Bal: it starts with me & you

Run

*after the very public funeral, the family had a private burial, it was there they truly said goodbye, the coffin was buried and they got a chance to truly say their goodbyes, Ben stood with his mother and all three grandparents as each said goodbye to him on their own terms Mal meanwhile sat with the kids both of whom had been very good and had remained quiet throughout the service having fallen asleep during and only waking up on the way to the cemetery, clearly both quite hungry, Mal now sat back with the two young infants who had both fallen asleep again and found herself trying not to do so as well, she was startled by hearing someone whisper her name to her*
Ben: Mal?
Mal: hmm? Sorry, I'm awake, I promise
Ben: are you alright? It's only 12:30
Mal: I guess I just didn't sleep to well last night
Ben: do you want to go back to the castle? Go get some rest?
Mal: I'm fine, you're exhausted too and you're still going
Ben: I didn't push two kids out of me three weeks ago
Mal: no but your heart did stop last week
Ben: maybe we should be have an early night?
Mal: maybe we should
Ben: do you wanna....do you wanna meet them?
*Mal looked at him curiously, she was quite intrigued but wasn't sure if he actually wanted her to*
Mal: you want me to?
Ben: it's up to you?
Mal: do you want me to meet them Ben? They're your grandparents
Ben: I don't know what's going on with them yet, they've been scarily nice
Mal: maybe they've realised that they need their family in their lives?
Ben: who knows
Mal: give me a hand would you? I am not made for walking in heels but I'm a foot shorter than you
Ben: just do the whole magic thing
Mal: you know you're not supposed to be encouraging me don't you?
Ben: eh, you have this immense power and there not changing that so you might as well use it right?
Mal: yes my so called immense power is perfectly suited to change my heels to flats
Ben: well I mean I can't condone massive things
Mal: true, but my feet will still hurt
*he went to reply to her but just then he felt a tap on his shoulder, he got up from where he'd been kneeling in front of Mal, he turned and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw his grandparents suddenly in front of him*
Grandma: Ben?
Ben: g..grandma
Grandma: are you going to introduce us?
Ben: uhhhh
*Mal bit her lip to hold back a chuckle as she lightly shook her head at how suddenly awkward Ben had become, she stood up, fighting the urge to scrunch her face up in pain over the heels she was still wearing, at which point she decided to take them off so just stepped out of them and stood by her husband's side, wrapping her arm around his waist*
Mal: I'm Mal, you're Ben's grandparents?
*Mal tried to forget the fact that her mother killed their son and everyone knew it*
Grandpa: we are, you're his wife?
Mal: I am, I'm so sorry for your loss
Grandma: I'm not sure you could really call him our loss at this point
Ben: and who's fault is that?
*Mal's head whipped round to look at her husband in shock, giving him a dirty look as she pulled her arm away*
Mal: Ben! I'm sorry, he's not....
Ben: not what? Wrong?
Mal: Ben! You promised your mother you wouldn't do this!
Ben: in public
Mal: I don't think you should be here right now with that attitude
Grandma: no, he's right, we were terrible parents, I mean we must have been for our own son to disown us
Ben: he didn't disown you! You disowned him!
Grandpa: never!
Ben: wait what?
Grandma: we had trouble accepting who he had chosen to marry, I mean at first we did disown him, for his behaviour, the reason that witch cursed him, he had a horrible attitude towards people and we just couldn't deal with it anymore, but when he broke the curse he came back and asked for forgiveness which we were so happy to give him, but then he brought to us the girl he was marrying and at the time we just couldn't agree, they'd barely known each other for long, she was a commoner, at the time that just didn't happen, we were wrong the way we treated your mother but when we tried to seek forgiveness, he shut us out
Ben: what? No, you're lying
Mal: Ben!
*she wasn't sure what on earth was going on but yet again she found she had to chastise her husband*
Grandma: I swear to you, we realised we were wrong but by the time we did, he wouldn't forgive us
Mal: Ben, does that not sound familiar to you?
Ben: I....I....I....
*his breathing was unsteady, he was so confused, just one more question he could never get the answer to, it was all too much, he just couldn't be there anymore, he just had to get away*
Ben: I can't do this, not now, I'm sorry
*all of a sudden Ben runs off, leaving everyone shocked as he just disappeared off to god knows where*
Mal: BEN!
*she called after him but he didn't stop, she didn't know what to do, the twins were there, she couldn't just run off after him, but the she saw Belle nod to her, as if she knew exactly what Mal was thinking, Mal glanced once more to her kids before deciding to chase after her husband, but after following about ten metres away she tripped on something, she didn't know what, but she felt her knee click and felt something tear and couldn't hold back an agonising scream, two of her guards ran over to her and she was rushed back to the castle, but Ben was still nowhere to be found*

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Well Ben did a runner, do you think he should've stayed and tried to figure out what was going on or do you think he was right to run? But poor Mal being torn between chasing him and staying with the kids only to chase him and get hurt? How do you think Ben will react when he finds out what happened? Xoxo