Mal was going to do it. She was going to do it, and she had to do it now before she lost her nerve. She strode through the hallway with powerful strides, Ben following a pace behind her. She was nervous, but she wouldn't let it show. Fear, of any kind, showed weakness. Your enemy knew that they'd gotten under your skin. But confidence, a quick wit, and unwavering attention was intimidating, powerful even. Hopefully that would be enough. Mal waltzed into her room, swiftly closing the door behind Ben.

"Mal, I- you don't have to talk about it. I'm so sorry for pushing, I just wanted you guys to know that you could talk if you wanted to, and-"

"Ben," she interrupted. "I should have talked to you a long time ago. This isn't just about me." Wait, what? Ben thought that they were here to talk about her mom. Was there something else he was missing?

"What do you mean?" he asked. Instead of answering him, Mal responded with another question.

"What do you think the Isle's like?"

"Huh?"

"You've been there now," she said nonchalantly."What do you think living on the Isle is like?"

"Uh, I don't know." Ben thought back to how Evie, Jay, and Carlos instructed him to act on the Isle. "Chill?" Mal sighed and decided to change tactics.

"What's the scariest thing that you've ever done?" She caught Ben off guard.

"I almost lost you," he said simply. A trace of a smile grazed Mal's lips.

"You're sweet," she said before becoming serious again. "But that's not what I mean." She thought for a second. "When you were on Uma's ship, were you afraid that you were going to die?" Ben nodded.

"Yeah, of course. I still had hope that you might come for me, or someone would get the guards, but I was still scared."

"Imagine being scared like that, all the time, except that no one from Auradon would come to save you. No one from Auradon would even care what happens to you. Maybe no one would care at all." Ben's eyes went wide. "That is what living on the Isle is like." Ben wanted to say something, to try and comfort Mal, but he couldn't seem to make sound come out of his mouth. "And that's the easy part." Mal turned away, almost starting to pace. "Caring: that's what's hard! It's hard to try again, and again, to please your parents when inside you know that nothing you ever do is ever going to be good enough!" She paused. "You know that caring about other people is weak, but you can't stop yourself. It's hard to pretend that you don't care about anyone when you do, but it's even harder when a rival, or even your own mother, uses that against you." She turned around, and looked Ben in the eye. "You want to know why I went back to the Isle, after you saw that I was a fake?" Ben blinked. "I'm not perfect, Ben, I-"

"You don't have to be perfect," Ben interjected. He held her by her shoulders. "I love you, just the way you are, Mal! I love everything about you."

"You don't know everything about me! People, kids are probably dead because of me!" Ben's face went white.

"No," he denied.

"I left them! How can I call myself good when I left them alone? Do you know how many kids are just barely getting by on the Isle?" Mal looked off to the side to avoid Ben's eyes. "Dizzy wasn't the only kid on the Isle who relied on our protection and aid. Being Maleficent's daughter was powerful. I could at least divert everyone's attention. How many kids have been beaten to death or starved between now and when I came to Auradon? I abandoned them. That's my fault!"

"No, Mal, no- it's not- it's not your fault." Ben dug his hands through his hair anxiously as he turned and started to pace, too. Mal was about to object but he didn't notice. "Mal, listen to me, it's not your fault. None of this is your fault. You are good. You care, that alone means that you're good. It's not your fault." Ben finally turned around to face her again, and noticed the tears that she was keeping from falling. He pulled her into a hug, and they just stood there. Ben could feel his shirt getting wet, but didn't want to move, so he just stood there, squeezing his girlfriend and stroking her hair as she cried against him.

How was he going to fix this?

Jay woke up to a knock on the door. He moved to stand up to answer it when he realized that Evie was laying partially on him as she slept. They must have fallen asleep after all the trauma earlier. He glanced over at Carlos on Evie's other side, but it seemed she had curled onto Jay. Carlos was free. Jay nudged Carlos in the shin with his foot.

"Carlos," he whispered.

"Mmmmm." Jay kicked a little harder.

"Carlos!" Carlos sat up in his groggy post-sleep state, and someone knocked at the door again. He made a confused sound, and went to answer the door.

"Jane?" Carlos was awake almost instantly. "Dude!" The little dog barked back at Carlos, having only recently returned to normal after the truth gummy.

Evie moaned in her sleep, disturbed by the noise but not awake yet. Jay frowned. If she didn't wake up to that she must be really tired.

"Hey, bro, you good to take it outside? I don't want to wake her up," he said quietly.

Carlos nodded and noticed Jay's concern. This must have something to do with everything that happened earlier today.

Jay watched Carlos leave, and laid his head back down. Might as well try and get some more sleep. He'd wake up if Evie needed him. He always did.

A/N: I know it's been a while, and that was shorter than usual, but I have some bad news and didn't want to leave it without a chapter.

I'm putting this story on hiatus for now. :,( I don't like it either, but I figure I owe an explanation to anyone who has kept up with this story this long.

1. I only have one more concrete plan plot-event-wise for this story to go before I'm really, really stuck. The rest of my "plans" regarding this story are just ideas, concepts, and events that I'm either going to reveal through some sort of flashback thing or some other blow-up-high-tension thing should that be necessary. I just don't know what to do in the current time in Auradon to make those flashbacks/dreams/whatever come up just yet.

2. D3 may have an impact on where I go with this story. I want to gain some sort of an idea on how Mal and any of the other VKs might act in reaction to their other parents, not to mention that I'd like to know who their other parents are, rather than just guessing. Also, is Dizzy in Auradon before the start of D3? Does she come over with other VKs? Is it possible for this story to occur before or after D3? Will D3 completely throw something in this story out the window? I get that this is kind of AU, but I'd like to keep it as close to the head cannon as possible.

3. I have currently lost my Descendants writing motivation/excitement/idea-maker, and have been getting distracted with other things: college, Power Rangers, volunteer-work, a manuscript I'm attempting to write, etc. I will probably get more ideas/motivation when D3 gets closer.

I do plan on finishing this story. It will bug me if I don't. I don't like leaving things unfinished, and once D3 gets closer/comes out, I'm probably going to be spewing Descendants stuff all over the place anyways. Hopefully.

If you have any ideas, things you have liked, don't know what to make of, or would like me to expand upon in this story, please let me know in a review or a PM. Now is the time to mention it so I can keep it in mind when I put together the events that will carry the plot from this point.

Sorry for the really long A/N, and thank you so much for reading.

disneyfananalyst