Disclaimer: It goes without saying that none of these characters belong to me.
And She Never Will Be All Mine
The night shudders at the edges of its darkness. Dawn approaches. Maleficent feels it in the change of the atmosphere. The quality of the air shifts with awareness of the approaching light. It's a magic all its own. Her magic tingles against the confines of her skin, like calling unto like, deep calling unto deep.
Perched atop an old tree planted at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Moors, Maleficent watches. Iridescent green eyes follow the movements of the forest below her awakening to the light that's about to break over the horizon. She watches the whole of it until one particular creature captivates her focus.
Aurora.
Great, black wings flutter against her shoulder blades in anticipation of flight, but Maleficent hesitates. She moves to the edge of the branch she's standing on so her vision isn't obscured. And, she continues observing the queen. Aurora moves with lithe grace through dense underbrush. But Maleficent knows she is searching for something, it is evident in the slant of thin shoulders and the impatient steps of quick feet.
The fairy drops silently through the distance between them. She stays hidden in the shadows much like she used to do when the woman before her was a child.
Aurora stops and tilts her head. "I know you're there." She turns to look at Maleficent though her eyes can't see through the darkness like the fairy's can.
A small smile touches red lips at the haughtiness that barely touches the tone. Aurora has never been afraid of her; Maleficent finds the quality beyond pleasing.
"Hello, beastie." She steps out of the shadows.
"Maleficent." The fairy remembers the exact moment Aurora stopped calling her godmother. Her name on the blonde's lips sends the same thrill through her that it did on that day.
"What are you searching for?" She steps closer to the queen. The question asks for more than what brought the human into the Moors at its darkest hour. It asks for more than the obvious and easily answerable. The question demands what the blonde's father could not give. It requires transparency and sincerity: a pure heart with none of the hidden secrets of human frailty.
Aurora doesn't step back, but her eyes skitter away in her uncertainty. The fairy invades Aurora's personal space. The blonde unconsciously lays a hand on Maleficent's arm—to stop her approach or to simply touch her, neither is sure. But, Maleficent allows the touch; she always has from this particular human. A pink tongue darts out to wet dry lips as Aurora gently squeezes the flesh under her hand. "I long for…" With her face tilted up and her breath ghosting over an angular face, the queen becomes cognizant of how close she is to the fairy. She doesn't step back; her hand holds Maleficent firmly. "I yearn for something I can't define." Her eyes plead with Maleficent to explain what she so obviously doesn't understand. "But, I know it bears your name. I see it every time I close my eyes."
The air stills around them and silence descends, nature awaits the fairy's response with bated breath. Glowing eyes study the upturned face of innocent sweetness that has never been hidden to her, even in darkness. There's a light within Aurora that Maleficent will never be able to reach, never be able to touch. She knows it, even as she knows she longs for the ability to do so.
The silence and stillness stretches, and Aurora waits because she loves and she knows it's returned with equal fervor. The loving isn't new; it's the longing that's an unbearable weight on her heart.
Dawn rushes over the seam of the eastern mountains. Maleficent can feel the imminent deluge of light just over the crest of night's darkness. She opens her wings and envelops Aurora and hides them both in darkness for a moment longer. It's a feeble attempt at containing something that cannot be confined.
Maleficent knows that if she were to take Aurora, and satisfy her yearning, there's a part of her she can never possess. Just as Stefan threw his iron ring away but retained his greed, Aurora could throw herself into Maleficent but retain her untouchable essence. The queen would irrevocably change her but would herself remain—at least a small part of herself—unchanged.
"Do I frighten you?" Aurora's hands slide up slender arms and shoulders to touch, reverently, Maleficent's wings. "Don't be afraid." Soft hands move to an angular face and hold it gently as if holding something precious and breakable.
And the light that Maleficent cannot touch moves to touch her. Aurora's lips press against hers like sunlight touching the petals of a flower.
Dawn shatters the darkness in the east with pinks, purples, and oranges. And, like the rising of the sun, Aurora is a magic all her own. Unique. Individual. Unable to be possessed. But feeling the warmth of dawn and witnessing the splendid life it brings, Maleficent knows it not everything can be possessed. And the joy isn't in the possessing of it, but in the partaking of it.
And for the first time, Maleficent bows her will and her magic to this creature that will never be all hers. Because, the queen is the dawn breaking over the darkness of her soul. And, she is brave and beautiful to behold; and, wholly, a magic all her own.
"I am not afraid."