It was the third time that week Diaval woke up screaming. He wasn't used to having nightmares. His dreams had started a few years ago. He was confused by the idea at first, not knowing what a dream was, but he dared not ask Maleficent. He couldn't even think about his dreams without blushing, let alone ask his mistress why he was having them or what they meant. And he certainly could not tell her what they were about as she was always the main focus. They were pleasant, very pleasant in fact, but he was always left with an empty feeling upon waking when he realized they weren't real. His dreams were still always about her, but now they were not so pleasant.

It had been two weeks since the ordeal at Stefan's castle, and every dream of his centered around those events, except in his dreams, the outcome was far worse. It was always the same, Maleficent was caught under the net of iron and Stefan's men had her surrounded. He could not get to her in time and he watched as she was killed. Every night in his dreams he tried to save her and every night he failed. Each time he woke up sweating and out of breath. "It was only a dream. It's not real." He would convince himself. He would always get up and check to make sure she was really there, alive and well. Sometimes, he would sit and watch her sleeping for a while, before he felt calm enough to return to where he slept.

His nightly awakenings did not go unnoticed by Maleficent. Several times she woke up to his screams. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he would yell. When she heard him scare himself awake, she let him be, not knowing how to confront him. If he wanted to tell her about this, he would. She would not push the issue. But when she would hear him struggling in his sleep, she would get up and check on him. What was so upsetting to him that it kept haunting his dreams? There was only one thing she knew that he was truly afraid of. She thought back to the day they met and she had saved him from a farmer and his dogs. Perhaps it was that event that he was reliving nightly. She told herself she would stop turning him into a dog, knowing how much it bothers him. She could only assume that was what had set off the nightmares.

As the days went on the nightmares continued. It was strange, as her nightmares where getting better, his were getting worse. He had offered his silent support all these years during her nightmares. She knew that he heard her at night, but he never asked her about it. She was thankful for his silence on the matter, but now that it was him having the nightmares, she wanted to help. Being nurturing and supportive wasn't something that came easy to her though. She thought that he might come to her with questions, since she didn't think ravens dreamt, but Diaval never spoke of his nightmares. He carried on like nothing was the matter, but Maleficent knew him well enough to see that there was something off about him.

Things took a turn for the worse after an unexpected visit from Prince Philip. He hadn't visited the Moors since Aurora's coronation, so it was quite a surprise that he had showed up and requested an audience with Maleficent.

"I bet he's here to seek your permission?" Diaval said as they waited for Philip to arrive.

"Permission for what?" Maleficent asked.

"Oh come now, not even you could be that oblivious."He continued quickly after receiving her icy glare."Clearly they are falling for each other. Do you not see the way they look at each other?"

"They are far too young if you ask me."

"Aurora's 16, and Queen of two kingdoms. Besides...they are in love."

"And what could you possibly know about being in love?" She scoffed, as she saw Philip approaching them.

Diaval's face hardened at her callous comment. He returned her glare. "A great deal more than you would think, Mistress." He replied coolly. Before she could respond he walked to meet Philip who was almost to them, leaving her wondering about his comment.

She followed and when she reached Philip, she was met with a bow. "Greetings Malificent and Diaval. I hope you are both well."

They returned the bow.

"Prince Philip. What a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe this visit?" Maleficent asked, curious as to what brought him to the Moors alone.

"I came to speak to you about Aurora," he answered.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine...I just...well...you see...the thing is...um…"

"Come on, out with it then!" Maleficent was growing impatient.

"Well, as you know Aurora and I have developed a friendship of sorts recently and I was wondering, well I was hoping…"

Maleficent gave him a stern glance.

"I would like to properly court Aurora," he finally said, sighing in relief once the words were out of his mouth.

"I see. And you are here to ask for my permission?"

"Yes, I mean no," Philip said, becoming flustered.

"Well, which is it?"

"Aurora is her own person and a Queen at that. I do not fall under the assumption that she would need anyone's permission so I do not ask it of you, but I do know how much you mean to her and I would like to have your blessing."

"And if I were to say no?" Maleficent asked, trying to hide the fact that she was purposefully making this difficult for him.

"Well, with respect milady, I would pursue her anyway. I am here as a courtesy to both you and her, and while you are a very important presence in her life and quite frankly you scare me a little, no force on this earth other than Aurora could keep me from her."

"Hmm…only a little?" Maleficent asked, a smirk forming on her face.

"Oh quit giving the boy a hard time, Mistress. We both know you're going to give in," Diaval interrupted, finally speaking up on the matter.

Maleficent frowned at him. She didn't like having her fun interrupted, and she was having fun scaring Philip even if it was "only a little." He needed to be afraid of her so she could threaten him should he step out of line with Aurora. But she did genuinely like the boy, and more importantly Aurora liked him too. "Fine then. You, Prince Philip, have my blessing to court Aurora. I doubt I need to explain to you what will happen should anything befall our beloved Queen at your hands."

"My intentions are most honorable and I wouldn't dream of doing anything to hurt her, milady." He said with wide eyes.

Diaval put his arm around Philip's shoulder and said, "You don't need to worry about her." Philip gave him a confused look, as did Maleficent. She had her eye brow raised ready to make a comment when in a very serious tone Diaval continued, "Because if you harm our little hatchling or make her upset in any way, I'll peck your eyes out and claw out all of your insides for my cousins to feast upon."Philip swallowed the lump that was in his throat. He wasn't entirely sure what he was getting himself into with this "family" but he tried to remind himself that Aurora was worth slapped him on the back and with a big smile said "Come on, I'll show you her favorite flowers in the Moors and you can take some to her."

Maleficent laughed as the two wandered off. She knew how much Diaval cared about Aurora and how protective he was of her. He did help raise her after all, if she was her Godmother he was surely her Godfather. She tried not to put too much thought into his calling her "our little hatchling."

AN: Ok guys, here's the longer story I've been kicking around in my head for a bit. I've written a bit more so far (just needs some editing), but I'm not entirely sure where things will lead. I have some ideas but no definite plan yet. I should warn you I tend to write a lot of angsty stuff, but I am a firm believer in happy endings. I just might put the characters through hell before I get there. The title is a Jack White song.