Aurora knew that she had every right to be angry, to perhaps even hate Maleficent and yet, now that the anger had worn away she just felt hurt.
Why hadn't anyone ever told her?
Why had Maleficent placed the curse?
Had any of the time spent between them meant anything?
It hurt to think about the faerie who had become not only a confident but also a teacher of sorts over the last few months.
Had Maleficent just lurked around to watch the curse come to light?
Was that why Philip had seen them leaving the cottage a few nights ago?
Had Maleficent somehow revoked the curse?
Nothing made sense anymore.
Especially after she had moved in with her father, especially since even now that the curse was broken he was distant and cold.
Hadn't he said that it was because of Maleficent's curse? That he couldn't bear to watch her grow with the knowledge that she would cease to exist at sixteen?
There was no curse now so what was wrong?
Maleficent couldn't sleep, the smell of smoke lingering long in the air even after the fires were extinguished.
Her mind was a constant drift of memories, of moments of peace she didn't deserve.
How had one human child seemed to carry so much joy within her? How could such a thing be contagious?
How had the offspring of the man that had ruined her managed to make her feel an emotion that she no longer believed in?
It had been three days since the curse, three days since she had left the cottage in the wood and the moor behind and yet it felt like forever.
The walls of the large house felt like a cage and the lack of familiarity made it feel much more like the home of a stranger than a place she had visited as a child.
Not that some of those visits bore good memories.
Aurora tried to busy herself by exploring, after all, if this was to be her home she would have to know more about it and besides that, she could use the distraction.
She wasn't surprised to find that most of the house was plain with no personality at all. That was until she entered a spare bedroom.
Aurora felt herself freeze up when she saw the cabinet of iron and glass bolted to a far wall.
Something about the room felt off, as if the usually silent energy of the house had been disturbed but it wasn't until she came near the cabinet—and saw movement from the inside—that she realized what she was even seeing.
"Wings."
She barely breathed the word as her mind reeled, pieces of the puzzle snapping together to form the answer to one of the many questions that had been haunting her for days.
"I had wings once but they were taken from me by a man I thought I could trust."
Could her father have been the one who had hurt Maleficent so?
Was that why she had placed the curse? As revenge?
It all seemed clearer now as she stood there watching the appendages fluttering helplessly behind the glass.
She had to put an end to this.
She had to set things right.
It didn't take Aurora long to find something heavy enough to shatter the glass casing.
She watched in amazement as the wings flew by their own accord toward a window, breaking through the glass in one movement.
She just hoped that they found their way to their rightful place.