Maleficent's head shot out of Hades pocket.
She didn't ask to turn into a lizard. Nor did she ask to be stuffed in an old gods jacket pocket. She'd struggled at first, not really able to determine up from down. Then she'd heard her voice.
Mal.
Her and that little brat, Hadie. Maleficent stilled herself to listen as three spoke. She remembered her and Hades history well. But hearing Mal describe it...
She felt a heaviness in her chest. She'd felt it often recently, making her wonder if it was some sort of Auradon magic. She'd felt something similar when Mal was sad in her dorm room. Or when she tried on her dresses to go out with Ben. Or when Mal sat on her bed and told her of her day.
Staying still, she contemplated her thoughts well into the next part of the Genie's daughter magic retelling. Lizards are exceptionally good at staying still for a long time, she found.
Her snout had popped out in response to the imbecile pixies and their shouts. Oh how Maleficent missed causing that sort of mayhem and having fun. Whether Diaval approved it or not.
For a blasted bird she saved, he sure was opinionated.
And speaking of the bird...There he sat next to an older version of Beastie. And that ridiculous family of theirs. Oh what joy she'd find in turning them each into lizards. Or newts. Or ugly frogs that no true love could fix.
Except for the fact that true love was a sure fire way out of a lot of curses or spells.
Speaking of love...
"I did not fall out of love for her."
"You said she wasn't an easy person to deal with," His daughter reminded.
"That doesn't mean I didn't at some point love her."
Her normally cold chest felt warm once again. Knowing nothing bad could come out of such feelings, she rested on the top of the pocket to relive her history with Beastie.
"As the days went on, Stefan darkened, further consumed by paranoia and vengeance."
"Sounds like a lot of villains we know," Jay said to Aziz.
Aziz adjusted in his crouch. "Evil Queen, Hook, Gothel, Bowler Hat Guy, what we thought was Maleficent," He listed on his fingers.
"Do not list my husband in with those...criminals! My family is held in the highest regard!" Leah seethed at the boys. Cinderella and Belle simultaneously hid their annoyed eye rolls.
Jay shrugged. "I mean technically," He ignored her glare. "King Henry, and I do mean the forked beard one-"
Cinderella's beloved laughed heartily as Jay continued, "attempted to attack the Moors with no reason. Maybe not evil considering that's a normal royal thing, but still. Stefan attacked a woman, a friend at that, just to become king. You may not be evil, but you were rude to Mal, and helped make your granddaughter evil," Jay laughed.
"Not evil until proven guilty," Ben muttered to himself.
Aziz exchanged fearful shock with his sister. He'd gone far before, but his rudeness couldn't hold a flame to how direct Jay was being.
"Maleficent and the Rose family have had a lot of turmoil, haven't they?" Anxelin chose not to reference Mal and Audrey, or Maleficent and Aurora in particular, for obvious reason.
"More than you think," Diaval spoke out. "Maleficent's parents were the rulers of the Moors. And it just so happened that they were bested by the one and only, King Henry in his reign."
Her mouth pursed in wonder. And here she thought Arendelle and her family had a long history of distaste. As well as Cinderellasburg and Charmington.
The sky was dark and filled with clouds that further obscured the night. The smoke of the torches held by soldiers were the only light to be seen outside of the Moors.
L'il Shang let out a whistle. "This doesn't look good."
"What clued you in?" His sister retorted.
"Burn it all down!"
"Yer joking, right?" Merida whistled. "That's bravery right there."
Moana bit her lip. "That's not bravery, that's insanity. I mean, the Moor creatures took out part of their army. That's a lot of risk!"
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers called in response to their captain.
"Flame!" Loaded catapults were set ablaze.
"C'mon they are not that stupid," Zephyr crossed his arms.
Quasimodo nudged him. "I think they're that stupid."
"Release!"
"Yes, yes they are," Madellaine said with a kiss on the cheek to her love.
The catapults launched their ammunition into the heavy thicket of thorns surrounding the Moors. With each new shot the branches were set alight.
They each cheered as the flame spread throughout the walls.
"Too easy," Harry said with a sing-song voice that worried the nearby AKs.
With the loudest of groans, a few fiery thorns unfurled themselves into the air at Maleficent's wicked magic.
Hubert's mouth fell open, out dropping the biscuit he had just stuck in. Merida slapped a hand to her face in embarrassment.
"She. Is. Pissed," Danny drawled, giving a similar reaction to Hubert. Luckily enough, he didn't have food in his mouth.
"What idiots," His sister scoffed. She bet she could plan something better than that.
"I'd be upset too if soldiers were trying to burst into my home," Wendy's husband puffed his chest out in added bravado to prove this.
"Oh dear."
The men warily stared at the seemingly now living brambles.
"Run," Uma grinned wickedly.
Chaos erupted as one slammed down onto a catapult. Another squarely knocked out a guard. They ran as one after the next thorns slammed onto the earth around them and lit the dry brush.
Sparrow shivered. "And here I thought the rock giants were brutal."
Without mercy, Maleficent manipulated a branch to grab hold of a man and send him through the air.
Megara winced. She'd seen a lot of Hades tempers and seen him toss his minions around often. She didn't envy the bruises any of them would have come morning. If they could feel anything with those burns. Oh how she'd nursed those too.
Adam's mind was on something other than the nursing health of the attacked men. If Maleficent's mother could do that, what would Mal do if she was aggravated as such? At the back of his mind he knew the situations were completely different. He would never let anything close to that happen to her, but part of him was still worried for his son.
The fire of the wall faded into a decorated fireplace as the scene changed.
"I've always disliked that fireplace," Philip said offhandedly. By all means, it was an icebreaker for the tenseness caused by the last scene. Though Audrey wished her father could be less random.
Aladdin dragged a hand across his face, used to his friends antics as much as their kids were used to each others.
"Why do you know a specific fireplace in that large castle?" He grimaced, not totally wanting the answer.
"Because I disliked that one in particular."
"I dislike it as well," Audrey piped in. It was where her parents and their generals always had their most boring meetings. And for the fact it was her cousins favorite room to pester her in.
"You don't know various parts of your own castle?" Eugene asked cheekily.
"I live in the desert! We don't need fireplaces!" The Sultan said without heat in his voice.
"Then the icebox."
Aladdin shook his head in exasperation.
"You failed me," Stefan's voice said.
"I'm sorry what?" Freddie butt in. "How is Maleficent turning their attack against them anyone's fault but his for not seeing that as king?"
"His fault as general?" Jordan supposed.
"The wall cannot be burned," His general explained. His silver clad men stood behind him, each worn and scrapped. The general had facial wounds to show. "It is indestructible."
Stefan stepped forward angrily. With a glare he struck the man with a swift slap across the face.
"Oh my!" Fairy Godmother exclaimed.
"This dude is insane," Zevon grinned. "Absolutely freaking insane."
Tarrant shook his curled locks. The table with the most vk's was filled with amused or smirking children. The majority of the royals wore glares. They knew such disrespect, even to an insubordinate, was intolerable. The children however, lets just say he wouldn't be letting his kids anywhere near them. Especially if Iracebeth's children were on the next load.
Hades himself would have chortled if not for the pressure Mal's heel was giving to his foot.
"Nothing is indestructible!" He shouted. He made his way to a table with maps and a castle diorama where he swatted off various metals. "Not the wall! Not Maleficent! Not even her curse!"
Jane hooked her arm around her boyfriend, concern laced on her face. "Carlos?"
His shock morphing into a gentle smile. "Nothing," He reassured. "That little 'temper tantrum' just reminded me of my mother."
"Just another reason Stefan is totally a villain," Derek added.
"Why are the going after the wall in the first place?" Evie wondered aloud.
"Probably to go after Maleficent. She did attack a Royal," Lonnie explained. "Capturing her would be their main priority for the next 16 years, and try to make her renounce the curse, or take her so they could take the Moors." Mulan and Shang exchanged proud smiles.
Stefan swiped an ornate dagger from the hilt at his waist and stabbed it into the table. The men, worse for wear, glared knowing they could say nothing.
"They know he's an issue, but can do nothing about it," Ben muttered.
"Reminds me of a lot of others," Evie murmured back. She glanced around the room, but for the life of him Ben couldn't think of too many examples.
Ben thoughts went rampant with stress. For he hoped there would never be a day when his people looked at him that way.
Stefan plucked his blade up. As he twisted it around in his hand examining it, a sudden twisted, malicious idea came to the King's mind.
Freddie threw her hands up in disdain. "Ah yes, that is totally not an evil look Stefan is giving right now. Totally a normal Auradonian appearance."
"Bring me the iron workers."
Fairy Godmother felt a lump from in her throat. Truly he wouldn't go so far to abuse that. But at the same time...
Concern for her daughter instantly flashed through her. If Audrey held the same thought process as her family...Jane and Audrey shared a dorm room for a few years. Was her daughter ever in any danger?
"And just like a villain to exploit another's weakness," Ally said crossly. "How very unfair."
Lily rested a hand on her friends arm. "But against an enemy, it's also a very good tactic. Cheap, but a tactic."
With a sneer, Ariana leaned towards her cousin. "Evil runs in the family," She whispered. Philip's niece smiled at the discomfort on Audrey. Even better, the adults were not looking. Hannah didn't even bear mention.
Unbeknownst to her Hades and Mal shared a look up on the balcony.
In a change of the gloom of the castle's inner turmoil, far away from the hatred of the Moors and the Kingdom, a beautiful grassy plain and cliff sat. There nestled and hidden in a tree, Maleficent and Diaval lurked.
"Y'know," Aziz said. Jay and Sherie rolled their eyes before he could even continue. "She's in tree's an awful lot."
"Fae and fairies are very in tune with nature," Aziz craned his neck back. Floating directly above his head was the one and only Peter Pan.
The twelve year old did back flips in the air, to the younger children's amusements. "Not all fae and fairies are actively apart of nature, but each always has a home in it!"
Mal frowned, remembering her thorn plants and snap dragons back at home. Each one, her mother took away from her when she couldn't raise them properly. The corners of her father's mouth lifted. "You got your uncanny unalignment with nature from me."
"So I can blame you for my ability to not take care of plants? Well at least I got something from you."
The pixies and Aurora were enjoying a picnic. Or rather, the pixies were enjoying a picnic while the child ran about.
Mal clucked her teeth, face tightening. "Another time skip?" She said. "Was my mother obsessed with securing this or something?"
"You know that's not it Mal," Her father told her. She refused to acknowledge him.
Maleficent's mischief was palpable as she lifted two subtle fingers. With a smile she tugged at the air with a golden touch. In response Flittle jerked with a cry as her hair was pulled.
Hades couldn't help but feel a twinge of contentment. Oh if his she had magic on the Isle, only the slightest bit, what fun they would have had. Unconsciously, he checked on Maleficent. She seemed to be enjoying herself with just watching.
In an annoyed and albeit childish response, the blue pixie tugged at Thislewit's golden curls. "Ow!" Thislewit did the same back to her while Knotgrass contently ignored the two in favor of her food.
Noticing this, Maleficent knocked the hat off the red pixies head. Maleficent smiled in satisfaction as Knotgrass and Flittle shoved down Thistlewit who sat between them. Their picnic was seemingly forgotten.
"You were right, Merida," Kristoff called to the red head. "They do act like your brothers."
The triplets simultaneously lifted their heads towards the king.
"Much less, they act like my children," Zeus guffawed. Hercules heard the small bit of pride his father had in that sentence for some reason.
With their squabbling on the grass, it seemed they also forgot about their young charge, who was now around three years old.
Tyler resisted the urge to slam his head on the table as he watched Knotgrass leave the two fools for a pastry. "She left their little fight to go back to eating her sweets, are you serious? And they're not watching he kid!"
"The kid," His sister hissed. "Is Queen Aurora."
"I know, I know," He made a mental note to refer to her in politer terms for the meanwhile.
"Oh look," Maleficent said nonchalantly. On the hill, Aurora chased after a monarch butterfly and was coming very close to the edge of the grassy cliff. "The little beast is about to fall off the cliff."
Unlike the Maldonia and Bayou d'Orlean's natives, Hannah had no qualms about twisting in her seat to pink dressed Queen. "Aunt Aurora, you had no survival skills," She blandly stated.
Her parents covered their laughter. "I was a child!" Aurora defended without taking offense.
Diaval cawed urgently to his mistress.
"Why aren't those three watching you?" Leah huffed.
"Mother, I'm still here, aren't I?"
The older woman crumpled her handkerchief up nevertheless. "Doesn't change the fact that they aren't doing their job!"
His Mistress, who did nothing to stop the gleeful blonde. As she reached the edge, the screen only showed Maleficents gaze dip down as Aurora's high pitched scream was heard.
Sherie jolted back in her chair in alarm. She's fallen off of magic carpets more times than she cared to admit, so she felt uncomfortable nostalgia at the sound.
The pit of dread in Anita's stomach deepened. Who just watches as a child falls over twenty feet?!
"The fairies did their job all right," Hannah muttered.
Leah shook her head. "Of course they did! Like my daughter said, she's still here. So they must have caught her."
The next that heard was Aurora's laughter as the vines on the rock side detached themselves to catch and lift her back up.
Diaval lifted his wing off his eyes in shock.
"What?"
She leaned her head back with a sigh.
His shock was also felt by the entire room. Why would Maleficent save the child that she cursed? To cause Stefan more agony?
Unless...
Alice leaned her head on her husbands shoulder. She wouldn't be concerned anymore about the actions on screen. She could tell now just who Maleficent was. As impossible as it may seem.
Belle saw the gentleness in Maleficent's eyes, as well as the tiredness of her own confusion to the situations. It reminded her of her husband, just as it reminded Ben of Uma. If those two could become good, then a leopard cold surely change their spots in this situation as well.
"Did they not hear her scream?!" Hadie shouted in frustration, surprising Hercules and Meg who he paid no attention to. His sister and father had went to the balcony but he had been fine going back to his seat. Despite the fact his family that he'd yet to speak a word to was there as well.
At another point in time, Aurora was seen heading down thin trail from the cottage.
"She's a child, where is she going?" Ruby wondered.
"I spent the first 16 years of my life in exile as well in the forest, not once was I able to go running around the forest nearby," Rapunzel pouted mournfully.
"Oh Raps," Eugene pitied unsympathetically.
Maleficent straightened up from using magic to heal the bark of a tree. Slowly she glanced over her shoulder to the blonde haired beauty gazing up at her.
"Back with the trees I see."
"Aziz!" His mother chided.
"Hello."
Diaval seemed just as surprised by the smiling child's appearance.
"Go away," Maleficent commanded when she recovered from the surprise. Instead, Aurora just took a step forward. "Go. Go away."
She scoffed in annoyance when the three year old wrapped her small arms around her waist. "I don't like children."
"No kidding," Carlos dug through his memories in wonder. "No kid ever goes near Maleficent, let alone smiles at her."
"Most run away in the opposite direction or start crying," Evie added.
Carlos agreed. He'd done both of those things.
At Diaval's encouraging, Maleficent complied with Aurora's pleas of, "Up, up."
She lifted the girl up from under her arms with disdain. Aurora immediately grabbed hold of Maleficent's horns, pulling her head towards her. After playing with the upturned collar of her outfit for a moment, she had Maleficent put her down.
Lyric frowned, fully prepared to tell his cousin off for hurting his ears. To his surprise and annoyance, it had come from his raven haired sister.
"They're so cute together!" She awed.
"Mmm. Go along. Go, go, go," Maleficent urged. The child toddled back along to where she had appeared from. Maleficent watched with an upturned brow.
Quasimodo took note of how the two's interactions. Maleficent may have tried to show off her heart of steel, but inside it was obvious how her true self was. Not only that, but how much her heart was melting at the innocent child she had cursed.
Mal let out a hot breath. She'd been grinding her teeth together, a habit she hadn't done since renouncing their evil heritage. Something about how Maleficent looked at Aurora ticked her off.
Perhaps it was because Maleficent had never given that look to her. Envy started to swirl in her green eyes.