They fell together.
The wind roared in her ears, her eyes stinging. The world was spinning into a blur of colors.
All she could see were those eyes. Those hazel eyes was she once had loved. He was staring at her with wild hatred, with foaming rage and snarling insanity. He was not the boy she once knew. He had warped himself beyond all reason, a shadow of his former self.
But she imagined he was there. A confused little boy ensnared by madness. A lonely little boy that had velvet words dripping into his ears like poison.
His fingers were at her throat at they fell. The iron gauntlet bite into her skin, Maleficent could smell her own flesh burning. He was killing her.
She couldn't hate him.
She struggled in his grasp, his arms encasing her. The embrace tormented her, the pain becoming unbearable. She was blistering, the heat too great, too terrible. Her mind was ablaze with agony.
Her wings unfurled almost on their own accord, and Stefan was no match for their strength. His arms were pried away.
The world slowed.
Maleficent screamed as Stefan continued the descent. His eyes were wide with dread, his parted lips speckled with blood.
Maleficent held out her hand despite her whole body convulsing from the burns. Her dazed mind was fading at the edges, her vision blurring.
Stefan's eyes met hers. She could almost imagine that he was the same young foolish boy that had try to steal from the Moors.
Fear clouded the fire of madness, and he wildly reached out for her.
But this was them, wasn't it? Reaching out for each other, burning like the dying sun. He only could offer her pain, but Maleficent still was reaching out for him.
Her fingertips touched Stefan's. The iron seared against her skin angrily.
The moment swayed in time like a prism catching the sunlight.
And then their fingers parted. Maleficent's wings caught a draft, holding her in the air.
Glowing emerald eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat-
Crack.