Third Person
Mal was borderline sobbing by the time she got to her dorm, slamming the door behind her and ripping off her dress and kicking off her shoes, she never liked the pastel blue on her anyway. She took inspiration for her outfits from Brielle's signature pastel blue, but it just didn't fit her. She ripped her hair from the do it was in and just stared at her own reflection for a second before quickly walking to her closet. She threw open the door and yanked out her old purple and emerald green Isle outfit, she looked at it all for a second and caressed the leather with her thumb, a few tears falling onto the outfit itself.
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After Ben had some time to cool down he walked back to Auradon Prep, sulking some as he did so. He already felt kinda guilty for yelling at Mal, but his opinion stayed the same.
Luckily for him, the ultimate changer of opinions was in her office, and that's where he was headed.
Ben just needed his sister right now, they didn't spend too much time together anymore but they were still super close. Ben trudged his way to Brielle's office door and reluctantly knocked,
"Who is it?"
She called from inside, sounding a little tired but her cheery tone still coming through.
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Mal punched holes into a small pencil box with a sharpened pencil, letting her anger out on the lid some,
"I-I don't b-belong here"
She sobbed to herself, well to her mother and herself. Maleficent in her lizard form watched from her cage as Mal speed walked over to it and opened the top lid. Mal gently picked her mother up and put her in the box,
"L-Let's blow this popsicle stand"
With that Mal grabbed the rest of her things that she needed and took one last look at her room. She jumped some as she almost forgot something, she ran back over to Evie's desk and pulled out a piece of notebook paper from her drawer and a pen, writing down the explanation of her disappearance. It would only be fair to Evie if she knew what had happened to her best friend, Mal would hate for Evie to worry about her.
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"It's just me, Ben"
Ben called back through the door. Brielle from inside peered up through her glasses rim,
"Come in!"
Ben opened the door and turned to close it before staying anything. He looked down and walked to Brielle's desk,
"You're being awfully quiet for yourself, what did you do?"
Brielle said as she looked fully up from her paperwork. She's been working almost only on Isle affairs since becoming Queen, that and managing military. She's been the one at the helm of bringing more VKs over and trying to convince the council of allowing that again,
"Well... Mal's been using magic this whole time"
Ben said with a bit of a voice crack. Brielle put her pen down and took off her glasses, calmly folding them,
"And? Did she curse anyone or did she just use it for frilly stuff?"
Ben was surprised at Brielle's calm tone,
"That's how she's been doing almost anything, memorizing stuff, making the meals for our dates, even dying her hair. Brielle she's been lying about this the entire time"
Brielle raised a brow,
"Have you specifically asked her if she's been using magic?"
Ben stuttered at Brielle's calm demeanor,
"W-Well no but-"
Brielle cut him off with a giggle,
"So she didn't lie, you simply didn't ask enough questions. But what's the big deal? She's been through a lot of stress if I could wave my finger and have some stress go poof I would"
Ben shot Brielle a look of surprise,
"But Bri... I just... I thought she would tell me if she was that stressed"
Brielle slowly stood up and delicately fiddled with her glasses in her fingers before putting them on her desk,
"Remember where they're from Ben, admitting they need help isn't in their programming. The pride is far too strong for that still, you have to offer them help in the first place. You gotta give her a lot of slack and a lot of credit for not burning the place down. Besides have you asked her how she is mentally? You and I know how difficult this is, imagine that times ten. This is new to them, we've trained and prepared for this our entire lives. Just tell me you handled this with grace and elegance and didn't lose it just because you're against magic?"
Ben sighed and scratched the back of his neck as he looked at his feet, taking a seat at one of the chairs in front of Brielle's desk,
"I was just upset you know, I didn't think she was having a problem with the new environment"
"Well, Ben it's not really that now is it?"
Ben looked up at Brielle as she took her cup of tea she had on her desk and picked it up into her hands and used the little spoon in the cup to stir the steaming mixture, creating dainty clinks against the sides of the cup when the spoon would hit the sides,
"What do you mean?"
Ben said with a furrowed brow, Brielle took a sip from the tea before responding,
"She misses you, Ben, she really really does. The way she'll stare at the back of your head as you talk to other people with watery eyes is proof itself. When was the last time you just gave her a hug? Held her for a second? Just had a down to earth conversation about how much you love her? Gave her any form of reassurance?"
Ben took a second to think, he slowly began to shake his head,
"I don't know... dammit I overreacted didn't I? I should've been focusing on us more and less what she's done wrong"
Brielle slowly nodded at her brother, even though she is technically younger than Ben she is a sort of mother-like voice of reason to him, her maturity and gentle demeanor only feeding that image,
"Just go tell her you're sorry for overreacting, tell her how you feel and how you want to change in the future and pay some more attention to her. I'm sure if you give her the attention she so much craves she'll give you it all right back"
Brielle said, honestly hoping to just get Ben out of her office so she could go back to work. She'll always help her brother but she was tired and stressed out from yet another shootdown of the proposition of bringing more VKs by the elder members of the council. She was beaten down and her energy was really stooping to a low, just wanting to write the last of her rebuttals and go and pass out,
"Yeah... I'm just hoping she'll accept my apology, I kinda made her cry... a lot"
Brielle sighed and shook her head,
"Ben, you gotta control the temper a wee bit better. Wouldn't you agree?"
Ben quickly nodded,
"I'm just stressed out, being king and all is a huge jump. You get it right? Well, actually you're probably fine right? I mean you've never stumbled in this department, anyway I just let my stress come out as anger I guess. I gotta go apologize, where do you think she is?"
He said before jumping up and heading to the door,
"Probably with Evie"
Brielle answered with ease. Ben turned to his sister as he was in the doorway,
"Thanks, Bri!"
He shouted before shutting the door. Brielle slowly nodded and sipped her tea,
"Never stumbled... that's me"
She groaned, the day had been going great until she got to her office and got this news. She spent days writing the last proposal, and now they want rebuttals to their reasons to decline? For the first time during her royal life, she felt unmotivated, drained, completely exhausted. She's the type of person to give to people so much she sometimes forgets to take care of herself, and that's just what she had done. She sat back down and put her glasses back on and took a deep breath, massaging her sore hand from writing so much for a second as she stared at the documents in front of her. Brielle was sleep tired too, she woke up early this morning and hadn't had a break of any sort, she ate hours ago, and she's been at this paperwork for a few hours already. She began to feel like her eyes were being weighed down, leaning on her non-sore hand and feeling her head bobbing.
If I close my eyes for a few minutes I'm sure I won't fall asleep, I have more self-control than that
Brielle thought to herself before taking her glasses off and setting her pen aside, folding her arms on the desk and resting her head on them. She'd never fallen asleep at her desk before, but she wasn't really falling asleep, just closing her eyes for a while right?
A/N
Hiya! So I know Brielle being tired and oddly exhausted is weird for her and all but trust me there's a purpose for that XD I just wanted to show how even a seasoned royal can get exhausted and worn down too ya know? Not to mention I'll be posting a bit of a fluffy mini-chapter that has to do with who wakes her up and all tomorrow so trust me its worth it :3 Remember to drink some water and to be kind to yourself today :D
-Brooke