A/N: I've been so incredibly humbled and amazed by the attention this little story has already gotten. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far.
This drabble is a little more serious than what I intended to put out right now, but it's what I ended up writing first. Please enjoy.
Fandom: Maleficent
Story: The Life in Your Years
Drabble Two: Stranger from a Strange Land
A scowl marred Maleficent's otherwise smooth features as laughter echoed in the forest.
She had had to accept that laughter would be a common staple of the Moors even during her reign, since her subjects continued to do so when they thought she wouldn't hear. (Which she did.) But their mischievous laughter wasn't without its share of restraint. It was as if they thought their joy would offend their ruler, who's mood always seemed to be somewhere between a simmering rage and in a state of mourning. (Which she was. Not in rage or in mourning, you understand, but she was offended.)
But what outshined all of Maleficent's subjects was the laughter that came from her charge. Ever since she was a baby, Aurora laughed about the most senseless of things, and she never attempted to smother it nor apologize for it. As Aurora grew older, her voice became stronger, and Maleficent learned to endure it. But on her best days, the horned fairy could admit that she found the princess' bell-like laughs comforting, even reminiscent of how Maleficent herself was in her innocent years.
Before she foolishly trusted her heart and her safety with some human male.
A breeze rustled the leaves of the tree Maleficent stood under, carrying with it yet another light laugh, sounding closer this time.
Maleficent's scowl deepened, and she flexed her wings agitatedly, finding no comfort whatsoever in this laughter.
Because it wasn't Aurora's. It was male and unfamiliar.
And it hid an edge to it she didn't like.
To be fair, Maleficent would have investigated the source in any case, even if she hadn't heard the familiar trills of Aurora's voice answering it.
She took to the sky with a running jump.
Maleficent never quite identified where she got the tendency from, but her mind veered towards the tactical. She preferred to clandestinely observe situations in silence instead of blindly charging in. She preferred to plan.
She landed in the shadows on the wood's edge, not rustling so much as a leaf in her descent.
They were still inside the Moors at least, Aurora and this stranger. Now Queen of these lands, Aurora sat poised on a boulder, her skirts skimming the dewing grass.
It was no time to feel proud, but Maleficent was relieved that Aurora was taking her training seriously. Without it, the fairy was certain the teenager would be sitting cross-legged of all things instead. Dress or no.
It was clear that Aurora was unharmed or otherwise unchanged with a quick sweep of her eyes, allowing Maleficent to center all her attention on this new stranger.
He was young, she immediately noticed, perhaps a few years older than the Phillip boy. And whereas the prince was dark-haired and olive skinned, this newcomer was fair with a sheet of straight hair the color of pale wheat falling gracefully down his back.
Maleficent narrowed her eyes, focusing harder.
The oh-so-faint shimmer of a glamour confirmed her suspicious before she even saw his pointed teeth that, to Aurora, must look like no more than a charming, dimpled smile.
"Aurora," she called, stepping from the trees and unfurling her wings behind her.
Immediately, Aurora's head snapped up at her voice before she smiled at her caregiver and rose from her seat. The stranger, Maleficent noted smugly, was no longer smiling as she approached. Instead, he seemed to have honed in on her large wingspan, exactly as she'd intended.
"Who is this?" Maleficent asked Aurora as she looked at the stranger, masking her distrust with a cool curiosity.
"Ah, godmother," Aurora said, sounding short of breath as the girl approached. "This is Kailen."
With a snap, Maleficent drew her wings in tight to her back. To the stranger's credit, he did not flinch, but that only deepened Maleficent's mistrust of him.
After all, only certain creatures needed to use glamours around humans—and fair maidens at that—and none of them lived in the Moors.
Her gaze razor-sharp, she focused on the faint shimmering in the air around him that had nothing to do with the summer heat, looking for weaknesses. She'd already detected his pointed teeth, but looking further, she discovered that he had a few strange, rune-like markings the color of rust on his face, inky black hair instead of his projected blond, and thick horns on his head. What was more, his gaze that the glamour tried to hide as a welcoming bright green was actually the burnt yellow of a small fire that could quickly and easily rage out of control.
"And where does Kailen," Maleficent bit out like a curse, "hail from?"
Aurora opened her mouth to respond brightly, only to close it again, uncertain. "Oh, um…" She finally said eloquently, looking to Kailen for help.
"We didn't get that far, I'm afraid," Kailen said smoothly, daring to meet Maleficent's gaze squarely. (Maleficent was not impressed.) "But it's a kingdom very far from here. I'd hate to bore you with it."
Aurora looked ready to protest, clearly curious, but Maleficent beat her to it. "No, indeed, and for that I thank you."
Kailen looked mildly offended whereas Aurora pouted, clearly put out. The Fae's feelings Maleficent couldn't care less about, but she would make it up to Aurora later.
"What I did come to do," Kailen continued on gallantly, rising to his feet, "is to introduce myself to the queen of these lands."
He gave Maleficent a courtly bow, a few strands of hair falling gracefully over his shoulders. Aurora and Maleficent exchanged a glance, and Aurora tried and failed to hide a giggle of mirth. Kailen's head rose, brows scrunched in confusion.
Wordlessly, Maleficent presented Aurora with a twirl of her hand as the girl performed a flawless curtsey.
"I'm glad to formally meet you," Aurora replied seriously, though the grin on her face wasn't entirely smothered. At least she wasn't laughing anymore, Maleficent had to give her credit.
"O–oh," Kailen stammered, looking between the pair. "Forgive me, your majesty. It appears my information was wrong."
"Not really wrong, per say. Just out of date," Aurora said kindly, nodding at her godmother. "She sort of retired."
"But… But these are fairy lands, correct?"
"What of it?" Maleficent dared him to continue. She didn't feel the need to add that he was only half-right.
Pensive, the stranger spoke cautiously as if he were navigating through a series of carefully laid traps. "But you're… You're the one they call the 'Mistress of All Evil'. Are you not?"
It had been a while since Maleficent had heard that particular title for her uttered aloud. A fond smile curved her mouth as she realized that, to this Fae in particular, she must look like something out of a nightmare with her wings, horns, and her peculiar penchant for darkness.
But rather than looking at her with fear or uncertainty in his gaze—as she was used to seeing—what Maleficent saw instead was expectation and a sense of awe.
Not usually how a normal Fae would react her, to say the least.
"I'm sure that's just an exaggeration." Aurora smiled, cutting through the tension.
Following her charge's lead, Maleficent merely regarded the Fae with silence and a raised eyebrow.
The stranger had the decency to look unsure of himself. Or perhaps it wasn't truly decency, but cunning. Perhaps he was just acting the way he expected for them to expect a human from a foreign land to behave. But Maleficent was less than fooled.
"I beg your forgiveness for my continued impertinence," Kailen continued, "it's just that I was told these lands weren't welcoming to humans."
"Yet here you are," Maleficent said, willing to see if he would fall into his own trap. She had occupy herself with something else as she overlooked the fact that he had come dangerously close to challenging Aurora's right to rule. A fact that Aurora, too, seemed willing to overlook.
"I heard" the stranger said, "that the king of the neighboring kingdom passed away recently and came on behalf of my Court to see if it was true. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that, not only was it true, but also that the border of thorns dividing these lands had completely vanished.
"And then I met you, your majesty," Kailen said, flashing a charming smile at Aurora, "and rather forgot why I came here."
Maleficent had to cut in before he pretended to inquire innocently whether a fairy had charmed Aurora to addle men's minds or some such nonsense. In fact, she thought this whole exchange between the two of them had gone on long enough.
"Well, you have your answers now, so I encourage you to be on your way and deliver a faithful report." A smirk curled Maleficent's lips. "Wouldn't want to linger long enough for your information to become out of date."
To Aurora, Maleficent was a bit kinder though her tone left little room for argument. "As for you, you're late with your lessons with the three idiots. You shouldn't keep them waiting much longer."
Any chastisement Aurora had planned to give her godmother for name-calling was quickly replaced by a horrified gasp.
"Oh, no, I completely forgot!"
Aurora dashed off a few feet, abruptly turned around, delivered another flawless curtsey with a polite, "It was very nice to meet you, Kailen," and turned back around to walk quickly but queenly towards the tree line. Maleficent knew Aurora would break into a run as soon as the trees covered her.
She did not smile at the knowledge.
Instead, she pinned the stranger with her eyes, her voice void of all former traces of kindness. "Enough now with the pretense. I know what you are, and I know that you know that, too."
The stranger went oddly still, shock on his innocent face. But with the blink of his eyes, that innocent face melted into a sinister smirk, and part of his glamour dropped just enough that Maleficent could see that she had been right about his pointed teeth. Then it fell completely away all at once, and his true form was revealed.
Even his clothes changed slightly. The green waistcoat melted away into a sleeveless, black tunic that revealed more markings on his muscled arms. It was a simple change, but he looked wilder, like he belonged crouching in the tall branches of a tree than in the grand hall of some palace. It was plain to see that his previous appearance had been meant as no more than a ruse to make him appear more regal but non-threatening so as to lure anyone he met into a false sense of security. He had been beautiful before the change, but now with his darker hair, brown horns, and blood red markings, he looked otherworldly. Which was precisely what he was.
Neither of the Courts dwelled in the same visible world as the human one. The Moors itself was one of the few places a fairy could go if they did not want to disappear from the human world completely. Or, to be more precise, if they did not want to take part in the Courts' politics, which of course meant choosing a side… It also served as a place of exile. Neutral ground.
But that hardly mattered now, not when the rogue was finally being honest.
"Truly, Mistress, the rumors I've heard about you do not do you justice."
Maleficent ignored his attempts at flattery. She'd long become immune to men's words, human, Fae, or otherwise. "Why are you here?"
"To gather information for my Court, as I said," Kailen replied smoothly. "We of the Fae have long interacted with humans, as you know, but it's been a long time since anything this exciting has happened."
So he'd merely come to spy, not to interfere. That hardly did anything to settle the foreboding Maleficent felt growing in the back of her mind. She still didn't know which Court he represented, and that could make a world of difference. Given her own appearance, she knew better than to make assumptions based on his.
She didn't have to, for by his next words, his allegiances became clear.
"That's quite a pet you've got," Kailen said admiringly, looking at the exact spot Aurora had vanished in the trees, all razor sharp teeth and envious longing. The oily tone of his voice revealed more of his true nature than any other observation Maleficent had made so far. She felt herself bristle at it but remained outwardly calm.
After all, when dealing with a member of the Unseelie Court, you had to have your wits about you. Acting like one of them usually helped, for a while.
A good thing, then, that Maleficent had a bit of Unseelie about her.
"She is, isn't she?" A humorless smile curled her lips.
"Yes. Though it's human, it's a child already blessed by the Fae, and a queen at that. To say nothing of her innocence and beauty." A cruel laugh escaped his lips. "That must be fun."
"You've no idea." Unbeknownst to the stranger, the longer he spoke, the more Maleficent wanted to wring his neck with her bare hands.
She had to keep telling herself that she was speaking so callously of her charge simply for her sake. If she showed more interest in the girl than what an Unseelie Fae should ever show to a mortal, then that would only encourage Kailen further.
Having that human boy around Aurora was intolerable enough, but now Maleficent was confronted with the knowledge that he was truly the lesser of two evils. Whenever one of…these Fae was involved, Maleficent could honestly say she would prefer a human's company instead, maybe even Stefan's if given the choice. No, she didn't fancy starting a war by disposing of this whelp, but she would for Aurora's sake if he crossed the line.
But Kailen's golden eyes had left the tree line to fix on her once again, and the awe was back. It had sailed past annoying a long time ago.
"You keep staring at me. I'd like to know why."
"Ah, forgive me, Mistress. But you look so much like your father."
If possible, Maleficent became even more still.
"Is that so?"
A dark eyebrow raised in curiosity, Kailen said airily, "Did you never know him? He was quite popular at Court."
"I have only known the Moors. That's all I want or need to know."
Indeed, Maleficent had not thought about her parents in a long, long time. And that was how it would stay.
"Give Queen Mab my regards," she called as she turned her back on him to return to her home, having quite enough.
He answered her, of course, and Maleficent could practically hear the flash of his teeth. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled to finally have word from his offspring."
Maleficent stared at the spot the Fae disappeared from for some time, wondering, dreading if this was to be the start of something none of them were quite prepared for yet.