Once We are Descendants

Chapter 65: Amends for Amour

Ben sucks in a deep breath as he approaches Maleficent's modest little home. His stomach is turning heavily to the point where he wants to throw up. All the confidence that he had built up in front of Crystal, telling her that he was going to his relationship problems with Mal has vanished, leaving him a nervous wreck. He knows he should just suck it up and do this, tell her how he truly feels about her, but the anxiety of what could happen is overpowering. He was so unsure of how Mal would react and his worst fear is that she would reject him immediately and put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. As he approaches the blue little house, he feels as though he loses his nerve more with every step. Maybe he should have talked it out with Crystal first instead of going headlong into what will likely be an emotional rollercoaster ride. Every time he sees his "ex-girlfriend's" beautiful face, he can't help but think of how hurt it looked when he "betrayed" her by choosing the kingdom over his true love.

There is another thing that is adding to his nerves, which is that he's approaching the house of Maleficent, the mistress of all evil. While he had already encountered the blonde woman briefly before in the park and she did seem rather tame and reasonable compared to her Auradon counterpart, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her. After all, it was more than likely that this version of the wicked woman could also transform into a dragon and the last time he'd had an encounter with her, she'd ruined his coronation and was ready to burn him to a crisp if Mal hadn't stepped in to turn her own mother's magic against her. It was obvious that magic flowed freely through the veins of Storybrooke and this meant that the transformation into a winged reptile was very possible.

He hesitates at the steps of the porch before walking up and knocking on the door. He can hear footsteps in the hall, he's trying to prepare himself for what he will say to her when she opens the door, seeing those long purple locks and beautiful green eyes again. His heart pounds so hard against his chest that it just might break his ribcage.

However, instead of Mal, a dark-haired woman answers the door. For a moment, she looks rather surprised to see a handsome young boy on her mother's doorstep, but immediately she becomes annoyed when she sees his weird looking outfit, knowing that he was from the freakish Auradon world.

"Who the hell are you?" she asks, her eyebrows immediately creeping together. Her brown eyes examine him up and down with great disapproval as if she's taken an instant disliking to him even though she's never met him before.

"I'm... King Ben."

"So, do I have to bow to you or something?" the woman practically snarls at him. "Because I sure as hell do not answer to anyone."

"Most people just call me Ben," he admits, deciding to heed Emma's words and not use his royal title in this town. "Is Mal around?"

"What's it to you?" she says.

"I really need to speak to her,"

"Fine, I'll go see if she's around," the woman says, rolling her eyes before disappearing into the house.

Meanwhile, Mal is in the living room, examining some of Maleficent's magazines on the coffee table when Lily pokes her head in.

"Hey Grape Hair," Lily says, which makes Mal look up and grind her teeth together in frustration. She doesn't understand why Lily hates her so much, it's not like she did anything to her, except maybe staying in her house, but this would only be temporary. In retaliation, her eyes flash green to silently express her anger to her alternate sister.

"What?" she grimaces.

"There's a guy at the door for you. Says he really needs to speak to you."

At first, Mal assumes it's Ben, but it could also be Carlos or Jay, needing to talk to her about something important. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to talk to Ben if it was him, but if he really needed her for something, she wouldn't say no.