What I Want

Chapter 14: Love is The Most Powerful Emotion

After running back to her room to retrieve the enchanted lake painting from earlier in the day, Mal dropped it off in Ben's room and left to spend some time with Evie, who had been dying to go over other details for the wedding. Evie had become the unofficial wedding planner. Once Mal had left, Ben was left to his own devices. Luckily he had a plan. He was going to work on his wedding gift for Mal. While the proposal was spur of the moment, he had been planning on this gift for months. He had known he would propose to Mal eventually, so he had started working on his present early.

Ben made his way to the suite that he and Mal would soon share after they had wed and let himself in. Fortunately for him, Mal didn't know about the suite just yet. She had assumed that they would stay in Ben's current room, but this wasn't the case. Like his parents, this suite was more like an apartment. It contained a decent sized living room, a medium sized kitchen, a small bathroom to the side, a master bedroom, and another smaller bedroom with its own bathroom. In the master bedroom, there was a grand bathroom, two large his and her closets, and one spare room. None of the other suites in the castle had this spare room in the bedroom, but Ben had chosen this suite specifically. He was going to use this room to make something special for Mal. Thankfully, he was almost done with it. On the right side of the room was a large panel of one way windows. One could see everything from the inside, but no one outside could see in. The view from these windows was of all of Auradon, the sun's rays enveloping the kingdom in light. On the left wall was shelves from about a foot off the floor all the way to a foot away from the ceiling. These shelves ran the length of the room. One wall next to the door had a large couch in front of it, and the wall on the opposite side of the door had several different sized canvases stacked in front of it. The wall across from the door was bare, except for the magenta paint that Ben had first applied to all the walls when he started this project. In the middle of the room was his current part of the project, a large wooden desk. It was flipped upside down with only two legs currently attached as well as a few drawers built into it. He began sanding the third leg that he had previously spun on the large lathe he had brought in.

He worked diligently, knowing that he had to finish this project before the wedding so he could surprise Mal with it. He still had a few other things to build before he was even close to being done, such as the easel he was going to build for her. He also needed to make sure that he had time to buy the supplies that Mal would need when she would put this room to use. He was a busy man, between having to run the kingdom, being there for Mal, and this project. However, it was all worth it. He loved his life, and wouldn't trade it for anything. He was determined to complete this project and still have time for the woman he loved as well as for the job he was meant to do. This determination helped him keep his focus as he worked despite his physical and emotional exhaustion. In the end, this was all for her, so he had to do it right. Unfortunately, his focused was interrupted by sudden blackness covering his vision. He heard the lathe turn off, but he knew he wasn't the one that had done it.

"What are you working on?" a spine-tingling voice asked.

"What is going on? Why can't I see?" Ben wondered aloud.

"Oh, I apologize. I'll fix that for you."

Slowly, in the darkness, a tall, slender, dark-skinned man appeared. He wore a black top hat with a skull and cross bones on it, and a deep red suit jacket and pants with a magenta shirt. In his right hand he held some kind of staff. It took a moment, but Ben recognized him. It was Dr. Facilier, Mal's father. Ben wondered why he was suddenly seeing Dr. Facilier now. He certainly wasn't in the room with him, or else he would have noticed that. Was this all in his head? Were both he Dr. Facilier in his head? That was the only way any of this could be explained. Dr. Facilier had made himself appear in Ben's mind using some kind of spell. Ben was trapped in his own head with Dr. Facilier. Why was this going on? Then again, Dr. Facilier was invading his mind, and that was rather concerning. Ben slowly approached Dr. Facilier but still kept a distance between them. What the hell was he doing in his head?