"Come on!" Ben says excitedly, leading me to the ticket booth and I giggle happily. I don't really know what this is but it looks fun. He quickly pays for a few long strips of tickets and we begin to explore.

"What do you wanna go on first?" he asks me as we look around.

"What's that one?" I ask pointing at the one with spinning chains and weird seats attached to them.

"The swing ride, C'mon I'll show you" he says while taking my hand. He leads me over and soon we are strapping ourselves into chairs. The ride starts and I look around curiously as we begin to move. But soon I can't really see anything as it all becomes a blur.

'This is awesome!' I think to myself, holding on to the chains tightly. The ride gets faster and faster until it finally stops a few minutes later.

"One side affect is...you can get a bit dizzy" Ben tells me helping me up after he unstraps himself. I shakily fall into his arms but he catches me immediately. We go on a few more rides and are beginning to snack on some corn dogs when suddenly a generator sparks and a fire begins at the empty ferris wheel. People begin to cry out in shock, the wheel has grinded to a halt and suddenly there is a terrified scream from the top of it.

"Mommy!" a young boy cries and a woman a few feet from us holding a bag of cotton candy screams.

"My baby!" she cries and my eyes widen. I drop my corn dog and start to move towards the flames quickly. Thankfully I changed into my vk outfit before we left the coronaton's after party.

"Mal...wait you can't-" Ben protests as he grabs my arm to stop me.

"i'm a vk Ben I'll be back in a minute" I tell him before shaking him off and running over to the ferris wheel. I hurry to the betwal rings that go up the whole thing and begin to climb toward the top.When I'm abput halfway there one of the rings on the steps breaks under me and I dangle in mid air for a second before pulling myself up on to the next ring. I climb all the way to the top where a little boy about six or seven years old with dark hair is curled up on a seat in the cart terrified.

"Hey little guy, come here" I say gently as I climb into the swaying cart. He immediately starts to go towards me and I pick him up and hold him with one arm as I start to look for a way to get out of here. I start to move back the way I came but the flames are already starting to reach us.

"Alright buddy I'm gonna do a little magic trick okay? Just stay calm and keep looking up alright" I say gently as I back up slightly and he nods with tears in his eyes. I close my eyes and start saying a a spell in my head to make the cart able to go through fire but before I can finish it there's an explosion below us. The ferris wheel shakes and the boy cries into my shoulder, burying his face in my neck.

"It's...it's okay buddy just put this on and everything will be fine" I say as I take off my jacket, it's fire proof and it'll keep him safe. He puts it on and I realize only one of us will make it out of this alive and with that thought in mind I focus all of my energy on teleporting him to safety. After a second he's gone and hear his mother cry in joy. I smile in relief but that's when the second larger explosion happens.

Ben's POV

"Mal!!!" I scream as I begin bolting forward towards the flames. Suddenly Jay and Carlos are holding me back with tears in their eyes.

"Guys let go! Jay! Carlos! Let me go right now!!!" I scream struggling to get out of their grasp but they only tighten their grip on me.

"Ben...she's gone" Carlos says sadly and I sob. That's not true, it can't be true...she can't be gone.

"She's not gone! she can't be!!! Guys we have to get her out of there! Mal!" I scream.

"Ben look!" Carlos says, pointing at the boy that is now clinging to his mom while wearing Mal's jacket.

"That jacket is fireproof...there's no way she could've survived that explosion without it" Jay says sadly before sniffing.

"She's not dead! She has magic! She got herself out another way! Guys I have to find her! Let go!!" I shout as I continue to struggle desperately.

"Could you three stop arguing and help me up?" A familiar voice coughs and suddenly a mop of purple can be seen pulling herself on to the dock a few feet away from the raging fire.

"Mal!" I cry, wrenching myself away from the boys who are frozen in shock and quickly running over and pulling her out of the water and into my arms. She shivers against me and I hold her as close to me as possible. I wrench off my jacket and wrap it around her then pull her back to me not willing to have even an inch of space between us

"You're ok, you're ok" I mutter against her hair as I hug her impossibly tighter.

"T-the explosion knocked me out of the c-cart and into the water" she stutters as she shakes against me.

"I don't care how it happened, what matters is that your alive" I say relieved as I nuzzle her hair before pulling away slightly to look at her.

"What on earth were you thinking?! You could have died!" I scold.

"T-the kid was trapped up there, someone had to help" she says.

"Yes but there are people trained for that Mal" I say exhasperatedly.

"Ben my jacket was fireproof-"she starts to say.

"Which you gave to him" I pout out as I gesture to the boy and his mom.

"Exactly! To save him. Mission accomplished" she says as she curls closer and I shake my head.

"And you say you're evil" I say with a small smile.

"I am. I just have a soft spot for little kids" she teases and I laugh hugging her to my chest.

"You gave me a heart attack!" I murmur as she hugs me back just as tightly.

"Are you two going to stand there gaping like fish or are you gonna hug me?!" She calls over my shoulder.Jay and Carlos rush over immediately and we end up in a group hug, I'm not willing to let go just yet. Mal chuckles into my shoulder quietly at this position.

After a long moment the boys pull away and she shivers against me.

"Are you ok? Are you cold?" I ask worriedly.

"I-I'm fine just a bit cold" she stutters. I glance over at the ambulance and fire tuck that have been called

"Come on let's get you checked out and warmed up" I say leading her away from the dock with the boys following behind us closely. After a moment she's sitting on the back of the ambulence with a heated blanket around her shoulders and a foam cup of hot apple cider in her hands.

"I really don't need all this" she insists.

"Mal you have the possibility of burns and fell into a dock when you can't swim, you do need this!" I repremind her gently. She quiets down and rubs her side slightly, when she pulls her hand back it's covered in red and she doesn't seem to notice

"Mal! You're bleeding! What happened? You need to get that checked right now!" I say frantically.

"It's ok Benny it's just a scratch, don't worry" she says gently as she inspects the blood on her hand.

"I must've gotten cut by some of the exploding light bulbs, I never even noticed it" she says, looking at the blood starting to seep through her shirt and a little through my jacket.

"I was so scared...I thought I lost you" say as I pull her in for a hug, careful not to spill the hot drink she's holding in her other hand.

"It's ok Benny I'm here" she murmurs curling into me and leaning her head on my chest. I sniff and a paramedic comes over to check on Mal.

"It seems we have some bleeding over here"he says as he begins to look mal over.

"It's not that bad he's just panicking" Nal insists stubbornly.

"well miss Mal after what happened I think his majesty has a right to be worried now let's have a quick look" the paramedic says. Mal takes off my jacket and I bite my lip when I see a burn mark on her right elbow and a little blood.

"It's not too deep" The paramedic tells us when he reaches the cut on her side. He grabs a bottle, a cloth and a bandage. "This might sting I'm sorry" he tells Mal, putting some liquid on the cloth an wiping it against the cut. Mal hisses a little but stays perfectly still. He cleans the blood on her skin with another cloth before putting the bandage round it. Then puts some burn cream on her elbow after cleaning the blood off.

"Keep these clean, no going in water for a week and try to limit movement that's going pull the one on your side"he tells Mal as he put a bandage over her elbow. Mal nods in agreement and carefully stands up with my help.

"Excuse me?" A woman calls and we both turn to see the little boy and his mother approaching.

"We...we would just like to say thank you" her voice cracks with gratitude

"You're welcome" Mal says with a nod and the boy holds out Mal's jacket. Mal takes it with a small smile and ruffles his hair playfully. The mother hesitantly wraps her arms around Mal and to my slight surprise Mal lets her.

"Thank you so much, I can never repay you" the woman says softly.

"There's no need...he was trapped and someone had to help, I was in a similar situation when I was his age" Mal murmurs. After a moment Mal finally pulls away from her and gives them one last smile before she turns to me

"Can we go home now please?" she asks softly.

"Let's go" I murmur, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she takes a sip of the cider. When we get to the entrance the limo is already waiting for us. I make sure Mal is settled before I climb in next to her and she curls up against me again with my arm around her. I nuzzle her hair and inhale her scent, she smells like smoke, ash, and strawberries.

"I'm kinda surprised you're not giving me a 'don't ever do that again' speech" she murmurs.

"Oh believe me I want to but knowing you you wouldn't listen to it anyway and to be honest that fact is one of the things I love most about you" I tell her and she laughs before she lays her head on my shoulder. I press my cheek to the top of her head and close my eyes.

"Well...your first day as king has definitely been one we'll never forget" Mal says after a moment in an attempt to lighten the mood and I laugh shaking my head. She laughs softly and nuzzles my shoulder and I nuzzle her back with a low purr.

"It's okay" she mumbles gently.

"Spend the night?" I ask hopefully.

"Sure" she says with a small smile and I let out a quiet whine as I look at the bandage on her side, it's visible through the hole in her shirt.

"Benny I'm fine it didn't even go an inch deep it will be gone in the morning it's ok" she says gently.

"I could've lost you, I couldn't get to you" I sniff as I cuddle her closer.

"Hey hey I'm here don't cry" Mal pleads.

"W-when I didn't see you escape with the boy and then the bigger explosion I-I" I begin to sob.

"Hey hey shhh" she curls into me even tighter pulling my head to her shoulder as I sob. I kiss her cheek and jaw in between whimpers and she purrs softly stroking my back and hair as she nuzzles me trying to reassure me.

"Remind me to teach you how to ride a ferris wheel" I say after I've calmed and she giggles.

"But that won't be for a long time" I say firmly.

"Deal" she chuckles before pecking me on the lips.