Into the Depths

Chapter 2

You could perform Hellfire in front of him and he'd consider it an amazing gift, Evie's words rang through Mal's head and the purple haired girl nodded once. No more doubts, especially about Ben. She was the daughter of Maleficent, the daughter of Hades. It was time she started acting like it!

Well, maybe not all the way but if there was one thing you could easily say about Maleficent, she was certainly confident.

Ben loves you for you, Mal thought as her hand brushed the page of her sketchbook as if reminding herself of that fact. Just keep telling yourself that and you'll be fine.

"E? Do you know who'd have some canvas?" Mal asked as she got up.

"One of the Fitzherberts probably," Evie said, not looking up from her own design. "Money would be on Rowyn though. Rachel is more into baking, Ruby's more into sewing, Robin's more into sports and Rose is more into guitar."

Mal stared at the blue haired girl for a minute. "How is it you know that? I'm the one who spent the holidays with them and even I didn't know that!"

"M, you spent the holidays being pestered by the Gazelle and other media outlets," Evie said gently, looking up at Mal. "Don't forget, I did date Evan for like a week back when I was on the hunt for a prince, before I set my sights on Chad."

"Oh yeah," Mal said with a chuckle. "I'll be right back."

"Take your time Mal," Evie told her and Mal made her way down the hall toward the second eldest's Fitzherbert's dorm. Thankfully, from her time dating Ben, her time in the Learning to be Royal club and the viewings, Mal had developed a reasonable friendship with Rapunzel's daughters and son.

"Hey Raps Jr," Mal said, knocking on Rowyn's door. "You got a sec?"

"Of course Mal," Rowyn said with a smile, brushing a bit of her light brown hair out of her eyes as she looked up from her book. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you had any canvas I could borrow," Mal said.

Rowyn grinned. "I should have some spare canvas lying around here somewhere. How big were you thinking?"

"Probably a medium size. Something I could paint in a couple of days so nothing too large."

Rowyn nodded and got up off her bed, going to her closet. "Let me check my stash," she said as she went to open her closet and Mal blinked as she saw dozens of canvases leaning against the wall.

"You just—"

"Yeah," Rowyn chuckled. "It drives my sisters insane but thankfully they don't room with me so they don't get a say."

Mal chuckled. "Bet it drives your roommate crazy though."

"Not really, Elle's pretty cool with it," Rowyn said. "Besides keeping them in the closet keeps them off the floor of the dorm. Fair trade in my book."

Mal nodded, that made sense. Plus Rowyn was a bit of a neat freak from what Mal had witnessed over the holidays. Hey, one of Rapunzel's kids had to inherit the 'cleaning at seven in the morning' gene.

"Need any paint?" Rowyn asked. "Or are you going to spray paint it?"

Mal bit her lip in thought. While it would be great to spray paint it, the image she had in her head had so many tiny details the only true way would be to use actual paint. Though, there was no reason why she couldn't use both.

"I think I'm going to do both," Mal said as she looked at Rowyn, who had already gathered up a bag of generic colors of paint, a pallet, some brushes, and a mini easel into a tote bag along with the canvas.

"What?" Rowyn asked upon seeing the shocked look on Mal's face. "You thought I was just going to stand here while you thought about it? At least this way it's all gathered up if you want it and if you don't I can just hang the bag in the closet."

Mal shook her head in amusement. "You LTBR kids are crazy you know that?"

"Well we've all known each other pretty much our whole lives," Rowyn chuckled. "Our insanity was bound to rub off on each other."

Mal smiled at the other girl. "So will I see you at Cotillion?"

"Of course!" Rowyn said. "Though I think Evie's working on a new dress design for you since we've already seen what your dress will look like from the viewing. After all, that's what she did for your dress for Coronation after we all saw what that one would be in the first viewing."

Mal rolled her eyes in fond exasperation toward her best friend. "She doesn't have to do that. Besides, she's worked so hard on the dress that's already made."

"Hey, I'm just telling you what I think," Rowyn said with a shrug as she handed the bag to Mal. "Let me know if you need another canvas by the way. As you saw, I've got plenty of them. Oh, by the way, the art room would be a good place to work on that if you are going to use spray paint. If I remember correctly from the viewing, Evie's basically set up your room as her business headquarters."

Mal nodded. "Right. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to get spray paint on the dresses."

"I'm pretty sure Evie would actually kill you if that happened. Though Kitty might like it," Rowyn said with a chuckle.

"Well, thanks for all this Rowyn," Mal said, putting the bag on her shoulder.

"No thanks necessary Mal," Rowyn told her. "Sometimes you need an escape from all the 'princessey' stuff and I know for me, art's the best way to do that. Besides, as you saw, I've got way too much of the stuff. I'm always willing to share."

"I might take you up on that," Mal said with a small smirk.

"Let me know if you do," Rowyn said with a smile. "Oh, and mom said to tell you that you're more than welcome to visit whenever you want. All she asks is a forty eight window to prepare the guest room."

"Rowyn—"

"My mom said that sometimes, you have to look out for the fellow VKs," Rowyn said softly. "My mom may have been born a princess but she was raised eighteen years of her life as Gothel's daughter. Even if she wasn't biologically her daughter, she was still raised by her and had it not been for the fact that she was reunited with my grandparents, she could have been labeled a VK like you guys. All I'm saying Mal, and I'm not trying to be pushy, but if you want someone to talk to, my mom's a good listener. Plus my dad's pretty good at it too if you ever need a man's perspective."

Mal couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. "Well, tell them I said thank you. I don't think I'll need it right now, not after the viewing we just sat through, but I'll take them up on the offer if I need it."

"I'll let them know," Rowyn said with a small smile. "Oh! Dad said to tell you that the next meeting got pushed back until after Cotillion. It was originally tomorrow but they figured it would be too much stress for everyone."

Mal nodded and hitched the bag up back onto her shoulder as it had started to slip. "Thanks. I think I'll actually be able to attend the meeting this time."

Rowyn chuckled as Mal turned to leave, making her way to the art room and closing the door. Setting up, Mal began to get started on her painting, her gift to Ben.

He had done so much for her, it was only right that she give him something in return.