Finding New Love

Happily Ever After

Mal knew without a mirror or the gasps that sounded around the room that her eyes were glowing again. She didn't care. She also knew that her hate and anger was directed at the King. She knew that she should at least show the boy who had taught her what life was a little mercy, but despite their history, she did not care.

"Where is Harry?" Mal repeated, wanting the answer.

"He's in a cell, where he belongs. He is a villain, and you know that better than anyone, Mal," Ben said, his face not changing a bit.

"And the reason that he is that way is because him, like the rest of us were put on the Isle without consent, and were raised by parents that were villains. The only difference between him and someone like Evie is that he wasn't given the same treatment as us. He wasn't allowed to learn what we did."

"And what did you learn Mal?" Ben asked, his face turning red in anger. "Because it seems to me like you haven't learned much. Evil is in your blood. I thought that by giving the VKs an opportunity to integrate with us that you would learn and learn to be different from you parents, but I was wrong. It's in your blood, and nothing can change that."

Mal had to admit that this time stung. "T-that's not true," Mal finally got out. "And you know that. You saw how we changed. I learned how to love. Something I never thought I would experience." She was desperate, and she knew that Ben knew she was desperate.

He let out a dark laugh. "Have you actually learned what love is?"

Mal tool shallow breaths. It was a test to her. A very dangerous one, where if she got the answer wrong, it'd be lives at stake. The borders of her vision started turning black due to the lack of air that she was getting. She couldn't think. There were too many dangerous thoughts swirling around in her head.

"Deep breaths, Mal," she heard in the back of her head. "Just think. What have you learned. Not with Ben. But what have you learned about yourself with Harry? What has he taught you?"

"I might not know what it's like to grow up with loving parents. But I know that when someone loves you, they love you for who you are. They don't want someone that you're trying hard to be. They accept you for everything that you are. Be it that they're a pirate, or the most powerful villain's daughter. They don't expect you to be a perfect princess or a washout version of yourself," Mal said, thinking about how Harry loved her, and how she loved him. "And even if you lose your temper and you fight, if you truly love them, you'll go back to them and apologize, even if you're wrong, because more than anything, you love them, and you want them to be in your life. If you love someone, you see when they're hurting. Even when they're putting on a facade to show otherwise. And you'll hug them and rock them to sleep when they wake up from nightmares."

Harry had always been there for her. Especially after she left Auradon. He had helped her. He had been he person that she had relied on. When she had woken up in cold sweats, he had been the person to rock her to sleep, soothing her with words that she hadn't deserved. Because he loved her. And that was perhaps the reason why she had gone to him to end her when she had first arrived back on the Isle. Because she wouldn't have minded being ended by him. Because he was perhaps the one person in the world that would have cared if she had changed into someone they all knew she wasn't and seen behind the fake smiles that she put on for the cameras.

A slow clap echoed through the room. She looked up, blinking her tears away to see the source as Ben.

First, she felt anger. She thought he was mocking her until she saw a genuine smile on his face, and her anger was replaced by confusion.

"I'm sorry, Mal," he said. She felt even more confused. "For everything," he explained when he saw her confusion. "For being an idiot in more ways than I can ever explain, and for this." He paused as he gauged her expression. "This was somewhat of a test." Another pause as he saw her facial expression go from confused to angry. Ben quickly put his hands up in surrender. "You passed, if that's any consolation."

It wasn't to Mal. She had been put through the ringer, thinking that her friends- that Harry- had been put in serious danger, when it had just been an idiotic person trying to prove a point of some sort to her. But she didn't lash out the way that she thought she would. Instead, she heaved out a sigh and said, "And what, pray tell, was the point of this test?" 

"I thought that because you obviously weren't happy at school, I thought that I could do something else for you. And I had planned this out a while ago, but things got sidetracked with Uma, and... I wasn't the best boyfriend to you, but after hearing Harry, and what he was yelling at us if anything happened to you, I thought that it would be okay to continue with the plan," Ben explained, while motioning for the guards to come forward. They removed any last traces of the chains that had given her the sickening feeling due to the loss of her magic. "So, as the king of Auradon, I would like to now pronounce Mal, an honorary member of the court, and hereby given the land that we have in the east that currently is not in use, where she, and any future member of her family may reside in peace."

Mal looked at Ben like he was crazy, and in all fairness, he might've been, but she also couldn't help the tears that flowed down her cheeks. Peace. Where she could live with her family, should she choose to build one. 

"I think that someone is waiting for you to notice him," Ben said with a small smile. 

Mal turned around, scanning the room before she saw them. And when her eyes landed on Harry, completely unscathed, she broke out into a sprint, running straight into his awaiting arms. 

~~~~

And as cliché as it sounds, they all lived happily ever after.