When Maesi was ten years old, her parents told her about her grandmother and what she did. They explained how she wasn't a good person and that the things she did were wrong and terrifying. They told her about the Isle, how her grandmother ruled there using fear and how she was there when she gave birth to Maesi's mother. They informed Maesi of what happened when her grandmother escaped, how she tried to take over Auradon and how Maesi's mother and her friends had to be the ones to defeat her. Finally, Maesi's parents revealed to her that her grandmother was being kept in a locked room in the castle, in a cage where she was under twenty-four-hour surveillance.
Maesi's father pulled out his phone to show Maesi a live feed of her grandmother – who was now a lizard. She was sat in a large cage, with plenty of room to run around and seemingly well supplied with food and water. It was clean and the room around was quite brightly lit with comfy chairs scattered around for when she had visitors (which was very rare and only tended to be two people – Maesi's parents). It was clear that the lizard that apparently used to be the evilest of them all was well taken care of.
After the conversation, they'd asked Maesi if she had anything she wanted to ask them but she just shook her head and told them that she wanted to think about it for a bit. Her parents understood and watched her leave.
Maesi's feet took her straight to her big sister's room, where she gently knocked on the door.
"Come in!" her sister called out from the other side of the door.
"Hey, Lala," Maesi replied as she opened the door. She went and lay on her sister's bed, looking at Lia who was sat on her bay window, book in her lap.
"Hey, Ellie," Lia replied, gently placing a bookmark in between the pages of her book and closing it. "What's up?"
"Did Mommy and Daddy ever tell you about our grandma? Like Mommy's mom?"
Lia nodded, "Yeah. They told me a few years ago. They wanted to wait to tell you though because it's difficult to understand."
"Well, I don't get why Grandma's all locked up. Shouldn't they be trying to give her a second chance?"
"They did, I think," Lia replied, "But she's a lizard, so it's probably hard to tell whether she wants to change."
"But any curse can be broken," Maesi countered, "So why didn't they try harder to break it?"
Lia shrugged, "Grandma's dangerous, Ellie. She hurt a lot of people."
"So did Grandy," Maesi argued, "But he got a second chance. I think Grandma should be given one too."
Lia pursed her lips a little. "I don't know, Ellie. It's not just that Grandma is really dangerous. I think Mom might be scared of her."
Maesi looked at her sister with curiosity. She always looked up to her sister, who was four years older than her, and always thought that she was so much smarter. If Lia told Maesi something that she didn't know, she'd probably believe her. "Why?"
Lia shrugged, "I have my guesses but I don't really know why she's scared of her mom. I've just...Mom sometimes has nightmares. One time when I went to go see if she was okay because I heard her screaming, I heard her crying. She was telling Dad that she was having nightmares about Grandma and Dad was telling Mom that Grandma couldn't hurt her any more."
Maesi frowned, "But...Mommy said that if Grandma learned how to love, the curse would break. Maybe she wouldn't be so scary any more if she knew how to love."
Lia considered this. "I guess so, but maybe Grandma isn't capable of love. I mean, she's so small and that's meant to be the size of the love in her heart."
"I think we should try," Maesi decided. "I think we might be able to teach her to love. Mom always says that we're super lovable."
Lia laughed at her little sister, "Yeah, maybe but will they let us?"
Maesi shrugged, "She's just a little lizard. She can't hurt us, right?"
"I guess so."
"Come on, let's go!" Maesi cried out, hopping off the bed and half skipping towards the door.
"What, now?" Lia asked, as she got off the window ledge and started following her little sister.
Maesi nodded enthusiastically with a broad grin, "Why should she have to wait to get a second chance?"
Lia blinked at her sister for a second before conceding with a nod. "Okay, but I think we should ask Mom and Dad first."
"Fine," Maesi agreed.
The two of them walked back to the family sitting room, where their parents were still sat. Their father had his arm around their mother and was slowly stroking his hand up and down her arm as her head lay on his chest, her eyes focused on the empty fireplace.
Mal looked up as her daughters walked in, with innocent looks on her face that she knew meant that they were going to ask for something. Ben's hand slid off of her shoulder and onto her back as she sat up properly to look at them.
"Hi girls," she greeted, giving them a small smile.
"Mommy, can we go visit Grandma?"
Mal's brain froze for a second as it tried to process the question that had come out of her youngest daughter's mouth. "I...what?"
"Can we please go visit Grandma?"
"Uh," she quickly glanced at Ben who seemed equally surprised by the question, "I guess...wait, why do you want to?"
Maesi shrugged, "I want to give her a second chance. Everybody deserves one, right?"
"That is what you taught us," Lia chimed in.
"That's true," Ben pointed out, though his eyes were full of concern as he gazed at Mal.
"I, uh, guess so. Not for too long though, okay?"
The girls grinned and Maesi ran up to give her parents a quick hug before grabbing her sister's hand and dragging her out of the room while questioning if she knew where their grandmother's room was.
Ben moved his hand from Mal's back and laid it on her shoulder. Instinctively, she grabbed it and held it there.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Ben asked, giving her a gentle squeeze.
Mal nodded, though her gaze remained on the door, "Yeah, I mean, she's just a tiny lizard, right? She can't...she can't hurt them."
"No, she can't. And there are still guards stationed outside her room and I still have the live feed connected to my phone, so they'll be watched over when with her."
Mal nodded and turned to look at Ben with a soft smile. "I think we're raising them right if they're that willing to give her a second chance."
Ben smiled back and gave a small nod before squeezing her shoulder again, "They're a lot like you that way."
Mal laughed and squeezed his hand back, "Yeah, okay," she replied as she got up.
"I'm serious," Ben answered, allowing Mal to drag him to his feet.
Mal didn't say anything as she gently shook her head at him disbelievingly before entwining their fingers and following the girls to make sure they knew where Maleficent's prison was.
Weeks passed by and every few days, Maesi (and Lia if she had time) would ask if she could go visit her grandmother. Mal and Ben didn't let her go more than once per week, but even then, they ensured the visits were short. Soon enough the fall came around and it was time for Lia to go back to Auradon Prep, meaning that Maesi was more lonely than usual. This led to her asking her parents every day if she could go visit her grandma so that she'd have someone to talk to, especially as Ben and Mal sometimes had to work late. Mal didn't like it but eventually, she relented into allowing her to visit several times per week and together the three of them drew up a schedule for when she'd be allowed to visit the lizard.
This made Mal feel better about allowing Maesi to visit Maleficent because she knew when she'd be in there and it also meant that the guards were always aware of when the princess was meant to be in the room, so they could plan the shift changes carefully around it.
Soon weeks turned into months, and Maesi was always coming back from her visits to her grandmother with a smile on her face. Any fear that Mal had about her daughter visiting Maleficent was slowly beginning to disappear, especially when Lia would also be smiling when she joined Maesi for the visits on the occasional weekend she spent at home.
During the Christmas holidays, Maesi came to her parents with a question that they weren't really expecting.
"Can we put Grandma in the family room?" she asked, while they were eating breakfast together.
The question took them both by surprise and they exchanged bewildered glances before looking back at their youngest.
Mal replied, after a few seconds, "Uh...why do you want her in the family room?"
Maesi shrugged, "Lia and I were talking about it yesterday when she called and we just thought maybe it'll be easier to teach her to love if we put her somewhere where she'll see it every day."
Mal looked over at Ben who just gave her a small shrug in return. "Dad and I will have to think about that for a bit."
Maesi just nodded in agreement and went back to her meal.
They didn't end up discussing it until long after Maesi had gone off to school. It was all Mal could think about while she was trying to get ready for their daily meeting with the royal advisors. Maesi's question twirled round and round in her head as they gathered their things. She didn't know what was the right thing to do. The girls had clearly thought about it and their point made sense but Mal wasn't sure if it was something she could bring herself to do.
"Do you think we should do it?" she finally asked, looking over at Ben.
Ben looked up at her with a little confusion. "Do what?"
"Move my mom into the family room."
"Oh," Ben replied, looking a little surprised at the question. "I mean, Maesi made a good point about it being easier to teach her love that way, but I think this needs to be up to you, Mal."
Mal sighed, "Why does it have to be up to me?" Her head felt like it was splitting in two from attempting to weigh this decision in her head.
Ben gently put his hand on her forearm, "Because neither I nor the girls will ever be able to know what she put you through the way you do and it wouldn't be fair for me to make a decision that would impact you more than any of the rest of us."
Mal looked at him, his hazel eyes filled with equal amounts of encouragement and concern. He was right that it wouldn't impact the girls or him the way it would her and she knew that. She just wasn't sure which decision to make, as if she were to say no to the girls, she'd feel like she was taking away something important from them but if she were to say yes, there would be the chance that she may not feel comfortable entering the family room any more. However, as she thought about it, Mal remembered that having her mother in her dorm room had not caused her any discomfort. On the other hand, this would mean that Maleficent would be able to see not only parts of Mal's life but also her daughters' and her husband's and she wasn't sure how okay with that she was.
But maybe that was the point. After all, her daughter had said that she and Lia had thought of this for that very reason – giving Maleficent that kind of view into their lives may be able to show them the love that she'd never had and may teach her to, if she was, in fact, capable of love.
This debate happened in Mal's head throughout the meeting, where she hadn't really taken in anything that was said (Ben was quick to realise this and would gently tap her if her input was needed). As they were talking back to their office, Mal turned to Ben and said: "Let's do it."
Ben gave her a confused look. "You're going to have to be more specific," he told her, "given the number of things we discussed needed doing in that meeting."
"Let's bring my mother into the family room."
Ben furrowed his brow at this. "Are you sure?" He'd clearly not expected her to agree to this and if she was being honest with herself, Mal was a little surprised by the decision too.
"Yeah," Mal replied, "I'm sure. After all, she's just a lizard. What's the worst she could do? Besides, it's almost Christmas. No better time to try and teach someone to love, right?"
Ben smiled and nodded, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'll order to guards to move her tonight and we can surprise Maesi in the morning. No doubt the first thing she'll do is call Lia, so she'll find out pretty quickly after Maesi does."
Mal laughed, shaking her head lightly, "That's true."
And it was. Maesi was so delighted that she immediately called her sister to show that their parents had agreed to their idea and that was immediately followed by her hugging her parents tightly. Lia was equally enthusiastic when she returned for the holidays and Maleficent, for all intents and purposes, became a fixture in the daily family life.
It wasn't unusual for Mal to find her daughters chatting away with their grandmother as the days passed by and soon, she even found herself making occasional comments to her mother if she was alone and needed to voice her thoughts aloud. From time to time, she even had a conversation with her mother, in which she would lay her cards on the table, admitting to the hurt that Maleficent had subjected her to and confessing that despite it all, Mal still loved her. She always had and as much as Maleficent had hurt her, it was difficult for her to not love her mother, which scared her more than she was willing to admit.
Days turned into weeks, which turned into months and soon enough it had been two years since Maesi and Lia had first asked if they could see their grandmother. Maesi was now twelve, while Lia was nearing seventeen. Maleficent was such a normal part of their life now that nobody even really thought twice about the lizard (who had seemingly grown somewhat in size) that lived in their family room. That was their grandmother and she was part of the family as much as she could be.
Then one day, something changed.
It was just another summer day in the castle and the king and queen had decided to take some time off so that plans for the oldest princess's birthday could be discussed. They were sat in the family room with their daughters and with Ben's parents, all chatting, laughing, and having a great time as some of the final details of the party were being discussed. At some point, Ben's father cracked a joke, though what it was about, Mal couldn't tell you.
Just as the room erupted into laughter, Mal saw her youngest turn to the cage where Maleficent was kept, as to include her in on the joke, something she had done many times before.
At that moment, a bright light suddenly shone from the cage, almost blinding everyone in the room, who'd all thrown their hands in front of their faces to shield their eyes. There was an almighty crashing sound and then the light disappeared and standing among the ruins of the broken cage stood a woman. Her headdress had fallen from her head leaving her long purple locks to flow down to her midriff. Her eyes were the same shade green that Mal's were yet didn't have the same frightening glint that they used to have and her face was lined with many more wrinkles than had been there all those years ago. However, despite these differences, there was no doubt in anyone's mind who stood before them.
"Mom?" Mal's voice broke the stunned silence that had followed and the next second, Lia and Maesi had been pushed behind their parents and Adam was standing protectively in front of his wife.
Maesi tried to push past her dad. "Grandma!" Ben held his youngest back, preventing her from going to her grandmother. In his mind, memories of his coronation and of Mal's stories and nightmares flashed by.
"Let her come to me," Maleficent asked, her voice broken and withered. "Please. I won't hurt her, I promise."
"Why should we trust you?" Mal demanded, her eyes beginning to glow.
Maleficent looked at her daughter with slightly narrowed eyes. "Because I love her, darling. You know I do." She sighed when Mal shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, honestly, Mal. You're a powerful sorceress. There was no way to break this spell without learning how to love. You know that!"
Mal shook her head again, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "No. You won't come near my children."
"Mom," Lia said, softly, placing a hand on her mother's shoulder, "She's right. She won't hurt us. And if she does, it's six against one. She wouldn't stand a chance and she knows it."
Mal looked back at Lia, her heart swelling as she realised just how grown-up her oldest was. "Just...stay by your sister's side."
Lia nodded and so Mal nodded to Ben. The two of them both relaxed their stance and let their daughter's slip past them.
Ben looked over to his parents who were still visibly tense as they worriedly watched their granddaughters be embraced by one of their country's worst enemies. He then glanced at Mal, who was looking at her mother, and saw the tears forming in her eyes as her mother gazed at Maesi and Lia in adoration. She choked back a sob and took off from the room running.
Ben quickly glanced at his father who nodded at him, a quick reassurance that they would keep the girls safe, then Ben ran after his wife.
He found her quickly and his heart shattered as he saw her leaning against the wall for support, trying to muffle her sobs with her hand. Without a word, Ben drew her into his arms and wrapped himself completely around her as she sobbed into his chest.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," he murmured. "We'll figure this out. I know seeing your mother is difficult but we'll figure it all out, I promise."
Mal shook her head, "I know, I know," she replied between sobs, "That's not even why I'm crying."
Ben gently rubbed his hand up and down her back, a little confused by her confession. "Why are you crying, then? What can I do to help?"
Mal gulped down a few breaths as she pulled away from him, "You're going to think I'm so selfish," she muttered as the tears continued streaming down her face.
"How about you tell me what's going on and you let me decide what I think?"
Mal attempted to wipe away the tears that were coming but it was ineffective. "I just...I'm mad. At Mom, at myself, and a little at the girls, but I think that's more jealousy than anything, which is so stupid because I'm so proud of them and I love them so much and they're so unbelievably amazing to have managed to teach my mother of all people to love but...that's half the problem."
Ben waited for a few seconds before responding, "I'm not sure I understand, Mal. What's half the problem?"
Mal swallowed then looked up at him. "I love them so much. If someone were to cast the spell on me that I cast on my mother, I'd cover the whole country. Maybe even more than that. I can't even comprehend how much I love them." Ben nodded. This he understood. He felt exactly the same way. "So why was my mother so tiny?"
Ben didn't know what to think or how to respond as the question came out of Mal's mouth, followed by an onslaught of fresh tears. Ben pulled her back into his arms, allowing her some time to cry as she gathered her thoughts. After a few seconds, she pulled back again, though Ben kept his arms firmly around her.
"I know it sounds so stupid but I convinced myself that maybe my mother just isn't capable of love. I mean, when Lia was born, all she did was cry and I instantly knew that if I was the size of my heart I would be so, so big." Mal gave a little laugh as she tried to still her tears again, "So if I felt that way about her when all she did was be born, then maybe, just maybe, my mom wasn't capable of love. Which means that it wasn't my fault."
Ben felt his heart breaking for her at that moment. He knew how hard she fought for her mother's approval. He knew how much it meant to her. He knew that she just wanted to be good enough to be loved.
Mal continued, wiping away some of her tears as she did so. "But obviously it was. Because my mother is capable of love. I just wasn't worthy of her love. I tried so hard but it wasn't enough." She began sobbing harder now, "Why wasn't I enough, Ben? Why wasn't I enough?" The anguish in her cries pained Ben beyond words and what hurt even more was that he didn't know what to say, or do to take that pain away, so he just pulled her in closer, held her tighter.
As his wife sobbed in his arms, Ben tried to figure out what to say or what to do. He didn't know how to respond to her question, because he couldn't comprehend Mal not being enough. He couldn't understand why Maleficent, if she was indeed capable of love and of change, didn't love Mal the way she deserved to be loved. He felt a surge of anger towards the Mistress of Evil but tampered it down because Mal was more important at that moment.
"It's not your fault," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her head, "It's not your fault." That was all he could find in him to say but he continued to whisper it over and over because Mal needed to know that whatever the problem was with Maleficent's failure as a mother, it wasn't because of her. "It's not your fault."
Lia came and found them not long after and when Ben saw the look on her face, he knew her heart had broken for her mother. Ben knew that Lia knew more about Mal and Maleficent's relationship than she'd let on.
Ben then led Mal back to their room and left her to sleep for a bit, while he sorted out a place to stay for Maleficent as quickly and efficiently as possible. She was quickly put in an empty flat on the other side of the region, where she was under constant surveillance for a while (as many of the villains had been when they first arrived).
Mal wanted nothing to do with her mother and that was a sentiment that Ben had shared. Lia also came to that decision, which had surprised Ben as teaching Maleficent to love had been partly Lia (Lia confessed that she thought it was a good idea at the time because she thought that all Mal needed was a mother who loved her to help her heal some of the hurt she'd been through – she'd never considered how it would've made Mal feel unworthy, and in Lia's opinion, if Maleficent hadn't though Mal worthy of her love, then Maleficent wasn't worthy of Lia's time).
Maesi was still quite young and thus wasn't really aware of the damage that breaking Maleficent's curse had done. Ben and Mal allowed her to visit her grandmother from time to time, usually only on special occasions, but only if she had guards with her during the whole visit.
Over time, Mal began to heal, bit by bit. She still wanted nothing to do with her mother but with a lot of help (as she'd taken Ben's recommendation to get some therapy after her mother came back into her life) she came to terms with the fact that Maleficent's lack of love for her was not her fault. There would always be a small part of her that didn't believe that, but it lost its hold and lost its power over her.
Years passed by and as Maesi discovered more and more about Maleficent's relationship with Mal, more than the bare-bones details her mother had given her when she was ten, her relationship with Maleficent became more strained. She didn't cut off contact with her the way the other's had, as she'd already had years of a good relationship with her grandmother, but her loyalty to her mother meant that she found her relationship with her grandmother more and more difficult.
Mal knew that wounds like the ones her mother had left were never going to heal completely but she also knew that the scars that they left would be easier to carry because her family, the ones that mattered, would never let her carry them alone.
Here you go, Eli201! Hope this lived up to your expectations.
Sorry this took so long, guys. A lot of exams have been happening in the past couple of months (I'm in my final year and I'm kinda freaking out because ahhh, university is coming up soon!) so I've been super, super busy. Also, I was not enjoying writing this one and I kinda put it off for a while.
Request Count Down: 17
Response to Reviews:
RPM Shadow: Thank you! And no, sorry. I've left that to the readers imagination. I think that's a more fun way of doing it ;)
wildflowerchildGrace: Yeah, it was a bit rough, because I did want to show both sides of the argument as best I could, but I'm glad you thought it was realistic (unlike this one, lol).
ultimatebookworm08: (120) I understand that you're trying to give constructive criticism and I thank you for that but Scotland is, in fact, in Britain. Britain is Scotland, Wales and England. But thank you anyway!
Kate cheese: (151) I'm so glad that you like them! (152) It's probably a very difficult situation for them too. Thank you! :D
Guest: (129) I'm the same, lol!
Love you guys so much! Stay safe! SparkyGurl
P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism. It helps me get better!