Disclaimer: I don't own Maleficent.
A/N: I found this in my drafts from three years ago and decided to finish it, so I'm sorry if the style changes toward the end. I hope you enjoy!
Stefan whirled on Maleficent, sword drawn, ready at last to take the life he had once tried so inexpertly to save.
Aurora rushed onto the balcony just then, still barefoot. Her bright dress was the one spot of color in the tensely frozen scene, separating the two white-faced, black-clad adults who glared at each other over the top of her head.
"Father—Daddy—stop!" The words tumbled out as Aurora curtsied, sheets of golden hair falling across her face. "Look—Daddy—I'm all right! You don't need to kill Maleficent—she hasn't done any harm!"
Stefan's teeth unclenched and for a moment he stood slack-jawed instead of scowling. Then, with almost unbelievable agility, he side-stepped his daughter and swept his blade down toward Maleficent.
Maleficent had not so much as glanced at Aurora since the girl had interrupted her fight with Stefan, so she was ready for the attack. Maleficent sprang into the air, flapping her newly reattached wings and grinning even as Stefan slashed in her direction with his blade. Maleficent surged higher and higher and then suddenly dove headfirst at the balcony, pinning Stefan's arms behind his back before he had time to react.
"Go," Maleficent panted, meeting Aurora's eyes. "Get the guards. It will take at least three to hold back your father."
Aurora nodded and scampered back into the throne room. She returned scarcely a minute later with six strapping guards, at least two of whom appeared singed. Diaval had clearly been using his dragon form for all it was worth.
"I'm sorry about your injuries," Maleficent ground out, straining to keep hold of the struggling Stefan. "As you can see, Aurora is awake, alive, and in perfectly good health. The king's fears never came to pass. Nevertheless, he seems to have gone mad, and I suggest you tie him up, for everyone's sake."
"Why should we listen to you?" demanded one guard, though most of his fellows had nodded at what Maleficent had said.
"I was considered a danger to Aurora, because of the curse I placed on her sixteen years ago," Maleficent gasped, squeezing Stefan's arms together behind his back as tightly as she could. "That was the only threat I posed to the kingdom. I broke the curse on Aurora myself, and she bears no ill effects whatsoever. The man I am trying to keep hold of, on the other hand, is a crazed, single-minded tyrant. He should be tied up immediately—before I lose my grip."
The guard who had nodded most emphatically the first time Maleficent had spoken now saluted and said, "At your service, milady. Me name's Cormac. Sean, Alexander, help me with the king, will ye?" Cormac and the men on either side of him stepped forward, and together the three of them relieved Maleficent of her squirming captive.
"The dungeons should hold him," said Cormac once he and the other guards had a secure grip on Stefan. "Yes, I think the dungeons should be just right. Plenty of mold, plenty of rats—"
"No!" The interrupting voice was sweet but firm. Everyone turned to face the speaker. Aurora's blue eyes held Cormac's gaze steadily, and her dainty pink lips were set in a determined line.
"What?" Cormac asked, more confused than demanding.
"I said 'no.' Don't take him to the dungeons. Darkness won't do him any good. Bind him hand and foot, absolutely—I understand that he's dangerous. But not everyone who's dangerous stays that way, and misery won't help him change. Put him in a nice bedroom with big windows and a pretty view, facing east, so he can see the sunrise. Get him a soft mattress and plenty of pillows. I want two meals brought to him every day from now on, three times a day. I will eat with him and make sure he actually eats. Personally."
The guards just stared at Aurora.
"She's both Stefan's only living relative and the heir to the throne," Maleficent pointed out. "I suggest you listen to her."
The guards exchanged a long and complicated series of glances and gestures among the six of them before Cormac craned his neck around to look Aurora in the eyes again. "Are you sure?"
Once again, the girl held his gaze. "Yes."
Cormac nodded, and then all six guards started marching in time. With Stefan dragging in their midst and Maleficent and Aurora following along behind them, the guards marched through the throne room, up a flight of marble steps, and down several corridors before stopping in front of an unmarked door with a gilt handle. One of the guards who was not holding onto Stefan opened the door, revealing walls covered in inoffensively flowery paper and windows framed by lacy drapery. A bed with a lacy canopy stood against the wall facing the window. Everything was yellowing and covered with cobwebs and dust.
"Hamish, go fetch chains," Cormac ordered once everyone had squeezed inside the room. "John, tell the maids we need the room clean and fit for a king, quick. Arthur, run to the kitchens and tell them we'll be needing two meals brought here on trays every mealtime from now on. There's a good lad."
The three guards who weren't holding onto Stefan exited the room, leaving Stefan, Cormac, Sean, Alexander, Maleficent, and Aurora. All of a sudden, Stefan began thrashing about, shoulders swiveling in a clear attempt to free his arms. The three guards holding him grunted and strained as they fought to keep their king from escaping. Maleficent strode forward, grasped Stefan's shoulders, and held onto him until he went still again.
"You're very strong," said Cormac appreciatively, eyeing Maleficent's biceps.
"Yes, I am," replied Maleficent.
Cormac turned to Aurora. "Ye're Stefan's daughter, are ye?" He eyed the girl's blonde locks and the captive king's dark mane.
Aurora nodded, blue eyes wide. "I've never met him properly because he sent me away for my safety when I was a baby."
"But ye know he's your father?"
"If she were lying, why wouldn't she want Stefan dead or imprisoned?" grunted Maleficent, who was still struggling to keep Stefan still. "An imposter would want to eliminate Stefan as quickly as possible in order to make an unchallenged claim to the throne."
Cormac squinted at Maleficent. "I still don't know why I'm trusting ye. Ye look like a faery."
"I am a faery. I am the queen of the faeries. But Stefan's fear was misplaced. We're not evil. Stefan personally betrayed me years ago, inciting the hostilities between our two realms. I'd have killed Stefan by now if Aurora hadn't stopped me, but he's the only human I want dead. If Aurora were on the throne, I'm confident there would be peace between our realms."
"Because you've brainwashed her?" Alexander spoke up.
"Stefan's brainwashed you!" Maleficent retorted. "He's infected you with his paranoia!"
All three guards scowled, but Aurora was the first to speak. "You wanted to lock my father in the dungeons. I was the one who insisted on giving him a nice room. I will be eating with him from now on. I hope you can see that I bear no one ill will."
The guards nodded grudgingly, and then it was quiet for a while. Finally, Hamish entered with chains, and the four guards and Maleficent used them to attach each of Stefan's limbs to a bedpost. By the time they were done, John had returned with an entourage of palace maids, who set to work cleaning the room at top speed. When the sun was rising and the room was nearly clean, another maid entered with a silver platter laden with dishes. "Breakfast for two?" she said uncertainly, looking at the crowd of guards and maids in the small room.
A maid who was standing on her tiptoes to knock down cobwebs turned to face the maid with the platter. "The rest of us will be down later, Elaine. Keep something warm for us."
Aurora took the platter. "Thank you, Elaine."
Elaine curtsied again and scampered out of the room with her eyes down.
Aurora set the platter on the bed beside Stefan. She cut a sausage link into small pieces, speared one piece on her fork, and held it toward Stefan's mouth. Stefan eyed it with furrowed brows.
"Come on, open up," Aurora coaxed.
Stefan simply glared at her.
"Daddy, it's okay, you're safe now. You can trust people again. Open up."
Stefan shook his head.
"Come on, Daddy, please. Nobody is going to hurt you. I won't let them. Just eat."
Stefan continued glaring.
Aurora put the piece of sausage in her own mouth and ate it. After swallowing, she said, "See? It's safe." She speared another sausage piece on her fork and held it toward Stefan, who opened his mouth. Aurora giggled with delight and put the sausage in Stefan's mouth. He took it, chewed, and swallowed. "Well done!" Aurora cheered. "You're eating!"
Father and daughter ate the whole meal together that way, alternating bites, with Aurora always trying each dish before Stefan would accept it. Neither of them noticed the way the room emptied out around them as the maids finished cleaning and Sean and Alexander returned to their posts. Finally, the platter was empty. Aurora set down the fork and tried to pat her father on the shoulder. Stefan shrank away from his daughter's hand. Aurora sighed and withdrew.
"Ye've done well, Highness," said Cormac from behind Aurora. He had been watching Aurora feed her father for the past half hour. "He hasn't let anyone get that close to him in years."
"Someday he shall let me hug him," said Aurora resolutely, tucking a strand of flaxen hair behind her ear.
Cormac chuckled. "That'll be the day."
Maleficent looked from Aurora to Stefan and back. "If anyone can melt his frozen heart, you can, but don't hold your breath, my dear. I'm not sure whether his heart is frozen—or gone."
With that, Aurora, Cormac, and Maleficent exited Stefan's room, which Cormac locked with a gilt key that a maid had given him earlier. "I'll fetch a maid to find rooms for the two o' ye, shall I?" Cormac half-bowed awkwardly.
"Yes, thank you," said Aurora, smiling.
When Cormac left, Maleficent placed her hands on Aurora's shoulders. "This is a brave thing you're doing, child, a brave and compassionate thing, and I'm proud of you. But your father is a hard man—a hard, cold, and broken man. I don't want you to feel that you've failed if he doesn't come around quickly, or at all."
Aurora cocked her head to one side. "I have plenty of practice winning people over slowly, Godmother."
Maleficent smiled for the first time in hours. "That you do." Then she shook her head ruefully. "But I had a pure heart before your father broke it. Stefan was corruptible from the start."
"I suppose I'll just have to love him and see what happens."
Maleficent opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. Then she nodded and said, "It just might work."
A maid approached the pair and curtsied. Maleficent released Aurora's shoulders, and the maid said, "Rooms are being prepared for ye. Follow me."
Aurora and Maleficent followed the maid through several corridors until they reached another wing of the castle that looked just as neglected as the one in which they had locked Stefan. Two rooms had been opened and were full of maids dusting and scrubbing.
The maid who had fetched Aurora and Maleficent curtsied once again. "I'm sorry the rooms aren't quite ready—"
"They look liveable, and we have had a long night," Maleficent interrupted, eyeing Aurora's pale face and sagging eyelids. "Could you leave us to sleep for now and come back to finish cleaning tomorrow?"
"As ye wish," said the maid with another curtsy, though her tone was hard and she cast distrustful glances at Maleficent's wings and horns. Then she bustled into the rooms and barked at the other maids, "Get out, all o' ye! They want to sleep!"
When the maids were gone, Aurora turned to Maleficent and clapped her hands. "We did it, Godmother! We did it! You broke the spell and I stopped the war!"
Maleficent smiled tightly. "We did. We have a lot of unpleasant work ahead of us, but we did it."
Maleficent was right. Over the next several weeks, Aurora, Maleficent, and Diaval worked with Cormac to win over the palace staff, open up the palace building, and alleviate the pervasive paranoia that Stefan had spent years feeding. For the most part, the maids and laundresses were glad to see more sunshine, live in less fear, and work for a woman for the first time in years, although it took a while before they stopped staring at Maleficent's horns and wings and trading rumors about the faery queen's powers.
The guards and soldiers presented a much larger obstacle. Stefan had infected them directly with his paranoia and hatred of faeries, and they knew little other than fear and violence. But there was no resisting Aurora's charms, and many of the guards trusted Cormac's judgement, so in time the guards and soldiers agreed to lay down their arms and work toward Aurora's vision of peace. They started by removing all the iron in and around the palace and then progressed to dismantling the wall Stefan had ordered built on the border between the human realm and the faery realm. Aurora dreaded the day she would have to tell her father's army that they were no longer needed and would no longer be employed by the crown, but for now there was plenty of undoing to be done, so Aurora put off thinking about laying off the army until later.
By the time the palace staff was on Aurora's side, Stefan had been declared unfit to rule and Aurora had been named queen in his stead. Cormac and Maleficent crowned her together in a brief coronation ceremony devoid of pomp. She made Cormac her chief advisor and declared Maleficent a foreign diplomat, to be accorded the utmost respect during her stay. Aurora's first challenge as queen was to win over her subjects as she had her palace staff. She began by foraying into the city in full royal regalia and simply charming everyone she met. Then she began taking carriage rides to nearby towns and roaming the markets there, alone or in the company of Cormac.
Finally, on the carriage ride back from a town visit, Cormac said, "Highness, ye've got to travel farther on your next visit. The whole capital region loves ye by now, and they don't hate faeries anymore either. It's the countryside that needs to see ye."
"But I can't go farther, Cormac. If I traveled to the countryside, I'd have to stay away from the palace overnight."
"Oh, is that what you're afraid of?" Cormac laid a large hand on Aurora's shoulder. "Don't worry, Highness. We can find a nice, safe inn for ye, and Maleficent and Diaval and I will stay with ye."
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that I'd miss meals with my father." Aurora had made sure to eat with Stefan at least twice a day every day since his capture. When she visited towns, she sometimes missed lunch with him, but breakfast and dinner were constants. Stefan would allow no one but Aurora to feed him; when Aurora had started visiting towns, the palace maids had tried to take her place, but Stefan had ignored them and refused to open his mouth. Even with Aurora, he still only ate food that she had tried first, and he had yet to speak. Every day, Aurora chattered away to her father about how lovely the weather was and how happy she was to see him, and he responded with silence.
"Still on about your father, are ye?"
"He needs to be loved or he'll never change."
"He'll never change anyway, Highness. He's too far gone."
Aurora shook her head. "Sixteen years ago, Godmother was angry enough to curse an innocent baby, and I changed her. I can change my father."
"If ye say so."
That night, Aurora entered her father's room more determined than ever to have an actual conversation. The tray of food hadn't come yet, so Aurora sat in her chair beside the bed to which Stefan was still chained. "Hello, Daddy!" she trilled. "I'm so happy to see you! I've just had the most wonderful day—the weather is lovely, and I visited a charming little town and met the most enchanting villagers. I talked to them about our new peace with the faery realm, and they were so happy to no longer have to live in fear." Aurora reached forward and grasped her father's hand that was chained to the bedpost nearest her. Stefan's entire body went tense, and Aurora rubbed his hand between both of hers. "Shhh, Daddy, it's all right. No one has to live in fear anymore—not you, not our subjects, not anybody. You can trust me, Daddy. I saved you from Maleficent and from the dungeons. It's all right if you want me to try the food first, but I'd like you to talk to me."
Stefan shuddered.
"Daddy, it's me, Aurora. I'm alive. I'm all right. I turned sixteen and Maleficent broke the curse. You have nothing to fear anymore."
Stefan turned his head toward Aurora and blinked. "Aurora?"
Aurora laughed with delight and squeezed Stefan's hand. "Yes! Yes, Daddy, it's me, Aurora! Your daughter! I'm not cursed anymore! We're both safe now!"
Stefan's ever-present frown deepened. "Not . . . cursed?"
"No! Maleficent broke the curse!"
"Maleficent . . . Maleficent . . ."
"It's okay—she doesn't hate us anymore, Daddy. She broke the curse!"
"Maleficent . . . curse . . . hate . . ." Stefan thrashed about in his bed.
Aurora continued rubbing her father's hand. "No, I'm not cursed anymore. Maleficent doesn't hate us. We're safe now."
Stefan stilled. "Safe?"
"Yes, Daddy, we're safe." Aurora leaned forward and kissed Stefan on the forehead.
Just then, Elaine knocked on the door, as usual. Aurora released her father's hand gently and got up to open the door.
"Your tray, Highness," Elaine said, curtsying.
"Thank you, Elaine." Aurora took the tray and retreated into the room, closing the door behind her. "Look what we have tonight, Daddy—pork and potatoes and asparagus." Aurora sat back down and began cutting the pork into small pieces, eating every other bite herself and feeding the other half of the bites to her father. When all the food was gone, Aurora kissed Stefan on the forehead again and set the tray on her chair, to be collected later.
"Aurora?" said Stefan.
"Yes?"
"Aurora," Stefan repeated, sounding more certain now.
Aurora managed to postpone her trips to the countryside for another two weeks. She worked hard during that time to get her father used to the idea of travel so that he could come with her. Every day, she had him bound hand and foot and carried on a litter out of the castle and into the garden, where he could bask in the sunshine. After a week of this, she had him carried into a carriage, still bound, and ordered the carriage driver to drive around the garden in circles before stopping and letting Aurora and Stefan out beside the rosebeds. The first time Stefan entered the carriage, he thrashed around, yelled, "Out!" for a bit, and eyed the driver distrustfully, but, on the twelfth day since he first left the castle, he looked down at himself and simply said, "Untie."
"Daddy, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that's a good idea," Aurora said.
"Untie . . . me," he said more firmly.
"I'm very excited you're communicating, Daddy, but I just don't know . . ."
"Please," said Stefan.
"Let me get Godmother first," Aurora replied. "I'll be right back."
Aurora scurried into the castle as fast as she could and set off in search of Maleficent. She found her godmother in the throne room, standing in front of the throne and arguing with Cormac. "Yes, I understand that the countryside needs attention," Maleficent was saying, "but if we try to place limits on Aurora's goodness and her acts of the heart, we shall all live to regret it."
"We shall also live to regret a revolt from the countryside!" Cormac responded before spotting Aurora. Then he said, "Good morning, Highness. What do ye need?"
"Backup," said Aurora simply. "My father is asking to be unbound. Using words. I want to oblige him—at least, I want to untie his hands—but I know that would be a bad idea without having someone on hand ready to restrain him."
"I'll fetch some lads," said Cormac, starting to leave the room.
Maleficent, who had already taken several steps toward Aurora, stopped and said, "Yes, that would be for the best. My presence would only aggravate him."
"I had best get back to the garden, then," said Aurora. "I left him alone. Bound, remember. But alone."
Stefan was still sitting on the bench where she had left him when Aurora returned. "All right, Daddy," she said in greeting. "As soon as Cormac and some of the other soldiers get here, we can unbind your hands."
The men arrived within five minutes, time that Aurora burned by prattling to her father about the need to visit the countryside soon and how excited she was to return to the area where she grew up. Once the men arrived, Aurora glanced sharply around at everyone as if daring them to stop her. Then she began untying the rope that bound her father's wrists, working meticulously until both his hands were free.
As soon as Stefan was free, he lunged at Aurora, arms outstretched. The men surged forward, but Stefan said, "Hug," and hugged his daughter. The men continued to approach Stefan and Aurora until they had the pair surrounded at arm's length, but then they stopped and allowed the father to hug his daughter for the first time since she was a baby.
Aurora hugged her father back, smiling. When Stefan let her go, she smiled brightly at him and said, "Thanks, Daddy! I'm so proud of you!"
"Feet," Stefan said.
"Daddy, I'm sorry, but I just don't think we ought to push things today," Aurora said, but Stefan bent over and started untying the knots that bound his ankles. Aurora looked around at the men surrounding her as if begging for advice until she locked eyes with Cormac, who reached forward to put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. The two of them smiled at each other for a moment, and then they both turned to look at Stefan, who was nearly done freeing himself from his bonds.
Stefan stood unsteadily, which was no surprise—he hadn't been allowed to stand or walk in months, after all. Aurora stood and took her father's hand and said cheerfully, "Would you like to walk around the garden, Daddy?" as if Stefan had not disobeyed her commands immediately prior to this.
"Yes," he said.
Aurora walked and Stefan wobbled beside her as the two took a turn about the rosebeds, flanked by Cormac and his men. After fewer than ten minutes, Stefan needed to sit down again, so the two took a seat on another bench at the opposite end of the rose garden. Aurora made eye contact with Cormac and mouthed the word, "Ropes." To her father, she said, "That was lovely, Daddy, and I'm very glad you're able to walk now, and we should absolutely do this again tomorrow, but for now we must tie you up again to make sure you don't hurt anyone, all right?"
Stefan sighed and did not thrash when he was bound again.
The next day, Aurora started with an entourage of soldiers, and, after the planned carriage ride, she willingly unbound her father so that the two of them could walk around the rosebeds hand in hand. The day after that, she was too busy preparing for her trip to the countryside to take her father anywhere at all, but, after she ate dinner with him, she unbound him and helped him walk about his room for a few minutes—with Cormac and some other soldiers present, of course.
So it was that a large carriage containing Aurora, Maleficent, Diaval, Cormac, Stefan, and the soldier Alexander left the palace the next morning to visit the countryside. Though the rural citizens of Aurora's kingdom were suspicious of their new queen and this new policy of tolerance toward the faeries, Aurora charmed them just as she had charmed the more urban population, and from town to town the news spread, with Aurora's carriage behind it: the new queen is beautiful, charming, calm, and confident, and she will make you cease to fear the faeries.
What the residents of the countryside did not know was that the royal carriage stopped in secluded parts of the forest; its passengers disembarked, and the one no one saw—the former king—was untied and allowed to walk in the company of his daughter for a few minutes longer every day.
It was when Aurora returned to the palace from months away, the whole kingdom finally truly under her influence, that Stefan strung more than two words together for the first time since he lost power. "Aurora," he said over breakfast as the sunrise streamed in through the window, "I thank you."
Aurora smiled at him, pink lips parting to reveal dazzling white teeth. "You are most welcome, Daddy."
Stefan never did retake the throne; Aurora had a gift for governance that he knew he could not match. But he did eventually take up painting, learn to hold a conversation, and prove himself capable of walking around on his own without starting any trouble.
When Aurora started receiving suitors in earnest, eight months after returning to the palace from her extended trip in the countryside, her father and her godmother told her the same thing: "Your love is magic, my dear. Remember that."