Ben steps back in what seems to be shocked, trying to take Mal with him, but the VK is unafraid of the visitor. Mal gets closer to the edge of the water.
"Hi Ariel," Mal says, cheerfully.
"Hi Mal of Auradon," the redheaded mermaid says, floating in the shallowness of the lake.
"Just Mal is okay," the teen responds.
"Okay Mal is okay, how have you been?"
"Pretty good, did you make it home in time to see Eric,"
"Oh in plenty of time, whirlpools really cut time in half,"
"Can they really?"
"Uh, Mal..." Ben speaks up. Both girls turn from their conversation to the slightly frightened king on the shore.
"Oh Ben, sorry this is Ariel."
"Is he your boyfriend?" Ariel giggles. "He's really cute, good choice."
The ladies giggle to one another.
"He's also the King of Auradon."
"Oooh, royalty is even better."
The ladies giggle again
"Queen Ariel?" Ben asks
"I guess so," the mermaid shrugs.
"What are you doing in Auradon?" he asks, still in shock.
"Exploring I guess, I just found this amazing treasure," Ariel holds up Mal's old bracelet. Inwardly, Mal is happy that the fish took the bait, she could now talk to the mermaid about the other worlds that she's been to. "I'm going to add it to my collection."
"But... you should be in your kingdom by the sea with King Eric... If you're here to check on Melody..."
"Melody, who's Melody?" the mermaid asks.
"Your daughter."
"I don't have a daughter. I mean Eric and I have thought about having kids, but we just haven't got around to it. Anyways, Eric and I don't have a kingdom, we live in a small fishing cabin in the Enchanted Forest."
Ben looks very bewildered, but Mal seems very calm, the redhead just confirming her long thought theory about where this mermaid came from.
"What... What is the Enchanted Forest?!"
Mal turns and whispers to Ariel. "I think we need to tell him about going across the realms thing."
"You know about that?"
"I've been doing research about it."
"Smart girl, you're just like my friend Belle in Storybrooke, her nose is always in a book."
"S-Storybrooke? I didn't re...hear about a land like that."
"It's in the Land Without Magic."
"It is?"
"Yes, it's a very nice place..."
"Belle... you mean my mother?" Ben asks, coming closer to the shoreline.
Ariel cocks her head to the side curiously. "The Belle I know does have a son, but his name is Gideon. He's a very cute kid..."
"Wait. wait, wait, the Belle you know?! Mal what is going on? How do you know her?"
"Well this is clearly a couple problem, I won't bother you anymore..." Ariel turns to swim away.
"No!" Mal says. "Please stay. If I explain this to Ben, he might not believe me unless I have a back-up to confirm it."
"Believe you about what?" the king demands.
Ariel pulls herself onto the rocky shores of the beach and then snaps on a different, sparkling bracelet. Almost by magic, Ariel's long, shiny green tail becomes a pair of legs. She attempts to steady herself on the new environment and then perches herself on the rock Mal had been sitting on. Ben looks very bewildered, almost to point of panicking. Mal takes his hand and has him sit down on the shore.
"Ben... look at me," she says, trying to meet his confused eyes.
"Where do you want to start?" Ariel asks.
...
For almost an hour, Mal spends her time explaining to Ben the concept of alternate worlds and that there were different versions of their parents and the lands that they knew as home. The sun sinks below the horizon and the moon begins to rise, casting a waning shaped reflection on the water. Tiny waves lapped against the teens' toes as they sit next to each other on the rocky shores. Ariel backs up these claims by explaining how mermaids can travel through these different realms using whirlpools. The king of Auradon sits still for almost all of the explanations, his head throbbing and his mouth agape in shock and slight awe. Never had he thought that there would be another version of his parents or that there was another world besides Auradon?
"So... let me get this straight. So right now, in Auradon, there is a version of you ruling your seaside kingdom with King Eric and allowing your daughter to run the school's swim team. And at the same time, you live with your Prince Eric in a fishing cabin in a land known as the Enchanted Forest?"
Ariel nods. "Pretty much."
Mal agrees and gently puts her hand on Ben's shoulder. Despite how sympathetic she should feel for him being so mixed up about everything, he was cute when he was confused. Mal offers him a bottle of water to clear his head. He drinks the whole thing in one gulp.
"So...there's another version of my mother in another land?" Ben asks.
"There sure is," Ariel says, rummaging through Mal's book bag, looking for anything worth collecting. Mal reaches over to take it from the curious mermaid. "She lives in this town called Storybrooke with her husband Rumpelstiltskin and their son Gideon."
"But my father's name is Adam..."
"I guess in our world, Belle fell in love with someone different," Ariel concludes without much hesitation.
"How is this possible?" he asks, his hand running through his hair.
"It is hard to grasp, trust me I know," Mal says comfortingly.
"Is that why you've been so distant Mal? Because of Ariel?"
"Sort of, when I realized that she wasn't the Ariel we knew, I wanted to learn more, so I've doing research and waiting for Ariel to come back and tell me more," Mal feels she needs to keep the fact that she swiped a restricted book to herself.
"Have you really?" the mermaid asks. "Oh Mal, I'm so sorry, I would've come back sooner if I'd known."
"It's okay," the daughter of Maleficent says calmly. "I've learned a lot on my own without your help."
"How have you learned all this Mal?" Ben inquires.
"The library," Mal answers but doesn't say where she got the information from.
"We have books about this?" he gasps.
The purple-haired teen merely nods her head, trying to conceal any suspicious behaviour that would expose her partial lie. There were books about alternate worlds in the library, but in the restricted section where she was forbidden to go.
"Well then why isn't this a lesson... if fact why isn't a full course, this is such amazing information?! I need to talk to my parents about this... and Fairy Godmother, oh how much there is to learn! Why has no one ever thought about this before?"
"I think that's why," Mal says, grabbing Ben's hand, trying to calm him down. "If people knew about this, it would throw everyone's world into confusion and panic. I mean look at the way you reacted... this is too big for some people Ben."
"I agree," Ariel pipes up. "It can be a lot to take in, plus there are so many worlds out there, you can't keep track of them all."
"I think it's best that we keep it between us," Mal says. "For the time being at least."
"You're right," Ben sighs, rubbing his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. "I think it's best that we keep this between ourselves. Are you okay with that Miss Ariel?"
"I'm perfectly fine with that," she says, combing a bit of her long red hair out of her face.
"And if you mind not coming around from now on?" he asks.
Mal wants to protest immediately, she wanted to learn more about Ariel's adventures, learn about the new worlds outside of her own... but if she did that, Ben would know what she had been up to, this would lead to another fight and so on. She didn't want to ruin what was just fixed. If Ben learned that she wanted to leave Auradon and explore... even better with him; he'd lecture her that he can't leave his kingdom and tell her that she belongs at the school... it was becoming tiresome and boring the way their worlds constantly conflicted with one another, plus with magic being confiscated, she wouldn't ever get the chance. She sighs internally, wanting so much more, but decides not to light the fuse she seems to be sitting on.
Ariel looks a little disappointed by this message, but nods. "I can manage that. I have to get back to Eric anyways. I need to talk to him about having kids... I like the name Melody... maybe we should have a daughter of our own."
Mal and Ben manage smiles and stand up to watch as Ariel stands upon the rock Mal had been using as a perch before. She leaps into the air and does a graceful dive into the water. They watch as her legs turn back into a tail in mid-air. There's a mighty splash, soaking the couple; Mal shrieks in delight and Ben laughs as well.
"Sorry," Ariel calls out, after resurfacing. "Keep swimming you two!"
"Bye and thank you," Ben calls.
"Bye," Mal says with a heavy heart in her chest.
The couple waves as Ariel completely submerges and the yellow lights appear again below the surface, meaning she is moving into the next realm.
Once they fade, Ben turns to Mal. "I'd call this one interesting date,"
The daughter of Maleficent giggles and lays her head on his shoulder.
"Just next time, tell me when you make a big discovery like this, I'll want to share the credit," he jokes, kissing her cheek.
Mal gathers her things and she and Ben hold hands, walking back towards Auradon Prep. Despite how sad she felt inside about losing the opportunity to explore new worlds, Mal is happy to be with Ben again... her true love. She still needs him, despite how different their worlds could be. They walk up in the moonlight, hands tightly intertwined.
However, unbeknownst to them, their quiet date had not been alone.
"Do you think they saw us?" Dude whispers from the bushes.
Carlos, Jay, Dude, and Evie poke their heads out of the trees and bushes just behind the beach.
"I feel bad that we were spying on Mal," Carlos says quietly.
Evie nods her head to agree. She did feel bad for spying on Mal and Ben, but she wanted to ensure that the two reconnected. They did, just not the way any of the VKs intended.
"Do you think anything that they were talking about was even true?" Jay asks skeptically.
"Well, Ariel was real enough," Evie says.
"And the light show under the sea is hard to fake too," Dude agrees.
"So... I could have another Mom?" Carlos asks in shock.
"We all might have other parents," Evie says.
"That's some heavy stuff bro," Jay says, rubbing the back of his neck.
The three VKs and the dog start heading back up towards the school, trying to process the information given to them when they eavesdropped.
However, unbeknownst to the eavesdroppers, they were being eavesdropped on as well. Further along the shore, a figure cast in shadows sneaks out from their hiding place. They slip into the cold ocean water and puts a shell around their neck. The shelf begins to glow yellow and the feet of this eavesdropper transforms into eight long legs with suction cups on the ends of each.
The spy throws their blue braids out of their face as they go deeper and deeper into the water. What they had learned was going to be very useful, especially if all of Auradon was going to know her name.
A/N: Guess who's back?! Please follow and review.