Summary: The first time Mal meets Ben, they're standing in the throne room of Olympus and his training crown is stupidly straight.

An AU where Mal is raised by Hades and she meets Ben when they're eight years old. An attack by a vampire, though, changes a few things for them.

The first time Mal meets Ben, they're standing in the throne room of Olympus and his training crown is stupidly straight. She wouldn't care, but he's the only one near her age (size, she reminds herself, since age is a bit different for the children of gods). Her dad had told her to try and make friends, but he'd forgotten to tell her to behave, so before he can stop her, she rips her hand from his and darts forward to knock the crown off of Ben's head.

"Hey!"

The crown topples to the ground and unfortunately, so do Ben and Mal. She still isn't used to the long dress Auntie Hera had put her in and apparently it's longer than she'd thought. She'd successfully knocked his crown off his head, though, so she'll count it as a win for now.

"Ben!"

"Mal!"

"Hello." Mal grins down at the boy now pinned beneath her as her dad shouts at her from across the room. "I'm Mal."

Below her, the boy smiles up at her shyly. "I'm Ben."

Before Mal can tell him that he has a stupid name, she's being pulled off of him and into her dad's arms.

"Daddy," she says, twisting around in his arms, "That's Ben. He's my new friend, but he has a stupid name."

"Mal," Hades chides, looking more amused than upset. "Don't insult the little prince."

Mal frowns and turns back around to look at Ben. His parents had pulled him up off the floor and his mom appeared to be fussing over his suit, but what annoys her the most is that his crown had been retrieved and placed on his head again. It's perfectly straight.

"Mal," Hades says, "this is the King and Queen of Auradon. You just knocked over their son."

"Didn't mean to," Mal mutters as her dad sets her on the ground.

Standing in front of her father, she's now facing not only Ben, but both of his parents who are much taller than she was. Not sure what to do, Mal doesn't say anything.

Above her head, her father apologises to the King and Queen while Ben avoids her stare. That won't do, Mal decides. Much more carefully than before, Mal steps forward and tips his crown until it is no longer straight. Once she's satisfied with her work, she takes a step back and grins.

"Why'd you do that?" Ben asks, reaching up to fix his crown. Mal swats at his hand and Ben frowns. "Ow!"

"You should always wear it like that," she tells him, tilting the crown again. "You look like Uncle Zeus with it the other way."

Ben's eyes widen and he turns his gaze to across the throne room where Zeus is talking loudly with her Uncle Hermes.

"He looks like a good king," Ben says.

Mal follows his gaze and shrugs. "He's boring."

"Mal."

Mal looks up to see her dad and Ben's parents looking at them both. Before she can explain herself though, Hades says, "How about you show Prince Ben the gardens?"

She doesn't need any more encouragement before she grabs Ben's hand and yanks him off in the direction of the gardens. Without her father peering down over her shoulder, she was going to show her new friend how to properly wear a crown and maybe her secret hiding spot too.

* * * * *

Two years later and Ben is ten years old, racing through the palace gardens with Mal hot on his heels. Mal and her father were in Auradon for the Summer Solstice and if Mal hadn't been forced into a dress and her tiara, she probably wouldn't mind exploring the palace. As it is, though, there's no way out of it this time, but Ben had promised they could still hide from the boring meetings if she didn't mind getting mud on her skirt (she didn't).

"Are you even trying?"

Mal's teasing is promptly followed by her throwing herself at Ben and the two go tumbling into one of Belle's rose bushes. Behind them, there's a shout at the palace gates, but no one comes running to scold them. It's a good thing too because Ben's new suit is covered in mud and there's a tear along the waistline of Mal's new dress.

"Mal!" Ben whines, shoving her off of him.

While Mal giggles, he climbs to his feet and tries to brush off his suit. His crown is nowhere in sight.

"You're slow."

"You lost my crown."

They both frown. Still on the ground, Mal peers through the bushes to see if she can spot the ridiculous gold thing, but can't see it anywhere. While her tiara had pulled on her hair, it was still secure thanks to the spell her mother had cast on it before she'd left. Perhaps she could convince her mom to do the same for Ben's since he was always losing it.

"Why do you even wear it?" Mal grumbles, rolling onto her hands and knees to start searching.

"I have to."

Ben walks around the bushes to look on the other side and again, they hear shouting from the guards behind them but ignore it. Until her father comes and pulls her away himself, Mal isn't going to go back into the stuffy palace and sit beside old King Philip.

Just as Mal is about to give up, she spots a flash of gold near the base of the bush. With a victorious grin, she wriggles onto her belly and stretches out a hand to grab it. On the other side of the bush, she hears Ben gasp and more shouting from the guards, but she's so close to reaching his crown that she can't be bothered to care.

"Mal!" Ben hisses. He tugs on her ankle and she kicks him, trying to reach the crown again as Ben says, "Mal! Mal, get up!"

"I've almost got it," she protests, grimacing as she stretches for the crown.

Her fingers wrap around it just as her gut tells her something is wrong. She feels it when the Fates of the Underworld focus their attention on Ben's life string, but she doesn't remember ever hearing her father talk about what it feels like. All she knows is that one second she was reaching for Ben's crown and the next, she's panicking.

"Ben!" she shouts, wriggling as fast as she can out from under the bush. "Ben! There's something—"

As she jumps to her feet, something goes crashing into her. She falls back into the mud and the wind is knocked out of her for just a second. When she opens her eyes again, Ben is lying on top of her and above them is a monster that she's never seen before. As fangs protrude from the monster's mouth and he bends down towards them, Mal sees Ben's life flash before her eyes and does the only thing she can think of. She screams.

The monster dives towards them and there's a horrible, gut-wrenching pain as something is cut. Mal closes her eyes tightly and clings to Ben's arm as the monster's mouth latches onto his neck.

Suddenly, everything goes silent and Mal feels the cool air of the Underworld around her. With a shaking sob, Mal peeks open one eye and sees her Uncle Hermes staring down at her. He looks as terrified to see her as she feels, but she's not sure why. He didn't see the monster like she did.

"Uncle Hermes!" Mal cries, still clinging to Ben's arm. His skin is as cold as the air surrounding them, but his eyes are wide with fear.

"Dear one," Hermes says, crouching down in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

Behind her Uncle Hermes, she sees Charon who looks equally concerned. Neither of them is willing to explain what's going on to her, though, so she and Ben are guided down to Charon in silence and placed on a boat. Without a word, Uncle Hermes disappears and Charon pushes them away from the shore.

"Charon?" Mal whispers, squeezing Ben's arm tighter.

Ben is still too shaken to speak, but he's clinging to her tightly in return so she knows he can't be dead. Based on what little her father has told her so far, souls in the Underworld can't grab onto her or be touched, but something about this is different. She felt the moment the Fates cut Ben's life string, but clearly, he isn't dead.

"Patience, Princess," Charon says softly, "Your father will meet us at the shore."

Against all protocol, Hades does meet them at the shore. Charon helps them off the boat while Hades tells Mal not to let go of Ben until he says it's okay. Even without the warning, Mal has no intention of releasing Ben's arm until they're back in the palace gardens and his skin isn't nearly so cold.

"Daddy?" Mal asks, following him closely.

"I don't know yet, Mal," Hades says before she can say anything else. He sets her and Ben on his throne and says, "Whatever you do, don't let go of each other."

Her father disappears and doesn't return for hours. When he does, Mal and Ben are fast asleep on top of each other, still holding hands tightly. Very gently, he wakes them up and takes their free hands. As soon as he has a hold on both of them, they appear in the living quarters of the Auradon Palace.

There's a doctor that gently leads Ben to his bed and as soon as he lets go of Mal's hand, he starts coughing. Mal jumps forward to grab his hand again, but her father holds her back and calms her down as the doctor works.

"He'll be okay, Mallie," Hades promises, though he does keep an eye on Ben over her shoulder. "There's been an accident and this is the only solution."

"What happened?" Mal asks, rubbing under her nose as it begins to run and her eyes tear up.

"What do you remember?"

She tells him about the monster then, but then she has to back up and explain how she and Ben had been running through the gardens. She tells her father about the mud and apologises for ruining her dress, but Hades quickly shushes her and promises it's alright.

"Do you know what the monster was, Mal?" he asks. Mal shakes her head and sniffles loudly. "It was a vampire. Ben threw himself in front of it to keep you from being bit, but I'm afraid it killed him."

"But he's alive," Mal protests, glancing back at Ben who's still lying on his bed. There's a doctor hovering over him and his parents look concerned, but he's blinking and talking, so she's pretty sure he's alive.

"He wasn't," Hades says. And then it's his turn to explain how they had both appeared in the Underworld, but because Mal was his daughter, she hadn't died. "If you had let him go, we wouldn't have been able to bring him back."

"So he is okay?"

Hades hesitates before nodding, but that's all that Mal needs. She's jumping out of his arms and hurrying over to Ben's side a second later and although his parents protest, she still climbs up beside him. She doesn't see the look passed between her father and Ben's parents, but Ben is no longer coughing and she's too busy apologising.

* * * * *

Hades doesn't take Mal back to Auradon for two years. In that time, she stays with him on Olympus and tries not to ask too many questions about Ben. Sometimes he humours her and lets her ask why she can't visit Ben, but other times he gives her a stern look and that's it. It hurts and she's worried, but she convinces Aunt Persephone to keep an eye on him when she goes up during the spring and can rest a little easier.

It seems out of the blue when Hades announces they're going to Auradon again. Mal packs her bags that very hour even though they won't leave for several days, but she's eager and can't calm down. That evening, however, her father pulls her aside and tells her something she wished he'd said before.

"That vampire," Hades says out of the blue, "The one that attacked you and Ben."

"The one that killed him," Mal clarifies. Her father nods. "What about it?"

"There was no other choice, Mallie," Hades says. He looks worried and ashamed and for a minute, Mal's terrified that Ben's dead again without her knowing. "He was a victim of a vampire bite and even as a god, there's only so much I can do."

Mal's studied enough about folklore to know what happens when someone is bit by a vampire. She never thought Ben would be a victim, though. Her father was the god of the Underworld and he'd brought Ben back to life, so she'd just assumed that meant Ben was himself. Apparently, that was not true.

"Did you try to help him?" Mal asks, not sure if she should be upset yet. "Or did you just bring him back without trying?"

"I did everything I could," her dad promises. He grabs her hand and says, "Lots of things happened that day, but yes, I tried everything."

There's a long pause as Mal tries to think what that could mean for Ben. If her dad is right, it's been two years so he must have adjusted by now. Still...

"Is he okay?"

"Yes," Hades replies. He presses a kiss to her forehead and while she knows there's still something he's keeping from her, she doesn't protest when he says, "I promise he's okay."

Three days later, Mal shows up at the Auradon Palace with a bag in one hand and a small gift box in the other. She'd had to argue for several hours before Hades let her visit her mother, but the trip had been worth it and she had a successful potion to show for it.

Seconds after Ben knocks her to the floor in a hug, she hands him the gift box and eagerly tells him to open it. She'd spent hours pouring over her mother's potion books and after much work, she's confident in her gift.

"Sunscreen?" Ben looks at her both confused and a little hurt, so Mal rushes through her words.

"My mom helped me make it," she says, "It's to protect you from the sun. More than normal sunscreen. I figured since you became a vampire because you were protecting me, I could try repaying you."

The back of her neck feels warm as both Ben's parents and her dad look at her questioningly, but Mal braves on.

"You like going outside and it's unfair that you can't."

Ben throws his arms around her again but this time, Mal stands there awkwardly. When he pulls away, he straightens his crown and gives her a warm smile.

"I missed you," he says. Turning to his mom, he says, "Can I try it? I want to show Mal the new roses."

After several minutes of making sure Ben is fully covered by the sunscreen, the two tentatively step outside. Mal holds her breath, waiting for Ben to start burning in the sun, but he doesn't. Instead, he grins and tugs on her hand, pulling her away into the gardens. If Belle and Adam start crying in the foyer, Hades tells no one.

* * * * *

When Ben and Mal are sixteen years old, Hades stops letting them have sleepovers. One of the great benefits of being a vampire, they'd found out, is that Ben can visit the Underworld so long as he's escorted. Mal's never had difficulty getting to Auradon of course, but Hades won't let them continue their sleepovers when Ben turns sixteen.

It's the first time Mal truly fights with her dad, but there's no logical reason as to why she's so upset. All she knows is that he's keeping her from Ben and she won't have it. In her tantrum, she disappears to her mom's home and doesn't return to see him for months.

The thing about the Isle of the Lost, though, is that she can't get into Auradon as easily. She has to focus harder when teleporting and the barrier hurts to step through, so eventually, she's forced to return to the Underworld if she ever wants to see Ben again. Rather than stopping to speak with her father though, she goes directly to Auradon.

"—doesn't know why."

Mal knows Belle is the one talking, but she can't see through walls so she doesn't know who she's talking to.

"She went back to the Isle." It's her father. What's he doing in Auradon, though? "It's possible he could be feeling the distance."

"The Underworld is further away than the Isle." King Adam? Is Ben there too then? What's going on?

"The barrier around the Isle interferes with the connection," Hades explains. Curious, Mal presses her ear against the door to listen closer. "In the Underworld, it's strongest as that's where Mal belongs. The Isle's barrier complicates things."

"Is there any way to fix—"

She's pulled away from the door before she can hear the rest of Belle's question. When she turns around, flames dancing in her hands and ready to attack whoever grabbed her, she sees Ben. Immediately, she forgets her anger and throws herself at him. He returns her hug just as eagerly and Mal wonders why she ever left.

"You came back," Ben murmurs, pulling back to look at her. "I thought you were dead."

Mal frowns. "Why?"

Ben shrugs but he doesn't stop hugging her.

"I couldn't feel you."

Now that confuses her. Although she doesn't want to, she pulls away from Ben and looks at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?" she asks, "What are our parents talking about?"

Ben gives her a strange look and glances at the door behind her. She knows he can hear what's being said—enhanced senses and all—but he doesn't repeat anything for her. Instead, he asks, "Your dad didn't tell you?"

"No one tells me anything," Mal grumbles. She knows it's an exaggeration, but right now she feels really left out of the loop. Even Ben knows what's going on, but she doesn't.

"There's something strange about us," Ben says and Mal rolls her eyes. "No, I'm serious," he insists. "When I was bitten and we went to the Underworld, you were the reason I made it out."

At the mention of the attack, Mal's gut twists just like it did moments before they appeared in the Underworld and she grimaces. Ben's hand flutters from her shoulder to the back of her neck, but she brushes him off. She has too many questions for him to start worrying about her.

"My dad brought you out," she tells him. Hades had told her himself. "I just held your hand."

Ben shakes his head firmly and Mal gets a feeling her father has been hiding something from her for a long time. She'd thought as much before, but if Ben knows something she doesn't, perhaps her suspicions were right.

"They said something about our lives being tied together," Ben tells her, though he looks unsure of himself. "Even though my string was cut by the Fates—that's what your dad said—your's wasn't and that's why I survived."

It doesn't make any sense at all, but Mal understands. At the time of the attack, she'd felt the Fates cut Ben's life and the pain had been horrible. Whenever she thinks of the attack, her gut twists and her stomach pinches until it's almost too painful to breathe. Why hadn't her dad mentioned this before?

"The Fates tied us together." It's not a question, but Ben still nods. She's not sure if he would know any better than her, but she does know someone who would.

Pulling away from Ben, Mal turns and pushes open the heavy doors behind her. Belle, Adam, and her father all look up but her father doesn't look surprised to see her.

"You didn't tell me," she accuses, marching straight past the Queen and King until she's standing in front of her father. "You didn't tell me and you let me hurt him."

"Mal—"

"Did you know being on the Isle would hurt?"

At the time, she hadn't thought anything of the way her stomach churned and how her chest sometimes felt tight. The Isle was dirty and she ate spoiled food, so she was used to feeling a little sick when she visited her mother. Now, though, it makes more sense. It hadn't been the Isle or the food, it had been the magic of the barrier interfering with her connection to Ben.

"I did not," Hades admits. He glances behind her at Ben and his parents, but Mal's too angry with him to care that they're not alone. "I was going to tell you when you returned."

"You should have told me before."

At that, Hades lowers his head and nods. All of Mal's anger disappears and she turns away from her father to look at Ben. Despite knowing that he knew all of this for years, she's not angry at him.

"I want to know what this means," she tells him. And without asking their parents, Mal grabs Ben and takes him to Olympus to search through the entire library. At the very least, she wants to know what she's been pulled into.

* * * * *

At eighteen years old, Ben takes the throne from his father with Mal at his side. She's been sitting in on his meetings more and although none of the court members have asked why, she hears the rumours. Instead of confirming or denying them though, they let them grow.

"You have to do something," Adam tells them one evening.

They're staring down at the most recent edition of Auradon's Royals where the writer has made a rather bold claim. According to them, Mal is planning a coup and using Ben's infatuation with her to claim the throne. There are also some anonymous sources who claim to have seen the two kisses which, if Mal is honest, is impossible because Ben is such a prude he wouldn't kiss her in front of the guards until six months ago.

"There's nothing to announce," Mal argues. It's a lie and everyone knows it. After all, she's nearly in Ben's lap and he's been staring at her adoringly since the end of dinner. "Ben was only just coronated. The kingdom needs to see him rule on his own for a little while."

"No, they don't," Ben protests softly. Mal raises an eyebrow and twists around to look at him, but he still has a goofy look on his face. "They've seen me for years."

"And they'll see me for all the years after."

"We're engaged, Mal," Ben points out, toying with the chain around her neck that holds her ring. "The news has to come out at some point."

It does. Two weeks later, a photographer catches them kissing in the gardens and the palace is forced to publish an official announcement. Hades crashes into the throne room as soon as the press releases the article, threatening to disembowel anyone who even suggests that Mal's being shallow. Fortunately, no one does and they're able to celebrate the engagement announcement without hellfire or the accompanying demons.

* * * * *

The wedding is held in the evening during the fall so Ben doesn't have to worry about the sun. Many people ask why and several of the court members look at him suspiciously, but at the end of a meeting, Mal makes a point of loudly declaring her hatred for the hot Auradon sun and that settles it. Instead of the press running a story about King Ben's suspicious behaviour, they run a story about how the Princess of the Underworld hates the sun.

For what it's worth, Mal knew Ben would cry. He gets emotional easily so when he starts crying before she even starts down the aisle, it's not a surprise. She cries during his vows, though, which is so surprising that he stops to make sure she's okay.

Mal nods and wipes away her tears carefully. "I just love you."

There's a soft aw from the crowd and Mal scowls which makes Ben laugh. He finishes his vows and before the priest can finish declaring them husband and wife, Mal pulls him down to kiss her.

Immediately after, Mal is coronated and they exit the church as both husband and wife and King and Queen. The following day, Ben will become the Prince of the Underworld, but that's not something that Auradon needs to know, so they keep it to themselves.

"You seem awfully happy," Ben murmurs, pressing a kiss to her jaw as the celebration continues around them.

"I am," she replies, turning in his arms. "I'm really, really happy."

And when she tilts his crown to the right, she can't keep the smile off her face. This is her new forever and she couldn't think of anything better.