A/N: Sometimes you accidentally stay up way too late and write a chapter in one sitting. Hopefully it's not an absolute mess. Thank you so much for your support and feedback! I hope that you will continue to enjoy and to share your thoughts!
Maleficent didn't see the first one coming.
She found it unsettling that she'd been caught so utterly off-guard, but she was preoccupied by the arrival of the soup (entitled Dragon Stew, though her heated discussion with the waitress had revealed that it did not contain actual dragon nor was it technically a stew), and Aurora was about to ask her a question. There'd been a faint glimmer in her violet-blue eyes, which indicated that the question might be interesting, or at the very least, controversial if posed by a princess, and hadn't Maleficent agreed to this mad excursion on the grounds that it would be interesting and controversial?
Then, suddenly, "Hey there, Dragon Lady."
Aurora stopped mid-sentence, mouth slightly agape, and Maleficent experienced something utterly foreign: her thought process lurched. She'd been single-mindedly involved in the situation before her, concentration unfettered by the usual multi-tasking, and whatever-this-was had interrupted her.
The pause lasted no longer than an instant, of course, and Maleficent turned upon her intruder already seething with profound irritation.
Hades. Lord of the Underworld. Incidentally also Lord of Numerous Insufferable Attempts to win her favour. At least he wasn't bare-chested this time. She'd glared at him long enough to create an uncomfortable silence, and she could see him floundering for something to say.
"You, uh...busy?"
Maleficent raised her eyebrows, gestured to her dinner companion.
"Oh. Heh. Excuse me. Princess. Sleeping Beauty. The one, the only. Pardon me. Didn't mean to intrude. Maleficent, cupcake, if I could just have a moment of your—"
"Refer to me as a product of confectionery again, Hades, and I shall burn you to a crisp."
"Right. Yeah. Great. Sorry. Listen, I was just wondering—"
"Leave. Now." Under normal circumstances, she'd have sent him off with a nice bolt of lightning, but she was dining with a princess, and she rather imagined that violence at this stage in the evening would put a lamentable damper upon their conversation.
"He's so creepy," said Aurora quietly, after he'd slunk away.
Maleficent closed her eyes briefly. The image of Hades in nothing but red shorts was forever burned into her mind. "I daresay you've no idea."
"I mean, it's not that he's Lord of the Dead or whatever, he's just...I always feel like he's sizing me up or something, you know?"
"Hmm." This observation returned Maleficent's attention to the lovely young woman who sat across from her. That Maleficent should be the one among them who would spend the evening fending off unwanted attention struck her as almost comical. But Aurora was engaged, and everyone in the Magic Kingdom was well aware of it.
Maleficent hadn't made up her mind on the subject of whether she intended to ask after the current state of Aurora's engagement before Aurora spoke again. "It...sort of seems like that's happened before."
"Every time."
Aurora frowned. It was a delicate expression, and Maleficent found it difficult to imagine her face portraying real anger. "I suppose you could admire his persistence."
"I believe that when the object of one's advances is neither interested nor flattered, nor even amused, the arguably admirable quality of perseverance becomes the rather less favourable act of harassment."
"Oh," Aurora uttered. Her eyes went wide with the surprise of this revelation. "Well. I suppose that's right, isn't it?"
Her eyes were a vivid and slightly unusual colour, and they were very expressive. Maleficent could see that her comment had set one or more tangential trails of thought into motion. She took this as her opportunity to open up the subject that interested her. "I expect your famous engagement affords you some repose from the lechery of the common man."
As though a switch had been flipped, Aurora's eyes flashed, and she became suddenly very interested in her soup spoon. "Oh, that," she replied unhelpfully.
Maleficent waited patiently, hoping there would be an addendum. She used this time to contemplate her own soup, and why in Hell's name a person would see fit to call a generic beef-and-vegetable concoction Dragon Stew. Of all the imbecilic...
"I hadn't really thought about it," Aurora continued at long last. "It comes with its own unique flavour of harassment."
"How do you mean?"
Aurora stirred her soup thoughtfully. "'Why isn't Prince Philip with you,' 'when is the wedding,' and my personal favourite—" she pointed her spoon at Maleficent, who raised her eyebrows "—'when do you suppose you'll start thinking of having children?' Children!" Aurora dropped her spoon and covered her face.
"And I know in our world, I'd be at that age, getting a little old, even, and people started to whisper..." she looked up at Maleficent, eyes wide and glistening. "But now, here, we've got this new world of possibilities before us! Suddenly there are things all around me that I'd never even dreamed of even a year ago, and I want..." she paused, frowned, averted her eyes again. "I only want a chance to explore a bit, you know? Before I have to settle down and...and honour and obey and whatnot."
"Well, well! Good evening, Mistress Maleficent. What a pleasure to see you here. May I say that you are looking ravishing this eve—"
Without even thinking, Maleficent flicked her fingers, and a bolt of lightning served as her response to Captain Hook and his dreadful moustache.
She wouldn't have thought another thing of it, except that Aurora looked positively horrified. She was glancing back and forth between Maleficent and the rapidly retreating gentleman in a long red coat, as though she might be the next recipient of Maleficent's wrath.
Maleficent allowed herself a small sigh. They'd been having such a fascinating conversation before the captain had seen fit to insert himself into her awareness, and he'd ruined it all. Maleficent hadn't wanted to deal with him any longer than absolutely necessary, and in her haste, she'd completely forgotten her intention to postpone violent expulsion of unwanted suitors.
"I do beg your pardon, your Highness," she said drily. "I assure you he'll be quite all right." Unfortunately, she amended privately.
It took Aurora a moment to stop looking like a frightened animal, and when she did, her first question was relatively neutral. "Was that Captain Hook?"
"Indeed it was."
She looked over her shoulder in the direction he'd retreated. "I hope you won't think me rude for asking, but is it only ever..." she paused for an amount of time which was almost uncomfortable "...persons...of a villainous reputation...who try to earn your favour?"
Oddly enough, Maleficent was far more amused than irritated. "Generally I hold no appeal for those of a virtuous reputation," she said coolly.
Aurora turned back to look at her, and her eyes twinkled. "Perhaps they're deterred by the lightning," she offered.
"Hi there!"
Mickey Mouse was not precisely Maleficent's favourite person, but nor was he an insufferable blemish upon the face of her existence. His perkiness was far more than Maleficent was willing to tolerate on any more than a minute-by-minute basis, but he possessed an innate purity of intention which Maleficent did not observe in the vast majority of people. She could tolerate the self-proclaimed Good only so long as they were truly righteous, and not merely self-righteous.
"Good evening," she said.
"Hi, Mickey!" Aurora responded with equal, if subdued cheer.
"Gosh, I'm just so happy to see everybody making new friends!" he exclaimed.
And while Maleficent could see the usual signs of nervousness—the faint glisten of sweat, fidgeting hands, shifting weight—she knew he genuinely meant what he said, however insipid. She set out to say something moderately pleasant in response, but once again her train of thought was thrown suddenly and violently off its tracks.
Aurora's face lit up when she smiled, and the sight so ensnared Maleficent's attention that she forgot she meant to say anything at all.
"That makes at least two of us, Mickey," said Aurora.
"Ha ha! Well, I hope you enjoyed the soup! Sorry about the name, Maleficent." Hands in pockets, weight shift forward, back, hands out of pockets eyes darting left, right, left, but at least he didn't stutter when he spoke her name. "Donald thought it was funny, but I know you might not agree. Oops, that's my cue. Enjoy the show, folks!"
Maleficent watched him go, then, almost reluctantly, returned her attention to Aurora. Still smiling. Still radiant.
"That was very nice of him."
Still a princess. Still engaged.
"If there is one thing Mickey Mouse embodies, it is nice," Maleficent replied absently.
This could not end well.