Ben sucks in a deep breath as he approaches Maleficent's modest little home. His stomach is turning heavily to the point where he wants to throw up. All the confidence that he had built up in front of Crystal, telling her that he was going to his relationship problems with Mal has vanished, leaving him a nervous wreck. He knows he should just suck it up and do this, tell her how he truly feels about her, but the anxiety of what could happen is overpowering. He was so unsure of how Mal would react and his worst fear is that she would reject him immediately and put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. As he approaches the blue little house, he feels as though he loses his nerve more with every step. Maybe he should have talked it out with Crystal first instead of going headlong into what will likely be an emotional rollercoaster ride. Every time he sees his "ex-girlfriend's" beautiful face, he can't help but think of how hurt it looked when he "betrayed" her by choosing the kingdom over his true love.
There is another thing that is adding to his nerves, which is that he's approaching the house of Maleficent, the mistress of all evil. While he had already encountered the blonde woman briefly before in the park and she did seem rather tame and reasonable compared to her Auradon counterpart, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her. After all, it was more than likely that this version of the wicked woman could also transform into a dragon and the last time he'd had an encounter with her, she'd ruined his coronation and was ready to burn him to a crisp if Mal hadn't stepped in to turn her own mother's magic against her. It was obvious that magic flowed freely through the veins of Storybrooke and this meant that the transformation into a winged reptile was very possible.
He hesitates at the steps of the porch before walking up and knocking on the door. He can hear footsteps in the hall, he's trying to prepare himself for what he will say to her when she opens the door, seeing those long purple locks and beautiful green eyes again. His heart pounds so hard against his chest that it just might break his ribcage.
However, instead of Mal, a dark-haired woman answers the door. For a moment, she looks rather surprised to see a handsome young boy on her mother's doorstep, but immediately she becomes annoyed when she sees his weird looking outfit, knowing that he was from the freakish Auradon world.
"Who the hell are you?" she asks, her eyebrows immediately creeping together. Her brown eyes examine him up and down with great disapproval as if she's taken an instant disliking to him even though she's never met him before.
"I'm... King Ben."
"So, do I have to bow to you or something?" the woman practically snarls at him. "Because I sure as hell do not answer to anyone."
"Most people just call me Ben," he admits, deciding to heed Emma's words and not use his royal title in this town. "Is Mal around?"
"What's it to you?" she says.
"I really need to speak to her,"
"Fine, I'll go see if she's around," the woman says, rolling her eyes before disappearing into the house.
Meanwhile, Mal is in the living room, examining some of Maleficent's magazines on the coffee table when Lily pokes her head in.
"Hey Grape Hair," Lily says, which makes Mal look up and grind her teeth together in frustration. She doesn't understand why Lily hates her so much, it's not like she did anything to her, except maybe staying in her house, but this would only be temporary. In retaliation, her eyes flash green to silently express her anger to her alternate sister.
"What?" she grimaces.
"There's a guy at the door for you. Says he really needs to speak to you."
At first, Mal assumes it's Ben, but it could also be Carlos or Jay, needing to talk to her about something important. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to talk to Ben if it was him, but if he really needed her for something, she wouldn't say no.
Tossing the magazine back on the table, she stands up and goes to the front door. Lily is watching her the entire time to the point that Mal is afraid that her "sister" will punch or attack her from behind. Instead, as she passes, she swears she can hear a faint growl in the back of Lily's throat.
Sure enough, Ben stands at the door, looking rather nervous and at the same time kind of sad. Part of her just wants to run upstairs and hide, but she's not exactly feeling welcomed into the house. Maybe talking with Ben and giving Lily some space will allow her to cool off and not... growl at her like an animal.
Ben swallows when he sees Mal, her beautiful green eyes looking like emeralds and her long purple hair tucked behind her ears. He manages to give her a weak smile and stand very tall, trying to keep his pride intact. He can feel his heart racing and his nerve having been lost completely once he sees her again.
Biting her lip extremely hard, Mal leans against the door frame and opens her mouth to speak.
"Hi," she says.
There's a long pause.
"Uh... Hi... Mal, I was wondering if we could talk?"
"About what?"
"Something that obviously requires you to not stand in the doorway and let the bugs in," Lily interrupts angrily. "Either discuss your problems outside or shut the damn door!"
Mal looks back at her sister, fighting to keep her anger in check. Her eyes flash green in anger, and in return, Lily's have begun to glow gold.
Thinking this might mean what she thinks it means, Mal immediately rushes out the door and shuts it behind her. She pants heavily while leaning against it as if she's just run a long distance, showing her own fear and anxiety to Ben.
The two look at one another and stand in complete silence for what felt like an eternity.
Finally, Ben breaks the silence.
"She's a piece of work."
"You have no idea," Mal responds. "I don't know why, but she just hates me."
"Did you say anything to her?"
"Haven't really been given the chance; if she's not snapping at me, I'm dead to her."
"Maybe we should just go for a walk..." he suggests. He holds his hand out as a peace offering of friendship rather than courtship.
Mal's heart accelerates and her cheeks begin to flush a bit. She tries to ignore the feelings, but when she gazes upon his vulnerable face, she's warm all over. She can't seem to resist his beautiful hazel-green eyes as he watches her, waiting for a response.
Instead, she wraps her arms around herself and just walks past him, down the steps to start their journey independently.
Eventually, he catches up to her, but she tries to ignore his eyes.
"Mal..." he begins. "We really need to talk."
"About what?" she says, feigning ignorance and continuing to walk forward down the street towards town.
"You know what,"
"There's nothing to talk about,"
"Of course, there is... Mal... I'm so sorry for what I did."
"You're sorry for choosing your kingdom over me?" she snaps. She begins to speed walk faster, forcing Ben to try and keep pace with her.
"Mal, it was a stupid thing to do, I should have believed you when you said you didn't do any of those things."
"And yet you still suspended me from Auradon Prep."
"I didn't have a choice..."
"Oh yes you did," she says, stopping in the middle of the street, turning to face him. She tries to remain angry, grinding her teeth and glaring at him. All those feelings that had been shoved to the side due to their current situation come bubbling back up. She tries to fight the tears forming in her eyes. "You could have chosen to believe me. You could've asked for more evidence or even ordered the guards to search for Uma, but instead, you decided to pick the kingdom over me like you ALWAYS do!"
"Mal, you know it's not easy for me!"
"You keep making the same excuse over and over and it's getting annoying... just own up to the fact that you don't love me as much as you love being king!"
Her eyes glow the darker green, indicating her heavy and sorrowful mood.
"And clearly the feeling is mutual now," she adds before turning down a street, heading towards the forest instead of the centre of town.
"Is that why you raced to my rescue when I was attacked by Uma? Or when you were willing to trade the wand for my freedom? Or when you turned into a dragon to save me when she tried to strangle me? And jumped into the portal after me?"
These words catch her by surprise, to the point where she stops in her tracks. She's no longer able to hold back the tears and she lets them fall silently. Her shoulders slump in defeat as she tries to fight the feelings inside herself. She knows that she loves Ben so much; they are true love, but this love doesn't seem to mean anything if it just gets harder and harder for them to connect and be together. An apology can't make up for what he did to her, how he left her in limbo about whether she could stay at Auradon or not, and how he chose to listen to the adults instead of his heart.
Not able to handle these facts, Mal begins running towards the trees, not caring about Regina's warning of going in alone; she just had to escape all this and she needed to think. She doesn't know what to feel anymore.
Ignoring his cries for her, she runs as fast as she can until she comes to a rundown-looking well in the middle of a clearing. She practically collapses against it, letting her tears fall down her face. Her hands grip the hard stones to the point where her palms might be bleeding from the intensity of her grasp, her fingers are pure white from lack of blood, and she might as well be able to rip large chunks of the wall off with very little effort. She gazes at her reflection in the water below, wanting some way to get rid of all this pain. She just wants the world to stop so she can breathe again.
She stands in silence for a long time, watching her hurt and confused face ripple in the waters below. She knows that Ben has followed her here, but she ignores him, not wanting to face this agony anymore.
Eventually, Ben says something that takes her by surprise.
"Love sucks."
This gets her attention; she lifts her head up and turns to face him.
"What?"
"Love sucks," he repeats, deciding to emulate the conversation that he had with Crystal, trying a different approach to talk to her. "It sucks and it's extremely complicated."
Mal bites her lip, very confused.
"Every time it seems we get to a good place in our relationship, something comes along and messes it up."
The daughter of Maleficent couldn't disagree with that. She nods slightly, wiping away some of her tears with her hands.
"It just sucks that it's like this. If I could get rid of the throne and the kingdom and have it just be you and me, I'd do it, to make you happy."
These words catch her off-guard. He had spoken the words that she had wanted so desperately to hear for a long time.
"I'll be honest with you Mal, sometimes I just hate being on the throne. So much paperwork and responsibilities. I can't be a normal kid; I can't do things like play video games or skateboard because I'm stuck in meetings of the royal court. I can't even get into trouble because I'm always being watched and such behaviours will reflect badly on my name, but you want to know the thing I hate the most about being king?"
He pauses and swallows, ready to spill his heart out.
"That it takes me away from you."
Mal wants to fight the smile beginning to form on her face. She can see it in his eyes that he's being honest, and she knows all too well what it's like to be separated from him or being unable to see him due to important duties or matters of State.
"I hate that me being king has made you miserable and that it makes me choose between you and the kingdom... two things I care about a lot, but I hate that I lose sight of which one is more important..."
He pauses for a moment, hoping that his honesty will at least soften her a little bit. She still might not forgive him, but at least he hasn't left anything on the table. If this is the end, he does want to let her know how much he truly loves her.
"In the end, it's not the kingdom that will keep me happy... it's you... Mal. My lady-of-the-court, but more importantly my girlfriend. My true love. And I can't be happy if you're not happy. Like I said when I gave you that ring, I won't turn my back on you and I will always do right by you, no matter what happens... I'm sorry that I keep forgetting that and I'm sorry for what I did. I know you probably won't forgive me, but I just wanted to let you know how I feel and what I wish I could do to make it better. I know our relationship can't ever be perfect or have that fairy-tale ending, but I still think it's worth fighting for, with every fibre of my being. I love you Mal, and while I may not always show it, I always mean it"
There are new tears in her eyes and her heart is pounding against her chest, enough to crack a few ribs. Her eyes glowing green, but the colour is a much brighter hue than before. She still feels torn inside; anger and love fighting one another for dominance, like a war that has no clear winner. She knows he means those words and it makes her so happy, but she's still hesitating. Her mind tells her not to fall for it, but her heart says something else. She shakes her head to clear her mind, letting the light of her eyes die out and go back to normal.
It is then that she realizes that she shouldn't be making the mistake that Ben has.
He begins turning away in defeat when she runs forward and wraps her arms around him, much to the surprise of both of them. She pulls him in close and kisses his lips hard.
At that moment, both their hearts explode in happiness and a wave of rainbow light is expelled from the moment their lips touch. It creates a great stir in the forest, causing birds to take flight and an echo to be heard within the trees. The couple breaks apart, confused by the sudden gust of power and magic. They then turn back to each other.
Mal smiles at Ben while she runs her hands through his honey brown hair
"Love does suck, but it sucks a little less with you."
She pulls him in again for a long kiss. Ben wraps his arms tightly around her, never wanting to let go again. She was his true love, as he was hers and while the road ahead would not be easy, they could figure it out, together.
When they break apart to breathe, he smiles at her. "I don't expect you to forgive me right now, take all the time you need, but when we get back home, you're no longer suspended from Auradon and we'll deal with Uma ourselves."
From then on, the couple merely holds each other, embracing the quiet and the opportunity to be alone as the sun begins to set behind the trees. As if mirroring, their date on the beach, the two had made some amends and professed their love for one another, feeling the warmth and glow of pure happiness and love.
As the two stand in the silence, they fail to notice the plaque on the wishing well behind them that reads something very coincidental to their situation:
WISHING WELL
For centuries, local legend has claimed that mystical waters run beneath this great land. It is said that these waters possess the power to return that which is lost to its
rightful place. If you have lost something precious to you, drink from this well and
bear witness to this miracle as what is missing shall be returned.