal asks politely, seeing that her husband is visibly affected.

"You two have a business meeting with Mulan and Shang, your majesty."

"I completely forgot." Ben gently rubs his warm forehead. "Chip asks Deborah to send a message canceling this meeting."

"No, we'll go, Chip."

Mal interrupts, taking a deep breath and thinking about what she's going to do.

"What? You know you can't travel yet, Mal. Rashid needs to check on you."

He doesn't want to fight, but he also doesn't want to ignore everything he's heard from Rashid and the Fairy Godmother.

"We'll go to, Ben. Mulan and Shang have helped us a lot these last two years, in case something happens to the baby." She says this without fear of Chip hearing it and passing the news around the castle. "Rashid can still teleport." 

"All right, let's go."

Knowing his wife, he knows she won't give in, so it's best to agree with her and she's right. Mulan and Shang were important in rebuilding Auradon.

Two hours later, the royal couple is on their way to Northern Wei. They don't talk to each other anymore, Ben is still sad about her comment about the baby, and Mal is angry that he looks at things with naivety and without the least bit of skepticism about such a serious matter.

 (...)

Message

Mal: We'll be back in three days. It's a long trip.

Evie: Fine. How are you?

Mal: I'm physically fine, but I ended up fighting with Ben, and now he's looking like a child who's been crying all day because he was punished.

 Evie: You've got to hold your nerves, at least for the next few months.

 Mal: It's easy for you to say. By the way, where is Jay? I talked to Loonie and found out that they hadn't spoken for days.

Evie: I don't know, that's strange. I'll talk to Carlos. Control your nerves.

Mal: I'll try, keep me informed about Jay.

 (...)

Auradon

In Auradon, the man in the red jacket enters the new downtown hospital after looking around to make sure no one is watching him.

"Jay!"

The receptionist smiles broadly when she sees him.

"Hi Mary."

He smiles at her and comes closer.

"You're late today."

"Yeah, I've been working a lot today. Has he had any visitors?"

" Nobody but you."

"I'll go then." The young man is tired from the long day, but he can't go a day without going to the hospital. This is the only hospital he doesn't go to as a volunteer. "Hi dad."

"Hi son."

He replies. This man doesn't even look like the same man who once almost killed the Sultan of Agrabah. Now he's lying in a hospital room with the second dose of medicine being put into him. Jay is perhaps the one who finds it hardest to see his father this way. He grew up with an authoritarian, independent father who stole from everyone and was his only role model for years.

"How are you?" He asks, helping with the medication. "Has the pain gone away a bit?"

" You came in later today. Did you work hard?"

He asked with difficulty. The old man is one of the villains who escaped two years ago. Jay didn't know anything about it until three months ago, when he received a call from the hospital saying that his father had been hit by a car. The villain had several bruises, and recently his son was told that his condition is serious.

"Yeah, I left school late, and the traffic didn't help much."

Jafar doesn't even recognize his son. A responsible, hard-working man who was so different. from him

"Stealing was easier, wasn't it?" He joked with him, but Jay didn't laugh. "Okay, sorry. I forgot you're an Auradonian now."

"Very funny, Mr. Jafar."

"Do you know what a nurse came to tell me today? That you went to college and played against the Agrabah team in the university championship."

"... Yeah, I thought you knew that."

He sat down next to him, laughing at the memory.

"No, why didn't you go to university there? It's your country too."

It's strange that they have this father-son relationship. Jafar is trying to have a relationship with Jay, a connection they never had.

"It's a nice place, but not for playing tourney."

Unlike Jafar, he wants to keep what little relationship he has this way.

"I want to go home."

He confesses.

"Not now, Dad, the treatment has to continue."

"You know it's no use." He confessed angrily. "Have you seen her?" He changed the subject.

"No, she's still on the island."

They are talking about Jay's aunt and Jafar's twin sister, Nasira.

"I saw a photo of your girl; she's very beautiful!"

"She's really beautiful." He smiles, remembering the girlfriend he's had a fight with. "And you intend to date again?"

"Me? Your mother's already had quite an experience." He doesn't often talk about his mother since, in a strange way, he raised his son alone. "Jay?"

"Hi."

"This hospital doesn't look cheap to me, how did you get me here?"

"I always manage, isn't that what you taught me?"

" Thank you."

Their conversation continued quietly, but Jay ignored the messages from his friends. At the moment, he doesn't want to tell them how his father is. He wants this time alone.

(...)

Northern Wei

The journey from the castle to the final destination is tiring. Ben looks over and sees Mal sleeping. Her head is leaning against the window in such a way that Ben is sure she'll complain of a sore neck the next day. But what about her pride? "Damn it." he says to himself and lies her down on his chest in a comfortable way.

When Mal woke up, they were already arriving, so she found herself getting up from his chest, and he woke up too and he went to the other seat of the car.

"Are we there?"

Ben asked, getting up and unstrapping himself.

"Apparently so." She says it harshly. "You didn't have to leave me lying on you, you must have hurt your chest."

He wanted to fight, but he just rolled his eyes.

"No problem."

The two fix their clothes to get out of the car, ready to be the royal couple everyone expects them to be.