Bal: it starts with me & you

Queen

*they had spent a bit more time together but once the twins became hungry again belle took her leave, it was almost an hour later there was a knock at the door, not even thinking about who it might be Mal just told them to come in, she got a pretty big surprise when she turned around and saw who it was*
Mal: uh, hi
Grandmother: hello, sorry, I was looking for Belle, I forgot I was supposed to ask for the queen mother not the queen, how silly of me
Mal: oh
Grandmother: so my husband and I are great grandparents?
Mal: twice over
Grandmother: that was fast
*seeing the look on Mal's face, Ben's grandmother realised that he'd not come or as she'd meant it to*
Grandmother: sorry, that wasn't how I meant it
Mal: okay
Grandmother: you don't have to be so careful around me
Mal: I've learnt not be quite so trusting around people who's intentions I don't know
Grandmother: I assure you, we only came for our son's funeral, once we've had a chance to speak to our grandson properly, if he so wishes, we'll be on our way back home
Mal: where is home? This is beast castle, the realm Beast should have inherited from yourself and his father, but he had this castle built and upon his coronation he had your former castle given to others, so where are you both now?
Grandmother: you're right, he took castle away from us, we do now live on the outskirts of Auradon, but in a mansion that Ben's father gave us, we didn't want to be in such a huge castle anymore, tell me, do you like living in the castle? Not used to anything quite so grand I don't imagine
Mal: I don't care about the castle, I'd live wherever Ben wanted to be, he's my home, not some stupid building
Grandmother: that's what I wanted to hear
Mal: you were testing me?
Grandmother: you didn't know?
Mal: good point
Grandmother: I just wanted to make sure that what was truly in your heart was love for my grandson
Mal: I didn't go through hell to give him heirs for the fun of it
Grandmother: no I imagine you didn't
Mal: at least Belle and Beast openly didn't like me, you're trying to mask it and not very well at that
Grandmother: I don't dislike you, not at all, I'm just curious
Mal: about what?
Grandmother: a lot of things....my grandson mostly, I hadn't seen or heard from him in a long time before this week, I don't know my own grandson
Mal: you're very lucky to have him as your grandson, he's a brilliant king
Grandmother: but as a PERSON what's he like?
Mal: everything, he's as close to perfect as I could imagine a person being, he's always had my back, he's a really good man
Grandmother: I'm glad to hear it
Mal: but I have to say, it was not much thanks to your son, a lot of the best things about him are either in spite of or simply to spite his father
Grandmother: if you're trying to tell me we did a bad job of parenting our son, I already know that
Mal: then why didn't you do anything about it? Why did you push him away?
Grandmother: because I was living in a time where you did as you were told in the position I was in
Mal: you didn't love your husband when you married him did you?
Grandmother: no, I did my duty and married him and then I did my duty again and gave him a son, I let him do as he willed with our boy, he saw very little affection from his father, I suppose that's why he gave so little to his son
Mal: forgive me, I just don't understand how someone with so much love has come from a group of people who didn't give him that
Grandmother: I tried
Mal: how could you just step back and leave him to be dragged up rather than raised lovingly? And then, if you actually did know you'd screwed it up with him, why did you let him start making the same mistakes with Ben?
Grandmother: he didn't raise Ben the way his father raised him
Mal: you're right, he didn't, because he was barely involved, but when he was, he was so tough on him, Ben is a gentle person, he could not stand up to his father
Grandmother: I heard your were a feisty one, I didn't think you'd be quite this ferocious
Mal: well Ben didn't marry me expecting me to sit quietly and stand behind him, we're equal, he didn't want a queen to float around the castle all day, he'd have stayed with his ex if he wanted that, I give him my opinions because he values them, that may be a foreign concept to you but I won't just sit still, look pretty and keep my mouth shut
Grandmother: I'm glad, I hope you know, I admire you, I wish I could've been like you, I wish I'd have stood up to my husband, but I didn't, not until it was too late at least, I'm glad Ben listens to you, heavy hangs the head that wears the crown don't they say? It's a little less heavy with help
Mal: I'm his queen, I will always help him
Grandmother: you don't really want to be queen though do you?
*Mal's silence said it all, the older woman smiled at the lack of response*
Grandmother: good, he doesn't need a queen, he needs someone behind HIM not the crown
Mal: I don't stand behind him, I stand with him
Grandmother: even better
Mal: I think there's more to you than you think there is
Grandmother: I wish that was true
Mal: I think it is and I think that if belle still wants to hold a grudge, she might be carefully reminded that she remains in the good graces of the current queen purely based on the forgiveness Ben has taught me and not her own manners which were beneath the woman crowned queen over twenty five years ago
Grandmother: you'd go down that path for me?
Mal: not for you, but for what I thought was best for my husband I'd go to hell and back
Grandmother: and you think I'm what's right for him?
Mal; I think he just lost his father and needs the support of his family, I also think that you could tell him things about his father that might make him understand why there were problems between the pair of them
Grandmother: I'll do whatever I have to for him, I promise you
Mal: oh I know you will, because if you don't, you'll have to answer to me, and like I said, I'm THE queen, I rule with my husband, and right now, I'm in the strongest position any new queen has ever been in in the history of these kingdoms, so I don't think you'd risk crossing me
Grandmother: I like your fire, I think this kingdom would stand behind you just as much as him and rightly so, your majesty
*it was the strangest feeling for Mal, taking all that power and owning it, and even stranger being called your majesty when she wasn't stood beside her husband, she watched as the former queen curtsied to her, she bowed her head and with one final exchange of smiles her grandmother-in-law left, for the first time ever, Mal truly felt like a queen, and she liked it, she was right, she was in a very powerful position right now, she could be a powerful ally or enemy, it was a shock to her system, but a welcome one*
Mal: always remember who you are
*in that moment she wasn't really sure if she was talking to herself or her daughter in her arms, but she knew that it was true for the both of them, and then she realised what she really could bring to the table to leave a mark on Ben's reign, everything fell into place in her mind and she finally lost the weakness that had surrounded her for quite a while now and all she was left with was strength, she truly was herself once again and it was long overdue*

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This wasn't remotely what I intended it to be at the start but as I started to get really far off course I brought it back kinda and found the new course which was wayyyy better cuz now I have planssss, so if you're slightly confused then I'm trying to be ominous so just roll with it, but guys, please be patient, I update as and when I can so please just understand I do it as often and possible Xoxo