Scars Run Deep: Chapter 4 – Hello Dad
I apologize for the delay on this chapter. I have been involved in a leadership program at work that has taken a lot of extra time outside of my normal work hours.
I feel like I've punished Mal quite a bit with a terrible mother, and decided that she should have a parent who actually cares for her. Hades is a favorite of mine, and I always wondered how the Isle's magic inhibiting wards were able to hold a god hostage.
I own nothing, but I enjoy playing in Disney's sandbox now and again.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Mal's Point of View
I stood in the shadows behind a clothing shop and watched as Jay charmed the owner's daughter. As soon as her attention was drawn away from the booth, I was supposed to grab the red sari and run. It was the mother of my heart's birthday, and Jay and wanted to get her a new dress in her favorite color. There weren't many sari's readily available on the Isle, so when we heard that an elaborate red one had been found in a trash bin from Agrabah we knew we had to get our hands on it. From what I could see, it was only missing a few gold bangles, which could be easily covered up by shifting the rest of them slightly to cover the empty space.
I finally saw my chance and grabbed the sari. As I ran around the corner, I bumped into Hades, which knocked me backwards onto the ground. My mom always told everyone that my dad was a "useless mortal," but I knew that she was just bitter. She got drunk one night and cursed Hades for getting her pregnant and leaving her once I was born. She never mentioned it again, and I never asked for details.
Now I was looking up at my dad face to face for the first time, and I was angry. "I was trying to walk here, and you got in my way." I heard shouting behind me and realized that the shop owner had returned and was berating his daughter for losing the sari. Jay came careening around the corner and ducked into an alleyway, climbing onto the roof and running in the opposite direction. He never saw me, but I knew that I had to move quickly before the shop owner did. As I jumped up Hades grabbed my shoulder and turned around, marching out of the marketplace while pushing me in front of him. Now I was starting to get nervous.
He frog marched me through the streets until we reached a cave entrance and he ducked inside. He then stopped and looked at me, eyes searching my face. I shifted nervously as I adjusted my back. It had been hurting for the last couple days, getting worse as time went on. Now it was practically burning, and I felt like something was boiling under my skin. I just wanted to get away from here and back to the mother of my heart. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with my dad.
He reached out and I flinched, expecting to be struck. He stopped and looked at me, and it almost seemed as if there was hurt in his eyes. I decided to strike at him before he had a chance to hurt me. "Go ahead, mother always said that you hated us. Here's your chance to hit me and prove her right."
"I would never hurt you baby girl," he whispered. I was stunned, was that affection I saw in his eyes, mixed with the hurt? "I've watched you grow up from afar for nine years, and I would never hurt you. When I left your mother, I agreed to cut all contact with you in exchange for a promise from her to take care of you. That doesn't mean that I'm not watching out for you."
"Why didn't you ever talk to me then," I tried to sound accusatory but my tone had more hurt in in than I had planned. "Why did you leave me with her," I spat out the last word as if it was something extremely distasteful.
He looked at me tenderly and said, "I didn't want to leave, but it was the only way for me to keep you safe." He saw my confusion and went on. "Your mother never wanted to get pregnant but when you were born, she saw how much I loved you and grew jealous. She didn't love me, but she didn't want to give me a chance to love anyone else. When she became pregnant again, she decided that she didn't want another baby, and took steps to make sure that you didn't have a younger sibling." Tears were streaming down his face at this point. "I begged her to let your younger sibling live and said that I would take both of you away so Maleficent didn't have to raise you, but she was more interested in hurting me than in her own independence. I did get her to promise to take care of you as long as I stayed away, and I knew that she would kill you if I tried to take you to raise alone. I kept my distance to keep you safe."
I winced again and shifted, but this time he noticed. He reached out and laid his hand on my back, and suddenly the pain decreased. I leaned into him, relishing the relief and hoping that it would be permanent. The minute he took his hands away though, the pain returned. I whimpered and his hands came back, causing me to sigh in relief. "Whatever you're doing," I said, "don't stop."
"Are you okay?" he asked gently as his hand rubbed up and down my spine. I opened my eyes and looked at him, sarcasm clear on my face. "I guess not," he chuckled. He reached out and started removing my jacket.
I jumped back and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing," I hissed in anger. "You have no right to take my jacket."
"Calm down baby girl," he said, "I'm just making sure that you have room for your wings. When they erupt, they'll make a mess and I can tell that you like that jacket. You're a bit of a late bloomer. Most fairy's get their wings around six or seven."
I looked at him in shock. "I did get my wings at six, and they were taken away. Fairy's don't get two sets of wings, so I don't know what you think is happening."
My dad appeared shocked. "They were what," he whispered. His face then turned thunderous, "if that woman hurt you…" He spat the word 'woman' out as if it was a curse, and then seemed to be too angry to go on. His hair started flickering, as if he was angry enough that his magic was starting to fight the wards of the Isle and flare up. He was a god, and the magic inhibiting wards of the Isle were having trouble keeping his natural powers in check.
The pain in my back increased, and my attention shifted off of my dad and to my more immediate situation. I took my jacket off now because it was rubbing against the nubs from my wings and was starting to hurt. When my back was exposed, Hades gasped. He could see the ugly scars from when my mother removed my wings three years earlier.
At this point I was completely focused on the pain in my back and wasn't keeping track of Hades anymore. I bowed backwards and felt him grab me around my waist, pulling me forward into his lap so my back was facing away from him. He held me as I whimpered in pain, and then something amazing happened. Blue flame erupted around us as my pain reached its peak, and suddenly wings burst out of my back. My dad held me and the flames dissipated along with the pain.
"Mal, they're beautiful," he breathed in awe. I looked backwards at my wings and couldn't help but agree. They were still purple, but there was more of a blue tint in them then I remembered from the first time. I then realized that the cave wall behind us was covered in blood and white gunk.
I made a face as my dad chuckled. "Your wing sacs seem to have exploded everywhere."
"That gunk was inside me," I said with distaste.
He laughed and replied, "yep." His face then turned serious. "Pushing through your scars required a lot of extra pressure, which is why you were in so much pain. When enough pressure built up for them to break through, it caused a fountain of blood and protective mucus from your wing sacks when they exploded. Apparently being the daughter of a god means that your wings are able to regenerate."
"Is this going to happen every time," I asked?
"Every time," he replied in disbelief. "Why would it need to happen again?"
"Well I won't be able to hide my wings for long," I said in a matter of fact voice, "and I doubt that I'll get to keep them this time around either."
My dad's hair started flickering again as he growled. "If she cuts these off again, then I'll kill her myself."
"You can't do that dad; you know that she has enough clout on the Isle to make your life miserable. You disappeared after you left us, but she built an army of goons to protect her." He looked at me in despair and I went on. "You know that she's going to do whatever she likes, and by letting her take my wings again I can stop her from hurting someone else instead."
"Anything is worth saving you from your mother. She could kill me and I would die happy knowing that you were safe."
"But if you died, I wouldn't be safe anymore because I would still be under her power. I know that you care," I said softly as I stroked his cheek, "and that is enough for me. Please don't let me be the reason that you are destroyed. Scheherazade takes good care of me when I'm hurt, and I consider her the mother of my heart. As long as I have her and Jay, and I know that you are okay, then I can get through anything Maleficent can throw at me."
My dad's head fell forward as he realized that I was right; there was nothing that he could do. He reached out and gave me a fierce hug, being careful not to squeeze my wings. "Be careful baby girl. You can't risk coming to see me in case one of your mother's goons sees you, and I don't want her to take her anger at me out on you."
I nodded to him as I breathed in his scent; fire and brimstone, how appropriate. I found the scent comforting though, and the knowledge that the king of the dead loved me was a heady feeling. I had a parent who loved me, and I was willing to take any sort of abuse from my mother to keep him safe. I knew I would have to continue hiding any injuries though, as I didn't want to push him over the edge.
I turned to give him one more hug before exiting the cave and he held me fiercely. "I love you baby girl, and I know that you are strong enough to get through anything."
I felt like I was flying as I went home, but the closer I got the slower I went. Dread was beginning to overcome the joy because I knew what lay ahead for me. I could only hope that the regenerating power of being the daughter of a god only worked once, because I didn't know how many times I could handle having my wings torn from me.
