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It wasn't very long after Cotillion that Ben realized he was feeling different.
Yes, Mal had saved him from Uma's love spell with 'True Loves Kiss'; yes, he cared deeply for her, he would even go so far as to say he loved her.
But still, something had changed in him. Between Mal and going to the Isle and Uma and magic, Ben realized that he needed to re-think some things.
He starts with his relationship with Mal. His whole life had been planned around him finding a Queen - ever since he was old enough to understand, there was always a girl at his side. Not that he complained, in fact he had truly cared for most of them. But it was always forced, never for him to choose for himself.
Mal had been no different, not really. She had spelled him, much like Uma had, but for, what she claimed, were different reasons. She just wanted his attention, that she liked him - and maybe she had, yes, but was she so different than Uma in using the magic to get what she wanted?
Ben was beginning to think not. Uma had her reasons, and he could understand them - she had every right to be bitter towards him and his parents. Everyone on the Isle did.
But that didn't change the fact that he had been manipulated again , his feelings just mere playthings.
And even though he cared for Mal, manipulation was no way to start - or keep - a relationship. He had called her into his study, his decision made.
She hadn’t seemed very surprised when he told her that they needed a break from each other, for him to work on being a good King and for her to be herself for once. She nods and presses a kiss to his cheek, telling him she loves him. He returns the sentiment, but doesn't change his mind.
Now, he thinks back to the Isle. The people there had seemed so mad, so angry, and he knew they had every right to be. He had made this whole proclamation about bringing over the kids from the Isle, and then had gotten so caught up in his own things, that he couldn’t take care of what he really wanted to do as king.
He starts with the obvious - Evie’s friend Dizzy and a few more requests from his friends. They come to Auradon the next day. Then, every week for the next two months, he brings over more and more of the children from the Isle, having to open up a new set of dormitories that had long been closed. He does his best to make sure that the kids settle in and adjust well.
It’s only when he brings Harry and Gil, and a few other pirates, over, that Uma appears. He doesn’t hold a grudge for the love spell, even though many of his friends do. She sneers, of course she does, but he hopes he gets through to her. And maybe, if a few small trinkets go missing every now and then, what can he do?
It takes months, so much longer than it had for the four original VK’s, for everyone to get used to Auradon. But it’s not a bad thing. He makes more trips to the Isle himself, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos with him to assess the damage that’s been done, to learn about some of the ‘villains’ his parents had so long ago banished.
And it pains him to learn that some of these people, the people he and everyone else in Auradon was raised to believe was evil, to fear, weren’t so much evil as just making bad decisions at the time, and those decisions had forever branded them.
Of course, some of them were just completely demented - the original VK’s parents, for example, and Hook and Ursula and Gaston - they were all demented, Ben didn’t doubt that. But some of the others - like Mr. Smee, Cinderella’s stepsisters, even LeFou. They were all just devoted to their leaders, their families, but when you got past that, they weren’t evil, not by a long shot. More like in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It pains Ben, who is now ruling Auradon as best as he can, that these people had to suffer this way, and that his parents, his kingdom , just left them to suffer in these conditions. He won’t let them come to Auradon, worried that they would be tempted to let their leaders out - and with good reason, better safe than sorry of course - but he does start working on the Isle.
He begins by sending workers over, slowly rebuilding some of the more broken buildings. He sends fresh food over in bulk orders weekly, showing plain disgust when he tells his parents that sending their garbage over was a low blow, even for the bad guys. They had flinched at his words, but still didn’t own up to the mistakes they made and left for their son to fix.
It takes him years to undo the damage his parents had caused, but he makes progress. Mal and Evie are now his Royal Advisors for the Isle, Jay is part of his Royal Guard of the Isle, and Carlos is the Royal Inventor for the Isle, making sure the small island is always up to date on everything they could need. The five of them make sure that the Isle has medicine for those still there, has vaguely decent living conditions, even wifi now, as well as making sure the worst of the worst stay locked up and away from anything magical.
Some people don’t want to leave the Isle, their anger at the royal family too strong now, so Ben does what he can to make sure that they are taken care of. Most of the children had come to Auradon, but not all - some were painstakingly loyal to their parents, and despised how so many of their own could be so easily swayed.
But overall, Ben gets his life into order. He rules steadily with his heart as much as his head. He stopped worrying about finding a Queen years ago. He was content to just live his own life, and if he fell in love, he would take it. For now though, he was fine just being King Ben of Auradon, who was doing his best to fix the past mistakes that had almost torn his kingdom apart.