Once We are Descendants

Chapter 86: Leap of Faith

He then turns to Mal. "I don't know if we should do this..."

"What do you mean?"

"This training, it sounds dangerous... I don't know if you, Evie, Jay..."

Mal tries not to smile as there goes Ben with his worry-wort routine.

"We're going to be fine."

"But what if something happens?"

"Then these guys will help fix it," she nods to the magic users. Both eyes go to Crystal, twirling a purple orb in between her fingers, mimicking a certain goblin king in a labyrinth. "Clearly, they've been around magic a lot more than we have."

"What if it goes wrong?

"Ben..." she says, cupping his face so that her green eyes meet his hazel-green ones. He leans into her hand and gently holds her wrist as if holding her is keeping him standing upright. "It will be okay. I know we were planning to go straight home, but if this magic follows Evie and the guys back to Auradon, they should be able to control it and not repeat what happened yesterday. I know you care and worry about everyone..."

She smiles at his big puppy dog eyes. "But there are some things that you can't control and when that happens, you just need to let things fall as they may. Take a leap of faith once and a while"

Ben thinks about it. "Yeah. The last time I did that, it got me you."

She leans in and kisses his cheek. "And you hit the jackpot. Don't worry about me or anyone, we're from Auradon and the Isle... we can handle anything."

"If only it were that easy to go with the flow," he frowns.

"You are such a king," she chuckles. "And still a preppie through and through."

"I thought I'd become more of a rebel like you after the battle on the Isle," Ben says, raising his eyebrow cheekily. "A regular VK."

"Dream on, King Benjamin, dream on," she snorts with a smile.

The two teens stand for a few minutes in silence, enjoying a happy moment... forgetting their past transgressions and savouring the moment of peace. They begin to hear the voices of their friends coming towards the agreed-upon meeting spot and know it's going to be an interesting day.

Before they go to see their friends, Ben grabs Mal's wrist and asks her a question.

"How can you trust them so easily?"

"Who?"

"Our... parents, the locals here? I mean we barely know them and a lot of them were not always heroes."

Mal doesn't say anything at first. She watches her "mother" chat with his "parents" just as Evie's mom and crew, along with Harry's family appears. It all seems so normal and nice...

"I guess it's just a leap of faith," she says.

...

Soon, everyone has arrived from the Evil Queen to the fairies. All the VKs and AKs with powers are talking with each other, sharing anxieties and questions about how this training session is going to go. Even the Auradon kids without powers let curiosity get the better of them and came to watch. Snow and David even brought lawn chairs for people to sit and watch the display.

Audrey and Chad talk with Patrick and Paige, while Harry and CJ keep to themselves. Lonnie has also shown up with her brother Li Jr. to watch this, hoping to pick up a few tips in terms of countering magic attacks or how to dodge them when one does not have similar abilities. A few more students from Auradon also appear, but the only VKs are the pirate siblings.