Midnight

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One: Prologue

Phillip

My parents told me she was from an odd family, but I could never stay away from her. She was so pretty, so sweet, and so fun. It was true her aunts were odd, but I always liked them, because they always baked me cookies. She had raven black hair, long and straight, pale skin, bright red lips, and platinum eyes. And I met her when I was three and she was two. She was never the type of girl to sit in fields of flowers and blow dandelion fuzz. She was the type of girl that yelled and shouted and wore dresses hiked up and climbed trees. She was the type of girl that boys like me liked to hang out with. Well, actually, I was more of a coward. She was a lot braver than me. I remember when once she persuaded me to go in the woods with her, looking for a dragon. I was terrified, naturally, but she was excited. Somewhere along the way, there were wolves, great gray wolves. Of course, I screamed and hid, but she went right out there and scared them off! I don't know where the wolves went, and I don't know how she did it, but I knew she was amazing and I trusted her as my best friend.

Her name was Nela Mefict.

Nela

He never knew me like I knew him.

Of course, he was easy to learn by heart. His hair was brown, his eyes were brown, he loved to play pretend, and he was a coward, most of the time. But he was honest and sweet, and honestly, I thought he was handsome. I liked him. And I think he was impressed by me. There were secrets about me that I couldn't even tell him.

I am a fairy.

I was one of the Eight. I was the youngest, but still the tallest.

And I didn't reveal my powers to Phillip, never. And I never thought I'd have to step in for him in major terms, except for the wolf story, in which we still laugh about his cowardice.

But one day when we were about four and three, I led him into the forest to be dragon hunters. The world was our playplace, and there were dragons all about, and I was whispering in his ear about the powers of the dragons that would kill us if we didn't immediately attack—when wolves came out. Phillip ran away like usual, but I stayed. I was three, but I was brave.

I used my powers to charm the wolves. It was the first time I used it in public, but I did. I had to. For Phillip.

Two: Wicked

Nela

I was young and foolish.

I didn't mean to start this new life. I didn't mean to get rid of my powers. I didn't mean to endanger the Eight, or Phillip, or the Royal Family. I didn't mean anything.

It was just an accident.

It happened about a year ago, Phillip was six and I was five.

Phillip and I were playing near his castle. It was all my fault. He wasn't allowed to go outside, because there were rebels against his family, rebels with magic, and he was in horrible danger, but I called him, and he came.

His family knew I was a fairy, so they trusted me, but they didn't know that I brought him outside to play. I didn't know, I was too young.

The rebels came, and they attacked Phillip with all the magic they had. I knew I had to do something. I was a fairy, I was one of the Eight, I couldn't just stand there and let him die. So I stepped in between Phillip and the rebel leader and his powerful magical hands. And the magic came out and shot me right in the heart.

I fainted.

The magic had changed me.

Phillip

"Nela!" I screamed over and over again. "Nela!"

Her aunts came quickly to the scene after the guards had caught the rebels and my parents had come rushing out to grab me. But I couldn't take it out of my mind; Nela stepping in the way, and suddenly, the magic that should've hit me hit her.

"Nela dear?" Naomi, one of her aunts, came running, and picked her up. "Nela, open your eyes, dear."

"Nela!" Naveena came running, and cradled Nela's head in her arms. "Navika, use your healing magic, and wake up our little girl!"

Navika glared at me. "What…happened to her?"
I shied back. "It wasn't my fault! The rebel leader hit her with his magic! She stepped in the way!"
"You should've never left the castle!" my mother scolded me. "I told you to stay inside, that you were in danger, and look what you've done, Phillip! You've killed one of the Eight!"
"Killed?" exclaimed Nayelli, another aunt. "No, no, dear. Not killed. Merely cursed. I think Navika can lift the spell, if she'd stop glaring at the prince and try."
Navika leaned over Nela and took a deep breath. "If I can't lift this curse—"

"You can," insisted Nayelli, always the positive one.

Navika took a deep breath and began to murmur an incantation: "Sana quod hodie deperditum, ante habuerat potestatem redige, Sume a malis, Illuminabit coro retro in sua.*"

Nela was still lying on the ground. But then she began to shake violently, horribly.

"Make her stop," I begged Navika, who just turned away.

"Is it working?" Narcissa, another aunt, asked, worriedly, her brow creasing.

"Be quiet," ordered Navika. "I'm trying to tell!"

Suddenly, I started trembling. "Look!" I cried. Pale green fingers were creeping along her skin, turning everything in its path that horrible light green color. Her lips were turning darker, going from a pretty cherry red to bloodred to a frightening black. Her raven black hair grew tangled, long, and waved in the wind like stormy ocean waves. Her eyebrows, small and thin, grew long and arched. Her face elongated, and she was becoming older, right before my eyes.

And small curved black horns grew out of the top of her head. Her youthful little hands became long and gnarled and out of nowhere claws sprouted where her fingernails were. She was dressed in a crude black cape that just barely covered her, and in her hands a long staff appeared. Long and black with a glossy sphere at the then—

Her eyes opened.

They were the only things about Nela that hadn't changed. They were smoky, and platinum gray. She stood up slowly, using the staff for support. Hatred flashed in those beautiful eyes of hers. Her eyes swept around the courtyard, eyeing every single person there.

"Nela? Dear? Are you alright?" asked Nayelli timidly.

"ALRIGHT?" screamed Nela. Her voice had changed, older, and daring. A villainous voice that made everyone quake with fear. "I'M BETTER THAN ALRIGHT!" Nela shrieked with laughter. "LOOK WHAT I HAVE BECOME! A MONSTER!" Tears streamed down Nela's cheeks. "I'M HIDEOUS!"
"You're not hideous, Nela," I ventured slowly. "You're still pretty. You're really pretty, I promise. Except what happened to your skin? It's green."
Nela screamed. "YOU STUPID LITTLE FOOL!"
I shivered and took three steps back.

"THIS IS WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" Nela cried. Her voice softened to a dangerous low, like a jaguar purring. "I'll be back," she whispered. "This isn't over. None of this is over. I want to be beautiful again!" She got up in Narcissa's face. "You give beauty to every princess from here to kingdom come. So make me beautiful!"
Narcissa was shaking. "Oh, darling. You are still beautiful!"
Nela's shriek echoed every canyon, and shook the foundations of the earth. She raised her staff, as if to hit Narcissa. Narcissa cringed back. Nela stopped, then took a deep breath. "Alright," she said. "Now make me beautiful. You know I'm horrid, you know I'm a monster! Make me beautiful! Make me a child! I had a whole future ahead of me!"
Narcissa took a deep breath. "I will try." She stretched out her hands. "Olim pulchris redde, in oculis ejus, et capillis, cutis ut perfecta, ut supra, ea iuvenes in saecula saeculorum."

They waited. Nela's eyes bulged out of her head. "Well? Nothing happened! Why isn't it working!"
"I don't know!" Narcissa whispered. "Maybe, since you're already so beautiful—"

"NOOOOO! I AM NOT beautiful!" she howled. Then she screamed, then grabbed her heart. "Fine," she whispered. "If you won't make me be beautiful on the outside, there is no reason for me to be beautiful on the inside. Next time you see me, don't look for Nela Mefict. Nela Mefict is dead!" Then she sank into the ground, leaving only a trail of green smoke in her wake.

Three: Sinister

Naomi

"Before anything else happens," I whispered to my sisters. "We must fix the prince!"
"Fix him? There's nothing to fix!" cried the queen. "Why, you made him perfect at birth!"
"Except bravery," muttered Navika sarcastically. "He's such a coward,your Majesty!"
"Oh, yes," fussed Narcissa. "How could we have forgotten? Bravery, it's so important!"

Phillip puffed out his chest. "I'm brave!"

I patted him on the head. "Of course you are, dear."
"No," said Navika. "Watch, dear." She blew into her palm, and a fly flew out at Phillip's face. The scream that erupted from his mouth must have scared the birds away. He buried his face into his mom's dress. "Make it go away!" he sobbed.

"Pathetic fool," murmured Navika, and waved the insect away.

"Navika," Naveena bumped her arm. "It's alright, dear," she added. "I know when you grow up, you'll be very brave and save lots of girls. I'll even give you the kiss of promise." She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "There!" she beamed. "You'll be brave later on!"
Phillip smiled. Then his lip trembled. "But wh-what about N-nela? C-can I save her t-too?"
"Of course!" Navika exclaimed. "You did a perfect job ten minutes before."
"Sure, dear," I said with a nervous giggle. "But first, I need to help you."
"Help him?" the queen cried, holding her son to her heart.

Narcissa waved her over and whispered in her ear.

The queen sighed. "It will hurt, won't it?"
"It's best if you hold him," Navika said seriously.

"Navika," Naveena hissed. "Your Majesty, we'll take care of him."
"We will?" Navika asked quietly. "Can't we just like, kill him or something?"
I shook my head. "Alright. Who wants to hold him?"
"I will, dear," said Nayelli sweetly. "Come to me."
Phillip made a face. "No thanks."
"Get in her lap, you little pampered puffball!" snarled Navika.

"Okay!" Phillip raced to Nayelli and jumped in her lap.

"Hold him," I whispered. "Who wants to erase his memory?"
"Erase my memory?" screamed Phillip. "Let me go, you crazy old lady!"
"Come now, child," said Nayelli. "It doesn't hurt!"
"Waaaaah!" Phillip shrieked.

"Can we please just kill him?" Navika yelled.

"Navika!" Naveena exclaimed. "Okay, I'll erase his memory."
"Or we can shoot him," Navika begged.

"No," the fairies chorused together.

"None of you are fun!" Navika whined. "At least Nela knew how to have fun."

Everyone was silent.

"I shouldn't have said that," Navika murmured. "I'm sorry. Now. Let's shoot the boy."
Phillip screamed. The queen looked terrified.

Naveena raised her hands, and then let out the magic.

Phillip remembered no more.

Phillip

I was getting engaged. To a baby! A fat little chubby, ugly baby with honey colored curls all over her head.
"She'll be beautiful," said my dad. Right! She looked like a potato.

So my dad made me watch her spit up all over herself and poop her fancy cloth diapers and scratch herself for about an hour while my mother murmured about how precious she was.

"Beautiful Princess Aurora," my mother whispered. "Phillip and Aurora."
"Phillip wants to drown Aurora," I told my mother.

"Don't be rude, son," my dad said calmly. "We're in a public place."
"How's my daughter?" asked King Stefan, Aurora's father, smiling down at me.

"As gorgeous as a potato," I said honestly. My mother looked like she wanted to stab me.

Stefan nodded. "Well…."
"Kidding," I added quickly, watching my mother's face. "She's so….beautiful. Like the dawn that she was named after." I watched my mother mouth the words behind the king.

The king laughed. "Aurora, dawn. Right. You are an educated prince, Phillip!"
"Thanks," I muttered. My mother stepped in between us. "I taught him everything he knows, sire." She curtsied.

Father chuckled. "So modest, isn't she?"

She is gross.

My father smiled. "More wine, Stefan?"
"Absolutely, Hubert!"
I stared down at Aurora. Her sticky hands touched my face. I gagged. "Get off me, you little poopy," I hissed.

Everyone went silent.

"Sorry, guys," I plastered on a fake smile. "I mean, you lovable little scamp."

Aurora giggled.

There was a sudden silence as the fairies entered the room.

Navika gave me a scary glare.

"Oh, goody," I said sarcastically, turning to my mother. "My life gets a hundred times better in about five seconds."

"Wait here, honey," my mother said, distracted. "Me and your father need to go with the King." "WHAT?" I whined. "But I'll be here with the potato and the evil lady with the wings!" Navika's eyes found me from about fifty feet away. I gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, I mean, the potato and the pretty lady with wings."

My mother patted my head. "Talk to Aurora."

"I'm losing my sanity." I said as my mother walked away. "My beautiful, precious, sanity."

"Well, hello." I said to Aurora. Aurora didn't say anything. What a twist. I really expected her to say hello back.

"You see that freaky looking winged thing over there?" I said, pointing. Aurora just stared at my face. "No? Well. That's Navika. She's a mean, horrible, ugly, spiteful little witch."

"Am I?" Navika popped up.

Terrified, I tried to correct myself calmly without peeing my pants. "Nope. Not at all. See, there, that was sarcasm."

Navika peered at me over her glasses. "What are you doing." It was a statement. "Talking to this potato of a wife." I answered.

Navika looked at Aurora. Her face lit up. "A potato? She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! At least she will be after we gift her."
So one by one each fairy went up and gave that ugly thing a gift.

The gifts were, sweetness, beauty, song, dance, grace and intelligence. But Navika still hadn't gone. She just waited there, as if expecting something to come.

After each gift, I walked over, expecting to see the most amazing little potato in the world.

Aurora gurgled at me.

I was unimpressed.

"You're the same ugly little potato."

I would not marry her.

Nela

I glided in, leaving smoke in my wake.

I slipped past the guards. It was just all a game for me, a game to restore my previous form. The only way to restore my form was to break true love, and then build back after I had been broken.

People gasped when they saw me.

I tried to be strong. I tried to be expressionless.

But it hurt.

It hurt so bad.

When I entered the throne room, everyone was silent. I waved my hand. "Please, go about your business!" I cried. "There's no need to stop for me."
"Nela?" cried Narcissa.

I made a face. The fairies were a remembrance of who I used to be, but wasn't anymore.

I stared at Narcissa. Even after years, she still had that same youthful beauty. Long hair, gorgeous eyes, a friendly smile.

"I'm not Nela," I snarled. My heart started pounding. The big moment. "Years ago!" I growled. "I told you all! Nela is dead!" Everyone gasped.

"I helped you," I told Phillip. "I see you're a year older. Well, as you grow, I'll be watching you."

"Who are you?" Phillip demanded. I ignored him.
"If you're not Nela," said Navika with a smirk. "Who are you now? Answer the boy's question!"
I smiled, showing gleaming fangs. "If you must know. I take a new name now. A new face. A new body. A new life. If you wish to address me now, you will call me MALEFICENT!"
Phillip burst out laughing.

Everyone stared at the boy.

I brought my face close to his and lowered my voice. "You….dare…laugh at my name?"
Phillip shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no, oh, no! Sorry, lady! I just wanted to make it clear that this little baby pooped."
I blinked.

No one else moved. Then I smiled. "Oh, yes, the baby! Aurora!"
I drifted to the cradle. "So pretty, so sweet, so musical, so graceful. So much promise in store for her future. So, who is she?"
Phillip sighed. "Sadly, she is my fiancee."

I felt a sharp shooting pain in my heart. I remembered the days Phillip and I spent together in the forests, laughing, playing, dancing. He loved me, and I loved him! We were meant to be, not him and that little fool.

My eyes hardened. "Then I place a great curse upon her!"
Phillip leaned forward. "You're serious?"

"Phillip!" screamed the queen.

I held up my hand. "Don't scold the boy. He is right. On her sixteenth birthday, she will DIE."

Everyone gasped.

"Well, not like that," I explained. "She will prick her finger on a sharp object. Say, a spindle." My eyes grew cold. "If I was still an Eight, I could've given her bravery. She would be brave enough to leave the spindle. But now, nothing can stop her! She will prick her finger on a spindle, and die!"
"HALLELUJAH!" screamed Phillip.

The hall was silent again.

"Sorry, everybody," he apologized. "It was a joke."
"That wasn't funny, Phillip!" snarled his mother, her eyes as huge as golf balls.

"Do you remember me, Phillip?" I asked him, desperately wanting to know. "Do you remember a young pretty girl who climbed trees and hunted dragons with you? A young lovely girl named Nela Mefict?"
Phillip stared at me. "Er…no. Sorry…?"

I clutched my heart. "I used to be a little girl, Phillip. We used to be friends!"

Phillip grimaced. "Sorry, really, sorry, but…that's not likely."
King Stefan raced over to Aurora and picked her up. "Maleficent, you say?" he wailed. "I don't believe it one second! You're nothing but a phony! A fraud! You can't just waltz into my castle and curse my daughter! I command you to leave at once!"
"You commandme? You command me? Who dares to say that horrible word to my face!"

"I dare!" cried King Stefan.
I brought my face up to his. "Stefan, you impudent pig," I said quietly. "I am no phony, and I am no fraud." I turned to the Eight. "Tell him."
They were silent.

"Tell him!" I yelled.

Finally, Naomi ventured forward. "Your Highness," she said in a squeaky voice. "Yes, it is true. This is Nela Mefict, your Highness—"

"Maleficent!"
Naomi cringed. "Right. Of course. Your Higness, this Maleficent was once one of the Eight. She usually gave the gift of bravery to young princesses and princes. She used to be Phillip's best friend as a child."
King Stefan looked in shock to Phillip, who shrugged lightly. Then his frightened eyes turned to King Hubert, Queen Mildred, and then finally, his wife.

"Yes, sire," Queen Mildred stepped forward. "I'm very sorry for not saying earlier. But yes, this monster was once Nela Mefict."

"Monster," I snarled. "Your precious son Phillip made me this way!"
"What?" Phillip exclaimed. "Now hold on a moment. This is not my fault!"
"Phillip dear, please," said Mildred. "Be quiet and let the fairy talk."
"No longer am I a fairy," I said. "I am now my own being. I am the devil herself, Maleficent!"
"Maleficent," murmured Naveena. "That's Nela Mefict scrambled up!"

"Smart," I whispered. "Smart girl, Naveena. That's exactly right."
"Please, Nela," begged King Stefan. "Release the curse on my daughter!"
"Nela," I stormed. "What about that do you not understand? My name is not Nela! IT IS MALEFICENT! Address me by that name!"
"Nela, dear, don't be that way," said Nayelli innocently. "Dear, I know you still have Nela Mefict within you."

"Never," I whispered. "There is no trace of the Nela Mefict inside me. The Nela Mefict was gone years ago."
"It's the prophecy," Naveena hissed. "The name 'Nela' means 'the horned one.' It's coming true!"
Murmurs spread throughout the crowd.

"She does have horns!"
"Where, Papa?"
"Look, the curving things on her head!"
"The horned one!"
"ENOUGH!" I howled. "SILENCE!" I turned to Naveena. "For bringing up the name, you will pay, Naveena!"
"Dearie, don't!" Nayelli screamed.

I swiped my arm in an arc and a green blaze hit Naveena square in the chest. She slammed against the wall and fell into the food table.

I cackled. The chandelier swayed back and forth, and some of the lights went out. Now only the sconces on the walls glittered eerily.

"Maleficent," whispered Stefan. "What about Aurora? Will you lift the curse? I promise none of us will trouble you any longer."
"I will not lift the curse," I hissed. "The curse is part of a very long plan I want to carry out. As you know, the curse on me can only be lifted with a broken and rebuilt heart. And I am trying to do each. And the only way to cut the arranged marriage will be to get rid of Princess Aurora!"
"No!" cried Stefan. "I give you my word, we give you our word, that we will get rid of the marriage! Phillip and Aurora will not be together!"
Phillip laughed in delight. "YES! I love you, Maleficent!"
A strange little smile drifted over my face. "I love you too, Phillip," I whispered, my eyes shining with tears. I remembered the past and grew angrier.
"I know you humans," I snarled. "And promises are just another thing to break for you."
King Stefan's queen burst into tears.

"Don't cry, queen," I said. "She will die, but you're young and gorgeous. You can have another baby girl anytime. I'm sure Stefan here will be willing."
A hushed silence spread through the room again.

"Maleficent?" The queen cried. "Wait!"

I turned.

"I'm barren!" the queen sobbed. "Aurora was my last chance! Don't you see? I can't have anymore babies!"
I stared at her. I didn't want to cause all this pain, but I toughed it up anyway. My life was taken from me; it was now my job to destroy others' lives.
"Well," I quipped. "That is a problem, isn't it? I really didn't expect that to happen."
My eyes drifted to Navika. "Beauty, song, dance, grace, intelligence, and sweetness." I pretended to count on my fingers. "Only six? But….oh, Navika hasn't gone yet." I gave a sinister smile and waved my hands. "Well, go on. Instead of giving the girl good health, which really won't help, considering my curse, why don't you give the queen a gift? Take away her barrenness or something."
Navika looked like she wanted to punch me. "You know that a dedication ceremony is only for the newborn royal."
I smiled, and shrugged. "But you're the rulebreaker. Does it matter? I remember you wanted to kill Phillip. What's the difference between me killing Aurora and you killing Phillip?"
Phillip gasped. "You wanted to kill me?"
Navika turned to him. "Why are you surprised?"
Phillip raised his eyebrows. "Touche."
Navika turned to me. "To answer your question, Maleficent, I never killed Phillip. Aggressive as I am, I'd never kill another human being. But you, you actually cursed a royal. A kill curse. You realize you can never be part of the Eight again?"
Something in my heart cut me, but I shrugged away the pain. "I don't want to be an Eight," I said. "With you geysers always ordering me around. Now, I am my own master!"

I blew a kiss to Aurora to seal the curse. "I'll be at her funeral on her sixteenth birthday."
"Please don't do this!" wailed the queen.
"I can pay you!" cried the king.

I turned coldly. "Your whole treasury wouldn't pay for a lost life," I whispered. I looked at Phillip's handsome young face once again and made a mental vow:

I would be back for Phillip.

And the clock struck midnight.