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It was three months before the wedding and Mal was a nervous wreck. She was only a few months away from receiving the full power of the queen. She spent half her time worrying about that, and the rest was balanced between school and the wedding itself.
Her partners decided to have an intervention after they hadn’t seen her except for in their classes in three weeks. They all showed up outside her room together, ready to talk to her and find out what all was going on.
“Mal?” Ben poked his head in, being the least likely to get spelled for interrupting her.
“What is it, Ben?” Mal was sitting at her desk with three open books in front of her. One was a book about the laws and rules of Auradon, one was her math textbook, and the third was a book of wedding ideas.
“We wanted to talk to you if you have a minute,” Jay said, pushing Ben into the room so they all could see her.
“What about, I’m right in the middle of something here.”
“That’s what we wanted to talk about.” Uma walked up to her and grabbed one of the books.
“Hey! Give it back!” Mal jumped up, eyes already glowing green.
“Mal, babe,” Jay was suddenly between her and Uma, resting his hands on her shoulders. “You need to relax.”
“Why? So I can fall behind and fail?” They all got a good look at her for the first time and each of them hurt for her. She had bags under her eyes, her hair hadn’t been washed in a few days, she looked miserable and tired, and she clearly hadn’t eaten in at least a few days.
“Mal,” Harry came up and stood next to Jay. “Darlin’ you can’t keep doing this to yourself. What can we do to help?”
“You can all leave me alone!” Mal’s eyes flashed green again and everyone felt a magical shove against them. Only Uma was able to stand her ground, using her own magic as a shield.
“Never gonna happen Mal,” Uma snapped, her own eyes glowing purple. “You wanted us, remember? You don’t just get to push us away at the first sign of stress.”
“Well, maybe it was a mistake!” Mal snapped, shoving out again magically at Uma. “Maybe all of this,” Mal picked up the wedding book and threw it at the wall. “Was a mistake!”
“Mal!” Jay was standing protectively in front of Gil, who was standing in front of Evie. Ben had an arm wrapped around Carlos and his other hand was holding onto Harry’s arm.
“You don’t mean that Mal,” Carlos said, voice shaking.
“Maybe I do.” Mal wasn’t backing down.
“But you said you liked us,” Gil said, his voice shaking as he held back tears.
“Mal, c’mon.” Carlos reached out a hand but she just recoiled away, glaring daggers at him.
Uma stepped forward and got in her face.
“Do you mean this or are you just frustrated.”
“I, I,” Mal couldn’t seem to find her words but Uma wasn’t having any of it.
“If you can’t handle your frustrations, and lean on us when you need us then maybe you aren’t ready for a relationship like this. And you definitely aren’t ready to be Queen.” Uma reached out and ripped her engagement ring off her finger, tossing her textbook back at her. She gave her one last look before grabbing Evie’s hand and dragging her out of the room. Jay wrapped his arm around the crying Gil, leading him out of the room. Harry and Carlos moved back but waited for Ben to join them.
“Mal,” Ben started, reaching out his own hand to her. She turned her back on him and waved a hand, pushing them all back once more with a wave of power. Ben stumbled back into Harry.
“C’mon mate,” Harry glared at Mal. “She clearly doesn’t want us.”
Harry dropped his hook and took Carlos’ and Ben’s hands, pulling them out of the room. As soon as they got out of the room, Ben felt himself slump as Carlos was angrily scrubbing at the tears on his face. Harry’s jaw was tight with tension and Ben pulled himself back up, ready to try and comfort two of his boyfriends.
“Don’t,” Harry held up a hand, glaring at Ben.
“Can we just go for a walk in the woods?” Carlos’ voice was small. He had been used to fighting, it was normal on the island, but never for them. They didn’t fight, they had to be united. And Mal had never used her magic on him before, she’d never yelled at him before, knowing how his mother had treated him.
“Of course ‘Los,” Harry kept his arm firmly around Carlos’ shoulders and started walking him out of the school. Ben hesitated for a second, wanting to go back and confront Mal while also being worried about his other partners. After a second he hurried after Harry and Carlos.
“Did you know I’ve been thinking about joining the Tourney team,” Harry’s voice was a new kind of forced chipper.
“Really?”
“Yeah, that game with you and Jay really turned me around on it. If I had known you could get that injured from it I would have signed up forever ago.”
“Shut up!” Carlos gave him a light shove as he laughed. The rest of the walk into the forest they kept to the subject of Tourney. Carlos and Ben filled Harry in on the teams, the rules, and who the best players on their team were. When they finally came to a stop it was in a grassy clearing, with rocks and logs set up as seats around the circle. Harry flopped down on the grass, keeping one eye on Carlos while the other was firmly shut.
“I’m more worried about Mal now,” Carlos admitted after a second. “She’s never reacted like that before. She’s been mad before, especially on the island. But she’s never lashed out at us like that, the yelling, the magic, it was all new.”
“She’s stressed,” Ben said. “It’s no excuse but she’s had a lot shoved on her plate.”
“She should never have lashed out like that,” Harry snapped. He was new to this kind of relationship but even he knew you don’t lash out like that at your partners.
“You’re right, but-”
“No buts!” Harry was sitting up and glaring at Ben. “I don’t care, maybe this really was a mistake.”
“Harry-”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Harry flopped back down and crossed his arms. There was a moment of silence before he heard Carlos stand up and run through the woods.
“Carlos!” Ben stood up and stared after him. Harry sat up and looked at where he had gone before looking at Ben.
“Is uh, is he going to be ok?” Harry asked, rubbing his neck.
“I, I think he will be.” Ben sat down hard. After a second Harry moved towards him, reaching out and resting his hand on Ben’s ankle.
“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting that kind of fight. She made Carlos and Gil cry, and I hate her for that.”
“I know, I just wish I knew how to help her with everything on her plate without her getting mad.”
“You know she was a lot like this on the Isle too,” Harry laid back down, resting his head on Ben’s lap.
“What do you mean?” Ben ran his fingers through Harry’s hair.
“She wouldn’t let anyone do anything she thought she had to do. She was always very proud, she couldn’t stand to fail. She would rather drive herself into the ground than admit she needs help.” Harry let his eyes close as he remembered her when she was young.
“She did that a year ago I think when Uma got out. She felt like she was failing at being someone in the royal court. But she never asked me for help and instead ran all the way back to the isle rather than admit she was struggling.”
“I bet she’ll come around, she just needs to realize what she did,” Jay’s voice surprised them from the top of a tree next to them. Harry’s eyes flew open and he saw Jay and Gil both perched in the tree, while Carlos was leaning on the tree.
“Carlos!” Ben scrambled up, running towards Carlos. Harry landed on his face as soon as Ben stood up, but he too straightened up and moved towards his boyfriends.
“Hi,” Carlos was a little red as he moved towards them.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to yell!”
“It’s ok,” Carlos hugged them both and then looked up at Gil and Jay. They both jumped down out of the tree, hugging the other two as well.
“It’s ok, we found him,” Jay said, keeping his arm around Harry’s shoulder.
“Well, I’m glad. Do you really think she just needs to calm down.” Harry asked, studying them.
“Yeah,” Evie suddenly appeared out of the trees, with Mal in tow. “She’s done this before, never on this level but similar. She always calms down and finds us.”
“Well, should we get back to the dorms? We could relax on campus until she comes to find us?” Gil said, arms wrapped around Carlos from behind.
“Yeah,” Uma said, a small smile playing on her lips.
“And no matter what, we need to talk when we have issues. I know that it won’t come easily, but it’s so important for a relationship, especially one like ours.” Ben said, looking at them all seriously.
“Yeah.” Everyone said at once, latching onto each other in whatever way they could. They walked back to the campus like that, with Jay and Ben on the outside edges, and Gil and Carlos in the middle, the girls and Harry between them all. When they made it back to campus they saw Mal pacing around outside of the dorms tear tracks on her face and tugging on her hair.
“Mal!” Carlos and Gil broke away from the group and ran to her, hating seeing her cry. Evie was right behind them with Ben while Jay, Harry, and Uma took a little longer to get to her. Mal ran to Carlos and Gil and tackled them in her own hug, crying into their shoulders.
“I’m sorry! I’m so so so sorry!” Mal sobbed. “I’m just, there’s so much and I didn’t know what to do. I tried to do it all myself and I was wrong, again!”
“It’s ok, Mal, it’s ok!” Carlos rubbed her back while Gil ran his fingers through her hair.
“Well, it’s mostly ok,” Uma said, standing next to them with her arms crossed.
“Uma,” Mal let go of them and looked at her. “Uma I’m so so so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you! If you never want to see me again I’d understand.”
“Don’t be dumb, I don’t give up on people that easily.” Uma reached out and shoved her shoulder. “But Mal you have to start asking for help. You have seven of us, and all of us would be more than happy to help you.”
“I would love to help plan your wedding,” Evie said, stepping forward. “I’ve always wanted to help you!”
“I can help you with the duties you’re going to have as queen. Trust me it seems like a lot but we just need to make it manageable.” Ben pulled her into a hug.
“The rest of us will help you with classes,” Harry said, studying her.
“And I’m going to make myself such a problem for fairy godmother that she’ll have to let you off of some of these classes.” Gil and Carlos shared a grin, both of them looking forward to bugging fairy godmother.
“And the next time you get like this, we’re going to fight you until you stop!” Uma said, flicking her in the forehead.
“That seems fair,” Mal nodded at her with a small smile.
“Now, you need the rest of the day off. So we’re going to make a huge picnic lunch, and spend the rest of the afternoon at the enchanted lake.” Ben started pulling them all towards the kitchen. Uma pulled Mal back from the group, nodding at Harry and Gil to keep going.
“Mal.”
“Yes, Uma?”
“I’m sorry too,” Uma looked down at the ground. “I shouldn’t have pushed back like that, you clearly needed space not me fighting back.”
“But-”
“And you also are completely ready to be queen,” Uma slipped the engagement ring back onto her finger and pulled her into a hug. “I remember back on the isle you would never have admitted you needed the help. You’re a kinder person than you were before.”
“Thank you Uma,” Mal squeezed Uma tightly, before letting go only to hold her hand instead. “Come on then Pirate Queen, our partners are waiting for us.”
“Well, we’re the queens. They can wait as long as we want.” Uma grinned at her, even knowing their relationship would never be perfect, they would always come back together with love.