(A/N: This takes place after Aurora's first visit and before her sixteenth birthday. We saw so much of Mal and Aurora's relationship, I wanted to mess around with what that meant for Mal/Diaval.)
"All I am saying is that you are sworn to me!" Maleficent roared. She hitched her cloak higher onto her shoulders and turned away.
Diaval gritted his teeth. "And all I am saying is that I would rather you kill me than turn me into another filthy mutt!" His voice had risen to a shout, but he didn't care. Let her smite him or turn him back into a raven. He wouldn't go through it again.
He loved the girl, it was true. He felt protective of her in a way that he hardly understood, but there were other forms that he could take. A lion, perhaps, or a bear. Maybe even a griffin or a dragon. But every time Aurora paid a visit he somehow ended up chasing away soldiers in the form of a direwolf or mastiff.
It left him feeling dirty and humiliated. Ashamed and anxious. All of these things, really. All at the same time. It was time that Maleficent understood that. She was never unnecessarily cruel and so Diaval felt sure that if he could only make her see how it made him feel...If she would ever let him get more than three sentences out before transforming him.
Well, that was an idea. The shape shifter switched tactics even as she was beginning to walk away. "I'd ask one thing of you, mistress." Maleficent halted but did not turn. "Do not transform me for two days."
"You know I cannot do that, Diaval," her voice was quiet and soft. He could almost see the resigned look on her face. The same look that she wore when the girl talked of their long future together. "The soldiers are always at the wall. Always trying to break in. If they ever saw Aurora pass through..."
The fairy's hands clutched at her own arms. She did this, Diaval knew, when she felt anxious or frightened. It was not her nature to confide her worries to him, even after all these years. He had come to know that it was not a personal matter, but that she did not trust anyone. The reason was the king, of course. Diaval did not know the complete story, but he had pieced together enough to have his heart ache for her. It was all connected somehow, the wings and the king and his service to her. If only she would let him do more than just serve...
"I will distract them as always," Diaval circled around so that he could see her face. Maleficent did not turn away. "Nobody said that the distraction had to come in the way of a fight, though."
Red lips curled into a smirk, "But I do love watching the chaos ensue."
Diaval couldn't help himself. He swallowed hard. Sometimes she was more beautiful than she understood, and he didn't mean the way that she looked. Everything about her...her wit and passion and power...it was all so intoxicating. Especially when she let herself go. The afternoons with Aurora and the mornings wandering the moors that she so loved were the times that Diaval felt proudest of where his loyalties lay.
He took her hands. A bold move, to be sure, but it felt right and she did not pull back. "I want you to listen to me. No shutting me out or disrespecting me." Maleficent looked unsure, but at least she didn't look unhappy. The raven continued, "Just for a day. Maybe two. See if it kills you."
She sighed and the scent of her breath reached his nostrils. Pine and honeysuckle. "As long as it doesn't kill her."
"Of course, Aurora is the priority." He took a step back and ran a hand through his hair. Of course he could lure away the regiment. They only needed to look away for a few minutes. "But would it really be that big of an inconvenience to care about me every now and again?"
The fairy tutted softly to herself. He hated when she did that. She only made that sound when she didn't want to deal with something. Something ridiculous, obscene, or childish. Which one applied to him now?
"I care about you, Diaval. I wouldn't have rescued you if I didn't." Judging by the tone of her voice it had to have been the third option: childish. She sounded sickeningly sweet and overly-motherly. He winced despite himself.
She pushed passed him with her nose in the air, and started to climb the stairs to her bedchamber. That was more like his Maleficent. Proud and regal.
"But I'll grant your request. Let's both hope that you haven't bitten off more than you can chew."
Diaval hoped that he hadn't, but the risk was worth taking if he never had to be a dog again. One day. He could convince her of his ability to get the job done in one day. He could appeal to sense of fairness and reason with her if he had one day.
She rounded a bend in the stairs and was gone. He dared not pursue her or call after her. Once Maleficent retired she was not to be bothered unless there was an emergency. He had learned that long ago. In his first days by her side she had created her room by growing a tree grove and weaving the branches into a bed that was covered in soft moss. The grove sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the moors, but she had raised the trees in such a tight wing that only a small window allowed access to the beautiful view. It was as if she wanted to shut her kingdom out, but even Diaval knew that such a thing was unnatural. Animals, mystical or no, were meant to live in the open. Maleficent, for all of her trust issues, could not deny that part of her nature.
Still, she had ordered him to never disturb her in her chambers. She had crafted stone steps so that there would be only one entrance into her room, and commanded Diaval to sleep at the base so that nobody could enter without passing by him. He did so dutifully the next two nights, but on the third a family of pollywogs had come to ask for her help. It had been the middle of the night and Diaval had climbed the stairs up to her room to fetch his queen.
She lay on her bed of branches, her hair loose and from her hips down a blanket of petals covered her. Other than that, she was bare, her dress hung over a branch next to the window. She had been laying on her side with her back towards the door, and he had gotten his first good look at the remains of her wings. That had really been the worst part. The sight had shocked him to his a core.
He had been smart enough to let her sleep and send away the family of pollywogs until the morning. But the intrusion on her privacy had left him feeling tainted, and so he had not been smart enough to keep the past night's happenings a secret. Instead, he had admitted what he had seen the next morning over breakfast. He had remained a timber wolf until the next week when they had first visited Aurora's house.
Diaval settled himself onto the base of the stairs, thinking of that night he had disobeyed his queen. Her skin had glowed in the moonlight and her hair had cascaded around her head like some kind of wreath. But it was the thought of the feathered stumps on her back that kept drawing in his focus over and over again, how heart wrenching it had been for him to look upon. A life without flight...well, he couldn't truly imagine it. However long he was in the form of the human, however many times he was transformed into a dog, he knew that Maleficent would let him fly again. She was never unnecessarily cruel. Not to him. Not to anyone that deserved mercy.
He fell asleep that night dreaming of what his mistress must have looked like with wings. He pictured her with wings so strong that no farmer's net could ever bind her. He pictured her flying with him and laughing.
They passed through the wall early the next day. Diaval's plan required Maleficent's help in creating half of a tunnel through the base of the wall. A place where he could hide in human form without the regiment seeing him. He also planned to use the hiding spot as a backup plan in case things got too bad. The walls knew him and had long ago been ordered by their creator to protect Diaval upon entering or leaving. Maleficent had later repeated the same spell for Aurora. If things got too dangerous with the soldiers, the shape shifter only had to retreat inside of the wall and let the thorns do the rest.
"The patrol will be by soon," Maleficent's features were almost completely hidden in the shadows of the thick walls, but her eyes gleamed through the darkness. "Are you sure you will be okay?"
Diaval nodded well aware that she could see him. "I am. I will return shortly after the princess does."
She made no reply, but simply turned back towards the moors. The thick ropes of thorns peeled back to allow her passage, and Diaval turned to look at bleak forest of Stefan's kingdom. Everything on this side of the wall lacked something it seemed. Every creature and person he had ever encountered seemed to be missing something inside of them. Even as a raven, Diaval had been able to sense it. So it was no wonder that the place gave him the creeps.
It was a few minutes before the sound of steel and horses came from further down the road, and Diaval crouched in preparation. The soldiers were later than usual but he didn't want to rush this. Just a few moments more, and he could act out his plan...His eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed before he sprang from his hiding spot...
"Ooph!" Diaval landed straight onto his face. His knee had rammed into something hard and he could already feel it throbbing. Shit...
"Halt, in the name of the king!"
Diaval smiled at the stupidity of the statement. He was on the ground now and obviously done moving. The sound of clanging footsteps grew louder. Armor was loud and clumsy, he couldn't imagine how people could stand wearing it all day. The raven flipped over and held his hands up.
"Wait!" He put on his best panicked expression. "W-wait! My daughter! The wall got my daughter!" His voice was high and fast. "You have to help!"
Two soldiers stood before him with swords unsheathed, but they both lowered their weapons. The darker of the two spoke, "You'll need to tell us what happened, sir."
Diaval slowly rose to his feet. He had to hurry this part up since the regiment had been later than usual. The rest of the men were gathering around him and dismounting their horses, but he needed them to try to get through his half-formed tunnel. Once inside, they wouldn't be able to see Aurora.
He had planned carefully, but the pacing of the plan was very important. If the soldiers started looking for his fictional daughter too early, they would finish too early and see the princess. If they started too late then their backs would not be turned as Aurora approached.
Diaval tried to wheeze a little and kept his eyes wide. "My d-daughter. I was checking traps and she picking berries, but when I checked my snare over there-" he pointed to a random spot in the woods beyond the soldiers, "I heard her scream. There was a vine around her ankle and it pulled her in. You have to get her out! I tried to go in, but when I tried to cut a thorn out of the way, it threw me out!"
The man he had spoken to began hollering orders, and Diaval thanked him profusely. The wall wouldn't harm the regiment, he knew. Not as long as they didn't strike it, at least. Maleficent had made the wall in such a way that it would be safe for any simple passerby. Hopefully, these soldiers would be smart enough to not touch the thing.
Maleficent and Diaval had observed other patrols learn the hard way after using swords or daggers, but the men had gone home safely, if not a little bruised. The real damage had been done when the king had sent down those horrible fire machines. That time, the wall had given as much as it got. Many of those men had not stood up again.
This patrol was small, though, and not heavily armed. Diaval doubted that they would try anything too risky. In fact, they were taking every precaution before actually heading into the wall, tying their horses and adjusting their armor. It was close to ten minutes later when the last one was filing into the tunnel and calling back that they would indeed retrieve his daughter.
"Thank you! Bless you!" he called and walked a few paces to the right before heading straight through the thorns. Aurora was probably almost all the way to Maleficent by now, and his plan had gone off without a hitch. Now he only had to ask his queen to abstain from changing him into a dog ever again. Diaval doubted he would get the chance to again, at least not when she couldn't interrupt him with a transformation.
Yes, today was a good day, and it would only get better.
