De Fragee Prutia

t h i r t e e n

"Stop tensing."

She couldn't help herself, the shadow wanted to move.

"Stop. You'll make the pain worse." Ben kissed the cut on her cheek and she drifted off to sleep.

The uncomfortable position meant Ben's sleep was light. He woke up to the slightest sound. His eyes fluttered open as he heard some rattling. He watched Nami's shadow try to carefully walk around the shelf holding his crowns.

He didn't know how it worked but every time the shadow accidentally hit the shadows of his crowns, the actual crowns would rattle. The shadow moved towards their bed but then stopped. Ben thought maybe it's because he was watching it. Nami's shadow started to retreat back to the corner.

"Wait."

Ben called out to the shadow. He tried not to be too loud so Nami wouldn't wake.

"Please help her."

Ben had seen it all since his coronation. Ben didn't understand much about the Bayou's magic but he knew from (Nami that dark magic could take over easier once you used your shadow. He saw what she did to save Auradon. She opened herself up to the other side and it seemed like she was losing whatever battle she was fighting.

Ben tried to let it go, after all this was her territory not his. He knew she was afraid to tell him about it. But he couldn't watch her be in pain anymore as she tried to fight whatever dark magic tried to control her. He saw her veins pulse black throughout the day, how her arms and fingers would tense. He saw how— and this was when it scared him the most— Nami's eyes would roll into the back of her head sometimes. Ben would see her shadow whenever she was in pain and then moments later the pain would subside, he figured it must have been doing something for her.

The shadow slunk back towards Ben's bed. Nami's veins began to pulse black again. Ben didn't know what to do, if this was something she could fight in her sleep. She whimpered and clutched onto Ben's shirt. Ben could feel the grip turn ironclad as her fingers tensed. He tried to readjust her to a more comfortable position, her shadow scratched his arm as he did.

"I'm not going to hurt her."

The shadow pried her fingers off of Ben's shirt and moved her more onto the bed. Ben pushed Nami's curls out her face. He grabbed the blanket at the end of his bed and moved to the floor to give her more space.

Nami woke up to Ben in the bathroom, adjusting his crown.

"Good morning, Prutia."

She got up, sore as ever. She dragged her feet as she made her way over to the small table and grabbed a chicken tender off the tray sitting there.

"That was supposed to be dinner yesterday."

"Still good..." she said with no emotion. There was a dull aching near her heart.

She fed Ben the rest of the piece in her hand. Nami noticed the scratches on his forearm, stopping just before the rolled up sleeves of his shirt.

"Ben, what's that?"

"Hmm? Nothing, probably from the fight... Listen, I have to go talk to Triton about his shipping company. I won't be back until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? That's Cotillion."

"I'll be back in time, Prutia. There's something important I have to do."

"I'll come with you."

"No. Just rest, I can handle it. I'll see you tomorrow. Okay?"