Bigger and Better Happy Endings
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Blue/Maleficent mostly, and Swan Queen, Sleeping Warrior, Nova/Grumpy mentions
Summary: When Lily returns to her parents' lives, Maleficent tries again to get what she has always wanted.
A/N: I'm gonna AU everything all up in this bitch because right now, I'M the Author and I'mma Oprah these (in some cases literal) mother fuckers with Happy Endings!
For alittlereddove
"What?"
Mother Superior took a step back, but Maleficent matched her steps, leaning into her space as she repeated, "THAT. GIRL. IS. YOURS."
"That can't be," the fairy said. "H-How?"
"I know you only get on your knees for some invisible man in the sky, but of all people don't need the talk about where offspring begin," Maleficent said dryly. "Magic," she supplied a beat later.
"Magic." There was a silence until Blue realized that the woman before her had no plans of continuing. "I- I thought she was Regina's child," she admitted.
Maleficent snorted at that. "ME? With HER? The only thing falling from between her legs is whatever True Love Spawn she eventually has with the Savior. No, Lily is part me, part you, as it always should have been."
The long and painful past, the one thing that Blue was thankful of forgetting for 28 years, came rushing back to her. "Oh," the woman breathed.
Maleficent let out a dry laugh. "Yeah. Oh." The blonde regarded Blue a moment, her pupils shifint upwards in thought, before she said. "Oh! NOW quite a few things make a bit more sense, doesn't it." Maleficent's eyes locked with Blue's now. "The Sight gave you an image of Lily as she is now, knowing she was my child, and yet you assumed she was Regina's daughter as well. Me. With HER," Maleficent said again as if the idea never crossed her mind before. It had, but she wasn't going to say as such to her ex-lover before her. "You psychic idiots know your visions are incomplete at best and yet you continue to chase the future," Maleficent said. "The fact that the fates- or this Author," she sneered, "let you see more, does not mean they let you see all." She turned away from Blue. "Was that why you turned your blind Eye when it came to Regina? You blamed it on her mother, but it was jealousy, wasn't it."
Blue didn't speak. She brought her hand up to the cross on her neck. The part of her that was Mother Superior did this as a reflex, something familiar for more than twenty eight years, but Blue was much older than that, and quickly override the motion. The cross moved slightly, then settled where it always did upon her chest. "Regina Mills was always to become who she was and who she is now."
Maleficent scoffed. "I'll bet you couldn't wait to accelerate the process."
"If I had helped her, she never would have gotten here. Right here, where she needs to be to get her Happy Ending. This isn't about her-"
"It isn't?" Maleficent asked. She was back in front of Blue now, her eyes bright in anger. "Wasn't it her image that had you banishing me from the other fairies... from your heart?"
"I never banished you from my heart. I never could, and I waited for you to come back to me, to say something so I could accept you again, but you never did. Instead, you met..."
"Stephen."
"Him."
There was a silence as both women took the man's name in like a bitter potion. "He was a foolish boy who gave me affection, and I was too arrogent to let him go. Had I known what he was truly..."
"You'd still have your fairy wings. By then it was too late for you, for us. I saw what choice you made. You went evil."
"I needed to fly!" Maleficent said. "Dragon wings were the only way."
"You killed the purest unicorn in all the land to lure out the dragon-"
"No, I STOLE the unicorn to have as a pet. Get it right, Dear."
"You kidnapped a child and cursed an entire kingdom," Blue went on, as if Maleficent hadn't spoken.
"It was that one time! Besides, the girl's fine now. It wasn't like I cursed her forever. The spell did say 'a warriors heart and a heart's war' would awaken her. I should know, I wrote it. Now they hunt Chimeras together in the Enchanted Forest. Cute couple." Maleficent lifted her staff and let it down again in front of her. She was weary of the conversation going astray when she was so close to what she had tried to gain for her own Happy Ending.
"It made you evil, and we were on two different sides. Good and Evil were never meant to mix until we got here. Then-"
"You keep looking so far ahead at what is to come, but remain blinded by the present. What matters now, is that our daughter has come here. The past is gone and the future is mapped out by you already. Just look at her right now. See who she is right now. Good and Evil aren't segregated any longer."
Blue stared at Maleficent a moment. If she hadn't known the root of the being before her, she wouldn't have recognized the look on Maleficent's face as anything but apathy. She saw the tightening of the jaw, the thinning of her lips, and she blinked when she remembered the same look directed at her that very first time. More than that, she remembered feeling then the exact same things she was feeling right at that moment. "I don't know what to say," Blue murmured.
"Yes, you do," was all Maleficent said to this. The woman looked away from Blue, her eyes scanning the main street of Storybrooke. Blue eyes landed on the brunette young woman she never got a chance to see grow up, her daughter who was watching Emma Swan as the sheriff spoke with Regina about what to do with her. Maleficent wanted to catch her eye, but the girl didn't know where she came from yet, or if she did, she didn't know who she really was and Maleficent was ready to tell her. When next she looked to Blue, she said, "Would whatever you see in the future somehow make the pain worth the silence? Worth your inaction?"
Blue looked down, her mind displaying all of the images she had seen over the years. She knew she didn't see nearly as much as The Dark One, just enough to keep the magical and non magical realms from collapsing under his evil. "If I don't do it this way, the eternal struggle to maintain this balance will only be more challenging. If we did what you are suggesting, the fight to remain together will be too much for either of us, and that is even if Lily accepts who we are to her and joins us."
"Why can't it just be easy to gain Happily Ever After. Why do we all, good and evil, have to make everything so difficult?"
"A happy life is more rewarding if worked towards and earned," Blue replied. "And the more you worked to try and earn it, the better it becomes. Sometimes, the time just isn't right, and an important lesson hasn't been learned yet. Regina and Grumpy had so much to learn before things could go their way, and a lot of the side of Evil does too."
Maleficent shook her head. "That sounds rather greedy, if you ask me, and I am told this was a trait of the evil. Wanting bigger better Happily Ever Afters, when all I want it just one, one where I am with you and her."
"Has it occured to you yet, Maleficent, that I have already seen a future where the three of us are together?"
"Darling, I can't imagine all of the futures you've seen, but all I can go on is what I can see now, which was me losing out on being happy yet again. Besides, if you really saw that, I don't think you would have done half of the things you had in the past and now. If you really haven't banished me from your heart, Blue, what is so important in the future you see? What happens so that you can't join again with me right now like we both want?"
"Why allow only myself to be happy, when I know that a different course of actions can give many people their happiness as well?" Blue asked. "I would do anything else, if I was thinking of only my own Happy Ending. I think that is the difference between us now."
Maleficent was taken aback by this as she thought about what Blue was telling her. "You're asking me to wait for you until the world is happy?"
"Unfortunately, not everyone in the world can live happily ever after, but I am asking you to wait a bit longer for me to ensure more people can, yes," Blue finally said.
"And how long must I wait then?" Maleficent asked.
"I cannot tell you that. I can only ask that you trust me."
Maleficent broke another lengthy silence by saying, "You're still shady as hell, my love."
"It's what you always loved about me."
Maleficent's smile was as stunning as it was wicked. "Of course."
"Go to her."
"Okay," was all Maleficent said, but she didn't move. She wanted to say many other things, but she didn't know how affective any of them would have been at the moment. She was content to take in the pinkened face of Mother Superior, both of their stances, and the words that had been spoken between them in those moments. Then, she turned away and walked towards the newest citizen of Storybrooke.
Blue turned away as well, surprised when she nearly bumped into Nova. The younger fairy had an unreadable expression on her face, and Blue wondered if she had heard her words about the dwarf. What she had tried to instill in Maleficent was the same lesson that Nova had tried so hard to learn for herself, that there were reasons for the things Blue was trying to do, and her intention for these things weren't malicious. It was just neccisary that some couples had to remain apart for a little bit longer, no matter how much it hurt her to do it, even for herself. Nova said nothing, but she watched Blue carefully before glancing at Maleficent's retreating back and then again to the older fairy. She then waited for Blue to walk again before joining her at her side in silence. They would get their happy endings, they really would, and Blue was going to make sure of that.
END