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Chapter 1
Garderienne's Fall
Black flames... Black smoke… Black soot… Black vines…
These were the things that Garderienne was engulfed in. No screams could be heard from within the kingdom walls; only the burning of wood, the crumbling of stone, and the ruination of earth. Everyone in the kingdom had died in just a single night.
Maleficent's recent attack upon the kingdom had been unimaginably destructive and swift. Taking the form of a titanic, black, and fire-engulfed dragon, she had flown over the cities, breathing dark fire in her wake.
Along with her, were hollowed beings in ragged dark-purple cloaks. Each wielding swords, scythes, or black flames. They had gone to every area unaffected by the dragon's breath, and slew and burned people. Few of the cloaked beings just phased through their victims, turning them into stone in the process; some eventually crumbled into rubble.
And from under the earth emerged thorny black vines. They had wrought havoc in the city; splitting the pavement, plaguing the soils with blight, rotting all vegetation, destroying buildings, impaling people.
Panic and despair were rampant during the chaos. Even their supposed protectors, who stood no chance against the dragon and her minions. Each citizen ran or hid for their lives, desperate for salvation, only to die eventually. Those brave enough to take on the invasion would only meet their demise almost immediately.
The dragon only left destruction on its path, there was no structure left unscathed. Every citizen was hunted down. No corner was safe, even behind the fortified castle walls. There was only carnage and ruination.
What only remained of Garderienne was the castle in an uninhabitable, burnt state; surrounded by ashes and char of the surrounding buildings, crumbled stone from the destroyed structures, petrified people, forests of black thorny vines, and flames of black and red. Maleficent's dragon form nested on the ruins of the castle, breathing more fire to an already burnt kingdom just for her satisfaction.
In the outskirts of the kingdom, a prince clad in black armor rode his white steed with an unconscious, golden-haired woman hanged-tied on the back of the steed. They had been riding for what it seemed hours in the middle of the night, avoiding vines, flames, and cloaked creatures. The kingdom walls were finally on sight.
"Stay strong, Aurora. I promise you, we will get to safety… We're almost there," the prince, Phillip, vowed to his unconscious princess. "Hiyaa!" he ordered his horse to go faster.
Phillip had witnessed the destruction brought by the black dragon, its swift fiery flight towards the castle had destroyed parts of the structure with a single swoop. His first instinct had been to save his princess, no order was needed to what he had to do. Through fire, smoke, dust, and ash, he had aided her escape. Due to exhaustion, suffocation, and panic, Aurora had fainted near the stables as they raced to the prince's steed, Samson.
The prince had never seen such destruction, even Maleficent's previous attack wasn't this destructive. This wasn't just some attack on the castle, it was an invasion, a massacre. The roads he rode along were cluttered with bloodied, burnt corpses; and decapitated parts of petrified people. He didn't want to know which fate was worse.
It didn't matter, they were almost out of there.
Three cloaked creatures suddenly came flying above them, only intending death.
Phillip spurred Samson to be faster. He steadied himself firmly on his horse to unsheathe his sword and shield. Both sword and shield glistened with sparkles of red, green, and blue.
One cloaked creature shot balls of black fire at the rider. The prince raised his shield at the incoming attack. A dome of light appeared from the shield. Then, as the fireballs touched the light, they extinguished.
The other two cloaked beings took advantage of Phillip's distraction and swooped down towards him with swords in hand. As they reached Phillip, the prince lowered his shield and swiftly swung his sword. A stream of light generated on areas the sword swung through. One cloaked creature evaded the counter-attack; the other didn't, disintegrating into flames of black, then turning into black and purple ash. Then came a series of swings from the remaining creature, each getting parried by the prince. Each clash emitted sparks of red, green, blue, and black.
As the swords clashed amongst each other, the flame-wielding creature flew to the front of the steed and shot another series of fireballs. Samson dodging each one.
The horse's dodging unsteadied Phillip's position, giving the other assailant the opportunity to make one vigorous attack, which was fortunately blocked by the prince's shield in a clutch manner. With the cloaked creature staggering from the block, Phillip finished it off with one final stab.
Phillip finally faced forward to see the remaining foe. It went into a fiery rage then came at him with full speed. The horse evaded the attack as his rider slashed the flaming creature from the side. The slain creature burst into flames greater than the other ones, enough to singe the horse and the rider on one side.
Even with the burns, they still pressed on towards the ruined kingdom wall. They would endure the pain just to get the princess to safety.
The kingdom walls were finally passed through. Through the forests of the Moors, they went. Phillip knew where to head next.
They arrived at an old cottage in the middle of the Moors' forests. Phillip carefully unharnessed Aurora's unconscious body from his horse. He carried her inside.
As he entered the cottage, he noticed that it had been empty for quite some time. Layers of dust had been collecting on the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture. It would be out of its fairy inhabitants' minds to let any speck of dust to gather in their home. Judging by the amount of dust and cobwebs visible to the prince's eyes, no one was there for weeks. But judging from the unfinished dresses that were haplessly folded on the worktables, the fairies would return.
Phillip laid his princess on the bed inside her old bedroom. He glanced at Aurora laying there peacefully. He pondered on what they were going to do now. They had lost everything, destroyed by Maleficent.
The prince sat by the wall near the window, one knee raised and an arm laying on it. He needed to rest after the exhaustion from all the chaos that had happened, for it would be dawn in just a few hours. It looked like they would be here for quite a while... until the fairies come.
Author's Notes:
This is a re-upload from AO3. Just decided to publish it here.
For a long while, I thought of a story about ALL the Disney Princess pantheon having a crossover in a single universe on the same timeline (ridiculous, I know). I just thought I could try to write an actual fanfic about it. This story will be its own universe. I will have to world-build a bit for location names, background history, etc.. I will TRY to stick to the canon as much as I deem it logical.
I named Aurora's kingdom Garderienne, it is found in the forest locals call the Moors (from Maleficent).
I started on Sleeping Beauty, because I think their story is workable as a blank slate. I will diverge a bit from what was canon from the movie for more characterizations and world build. The crossovers will come in future chapters, tags will be updated as those chapters go.
Constructive criticisms welcome. Grammar corrections welcome. Word-selection suggestions welcome.