Songs of the Two Kingdoms
Okay, first of all…I just saw Maleficent today, and…gahsklfk I am a little in awe. I had no idea what to expect, but I was nonetheless blown away. Even though I can now never watch Sleeping Beauty again omg
Anyway, I read Neonails "Keep on Playin' My song" and got an idea to do my own version of the iPod shuffle drabbles challenge. In it, the writer has to hit shuffle, and then whatever song comes on, you write a little drabble based on that song. And since I just saw Maleficent and it's on the brain, and I need a way to get it out of my system enough so I can actually work on my freaking stories…
These little drabbles range from angst to tragedy to romance to hurt/comfort to happy little fluffies…you name it. Read and review…but have mercy…I've never attempted something like this before.
I own nothing…probably fortunate. I would never have been able to retell Sleeping Beauty so incredibly.
On My Own
Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach (I think)
On my own, pretending he's beside me
All alone, I walk with him till morning
Without him, I feel his arms around me…
The great horned wings drooped, brushing the wet grass behind the lighter bare feet of their owner. Deep green eyes gazed through the mists towards the distant castle. She searched, hoping to see a figure, but her eyes could discern nothing moving.
"Where are you, Stephan?" she whispered, but there was more resignation than longing in her tone. She had come here for several weeks now, but still Stephan had not come. Two months ago, he had kissed her. Two months ago, Maleficent had lain awake all night, unable to sleep because of the smile on her face.
But that was awhile ago, and two months had dulled the sharp edge of need and hope. That in itself hurt more than anything.
And I know it's only in my mind…
And lthough I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us...
"Maleficent!" The soft hesitant male voice rang through the night. It didn't carry far, so Stephan raised it a little. "Maleficent?"
She dropped down onto the ground with a single flap and a whisper, but the dark-haired man turned. His eyes widened, then dropped. He shifted guiltily on his feet.
"Maleficent," he licked his lips. "I've come to warn you. The king's men seek to kill you."
Maleficent looked deeply into the face of her old friend and first love. The years had not treated him kindly, hardening his face and lending an unpleasant furtive look to his eyes. But his voice was still that of the timid boy lost in her woods, the shy young man who two years ago could barely muster the courage to kiss her, but had done it at last.
Maleficent sensed that Stephan's heart had not stayed entirely faithful. He was not the same person he used to be. But then again, neither was she. And he had come back tonight. And though the fairies called her their strongest, their warrior, her heart remained defenseless and weak when it came to Stephan. She could never resist him, and he knew it.
Maleficent turned, wings sweeping the ground as she moved towards the trees, silently inviting Stephan to follow.
I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life
I've only been pretending
Without me
His world will go on turning
Fiery pain seared and throbbed through Maleficent's shoulders. She tried to shift, but it only increased.
Gritting her teeth, Maleficent forced her body upward, but then the sense of loss and wrongness tore through her. She turned, but realized she couldn't see her wings.
Panic stronger than pain gripped Maleficent's body. She tried to move her wings, but they did not respond. Nothing was there to respond. She turned, frantic, but saw…nothing. The scars in her shoulders and the man who should have sat by her side told their own tale, undeniable and unforgivable. She was trapped, an outcast, marked, ruined, fettered forever. And it was all because she'd been fool enough to trust, to love, to think that a human would care for her. In return for her heart, Stephan had given her only pain and injury and humiliation.
Maleficent moaned as she felt phantom pains from her lost wings. Sobbing wails rose into agonized screams of heartbreak and betrayal and indescribable anguish. The lack of her wings couldn't surpass the worse pain of the bloody hole where her heart once beat.
I love him
I love him
But only on my own
