EP.178|So Close But Yet So Far

As much as Ben's body begged him to go to rest, his mind has a different idea. He tapped the pencil on the diagrams of Antoine's castle, going over the infiltration plan once more.

His companions attempted to urge him to go to rest, but the ruler refused. "Ben," Zeref's hand rested carefully on his shoulder "It's 2 am, we have a very critical mission tomorrow and we need you rested up."

"I'm fine," his voice said one thing, but the yawn that gotten away his lips said another "I'm...so not...tired" with that last word, his face hit the counter, the prince at long last surrendering to sleep.

Ben looked around in his dream space to see he was falling down through a tunnel of memories.

Ben smiled, the first memories were of him, Lucifer, Dixie, and Heine.

He reached his hand out for his brother's moving picture "I promise Lucifer, I'll save you."

As Ben continued to fall, memories of when he was a baby appeared.

"There you go Benji! Walk to mama," a soft voice cooed as the toddler prince stumbled into the woman's open arms.

Ben couldn't see her face, the images seemed to blur it out, but it looked so familiar to Ben. The next images showed Ben and Lucifer, still toddlers, sleeping in the woman's opening arms.

"My beautiful princes...I promise you, I'll never let you go."

Ben felt like he knew this voice, but his memories once again failed him.
"I'll be okay," a five year old Ben assured the woman whole planted kisses over his face. "Are you sure? I can stay? It's your and Lucifer's first day, what if you get lost on your way home? Or what if you get hurt during your beast training?"

Lucifer laughed, Ben and Lucifer hugged the woman tightly "we'll be okay."

She smiled, she hugged them back "I'll be here at 2pm to pick you up."

Ben smiled, the soon faded when a thought crossed his mind "wait...mom never to me and Lucifer to school..."

Ben's memories continued when he noticed the memories of the adventures he has VKs

"Ben..." Hunter slurred, holding up his glass "come here! Have a shot!"

Ben casually walked over to the drunken demon, accepting the shot. "Attaboy Benji!" Hunter cheered.

"So," Hunter chugged down another shot "you and Mal, ya'll gonna hit it off or what? I mean, you gotta mark her sometime Benny~"

"Hunter! Don't be so crass!" Operetta slapped the demon playfully "he's waiting to ask her respectfully."

Hunter snickered and pulled Operetta down to his lap, making a soft clicking noise "mine..."

Ben chuckled "I know, I know...she's all yours Hunter."

"It's just, with Mal, I get all tongue tied and end up saying the wrong thing." Ben sighed. "Try not to think about it too much, just feel what your saying." Operetta vaguely explained.

"I'm confused." Ben tilted his head. Hunter passed him 3 shots "chug up and let the vodka do the talking."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Hunter, you know how I get with vodka." Ben warned. "Yep," Hunter had a devilish look on his face "and I wanna see it oh so badly."

"Stop being a wuss Ben and take the shot." Carlos motivated, sitting on CJ's lap.

"Fine," Ben chugged down all 3 shots, after a couple minutes, everything was blurry "woah..."

"You alright Benny?" Mal rested her hand on her shoulder "yeah..." Ben starred in Mal's eyes, he buried his face in her chest "they're so squishy!"

"Be-Ben!" Mal blushed. "They smell so good too! Like lavender!" Ben growled, kissing atop Mal's chest "You're adorable...I love it when you get all stuttery."

"Sh-shut up!" Mal blushed even more.

"Mal...my queen where are you...?" Ben sighed, looking at the memories of him and Mal.

"Alright, just move your arm in one fluid motion." Mal instructed, putting her hand on top of Ben's instructing him on how to throw a skeeball.

Mal pulled back Ben's arm "now," he leaned in "let go..." she whispered.

Ben blushed and let go of the ball, letting it roll into the 100 points slot "see! Told ya I knew how to throw a perfect ball."

Ben kissed her cheek "thank you, honey."

Mal blushed "aww! You're so cute."

The memories began to fade away as Ben dropped onto dew morning grass. He looked around to see they were in the courtyard of a temple. Beautiful fountains of swans decorated the courtyard to give it a zen vibe.

"What the hell?" Ben muttered he walked around to see a boy his age.

He has medium length hair is silver with fringes long enough to pass his eyebrows.

It is shorter beneath his ears and longer up top and has been styled in slight variations of the same cut. He has has beautiful crystal blue eyes.

He wore a black collared shirt with cuffs and white trim. He keeps it buttoned over his neck and held in place with a wolf insignia.

Over the black shirt, he wears the white military jacket with black trim and decorated buttons.

It also has the black piece of the Swan Realm on the left shoulder and black cuffs with white buttons that nearly reach up to his elbows. He wears white gloves.

He has a thick black belt encircling his waist, and he wears two smaller belts below it forming an X over his posterior and front.

He also keeps his sword at his left hip. He wears white pants with black boots reaching up to his upper thighs.

The boots have three large buttons at the upper lateral sides and three smaller buttons coming up from his ankles. The soles, toe, and heels of the boots are white.

A decoration over the heels consists of a small ribbon coming from either side to make an X with a small white circular detail keeping them in place.

He also wears a white cloak with a hood as well. The gold decoration on it has blue gems hanging from its chains.

"In," a soft voice instructed, the boy inhaled "out." he exhaled.

"You must learn to balance out your magi, Xander," Swan said, walking around him as he continued to breathe, spheres of different types of magi surrounding him "you're linkage was filled with Drinans."

"Yes, but how do we know this is even gonna work? We've been practicing for months and I still haven't unlocked it yet." Xander sighed, the orbs popping, dropping Xander to the ground.

"See!" he stated, getting up.

"Don't worry," Swan passed him a towel to dry the sweat off his face "you'll get it, why don't you go inside, there's a surprise waiting for you~" Swan cooed.

Ben followed the new found Xander chuckled as he walked back inside the temple only to be met by something rubbing up against his leg.

Xander looked down to see a beautiful little creature with a mix between a raptor dinosaur and a gecko. It also has spots freckles across his skin like a leopard.

"Pangora! How have you been?" Xander cooed picking up the small create.

Ben studied the creatures more closely, "wait...this is a Nordic Gecko-Dinos...but they went extinct years ago." Ben mind was reeling "where the hell am I?!"

It seemed like he was a ghost to anyone around him. Ben could see them, but they couldn't see Ben.

"Pangora," a female voice whistled, calling over the creature "come get your lunch."

Xander smiled and race into the kitchen to see Rosary pouring kibble into a food bowl, placing it on the floor.

"Rosary!" Xander cheered, running up to Rosary, bringing her into a big hug "I missed you my dragon."

Ben sat on the counter, watching as the two lovers reunited again, something about Rosary reminded him of Mal.

She had the same beautiful aura as Mal, even her smell of lavender was the same.

"When'd you get back?" Xander asked, sitting on the table, intertwining his fingers with Rosary.

"A couple of days ago, me and Sapphire had the best mission! Look, I got something for you," Rosary reached into her bad and pulled out a pair of white fingerless gloves.

"The town we were in, Tregoron, used to be filled with Drinans just like you. The elders say that gloves like these helped young kids with their Drini for the first time." Rosary explained.

Xander smiled and tried on the white gloves, the had little jewels on each knuckle. "I know they aren't like ones other Drinans wear, but aren't the jewels pretty! Each jewel represents one of us in the Recovery of the Light."

Ben and Xander both smiled, "you always know what I like." they both said simultaneously.

"Woah..." Ben muttered, he could feel the cloth of the gloves began to form on his fingers, an exact replica of the gloves on Xander's hand on Ben's.

"okay...that's not concerning." Ben added with a sarcastic tone.

"Rosary...I don't know what to say." Xander was utterly speechless.

"You don't have to say anything, I know your trying your hardest out there. Just try not to think about it as unlocking some 5,000 year old technique, but as learning a new move." Rosary suggested.

Xander poundered the advice for a moment "like learning a new move...huh."

Rosary watched as her boyfriend went into deep thought, the face he made when he did caused her to chuckle a little "you look so cute when you're concentrating."

Xander chuckled as well, "shut up."

"Come on," Rosary leaped off the table, patting Xander's shoulder "you probably just need to clear your head."

Xander and Ben followed Rosary out of the temple and into a semi-busy town of Freyport
The skyline was growing with unique skyscrapers and their history seemed to shine more now than ever. The forest and gardens are flourishing and which attracted a lot of attention towards it.

Hundreds of concession stands, take-outs and diners offer a variety of culinary choices and those who feel hungry for something else can enjoy nature, concerts, art galleries or one of the many other recreational venues.

Not to mention that it's the central hub of The Realm of the Black Swan, which was ruled over by the famous Swan.

"Where are you taking me Rosary?" Xander questioned as Rosary maveured him through the crowd. "I would like to know that too!" Ben shouted, trying to keep up with the couple.

"It's a secret," Rosary turned back and smiled at Xander "now come on silly."

Ben, finally being able to escape the crowd and enter a peaceful spring that glowed a beautiful turquoise color with the evening sunset

"Woah..." Ben was in complete awe of the scenery. The only reason he was snapped out of his trance was when Rosary took off her shirt, leaving her in a bra and boy shirts.

Ben quickly covered his eyes, not wanting to be inconsiderate.

"Come on!" Rosary jumped into the spring, splashing on impact. Xander laughed and followed her lead, removing his shirt and pants before jumping into the water.

The two played in the water for hours, smiles lit up their truly happy faces Their eyes sparkled with love and compassion for one another.

They weren't worried about what came next, or what danger it might cause on them, all that mattered was them being with each other here and now.

Ben smiled as he placed his feet in the water, it had a pleasant healing affect, not only on wounds, but it felt like it brought peace to his mind and body.

He swung his feet back and forth "I gotta bring Mal here sometime," he looked around and noticed he didn't even know where this place was, "if I can find out where the hell I am."

He laid back fully but quickly sat up with the scent of lavender began to lace into the air around him.

"Mal..." he whispered to himself as he stood up continued to follow the smell deeper into the forest.
He search aimlessly for the location of that delicious smell but stopped when he spotted a certain purple haired girl amidst trees.

"Mal?" Ben could feel the world stop in an instant, he quickly scanned the trees again, desperately trying to find his wife.

Soon, the two began to chase after each other, "Mal! Wait!" Ben called out, he looked behind him to see the world was beginning to crumble, falling into a dark oblivion.

Ben picked up his pace, trying with all his might to reach the one he loved "MAL!" He yelled, finally getting the woman's attention.

"Ben?!" Mal tried to reach towards him but he feet were glued to the small patch of land that doesn't crumble "BEN!" she cried, tears brimming her eyes as she tugged on the chains that bound her.

"Just hang on! I'm almost there!" Ben hoped from piece of piece, finally getting close enough to reach their hands out for each other.

In that moment, Ben felt the world freeze, he looked into his mate's emerald green eyes. He didn't want to think about all the pain she experienced being locked up in that box.

She's been through so much in her life; abandonment, abuse, bullies, ex-boyfriends who never loved her the way he did.

Being trapped in a holy magi box, which causes extreme pain to demons upon contact, shouldn't be one of them.

Mal never liked crying, but in this situation, she couldn't stop the tears from coming down. For years she couldn't trust anyone but Evie and herself, but ever since the VKs came into her life, she couldn't help but open up to them.

But Ben, he was different.

Not only did she open up to the animalistic, she fell head over heels in love with the king. He was the only one that took away the pain of the past. His touch could bring peace of mind to her entire being, his kisses warmed her skin, his words made her heart melt.

The clasp of their hands snapped them out of their thoughts as relief flowed through them. Mal tried to pull him up but her body was drained from the holy magi.

"I'm...not...letting...you go!" Mal struggled to say, using both hands as she tried to pull him up.
"Mal, I can hold on!" Ben warned. Mal closed her eyes, clenching his hand. "Ben! Please! You have to be strong, for the both of us!" tear puddles began to stain the patch of grass she was on "I can't live without you!"

"Mal," she felt his fingers rub against hers "don't cry, a beautiful girl like you shouldn't cry."

"That's where your wrong, Benny Boy," that infamous voice rang through their ears.

"No...please, not now!" the boy yelled simatiously.

Araden appeared next to Mal, a devious smirk on his face "time to drop, Benji." Araden hands coated in holy magi, slamming it down on Mal and Ben's hands, causing Mal to let go of Ben.

As Ben plummeted into darkness, the last thing he saw was Mal sobbing as Araden yanked her away from the edge, dragging her into a portal.

Ben reached his hand out for her, "I promise you," his vision began to fade, but the memory of Mal's sobbing face burned into his skull "I'll find you," he closed his hand, clutching it "and when I do..."

Ben eyes glowed a silverish gold color, beaming with anger, fury, and revenge "I'm coming for Araden's head!"

A/N

Hewo! Sorry this took so long to update, i had to figure out what goes where and how to write flashbacks scenes again. Its a whole mess.

But today i got to write so I'm feeling good!

So, who was the mysterious woman in Ben's memories?

What do Rosary and Xander have to do with Ben?

Will he ever save Mal!?

Find out next time!