𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 & 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬: 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴; 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯. 𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 & 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮. 

           𝚊𝚑 , 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 ?

@fierte | help, ben has wedding panic

   it wasn’t that ben didn’t want to marry mal– quite the opposite was true, in fact. it was all he could think about recently, what with the big day coming up so soon. these large celebrations, as of late, were often recipes for disaster so it seemed. though the fully united kingdom had been in a state of near peace since the official declaration of unity had been made, something about the tentative tolerance between auradon and the isle made the young king believe that allowing himself the luxury of a wedding would only lead to further chaos and destruction in spite of his undying love for his fiancée. 

   which is why ben had sought out his father. the former king was the only person ben knew who had lived with so much pressure on his shoulders– the pressure he had taken on himself. one look at ben’s office made it clear how overwhelmed he was with all of his duties. the once perfectly in order room had become overrun with stacks of documents, open books, and what seemed to be an array of cold coffee. there was a subtle path already worn into his carpet from pacing. in his small amount of free time, ben had asked his father to join him for lunch in his office. considering ben’s always ferocious appetite, a small feast of food was presented on the coffee table between himself and the former king. “so…” ben began nervously with a small sandwich in his hand. “i’m a little freaked out right now.”

𝐡𝐞  𝐢𝐬  𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥  𝐬𝐨  𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠  ,  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐧  —  (  no  ,  he  is  king  ,  now  )  &  he  carries  the  weight  of  the  world  on  his  shoulders  .  here  he  stands  ,  this  new  king  of  kings  —  but  there  is  no  person  who  can  truly  withstand  the  weight  of  the  world  alone  .  adam  thinks  of  his  own  youth  ,  reading  legends  .  the  titan  who  was  turned  into  a  mountain  ,  as  if  that  would  somehow  end  the  suffering  —  &  ben  is  not  a  mountain  .  he  is  a  young  man  ,  flesh  &  blood  .  how  many  times  had  adam  done  the  same  thing  ?  worrying  about  what  would  happen  in  the  future  ,  lamenting  the  creation  of  the  isle  in  the  first  place  —  knowing  that  his  son  would  one  day  inherit  ...  inherit  what  ?  

adam  had  yearned  for  it  to  be  a  better  world  than  the  one  before  .  he  couldn’t  tell  if  that  was  true  .  yes  ,  there  was  peace  ,  but  for  years  ...  oh  ,  for  years  there  had  been  hell  .  as  if  something  like  that  would  go  away  in  an  instant  .