So I'm finally getting around to getting this multi-chapter story up! It's still a work in progress, but I'll try to keep myself accountable to getting new chapters up for it as often as I can, no less frequently than once a week! I have a few chapters just about ready, but want to 1) make sure that they're all cleaned up to my standard and 2) if this is a story worth following through on! If you like it, let me know! If you don't, also let me know (constructively, or at least as gently as possible). And with that out of the way, I now take you to the Royal Cotillion...sort of.

Run. Don't stop running. Those were the rules of the Isle of the Lost. Whatever problems you had, you had to keep running. Run fast enough and you could outrun every problem. And so that was what Mal was doing. She ran. She didn't care what the people of Auradon thought of her anymore, because she had already lost the one Auradonian she cared about. She had lost Ben. After everything he had said, after every promise he had made her, she lost him. To Uma. Uma had finally won.

It was the night of the royal Cotillion, when Ben would have been announcing Mal as his Lady of the Court and give her a more official position in the government of Auradon than simply "the king's girlfriend." She would have become Lady Mal. She could have sat in on the conversations and helped to improve the lives of everyone, including those still on the Isle of the Lost. More importantly, the people of Auradon would have seen that what her and Ben had was real. Now everyone, including Mal, knew that she was nothing more than a charity case. He had felt sorry for her, so he dated her. And now there was someone who needed his charity more than her, so she got to be his Lady while Mal was left in the dirt.

She didn't know where to run, but she was still running. She had ripped the bottom of her dress off at some point so she could run more easily. It was easier to not think about where she was going. If she knew, others could predict her moves. She didn't want to be found. Not until she had time to think.

"Mal, I wish I had time to explain."

"I'm sorry. It all happened so fast. Something happened to me when I was on the Isle with Uma - a connection."

"Don't you see, Mal, you were right! You knew we weren't meant to be together; that's why you never told me that you love me."

Why you never told me that you love me.

Never told me that you love me.

She was an idiot. She wanted to blame Ben, and she did, but she also blamed herself. She had been so unsure of her feelings, still so uncertain about what love felt like, that she never told Ben the three words that could have changed everything. And now he was gone. He had moved on and found someone who could probably love him better than she could.

She finally stopped and wondered where she had taken herself. Surprisingly, she found herself at the Enchanted Lake. She had no idea how she had run this far - she accredited it to the adrenaline that she could already feel ebbing away. She had gone to the one place she always felt safe. This was the place where she could pretend her and Ben were still together.

"A million thoughts in my head. Should I let my heart keep listening?" Mal said, remembering the words she said during her first trip to this very spot, where she and Ben had shared their first date. Even then, she knew she had felt something for him, but she couldn't put words to it. She knew he had made her question what she believed to be wrong and right; he made her want to be a better person; he made her question whether her mother's goal was really her goal.

"Oh Ben." Mal said as she leaned against one of the columns, sliding down until she was sitting, arms wrapped around her legs and her head resting on her knees. Once she had settled, she let the tears flow. She knew she was safe for a while. Everyone would be on the yacht, in the middle of one of the oceans, for the rest of the night celebrating Cotillion. The only reason she had been able to escape was because of a simple teleportation spell.

While she let her emotions out, she took stock. On the Isle, you knew your emotions and you controlled them. Any emotion could and would be used against you. And right now all she felt was pain. Pain and an emptiness where her heart should have been. A gaping whole that Ben had left. She couldn't live with the pain.

But what if she didn't have to? She thought about that for a second, and realized that it was entirely possible. She had made several of her own spells before, she could easily do it again. It would require a little research, but it was still early enough that she could use the Auradon Prep library - it wouldn't be closed yet. She cast another teleportation spell and arrived inside of the library, causing the librarian to jump.

"Oh, Miss, you startled me." The librarian said, before realizing who it was. He got up and curtsied. "My apologies, I didn't realize it was you, Lady Mal." Another piece of her heart broke.

"No, don't. No need for the formalities. I'm not…" She tried to explain, but couldn't bring herself to say it. Saying it to another human would make it too real. The librarian seemed to understand, though.

"My apologies. I had no idea." Mal mumbled her thanks. "How may I help you this evening?"

"I need to do some research on spellcrafting. It'd be a fairly difficult spell and I don't want to make any mistakes." She explained. The librarian's face paled.

"Usually such research requires special permission from the headmistress herself, and is supervised by one of the several good fairies. I'm afraid I have to contact the Fairy Godmother." He started moving towards the desk. Mal knew she only had moments before she wouldn't be able to finish her mission here. Fairy Godmother would never approve of her creating this spell.

Take back this moment that has passed
Reverse it five minutes into the past.

She hoped she got the incantation right as she swiped her finger around. Luckily, she could feel the effects of the spell starting and watched as, slowly, everything around her started backing up. The spell had actually worked!

"Oh, Miss, you startled me." The librarian said, before realizing who it was. He got up and curtsied. "My apologies, I didn't realize it was you, Lady Mal." Another piece of her heart broke.

"No, don't. No need for the formalities. I'm not…" She tried to explain again, but she still couldn't bring herself to say it. The pain was still too real.

"My apologies. I had no idea." Mal mumbled her thanks. "How may I help you this evening?"

"Actually, if it's alright, I'd like some time to just read." Mal said, which wasn't completely a lie. She did want time to read, she just didn't tell him what she would be reading.

"Of course, take all of the time you need, dear. Just remember that we close at eleven."

"Don't worry, I'll hopefully be gone by then." She said and the librarian nodded, returning to his post at the main desk. Mal went off into the stacks, looking for any books that looked like they might help her with spell creation. Once she had a stack of six or so books, she found a table far away from anyone who might be there and opened the first book.

Read it fast at lightning speed
Remember everything that I need.

She quickly flipped through the pages of the first book, gathering all of the details that she needed from it. She felt a little guilty using this much magic, considering her use of magic was what got her in this mess in the first place, but she couldn't make herself care. She needed this spell. Within half an hour or so, she had gone through each of the books she had brought to her table and knew what she needed to do. It was actually really easy; it would just require her full concentration since the spell had never been cast before. Once she cast the spell - focusing entirely on what she wanted it to do and making a quick two line rhyme to make her desires a reality - it would appear in a registry of all spells created. She didn't like that part, but it seemed to be unavoidable.

With another quick spell, she was back in her dorm room. Evie would still be at Cotillion, so nobody would be coming back anytime soon. First she changed out of her dress and into a pair of purple sweatpants and the hoodie that she regularly slept in, Ben's hoodie (it smelled like Ben, and she wanted this one last reminder). She then sat on her bed, legs crossed, and focused on creating a rhyme. This would normally be a job for Ben, he was so much better with words than she was, but this had to come from her. Besides, she couldn't wait for Ben. She wanted this spell active before she had to face him again. And so she wrote. She went through several scraps of paper, trying to find the exact wording that she wanted. Each one didn't quite seem right, so it got tossed in the garbage can. By the time she found the right words, her garbage can was full of little papers.

Now came the hard part, casting the spell. She channeled all of her focus into it, making sure that she gave it enough magical energy to work without completely depleting her. She didn't want the spell to take away all of her emotions, just her ability to love.

Broken, hurt, and left alone
Turn my heart to a heart of stone!

The change in her chest was immediate. She no longer felt the pain that came associated with the heartbreak. In fact, she felt completely free from the damage that Ben had caused. She didn't love Ben - mentally, she knew what she had felt for him before she cast the spell, but now she didn't feel any of that. She felt nothing.

Knowing that the spell had worked, she crawled into bed, curling under the covers as she drifted off into the safety of sleep.

The next morning, Mal was woken up by the sun coming in through the disgustingly pink curtains. She and Evie had sworn that they would change them when they first moved in, but Mal didn't have the heart to after realizing how much Evie really liked them.

"Morning, Mal." Her blue haired roommate said from her vanity. It was clear that Evie was already halfway through her morning make-up routine. "I...how are you?" She asked Mal, nervous about how her friend genuinely was. She knew that Mal put on a tough girl act, but underneath was extremely vulnerable. And Ben had broken her in the worst way.

"I'm fine, E. Yeah, last night sucked, but I guess it could have been worse." At this, Evie looked at Mal as if she had turned into a dragon.

"Umm...Mal, I don't know how to tell you this, but...it was real. Like...it all actually happened. Honestly, I don't know that it could have been worse." She had decided to go with the blunt approach.

"I know, and it sucks. But better that Ben made it clear now that he doesn't want to be with me than in a few years when I would potentially be expecting a proposal. Honestly, this worked out for the best."

Evie didn't know what to say. Yesterday, her sister had been head over heels in love with Ben. She had been willing to change her entire way of living, accept her position as Lady of the Court, and become someone she had never been all because of how much she loved Ben. Today, she was acting so indifferent. It was...weird.

"I'm gonna head down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. You coming?" Mal asked Evie. Evie shook her head. She still needed to finish her make-up.

"I'll be down in a bit. Go on ahead, M." Mal nodded and left the room, still wearing the clothes she had slept in. This made Evie raise her eyebrow again. It was one thing for Mal to not care how she looked, but she always made herself at least somewhat presentable when she left the room. Something was definitely wrong. That was when she noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor next to Mal's bed.

She got up from the vanity and picked up the piece of paper. She hated to invade Mal's privacy, but she was hoping for some kind of clue.

"Oh no. No no no no no no no no." Evie said as she read the words on the paper. She recognized a spell when she saw one. Forgoing the rest of her morning preparation, she headed immediately to Fairy Godmother's office.