Chapter Text
"Current status?"
"Ambassador to the Isle of the Lost."
The guard flicked his eyes up and down her form, noting the dragon patterns and metallic additions to her outfit before returning his eyes to the entry permits in his hands. "And reason for visiting Auradon Castle today?"
Mal deadpanned. "I'm the Ambassador for the Isle of the Lost. What do you think I'm here for?"
"Well, you're dressed like you're planning an assassination."
"I don't think you're important enough to count as an assassination."
The guard wasn't impressed, but he apparently managed to find the answer to his question in the papers himself, so he handed them back with a sigh. Evie hid a giggle behind her hand as Mal folded everything back up and then handed them to her. Behind Evie, Uma was smirking while she waited with her entrance papers and Harry as her escort. The last Isle Ambassador was Ginny Gothel, who was the only one who'd elected to not bring someone.
The entry bar clicked and Mal pushed it out of the way, only for it to click back into place in front of Evie. Evie rolled her eyes and then followed Mal through onto the crowded grounds of the palace.
"Do you think we'll be announced?" Evie whispered into Mal's ear as she hovered beside her, rubbing her fingers in circles on the textured leather of her purse.
"The Honorary Ambassadors to the Isle of the Lost, who were asked to use the main entrance instead of the private sectors?" Mal replied in a crisp tone. She adjusted some of the metal on her leg. Despite its scary appearance, it was all useless. No way she'd actually be allowed to bring a knife onto the palace grounds.
"This place is amazing," Evie whispered. Mal looked up from adjusting her outfit and followed her gaze to the tip of the gigantic castle before their eyes. The Auradon flag was set on top and with the bright light on it, it seemed like some sort of abnormally bright star. Towering trees and topiaries blocked most of the castle walls, but the spires stretched upwards like beacons. Beneath their feet, the smooth squares that made up the pathway glittered with silver streaks in them.
"Not bad," Uma agreed as she stepped up behind them.
"Aye," Harry muttered as he settled his hands onto her shoulders.
"Could do without all of-" Mal rolled her wrists at the blue and gold banners lining the sideways. "-those."
They all laughed because they all understood. They'd been virtually ignored by the palace for the last thirty years - all of their lives. But the king had requested the Isle be included in official discussions and provide a representative for every 500 people on the Isle. Mal and Uma had been elected, with Ginny coming up as a third to cease contention between the two hotheads. This was their first official visit to Auradon - a party celebrating the end of the War on Villainy and the villains being locked up on the Isle of Lost. In short, the perfect way to welcome the formerly ignored island. Mal rather considered this the trifecta triumph of the palace. First, lock the villains up on a remote island they can't leave, along with the villages and their inhabitants who had already existed there. Second, block off all communication so neither your former enemies nor the people they're terrorizing have any way to complain or alert you to wrongdoing. Third, declare the Isle is still part of Auradon after thirty-three years of salutary neglect, insist on running censuses and electing officials, and invite them to a party celebrating their loss.
"Should we follow the crowds?" Uma asked, nodded at the other people streaming in from the other entrances.
Mal took a half step back and put Evie in front of her. "Do your thing," she muttered. "I brought you along for a reason, and it's because you know society."
"Oh, so now you listen to me," Evie snapped. "And not before, when I told you that wearing blades in your outfit might be a bad idea."
"They're useless," Mal wrinkled her nose. "And I need you to navigate me, not mold me into one of them."
Evie sighed and gestured them all forward with two fingers. Poor Ginny panted as she caught up to the group only to have to run after them again without a break. The crowds grew dense around them and soon Mal was putting her arms up in defense as they headed closer to the doors.
The palace doors had gold engravings of roses across the front - the perfect emblem of both beauty and beast. Had they always been there, or had poor, provincial Belle ordered the doors to be adorned?
A pair of guards skimmed the crowds as they flooded into the large ballroom inside. Mal felt his breath from all the yards away when he caught sight of her. A walkie-talkie went up by his ear. Huh. Apparently, they were being announced. Just maybe not to the crowds.
Inside, the ceiling towered a full three stories above their heads. Hundreds of chandeliers lit the area and portraits bigger than her by ten times over stared down in noble, regal positions. Mal let out a breath and glanced to Evie, who was blushing as a group of boys tilted their heads at her. Hmm. She wondered how long until-
"Ambassadors Maleficent, Uma, Ginevra," someone greeted over her left shoulder. Mal almost swung at the person - a palace attendant with thinning hair and a light yellow suit, and then glared at the people who'd paused to stare upon hearing her name.
"Mal," she corrected the man firmly. "Maleficent is my mother. Can I help you?"
The attendant smiled and held up a collection of tags. "For you," he explained, though Mal had figured that out. "We apologize for the inconvenience of using the main gates. These will allow you to use the underground tunnels upon your next visit. There is one for you and for a guest of your choosing. Guests will not be allowed in unescorted."
Oh. Seems like Auradon wasn't going to continue to be actively terrible, then. Mal took the tags and began to fork them out to her companions. "Thanks," she told the attendant. "What do we need to know about the rundown tonight? Are we being announced or anything?"
"Not this time," the man shook his head and a sour feeling crossed through Mal's chest before he explained: "No one is being announced at this ball because it is a communal event. Not even the King will be formally introduced."
Ah. They weren't being singled out. Mal's frown disappeared. "Thanks," she repeated, much lighter than the first one. "So we just... hang around and socialize?"
"Grab food," the man agreed. "There is plenty for you to take home with you. There is a room reserved for you on your key card. If you have any questions, my name is Lumiere. You may ask me anything - I usually am along the edges of the room by the doors or stairs - or anyone else. Is that acceptable to you?"
Mal gave a nod and felt her head bob along after the motion. This was acceptable. Good.
Lumiere withdrew with a little bow. Evie grabbed Mal's arm at about the same time Mal turned to her.
"Do you think-" Evie began.
"Are you going to-" Mal stopped. They both laughed a little at themselves and then Mal made a gesture at the party. "Are you going to go socialize?"
"I think so," Evie grinned and nodded. "Are you?"
"Ah, no," Mal snorted. "I'm going to get food and not socialize."
Evie laughed. Uma and Harry were already wandering off with their hands in each other's back pockets. "Sounds good," she said. "I think I'll go and... find someone to talk to."
Mal nodded and headed out of the crowd and towards the walls. Lumiere straightened up when he saw her heading towards him, but she turned the other way and he deflated a bit. Nice guy, she thought. Very helpful.
Four long buffet tables were heavy-laden with food and four more were visible closer to the grand staircase, which was opposite the entrance doors. Mal supposed that the matching eight would be on the other side of the room as well. And on these tables was laid food that glistened in the light like it was fake. Shiny apples, sparkling ciders and jellos, rolls with buttery tops that reflected the light, and cake with bright white frosting.
Why was everything so bright?
Mal snagged an apple, rubbed it down more on the part of her outfit that wasn't covered in metal, and then took a bite. It was so rich with flavor that she almost had to spit it back out. Ugh. Auradon.
"Have you ever had an apple before?"
Mal jumped again. Auradonians were either naturally good at sneaking up on her or she was really off her game. She glanced over her shoulder and found a tall man who looked rather... beautiful. He was tall, with light brown hair and greenish-grey eyes. His skin was pale - almost as pale as hers. Strong jaw, rounded nose, and the hints of a boyish smile as he waited for her response.
"We don't really have food like this on the Isle of the Lost," she shrugged, tilting the apple a little so he could see the bite mark.
The man's eyebrows shot up. "Oh!" he explained. "You must be one of the ambassadors from the Isle! I'm so pleased to meet you!"
Huh. She hadn't expected a response like that. And hadn't expected him to further extend his hand. A little smirk slid onto her mouth as she took his hand and shook. His hand was cold - a welcome relief from the warm room. "You must be a member of the court," she hummed. "I hope you're not from Auroria."
The man smiled almost bashfully. "I'm not," he assured her. "But Audrey is the representative from Auroria. She's very nice - you'll like her." Then, after a moment of pause, "Are you Maleficent?"
"I go by Mal."
"Ambassador Mal," he laughed and Mal found she rather liked the sound. "I'm Ben. Pleased to meet you."
"Ben," Mal smiled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. A guard had taken a step forward from out of the crowd. Another was beside him, against the wall. And suddenly Mal could feel eyes on her neck. "You must be pretty important to have so many guards around."
"Could be for you," Ben whispered as if it was a secret. But he didn't deny what she'd said and so Mal took it to mean that yes, he was important, and the guards were here to protect him. Maybe from unwanted suitors, she thought. He really was gorgeous.
Mal dragged her eyes down his face. She suddenly found herself focusing on his mouth, which was a very nice even color. Then he bit it, she watched the white flood into his skin and then realized she'd tuned out a bit.
"Sorry, I got lost in thought," she said. "What did you say?"
"Are you going to go enjoy the party?" He seemed uneasy now, all of the sudden. Mal withdrew a little and cast her eyes back out at the scene.
"Um," she began, chewing on her lip. "I was actually hiding. So no."
"Hiding?" Ben repeated. The little smile returned. "Hiding from what?"
"People," Mal replied and stuck her thumb out towards the crowd. "Maybe you were 'pleased to meet me', but I don't really want to find out how pleased some of the others will be."
"I get that," Ben murmured. "I guess I'm hiding too." He gave her a smile that made her insides twist.
Mal glanced behind him at one of the guards, who wasn't close enough to be eavesdropping but wasn't trying too hard to hide the fact he was watching them. "Want to get out of here together?" she whispered. It'd be fun to see where skipping out with this beautiful stranger could land her.
Panic immediately appeared in Ben's eyes. He glanced over his shoulder at the guards and then swallowed. "I don't know..." he trailed off.
Mal couldn't deny she was immediately a little hurt. "Why? Problem going somewhere with the villain's daughter?"
Ben's eyebrow flicked up a little and Mal supposed that was as much of an annoyed reaction as she would get out of him. "No," he shook his head and leaned forward as if he were going to whisper in her ear. For a moment, his breath tickled her neck, but then Mal saw the two guards step forward and Ben withdrew until he found a distance he could whisper at without having to be too close to her. "I'm, uh, not exactly supposed to go anywhere. That's why."
Mal glanced at the guards again. Pests, she labeled them. She sighed. "Fine, but can you show me a way out of here?
Ben pointed behind her and Mal turned to follow his direction. There was a golden door off to the side and slightly hidden behind one pillar. Perfect. Ben stepped beside her and headed towards the door. The guards, of which there were four and positioned around him in a large square, moved back as he approached. He opened the door for her and Mal peered in. There was a modest hallway with brown carpeting and white walls with one or two rooms without doors going down a hallway until it turned out of sight. The hallway was wider than the door. Good.
Mal stepped in and turned around. "You sure you don't want to leave?" she asked. "I'm sure no one in there will actually notice - there's a million people in there."
"Some people will notice." Ben shrugged a little - he seemed shy now. "But you have fun. If you take a right at the end of the hallway, it'll take you to the main halls and you can probably find your room or whatever. Left will take you out to the gardens."
Mal hummed and took a tiny half-step forward to see what he would do. He leaned back, but his eyes went a little wide with surprise. That did it for her. She grabbed him by the suit, yanked him into the hallway, pressed him against the wall, shut the door, and cast her favorite spell - invisibility. Ben gasped. The door was flung back open and all four guards rushed right past them and down the hallway. They peered in the two rooms as they passed and Ben let out a breath.
"Oh no," he said. A strangled, crazy sort of laugh escaped his throat. "I am in... they are going to be so mad..."
Mal laughed at him. "What? Are they like, your babysitters?"
"Kinda?" Ben rubbed the back of his neck as Mal backed off and brushed her hands off. "Sometimes it feels like that. Oh boy... they are going to be so..." He covered his face with his hands and shook his head.
"You can go back if you want?" Mal offered. "I mean, I wouldn't want them to think I kidnapped you if you're important enough to have bodyguards."
Ben paused, giving her this odd side-eye that made her stomach curl up like a fist. "Do you know me?" he asked.
"No," Mal shook her head. "Do I need to?"
Ben exhaled. He took a step back, let his head fall against the wall, and a breathless sort of smile spread across his lips. "Okay," he said. "Let me message them to not put a warrant out for your arrest, and I suppose I can stay missing for twenty minutes, maybe."
"Bet I can make it thirty."
Ben's wild smile turned into an acknowledging smirk. "Okay, but I should probably go back after that."
"Forty."
"I wouldn't want them to do something drastic."
Mal's smile faded a little. "How important are you?"
Ben shrugged. "Replaceable enough."
Good enough for her.
She nodded down the hall. Ben pulled out his phone to text as he walked down after her. As they reached the end of the hall, Mal heard the guards running back towards them. She pushed Ben back up against the wall so he wouldn't get barrelled over as they passed and couldn't stop a smirk when he took a sharp breath and leaned away from her touch. She took the opportunity to feel up his chest a few inches and make him keen back, shaking.
"How do they not notice us?' he whispered, taking her wrists and moving her hands off of him. "They just... went right past."
"Invisibility spell," Mal chuckled. "Handy trick my mom taught me."
Ben let out a wild, disbelieving laugh. "You use magic. We're using magic to avoid my guards. Okay. This is the wildest thing I've ever done." He shook his head to clear it a bit and then pointed down the hallway. "We can go this way, I can show you towards the main staircase, and then I should probably head back into the party. They won't take my disappearance... kindly."
"How far is it?" Mal frowned, turning to see if she could peer around the corner at this angle. She couldn't, but he made it sound like it wasn't that far.
Ben smiled as if he'd guessed what she was thinking. "Not far," he confirmed. "But we can take a detour through the gardens together. After all, you might be arrested tomorrow. It wouldn't make sense to have you put in all of this work and not even get to walk five minutes with me."
"I'll be honest when I say I had a bit more in mind, but I'll take what I can get."
Ben looked a stellar combination of absolutely spooked and genuinely baffled. Mal laughed. He genuinely had no idea how delicious he looked? She paused then - Evie had made it seem like Auradon Princes were the kind of people to lay their coats over puddles for you and lead you around wherever. Would he offer her his arm?
Ben fidgeted and reached an arm up to adjust his suit coat briefly. Mal reached forward before he could withdraw and began unbuttoning the coat for him. Ben's eyes grew very wide as she made quick work of the coat and pushed it back before reaching up and ruffling his hair. "There," she approved her own work. "Now you look less like you belong in there."
The explanation made Ben less tense. He laughed and then, slowly, removed the coat and extended his arm to her. Mal had to pause - why, she'd certainly fallen down this rabbit hole quickly - and then looped her hand around the crook of his elbow and let him begin to lead her off. Ben cleared his throat within the first five steps. "So," he began, "What's your first impression of Auradon?"
She continued openly examining him. "This view is definitely making up for the embarrassment of treating us like second-class citizens." His entire neck went pink. Had he never been flirted with? "Big," Mal rolled her eyes. "Not entirely uncouth though. I was expecting more people to dislike me."
"You can probably expect that from the older members of society, unfortunately," Ben sighed. "They don't like me much either. The worst ones will probably be King Eric, King Phillip, King Adam..." Ben coughed a little. "Some of the older queens can be cruel too. Watch out for Queen Leah - she was very upset when she learned you'd been elected. Hopefully she behaves, though."
"Great," Mal sighed. "I feel like I'm being tossed into the shark tank now. All these people hate me."
"Well, it's better to be on guard going in than to not be, right?" Ben asked. He started fiddling with the top button on his shirt. The night was warm and Mal didn't blame him, but she had a startling desire to undo it for him. Instead, she watched while Ben slipped the button out of the hole and took another deep breath. "Much better," he mumbled then spared her another glance. "Is this okay? I'm sorry - I should have asked fir-"
"It's fine." Mal waved his concerns away. "I don't mind the view. You go as far as you want."
Ben's mouth fell open and he tripped. Mal had to catch him before he ended up on the ground. "S-sorry!" he stammered. "I just..."
"Have you never had anyone flirt with you?" Mal asked.
A little color went into Ben's cheeks. He was very pale - so pale that the color barely showed in the dark. He shook his head. "No," he admitted. "No, I haven't."
"How? You look too good to be true. I've seen pictures less perfect."
"I'm not exactly the sort of person people flirt with. You know," he waved his hand back in the general direction of the hallway. "-guards and all."
"Ah," Mal rolled her eyes. Auradon was so strange. "So what is the Auradon method of this? On the Isle we're a lot more direct, apparently."
"This?" Ben repeated. "What's this?"
"If I wanted to take you to my bed, what's the first step?"
Ben gaped. "I'm... not understanding."
"Well..." Mal's cheeks suddenly felt warm. "I realize I'm being a little forward... I just kind of felt something about you, and I like it."
"You like it."
"I think you're hot."
That made Ben stop again. "Me?"
"You."
"Why?"
"You want me to tell you how you're cute?"
"Well, no, I just..." Ben trailed off. He had gotten even paler, if possible. "I just... wasn't expecting you to like anyone like me. Don't you like... you know... leather and knives and stuff?"
Mal gave him a once over. "Normally, yes," she admitted. "But there's just something... different about you."
"I think it's just that I caught you off guard," Ben said. "You shouldn't look too deeply into it."
They'd reached the crossroads and Ben was slowly withdrawing his arm. He seemed reluctant though. Mal watched him set his other hand on his elbow to replace her touch as she removed her hand and thought that he had probably gotten used to the touch in the short time it had been there. She realized she'd probably moved too fast for him, but he still seemed interested.
"Maybe I'll see you in some of my meetings tomorrow?"
"Yes, probably. I tend to attend... a lot of them."
"Ah, yes, I forgot. You're replaceably important."
"That's not a word."
"Does it matter?"
Ben chuckled. "You are something else." In the moonlight, his skin looked like solid white marble. Mal thought she might have seen a statue like him in a book once. He picked up on her focus though, and then began pulling on his coat to avoid her eyes. "I, uh..." he began fiddling with the button on his shirt to do it back up. "I enjoyed this. Really. Thanks for kidnapping me."
"No problem." Mal watched him finish re-transitioning back into the man she'd first run into and smirked. "Maybe next time you can add seduction and uncouth behavior to the charges."
Ben gaped again, which was a rather nice look for him."You don't really mean that," he said.
"I do," Mal nodded.
Ben turned his odd faint shade of red. "I..." he trailed off, looking doubtful, then took the tiniest step back Mal had ever seen. "I appreciate your interest, Mal, but I have a feeling that... this won't end up working out in your favor." He inclined his head and took another step back.
Mal shrugged and let him go. "I'll be the judge of that!" she called after him when he was nearly out of sight and didn't miss the way the back of his neck turned pink with the surprise.