Intro: I always wondered about Maleficent, what made her so vindictive and generally evil. Obviously she was annoyed at not being invited to the celebration of Aurora's birth...but something made her horrible before that. So this is my take on why she's so wonderfully sarcastic and sour. Maleficent is my favorite villain, and I like to think that even though she is pure, complete and unforgivably evil, it may not have begun that way.

Enjoy!

Black Heart, Long Lost

"Oh, I tried being civil, I tried being kind all those years ago, pet," Maleficent sighed, stroking the sleek black feathers of the crow perched on her arm. The imposing green torches flickered as she glided past, her draping gown and cloak flowing in the drafty castle corridor. She quickly descended the long stretch of stairs down to the lowest, most secure dungeon wherein her prey was chained and waiting.

Maleficent reached the heavy oak door, and paused. "Yes, I tried kindness," she whispered, eyes steeling, "and it was not possible."

With a turn of a key the door swung in to reveal her prisoner, struggling and straining against his chains, a defiant gleam in his dark eyes. The sorceress smiled, the expression making her terrible beauty even more wicked. Behind her, the door closed solidly with an audible thunk.

"Young Phillip, you have such...fire," she cooed at the prince, tilting her head to rest in her long-fingered hand. He rattled the chains even more loudly.

"I have done nothing to you!" The prince retorted forcefully, leaning toward her at the reach of his bonds. He looked nearly feral with rage, and yet somehow still regal despite his captive position. This was not lost on the black-souled witch, and she noted with a sour taste in her mouth that his features did not resemble his father even slightly. She despised his handsome face, his athletic build and fierce loyalty.

"All those long years ago..." she whispered quietly, lower than he could hear. Speaking up, she addressed the prince, approaching a few steps toward him. "Me? Oh no, you personally have done nothing; that is true. But, you see, everyone collectively has. Your dear, imbecilic father, he has wronged me. King Stefan and Queen Leah, they have wronged me irreversibly. And, most importantly, that fragile, stupid, atrocious little twit you love so much...yes, she has done more to insult me than anyone."

Phillip, unable to even speak for his wrath, let out a nearly inhuman growl, a vein near his temple throbbing visibly. Maleficent sighed inwardly with pleasure, wondering how far she could push him before he snapped.

"Yes, but it's all done now," she spoke again, stepping close enough that she could touch him, if she wanted, though he could do nothing to her. "The girl shall sleep forever, thankfully, and the kingdom's of the earth are at my mercy. You, precious boy, are my only obstacle. And see how I have dealt with you? You posed me no threat from the beginning. Oh I do love this feeling, triumph. I love it so."

"You know nothing of love! How dare you even speak the word! You know it not and it has never known you!" Phillip sneered the words in her face, his hatred so evident that she could almost feel it caress her green-tinted skin. Maleficent's features darkened, and a look of panic shadowed the prince's eyes.

Lifting her thin arm, the sorceress drew her pointed nail along the length of the young man's jaw before dropping, and she listened to his racing heartbeat in the silence of the stone walls. It was the sound of fear, weakness, anger. It was the sound of vulnerability. "It's amusing, child, that you would say that. You seem so familiar with my past, and yet you have never known a thing about me." In her mind, an image of years gone by flashed briefly; a warm hand reached out to her, an easy smile for only her eyes, strong arms wrapping around her shoulders...Maleficent shuddered. Returning to the present, the sorceress saw in the prince before her an unpleasant reminder of the betrayal she still felt keenly. "No, I have never really known love. Love is a myth, an impossibility. I'd tell you to ask Stefan what I mean, but you won't have that opportunity."

Again, her mind's eye plagued her with earlier years. The easy smile turned from her to a fair-haired princess. Whispers of duty, promises from birth, impossibilities..."We're from different worlds, Molly, you must understand," the masculine voice reasoned, sounding far off like an echo. No place for a peasant girl alongside a prince.

Unless you were not truly poor, like this false, frivolous blonde that Phillip now fought for. Maleficent let out a laugh. He didn't even know what he fought for. A lie.

Confusion clouded Phillip's face as Maleficent raised her glowing staff before his eyes. "Look," she commanded, "see what lies you have fallen prey to." The crystal swirled, revealing Aurora sleeping peacefully for eternity in her castle tower. "This is your true love, is it not? And yet, her true name is Aurora, the lovely princess to whom you were promised. You've been kept in the dark for so long, no one even bothered to tell you."

"Witch, that makes no difference! It only makes it easier, our love was meant to be even without an arrangement!" Phillip shouted defiantly, lifting his strong chin high.

"WRONG! You were given a gift of which you are so unworthy, that it cannot be withstood! And so she shall sleep there, miles away from your reach, for one hundred years without aging, her beauty never fading. Meanwhile you, dearest Prince, will spend one hundred years in this room, until I set you free. Then you may return to her, brave Prince, a feeble old man, weak and broken, to wake her with your true love's kiss." She spat the words at him, her blood boiling with loathing and excitement. The fire of hate gleamed once more in his eyes and as he began to strain forward again, Maleficent raised her staff and muttered a spell, freezing him in place.

Her eyes held his unblinkingly. The young man suddenly appeared to her as though he were not himself, but a memory of someone else. She shuddered again, longing causing her arm to lift and hand to caress his face, drawing closer despite herself. "You know nothing," she whispered, moving closer still, relishing in his immobile fear, until her lips were but the smallest distance from his.

Elsewhere in the castle a disturbance arose, a crashing sound that echoed down and startled Maleficent and the crow that lurked nearby. She jerked back, widening her eyes at both the prince and her own actions. She released the spell.

"If you so choose, after a time of repentance, you could be by my side since you'll never see that child again. I'm sure in time you could come to appreciate what I am." Maleficent was beginning to wonder if someone had found her beautiful once, it may be possible again.

"Not if I live this hundred years and a hundred more, never would I ever want to stand by you, foul creature!"

She backed away, opening the door once again to depart.

"Enjoy this century alone, foolish boy." Evil once again etched its mark on her features, a truly terrifying scene. The Prince struggled even as she locked him away a second time.

Not long after she left the dungeon a commotion erupted, the noise spreading throughout the castle to where she sat in her favorite tower. Maleficent scowled, annoyed at the disturbance, and stepped out of the tower to halt the tumult. "Tell them to be quiet!" She ordered the crow, but froze suddenly, mimicking the bird's own stone existence. "No...NO!" She shrieked, first at the loss of her one companion, and again to see Phillip down below, galloping away on his cursed steed.

As he escaped, Maleficent called upon every force of evil to prevent Phillip from reaching his goal. "Surround Stefan's castle with my spell and curse! Allow him no entrance, never let true love arise from sleep there!" The cloud of devilry blew past the speeding prince and whirled around the castle, settling in a wall of thorns fifty feet high and the same measure thick.

As her curse took shape, Maleficent prepared herself for inevitable battle. Soon he would cut through the bracken, especially with those cursed fairies by his side.

"Never let them have what I have lost!" She howled, and in a flame transported herself to the cobblestone just in front of Prince Phillip.

Her form immediately began to shift as she addressed him, saying, "Now you must deal with me, Prince, and all the powers of Hell!" The black dragon she had become loomed over his form, her own fury lending her even greater power.

But it was all for naught, for the battle lasted only a few minutes. As his sword pierced her tainted heart and she fell from the cliff, Maleficent only knew that the sting of its steel was nothing compared to the agony that she had harbored for so long. The heart that his blade vanquished was one already broken.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed my sad little story! Please rate, review and favorite the story and me! Also visit my profile, I love visitors. Visitors are cool. Thanks!

-Clever