A VK Lifeline

Chapter 7: Nightmares

~4am next day~

Third POV

Even though Belle said not to, Ben and Mal slept in Ben's room.
It wasn't their fault, Mal fell asleep and Ben wanted to be in her arms.
Mal moved around, being in the king bed by herself.
She opened her eyes and yawned.
"Good morning Ben" she said and then looked next to her to see he wasn't there.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, noticing a trail of tissues leading out the door.
"Huh? Tissues?" Mal muttered and got out of bed to follow the trail.
The trail didn't go far, it just went outside the door to the living room, where Ben was sitting on the couch covered in tissues with the purple recorder in his hand.
"I wanted you to hear my voice. I want you to know that I'm here for you the way you are for me; I'm you lady in court remember? I will always be there for you, for whatever happens...I love you Ben" Mal heard a familiar recording say.
"That voice.... it's me" Mal whispered, walking slowly to Ben. "Ben. Ben, are you okay? Is something wrong?"
"I uh, I couldn't sleep" Ben replied, looking down.
"Do you want to talk?" Mal asked as she sat next to him, keeping her distance just in case.
"I have nightmares" he started, making Mal freeze.
She can't think about herself at the moment, it's Ben at that moment.
"About?" Mal asked, holding his hand.
Mal looked at him with a faint smile.
He suddenly burst into tears.
"About what happened" Ben said "My parents said that I was asleep for mounths, but I-I didn't sleep. I kept seeing everything that happened. I remember you cutting me.I-I remember holding you... that everything was gone. I was alone. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear your heart. It was cold. I failed. It felt like forever an-and then I saw you. You...You were with him. You were happy. Her smiling. He was laughing. You.. You took him home. He left with you. He was friends with everyone. They... They loved you with him. you didn't care that I wasn't there. You didn't care that I was gone. It didn't matter. I-I couldn't make it stop. I-It kept playing over and over. I screamed for it to stop"
At the end Ben was full on sobbing and Mal was tearing up.
"Ben... you were living a nightmare" Mal whispered "I-I'm here right now"
Ben seemed to ignore her, in his own little world.
"I know, everyone, they tell me to forget, but those words echo in my mind. They always echo...They never stop." Ben said. "No friends to help you. You never spent time making friends"

~ "No friends to help you. You never spent time making friends" Mal's voice echoed in both Ben's and Mal's head as they remembered~

Ben's tears didn't stop
"The only reason I ever talked to you was because I felt sorry for you" he whispered.

~"The only reason I even talked to you was because I felt sorry for you"~

"I wish I'd never met you" Ben said, his voice cracking.

~"I wish I'd never met you"~

Ben chocked on a sob.
"You-You never make me happy" Ben chocked out.

~"You NEVER made me happy!"~

"I never loved you" Ben then whispered.

~"I NEVER loved you!"~

Ben was sobbing madly, like he was having a panic attack.
Mal, with tears rolling down her face, frozen by the information she got told.
"My voice...He's been using that to..." Mal whispered to herself before giving Ben a hug, in which he froze and his sobbing died down slightly.
"I've hurt you so much. I'm so sorry. Ben, I want to help you" Mal said, letting go of him.
"You don't have to" Ben said looking down.
Mal widen her eyes as an idea came to her head.
"Can you lie down, please?" She whispered as she told up, leaving Ben confused.
"Huh?" Ben asked.
"Please" Mal whispered.
Ben nodded, Mal helping him lie down.
Ben was still wearing the jumper from the day before, so Mal moved the jumper out the way of his scared torso.
"Wha-What are you-"
"Ben, I want to try something" Mal said, cutting Ben off.
She held out her hands and closed her eyes.
"You always made me happy" she whispered and a white beam came softly out and onto Ben's torso
"Mal, what are you-"
Before Ben could finish Mal fainted, falling onto the floor next to the tissue covered couch.
Ben sat up quickly, not even worrying about his normal sharp pain in his torso.
"Mal!" Ben exclaimed, his eyes widen with surprise.
He looked down onto his torso and noticed one of his larger scars has disappeared...has healed.
"What did you do Mal?" He whispered as he picked Mal up and carried her into his room, leaving the recorder on the lounge.

~6 hours later (10am)~

CJ was walking out to meet the others on the beach.
She had unfortunately slept in and Harriet didn't wake her up, so she didn't have breakfast.
And she was starving,
"I'm soo Hungry! I guess I'll have to go out and get food for myself. Mm-hmm" CJ said, standing at the entrance of the kitchen and looked in.
CJ laughed.
"The coast is clear" she said, stepping into the kitchen. As soon as her eyes trailed around the room, she gasped as she saw food, ready and looked like it was for her "PANCAKES!"
She looked around.
"No one is around. I guess someone forgot to eat them...or my siblings are being nice for once and left it out" CJ said and took the plate "I can eat on the run"
CJ walked out the kitchen and out the house.
Minutes later Adam walked into the kitchen.
"I can't wait to eat my pancakes. I-" Adam started and then gasped as he noticed the food left out was gone "My Pancakes! No! Belle! Belle, someone took my pancakes"
Adam whined as he ran out the kitchen.
Belle laughed as she walked into the living room which was connected to the kitchen.
Because she saw the little thief take the food.

~~~~~

Everyone was on the beach, relaxing as the sun heated them.
Jay, Harry and CJ were playing soccer on the sand while Jane and Harriet are sunbaking and Carlos was sitting under the umbrella.
"Ah, this is the life" Harriet said.
"Speak for yourself" Carlos said, making her look at him "I'm pale as, if I'm even in the hot sun for longer than 10 minutes I will burn"
"Oh yes, I forgot that you are a child of Cruella who hates the sun" Harriet said.
"Why don't you just go out for a littl-"
"No thank you!" Carlos said, cutting Jane off.
"But you're always in the sun on the Isle and Auradon" Jane said.
"This is magical sun rays...it's different" Carlos said.
"Oh calm down, Carlos, you could use some sun for that pale skin" Harry called out as he kicked the ball to Jay.
"Have you guys seen Ben and Mal around?" Jay asked "They would be out by now"
"When I woke up late I went to their room...it was locked and I started to bang on it and-"
"You could have woken them up!" Harriet snapped, cutting off CJ.
"-they never came to the door so I left it" CJ finished.
"Problems with the door? Umm... sorry, I'm on vacation" Jay said, making everyone roll their eyes.
Jay has been cursed (by accident) by Carlos when he was doing potions one day, now every door he tries to push open shatters in his hand.
"If Mal and Ben aren't answering the door, it's probably because they're sleeping or out" Jane said.
"They're probably out somewhere. I haven't seen them all day" Carlos said.
"Makes sense" CJ said, kicking the soccer ball into Jay's chest, who stumbled back "HAHA!"
Jay sent a glare at CJ and they started to aggressively kick the soccer ball at each other, making Harry back away slowly from them and stood next to the siting girls.
"I'm sure they're fine. We can ask Mal ourselves later. I wonder how she's doing right now" Carlos said.
Harry smirked.
"Hey, don't change the subject. Come on, let's work on your tan, Carlos" Harry said, grabbing him.
"AHHHHHH!"

~~~~~~~~

Ben and Mal were cuddled up in bed; Ben's arm protectively under Mal and his other on her.
He stirred slightly when Mal groaned, opening her eyes weakly.
"Ben..." she whispered, making Ben open his eyes and smiled faintly.
"Hey Mal" Ben replied.
"wha-what happened?" Mal asked, feeling like her energy was sucked out of her.
"You-You used magic...light magic" Ben explained "Because it's against your nature as a Dark Fairy you passed out"
"I-I did?" Mal asked, shocked that it worked.
Ben looked down at his torso, the major scar gone.
Mal followed his eyes and gasped.
"Your scar. It's gone. It worked. It actullay worked" Mal whispered.
"When did you learn light magic?" Ben asked, looking back at her.
Mal looked Ben in his eyes.
"I tried to. I didn't think that it was going to work" Mal said and then tried to get up "I-"
She groaned, going right back down into Ben's arms.
"Mal! It's okay, you're exhausted" Ben said softly.
"But-"
"Shhh...I know...Just rest" Ben said, putting his head back onto the pillow.
"Ben what about-"
"I'll keep you safe" Ben said.
Almost immediately as Mal put her head down she fell back to sleep.
Ben chuckled as he cuddled with her, also falling asleep.