Dark Times -2 season

Laughs

"Mal, you'd better go to your room."

Ben says to his wife, fearing that she's going to feel sick seeing all this.

"What? Absolutely not, we have to sort this out."

She's convinced of it. It's her duty as queen.

"Let me sort it out, please, I don't want you to get sick."

Mal doesn't go back on a decision, she knows she's just as much a ruler as Ben, and he knows it too.

"Okay."

She agrees, even though she doesn't want to.

"Let me know as soon as Rashid takes the test. Cogsworth, get a microphone ready for me."

He kissed her on the forehead and went outside to solve another problem.

(...)

Mal wanted to be outside next to Ben, especially after she turned on the television and saw what they were saying.

"The people are still calling for King Ben's resignation. How can we live safely with magic attacks? It's not possible to live in peace knowing that the heir to the throne has the magic of his grandmother Maleficent."

"What are the chances, Rashid?"

Mal asks, distressed after hearing what the reporter said.

"Of what?"

Rashid is concentrating on connecting the wires of the ultrasound machine and isn't even paying attention to the television.

"About the baby being born with the same magic as my mother."

"I don't know." He says sadly, unable to answer the girl's questions. "There's a good chance, but there's also the same chance that he'll have the Apprentice's magic."

"Look at him." Mal pointed at the television, where her husband is trying uselessly to talk to the people. "This is all my fault, Ben had to have a normal life, with a normal wife, who would give him normal children, not this, not this life."

"Hey! You've stopped now!" He couldn't allow her to continue telling an untruth. "If you didn't have to be together, you wouldn't be in the book."

"Book?"

"Oh, forget it." For a moment, he forgets the secret he has with the sisters. "You'd better go there, queen, he needs you." He quickly changes the subject. Rashid relents and makes room for her to go there to solve the problems with her husband, and also so that she doesn't have to explain about the Book.

(...)

Ben doesn't know what to say, the crowd seems to have gotten bigger and all the words coming out of his mouth have had no effect on their anger. It's his future son they're talking about, and as a father he wants to curse everyone, but as a king he has to remain calm.

Suddenly the noise of the crowd increases threefold and they start shouting Mal's name.

"Hi."

He feels a hand on his shoulder and as he turns he can see exactly who it is.

"Mal, what are you doing here? I asked you to stay inside."

He speaks softly so she can hear.

"As if I could hear you." She kisses his cheek. "I need to tell them. I know exactly what they're feeling, and this is my mess, not yours." She takes a deep breath, takes the microphone from the king's hand, and walks up to everyone. "People of Auradon, I know you're afraid of......our child being born with magic." It's the first time she's felt a certain maternal responsibility. "And I want to say that even though I have magic and that magic comes from my mother, I guarantee that nothing will happen to the future heir or to you. As your queen, you have my word that you will not be affected in any way by magic again."