~3 days later (around 12pm)~
Ben's POV
I stole one of the four wheel drive that we never use.
And I drove.
I know for a fact whoever is doing this is doing this to get to me.
To get Auradon.
And I need to get out of them and get my friends back.
They don't deserve this.
Mal only has a couple of hours while the others have a day.
I hoped out the car to see a pine forest.
I don't know how I got here, I think a gut feeling got me here.
I think it's because of Mal and I's old soulmate connection.
I walked along the snow, thanking myself as I remembered to bring a jumper.
It is 2 days until Christmas.
I walked through the trees, the road fading in the falling snow.
I shivered.
I hope this gut feeling is rig-
"Hello?"
I turned around and noticed a small wooden hut.
"Harriet?" I asked as I recognised the voice.
I quickly ran to the hut's door and kicked the door down, to revealed a chained down, dazed Harriet.
I looked around for something to break the chains in.
I remembered outside was a axe.
I quickly grabbed the axe and stood next to Harriet.
She nodded as I swung the axe down, the chains being cut.
"Thank you so much" She said, "I don't know how long I was there for"
"Do you remember anything at all?" I asked her as I helped her stand up.
She shook her head.
"I think my memory has been wiped, all I can remember is walking out of my dorm to black out" Harriet said.
"Do you know where Jane and Jay are?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"I feel like I was with them" she said "But I don't know now"
I groaned.
"Why are you here Ben? This is dangerous" she said.
"Mal...I can't, I can't do this to her" I said "We need to find her"
Third POV
Ben sprinted through the snowy fields, the snow seem to have grown stronger.
Harriet, completely startled by Ben's actions went after him.
"BEN! BEN WAIT UP!" Harriet yelled.
Ben looked around, but was still moving,
"Ben, where are you going?" Harriet asked.
Finally Ben stopped after a good 750 meters, trying to catch his breath.
"Ben, the storm's getting worse, we need to turn back! Please Ben! We will never be able to find them! Jane or Fairy Godmother aren't here to use their magic! There's no way in Auradon cwe can track them now! I care about them too, but we're no use if we freeze to death!" Harriet said, pleadingly "Let's contact Fairy Godmother and talk to her about it first!"
Ben looked around narrowing his eyes.
Ben heard a faint heartbeat.
"Ben!" Harriet demanded.
"I can hear her! She's this way!" Ben said, walking right.
"W-what? Ben, stop!" Harriet said, walking after him.
Suddenly before Ben could walk more he stopped.
"Ben?" Harriet asked, confused.
"Stop! Someone's here" Ben said.
Harriet looked around to see no one.
"What?" Harriet said "Ben you're acting-"
"I know you're there, come out" Ben whispered.
Maleficent walked out of the shadows making both Ben and Harriet go defensive.
But Maleficent looks different from when they last saw her.
She looked weak...
A hood cast a shadow over her face.
But her body language made her look like an elder with a bad back.
They had to take a good look at her before really thinking it was her.
"Ben, be careful that's Malefi-"
"You had something to do with this...didn't you? You were the one who took Mal after all" Ben started, cutting Harriet off.
But Maleficent didn't come back with a smirk and a cold chuckle like she would normally.
Instead she looked right into Ben's eyes with full worry planted over her face.
"Ben! You need to leave...you need to leave now!" Maleficent said, scared.
Even if Maleficent's up to her old tricks, she won't give up on Mal.
"I won't! I'm going to bring her back" Ben said.
"You can't follow her" Maleficent argued.
"Please stand aside" Ben said in a darker voice.
"No! I won't" she said.
"Please" Ben demanded, his patience running low.
"She's gone! Forest about her!" Maleficent said.
"I will NEVER!" Ben snapped his eyes glowing green.
Maleficent wasn't even startled by his green eyes as she's fully aware of his curse.
"If you1 continue, he-he will kill you! Don't you understand?!?" Maleficent begged.
"What! What in Hades' name is going on here?" Harriet asked "Can we trust her really? I mean, she's Maleficent, she's probably telling us to go away so she can have Mal to her-"
"I know what I have done in the past may make you judge and not trust me but this is not for my sake...it's for my daughters" Maleficent said "Please, let me protect you"
Burn walked up to Maleficent and pat her shoulder.
Ben looked at right in the eye and gasped at what he saw but shook it off
Think about Mal, not about her mothe's problems.
"Please...she's my world" Ben whispered.
Maleficent shook her head.
"No, NO! He'll hurt you!" Maleficent said.
She looked broken, Harriet thought, Whoever did this must be a strong person.
"Please...she's everything to me" Ben pleased.
Maleficent groaned, giving up.
"Fine! But please listen to me. I don't want any part of this! You have to understand this isn't aurally my fault! Please Ben, Auradon would blame me straight away and-"
"Shhh...it will be okay" Ben said "I will tell them of your condition and let them know whatever happens here tonight isn't your fault"
Maleficent nodded as she went out of Ben's arm reach.
"Please tell us what's going on, you would have more of an insight than us" Ben said.
Maleficent did the most unexpected thing and burst into tears, startling both Ben and Harriet.
"Help me understand who wants to hurt me? Why did they take my friends? And Mal?" I asked softly.
"But...he will hurt me, he will hurt Mal.....I-I'm weak without my powers" Maleficent whispered "Why? Why did you save me Ben?"
"What is she talking about?" Harriet asked.
~flashback third POV- Uma's ship, Isle~
Mal just saved Ben from Uma's hands when Mal told Ben to run into the drain.
Ben ran, but then noticed a familiar gecko on the ground.
He picked it up and put it in his cupped hands.
"Maleficent?" He whispered.
The wiggly geeks bit him.
Ben cursed.
"Yes it is" he muttered "Not worry, I will get you back to Auradon"
And he put Maleficent in his pocket which he later takes out to run free in Auradon.
~end of flashback- third POV~
"You saved me and let me free in Auradon why? Why did you help me?" Maleficent demanded softly.
"You...you don't deserve to die. No one deserves to die" Ben replied.
"You promise to try and clear my name from this mess and keep Mal safe?" Maleficent asked.
"Yes, i promise. Please, help me find her" Ben begged.
"Can't you just use your powers?" Harriet asked.
Maleficent fully took off her hood for Harriet to gasp.
Maleficent's emerald green eyes is now a lime green, just like Mal's
"I did have my fairy powers but he took them!" Maleficent snapped.
"What?" Harriet asked.
"I was staying at the Isle with the other villains and a cloaked man appeared. And one by one...he began to slaughter the villains. The lest...important ones like Fear and Panic, Amos Slade, Madame Medusa and Governor Ratcliffe. In need to stop him before it gets out of hand I put myself before him. I begged him to spare everyone else...and he did. but he demanded to become the ruler in my place, and take control of the Isle. I needed to save the villains so I agreed. He took me to a lodge. Where a man with the eyes of a snake waited. The cloaked man handed him the emerald, and with it the snake eyed man created a potion. Then, just as it was completed, he handed it to the cloaked man. He turned to me and used it to transform me into a...human. It was the first time, I felt so weak"
Maleficent's face held great pain.
If it wasn't for the situation right now, this would have been the greatest moment for Auradon.
The most powerful villain.
Weak.
Without power.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you had to go through that" Ben whispered.
"How could we trust her Ben?!?!?" Harriet asked "She could be putting on an act. We know for a fact that she was the one who took Mal in the first place!"
"I trust her, she needs help" Ben said.
"But he wasn't done with us" Maleficent blurted out "He made us gather more of those...emeralds. Not just ordinary emeralds, but emeralds containing traces of raw POWER. But they weren't for him. They were for the man with the eyes of a snake. The snake-eyed man was taking the emeralds to create potion...I knew straight away he was using my book to create the potion. Once all the emeralds were mined from the mountains in the Isle, the snake-eyed man left...leaving the cloaked man with us"
Ben narrowed his eyes.
"So they were making Everlasting potions. Is that what they used on my friends?" Ben asked.
"Yes.The cloaked man stayed behind and tried to make the exact forever potions for himself. But he couldn't make them alone, even with the few emeralds he had...but then you all had shown up and he realized that the white haired guy, Car-Carlos? Could make the potions he desired. How he knew him and his secret talent of potions...I'm not sure but he did, then he saw you Ben" Maleficent said.
Ben sighed.
"His blood boiled. He grew angry at the sight of you. Especially when you were with Mal" Maleficent said.
"Why?..." Ben asked.
"I don't know. I don't know what you did but he despises you Ben. And he wants Mal. He wants her...desperately" Maleficent said, making Ben growl.
"I won't let him have her!" Ben growled.
"Ben, Mal's eyes! They're lime green just like Carlos' and CJ's!" Harriet said.
"It's...not the same. Her scent...It's different than Carlos and CJ's, they're green for another reason aren't they?" Ben questioned "Carlos has been talking about a brother which he doesn't have Mal's being talking about...a lover"
"Ben, you're acting strange" Harriet muttered.
"Y-Yes. It's from the Everlasting potion used to transform me. I'm not controlled by the cloaked man. I follow him because he would hurt Mal and I didn't want that to happen" Maleficent explained.
Suddenly Maleficent gasped and fainted, Ben catching her on the way down.
"Are you okay?" Ben asked "Maleficent?"
Maleficent groans as she sits up, her eyes flashes lime green before returning brown.
Both Ben and Harriet gasped.
"Her eyes!" Harriet whispered.
"The potion...it's...it's become...permanent!" Maleficent said panicked.
"What?" Ben asked, shocked.
"These potions...Once the eyes settle to their original color...they can never be undone! It means...I'm stuck as a human...forever!" Maleficent said.
"We need to find Mal now or this will happen to her" Ben snapped and turned to walk away.
"Ben! Wait!" Harriet called out, following Ben
"Please! Don't go! He will kill you! PLEASE!! Come back! PLEAAAAAAAAAASE!!" Maleficent yelled but there's no use.
They won't listen to her.
They're going to get themselves killed.
And Maleficent can't do anything to save her daughter.
She really regrets keeping that book.