A/N: This is my first Descendants fic, so sorry if the characters seem a little OOC. Big, big thanks to Karen Hikari for beta-ing this for me! If you love Descendants and angst go check out her story The Ones Who Wander! *shameless plug*

Warnings: This fic is rated T for safety. There is mention of child abuse/harm/self-harm/and scars.

Thanks for reading and reviews are rainbow unicorns and cookies!

It had been almost five months since Mal and her friends had faced off against her mother, and Mal could happily say that she was feeling… good. She and her friends had really started to settle in at Auradon, and she was slowly, slowly, able to stop waiting for the shoe to drop. She wasn't allowing herself to trust without abandon—sixteen years on the Isle weren't overcome that easily—but she could find herself getting through almost an entire day without waiting for someone to declare it all a prank and send her and her friends packing .

They'd learned a lot in their time here. There was the obvious royal stich, the manners, and the politicking, and the fashion (way more Evie's speed than her own), but there were also the things they didn't realize they didn't know. Like swimming. For all that they had lived on an island their whole lives, few, if any, of the villain kids knew how to swim. With the boys busy with their tourney practices, Mal and Evie had learned to swim, their coach promising to keep it a secret, and now Mal was going to surprise Ben by taking him back to the lake of their first date.

"C'mon, Mal, just a little hint?" Mal giggled—and, really, just how much had she changed? She never used to giggle!— as she led a blindfolded Ben to the top of the outcropping where he had once dived into the lake to impress her. Mal bit her lip as she grabbed the edges of the blindfold, pausing for a moment before pulling it off.

"Open!" For a moment Ben's hazel eyes burned into hers, her heart skipping a beat as the sun made the edges gleam green, much like her own, before he released her from his gaze and looked around, his face lighting up with delight as he realized where she'd brought him.

"This is where it all began." He said softly, brushing her hair behind her ear. Mal bit her lip, glee at the real surprise she was about to unveil coiling in her stomach.

"Yeah it is," she agreed, taking a step back from Ben, a step closer to the edge. "But that's not all I wanted to show you." Before Ben could say a word, Mal spun around and dove off the edge of the cliff into the water below. Ben was frozen in shock for a moment, but as soon as he heard the splash a jolt of fear burst through him, remembering her struggles in the water last time they were here.

"Mal!" Ben dove in after her without another word, slicing through the water below and frantically looking around as he surfaced.

Mal laughed at him from a few yards away, amused at his befuddled expression at finding her calmly treading the water. Ben didn't seem to notice the hair plastered to his face or the water dripping down his nose as he stared at her.

"But… when did you learn to swim?" Mal grinned widely.

"Evie and I have been practicing while you've been at tourney. I was keeping it a surprise. Should teach you to pay more attention to your girlfriend." A grin as wide as Mal's own split across Ben's face, as well as a look promising vengeance he must have learned from her. He dove towards her, and Mal took off in the opposite direction, showing off her newfound talent. Unfortunately, a few months' lessons weren't quite enough to outpace a prince who had grown up spending summers at Queen Ariel's seaside palace. Mal shrieked as Ben grabbed her from behind, spinning her around in the water and splashing them both. Right as Mal was about to yell at him to stop making her so dizzy, she felt him stiffen against her back and pause. She tried to turn and look at him, but his arms were like steel around her, preventing her from moving. A pit of fear opened up in her heart.

"Ben? What's wrong?" Her eyes scanned the shore, trying to find a threat.

"Who—" Ben's voice sounded strangled, "Who did this to you?"

"Ben, what do you—" It was at that moment Mal felt Ben's hand brush across her bare back and it felt like the ground had dropped out from under her as she remembered something she never should have forgotten. The lake's enchanted; it washes away all spells. Her magic had failed her and now Ben's hand was tracing over the scars she had never wanted him to see.

"Mal," Ben repeated, tightening his protective hold, "who did this to you?"

While most of Mal was screaming in fear to run away, the rest of her was in enough shock that she surprised herself with the soft-spoken, bitter reply. "Who do you think?"

The moment they arrived on the Isle, they knew they were going to have to hide. Everywhere they turned, people were flashing their arms, their legs, proudly displaying the clear skin for all to see. It was unnerving, how much smooth, unblemished flesh surrounded them.

It was normal in the Isle, for everyone to cover up their skin, hide the marks of shame everyone shared, pretend the pain away. It was blatantly obvious that Auradon had a different normal. It was even more obvious that their difference would be treated with pity. And if there was anything that repulsed a villain kid, even more than goodness, it was pity. So as soon as they were sequestered in their new rooms, Mal had searched her mother's tome until she found a spell that would let them hide. Hide the thick, knotted scar from the time Carlos had his leg caught in one of the bear traps guarding his mother's coats. Hide the million other scars proving over and over what a failure he was to his mother. Hide the evidence of all the times Jay got caught by his victims. Hide the mark across his cheekbone where his father's ring caught him after the first and only time he came home empty-handed. Evie had the least scars of any of them, most of them accidental or self-inflicted, because she couldn't be the fairest with a marked-up body. Like Grimhilde, Maleficent preferred verbal whipping, but Mal carefully made sure to cover the evidence of the one time her mother's whips turned physical. The magic was fairly permanent, and slowly the children of Jafar, Cruella De Vil, Grimhilde, and Maleficent allowed themselves to wear t-shirts, shorts, and even a backless sundress on a date with her boyfriend.

A part of Mal chuckled darkly at herself, at her naiveté, for even allowing herself to forget that under the fake glamour of the magic, her scars were still very, very real. You can take the kid from the Isle but you'll never be able to remove evidence of the Isle from the kid.

A warmth on her face and the sound of someone calling her name jerked Mal back to the present. Ben had turned her around in his arms and was cradling her face, hazel eyes staring at her with worry.

"Mal… your mother did this?" Mal's lips twitched as her tone varied somewhere between sarcasm and condescension.

"You didn't send them to the Isle because they didn't contribute to the bake sale, Ben." Ben's face paled even further, and he pulled her close, wrapping her in a hug.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He murmured into her hair, carefully stroking her back. Mal gazed over his shoulder, eyes off in the distance as she spoke on autopilot.

"You weren't supposed to know." Why was he still hugging her? Why was she letting him? She should be running away, he should be saying he couldn't be seen with someone like her, regardless of the magic she could use to cover it up again. Mal pulled back, her gaze searching out Ben's.

"Why are you here?" Why are you still with me? Why haven't you told me to leave? Ben's eyes saddened as he seemed to know the unspoken questions.

"Because I love you Mal."

Mal tried to pull back further, confused, but Ben wouldn't let her.

"But… the scars…" Ben's eyes hardened into chips of cold amber and his grip on her tightened.

"I hate that you have them. There isn't punishment enough for what Maleficent did to you. But I love you, Mal. Scars and all." Mal's breath caught in her throat. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. This isn't how it went on the Isle.

You're not on the Isle, her brain reminded her as Ben leaned in and gave her a tender kiss to punctuate his statement. You're in Auradon.

A small smile graced Mal's face as Ben pulled away, and there was really only one thing she could say.

"I love you too."