Half and Half

Chapter Five

Mal sighed as she sat in the bed in the room that Queen Belle had given her, claiming that it would be a lot more comfortable than sitting in the chair that the hospital had given her. It wasn't that Belle was wrong per se...but Mal definitely wasn't used to how comfortable Auradon mattresses were.

It honestly felt as if she was sitting on a cloud at times, a nice cloud too. Not the grey ones that always surrounded the Isle and made it so they never got to see the blue sky that Auradon got. Uma had found an old Auradon Prep textbook and they had included a picture of the Isle, sitting there with the tantalizing blue sky just out of reach.

Mal knew as far as parents went, she was fairly lucky. At least she wasn't like Uma who had to work in the Chip Shoppe from sunup to sundown almost all the time. Or there was the rumor that Jay didn't get a bed at all but slept under a shelf at Jafar's shop.

At least the dragon gave me a bed, she thought. So what if she's probably one of the worst people ever to be a parent? And so what if she broke my ankle because I called her 'Maleficent' when the Evil Queen was over? I mean...Long Live Evil right?

The pulsing sensation of throbbing pain radiating from her ankle broke Mal out of her thoughts, the medication that Lady Steph had insisted she take having worn off.

"Hiya!"

Mal blinked as she looked over at the doorway to see a young boy, probably a bit shorter than Harry, standing there.

"I heard from Lumiere that we had a guest in the castle and I wanted to say hi," the boy added before holding up a stuffed dragon. "Flamey wanted to say hi too."

"...Flamey?" Mal asked. "And who are you?"

"Oh right," the boy said with a slightly sheepish smile. "My name's Ben. Lumiere said that maman said you were hurt and that you and Lady Pesephone would be staying with us for a while. And maman and papa always say we make our guests feel welcome so do you want Flamey? He always makes me feel better when I'm upset."

"...you have a stuffed dragon?" Mal asked after staring at Ben for a minute. He wasn't anything like what she imagined a boy from Boreadon to be like.

"Why wouldn't I?" Ben asked with a grin. "Dragons are awesome!"

Mal shrugged. "I...I just thought you lot would think dragons are evil or something," she said but couldn't avoid the small smile that pulled at her lips as she saw Ben's grin. There was just something infectious about his joy that made Mal want to smile too.

Ben's eyes grew wide and he hugged the stuffed dragon close to him, as if he was offended on the toy's behalf. "Of course not!"

"Easy Benny," Mal said with a small chuckle, the nickname coming to her before she could stop it. "I didn't say that you thought that. Just that people here in Boreadon did."

"Auradon."

"Huh?"

"You called it 'Boreadon'," Ben said. 'Don't worry, I used to mispronounce it lot too but Chip used to help me. He said it wasn't a good look for me to not be able to pronounce the kingdom's name."

Mal tilted her head slightly. Benny was...interesting to say the least.

"Why are you wandering around by yourself?" Mal asked. Didn't he know that was the best way to get attacked? If Jay was here, he would have stolen whatever Benny had in his pockets by now if the rumors about his skills are true.

"Well why wouldn't I?" Ben asked. "It's my home, Chip's helping his mom out with lunch and Abby's taking a nap. I could read a book but I wanted to meet our new guest first."