Mal & Ben

Chapter 15

Her scooter lasted all the way across the ocean, and Mal was glad. Her swimming skills were still weak, and she wouldn't last a minute in the sea. Finally arriving on shore, Mal rode through an empty back alley, with Maleficent sitting behind her.

If she stirred the Isle and informed them of her presence, Auradon would be alerted immediately. The news would go back to Ben, who was exactly the reason why she came back home. She didn't want to spoil the inevitable engagement that he now had with Audrey, so she left.

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Almost a month later…...

The sky was already darkening when Mal finally reached her hideout. She had stayed at her old home for a month, but she missed her hideout too, so she decided to make the trip. Throwing a rock at the sign, the gate opened, and Mal led Maleficent all the way up to where she used to spend days hiding from her mother.

"No wonder I couldn't find you, this hideout is quite a good lair for you, I see." Maleficent muttered, looking around the spacious hideout. Nodding, Mal sat on her bed, rearranging her pillows, when she felt a sharp prick in her belly.

Wincing minimally, Mal stood up, reaching for her logo on the antenna, and at once, after she had pinned it on, there was magic in the air. Humming softly to herself, Mal stared out of the window gloomily, suddenly wishing that she had never stepped into the life of the royals.

She was swirled into all this mess, swayed by a mere human king. She was of faerie queen heritage, and the dragon's blood ran in her veins. Faerie blood was always dominant. She was a Queen, with or without Ben.

A second prickle of pain came  even larger than the first, and Mal clutched her stomach, wondering what was wrong. Realising Mal had stopped humming all of a sudden, Maleficent whipped around just as Mal felt a third wave of pain, and she cried out slightly.

Realising that Mal was suffering from contractions, Maleficent handed Mal a glass of water, trying to cool her down while trying to figure out when Mal was actually due. And that was when she stopped. Mal was due today.

By then, Mal was already lying down on the bed, one hand tightly gripping her stomach while the other was clawing her bed so badly that there were deep scratches and claw marks in the frame.

Screaming as the umpteenth wave of pain came, Mal whispered, out of breath, to Maleficent, "Tell Evie to come. Tell her to come alone. Say her mum wants to see her, say anything, lie or whatsoever, just don't say it's me." Mal panted, trying to catch her breath, and Maleficent moved to the other side of the room to make the call.

Within a minute Maleficent came back, and the phone was hung up. "She's coming over right now, thinking her mum is plotting revenge on Auradon." Maleficent muttered, and Mal nodded painfully at her mother.

Holding Mal's hand, Maleficent sighed, "You know, Mal, I felt so happy for you when you found your true love. I thought you wouldn't end up like me, but in the end, it seems like fate is inevitable."

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As Evie rushed up the stairs to the hideout, she felt uneasy. That call Maleficent made sounded threatening, but she was not hinting at any attempts of revenge. Instead, she sounded a little...scared?

Swinging the door to the hideout open, the first thing she saw was blood. Blood. Looking closer, Maleficent was standing over the blood, and her clothes were bloody. Oh no. Did Maleficent…...murder someone?

But squinting closer, Evie realised that Maleficent was shielding a purple haired girl from her view. A purple haired girl, who was cradling a newborn baby, and was sweating profusely.

"Mal?! Where have you been? Do you know how frantically Auradon is looking for you?! How could you?!" Evie shouted, and Mal looked up at her best friend.

Evie had seen Mal make all sorts of expressions in front of her, but this…this one was new.

In Mal's eyes, there was Fear.

Softening her expression, Evie walked over to her bedside, and she looked at Mal gently. "E, say hi to your niece." Mal held out the sleeping baby to Evie, who finally realised where all the blood had come from. Mal had undergone labour, and the bed was bloody because of that.

"She's…...beautiful." Evie smiled, looking at her niece, taking her over from Mal's hands. "Just like her father." Mal smiled sadly, and Evie suddenly didn't like where the conversation was going.

"E, could you…...bring this child to Ben, say that you found her on the streets? Don't tell him it's his." Mal begged her best friend, and Evie stared, dismayed, at her best friend. What had happened? Why was Mal fleeing from Auradon once more?

"Mal, this child is innocent! No matter whatever happened between you and Ben, you shouldn't let her suffer!" Evie exclaimed, and Mal's eyes betrayed another emotion Evie had never seen. Pain.

"Please, E, I'm begging you!" Mal pleaded, and Evie knew that Mal really could not hold on. "Okay. I'll help you. But…...what if Ben asks?" Evie agreed at last, and Mal bit her lip, looking out of the window.

"Then tell him, tell Ben, that Queen Mal died after giving birth to her, his daughter. That she is his biological daughter, Malora."

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