Princess Aurora entered the staff canteen hesitantly. Maleficent lead the way, drawing all the attention with her imposing presence. The princess decided to follow her and looked down, averting all the curious or shocked gazes she was probably earning from the other Disney characters.
The two women quickly reached the counter. The young woman fetched herself a hot chocolate with cream and a croissant, all the while shooting a glance towards her frightening companion.
"Dark coffee," Maleficent ordered coldly. The waitress nodded shyly and served the fairy as fast as she could. Fear and apprehension could be easily read on her twitching bright eyes as she gave the older woman her order.
But when Maleficent laid eyes on the beverage, she winced in disdain. "I asked for dark coffee. Not grey, not brown, dark." She snapped, her voice as sharp as a knife. She pushed the cup back towards the waitress. "Make another one. As dark as my soul."
The poor young woman on the other side of the counter was frozen in dread as her face was slowly drained of all its blood. "Y-Yes, Ma'am."
Eventually, Maleficent had her dark coffee and walked towards an empty table at one deserted corner of the large room. Aurora swallowed hardly and sat in front of the menacing woman.
"So tell me, princess," Maleficent began in a smooth voice, locking her bottomless eyes with Aurora's. "Why is it that you do not enjoy your Ô so sweet prince's company anymore?"
The younger woman blinked at her as she soaked her croissant in her beverage with delicate fingers.
"Oh, well," she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "I guess that's because my aunts and his father did everything in their power for us to get together. They wanted us to love each other so much that now I'm starting to wonder if the love I thought I felt for him was not fake all along…" She stared down at her hot chocolate absently. "Maybe I've never really been in love, after all," she murmured as if for herself.
"You are still young and beautiful. You have your whole life ahead of you." Maleficent said neutrally as she sipped on her coffee, the cup held regally between her red varnished fingers, little finger raised in the air. "Even though I do not value such frivolous sentiment as love, I suppose it shall come to you when it ought to."
Aurora raised her gaze from her chocolate, blinking up at her companion, amazed by the apparent detachment and wisdom Maleficent was showing.
"Well, thank you," she answered quietly, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of her rose lips. "Yes, I guess you're right. And yet, I'm still supposed to love Phillip, so…" She sighed, reporting her attention on her hot beverage. "I don't know what to do with him."
"If you do not love him, then you do not have much of a choice. For now, the only reasonable outcome would be to break up with him."
"Oh, but that would be a bit extreme!" exclaimed Aurora, leveling her big eyes with the dark gaze. "Besides, I wouldn't want to hurt him on a whim."
"The longer you stay despite your lack of love, the more he will suffer, princess, » Maleficent retorted in a sombre voice, just before she rose from her seat with elegant slowness, and slightly bowed her head to the younger woman. "Now is time. I shall see you in the Castle this morning."
"Oh, all right. See you later."
And Aurora lowered her head, almost regretfully.
Why does she always have to leave so quickly?
Then, she pondered what she just heard.
The Castle? But why in the hell would we— Oh, yes. That's right. This morning, the Sleeping Beauty cast has been given a special assignment. We have to wander about the Castle for people to see us, come and take some pictures. How great.
As she left the cafeteria, she sent several awkward greetings with a tilt of her head to both Cinderella, Snow-White, Jasmine and the Frozen girls, and then went to prepare for her morning duty.
One half-an-hour saw Princess Aurora descending the stairs to the Sleeping Beauty Gallery, and then to the outside courtyard, right under the Castle grounds. She walked around aimlessly, but managed to make it appear as if she were wandering the place with an absent air of far-off, dreamy joy.
She was supposed to be a Disney princess, after all. Princess Aurora, what is more.
When she was not at the Disney princess Pavillon, where she was gathered with all the other princesses for them to meet children and pose for some pictures, it was highly recommended of her that she wandered the Sleeping Beauty Castle, along with all her Sleeping Beauty co-workers, so that if children came across one of them, they would think the characters really evolved around the Castle, and think themselves blessed by some unknown lucky star for being able to see them in their natural environment.
So there she was, slowly walking on some bridge connecting two grey small towers, one hand resting lazily on the railing, when she came face to face with her supposed nemesis.
"Why, but look who is there," the dark woman chuckled deep in her throat, "desperately trying to escape her Prince Charming. Is it not fascinating?"
"I'm just following the instructions, you know." Aurora answered with half of a smile as she walked forward calmly.
"Oh, really? Then, why is that I just saw Prince Phillip, at the exact opposite of this wretched Castle, looking for you with way too much fervor. It was rather pathetic, if you ask for my opinion, by the way..."
"I wasn't asking for your opinion, actually," threw back Aurora with unexpected irritation, which she soon concealed with a contrite wince. "Nor for the details of what he's doing all the time, for that matter." She sighed as she leant against the railing next to Maleficent, faking to enjoy the view of the flowers surrounding the Castle and the Main street in front of it.
"My apologies, Your Highness," Maleficent purred right next to the young woman's ear, causing her to startle a little, which brought the black fairy to laugh elegantly. "But if I may, I would highly recommend that you say farewell to him. The sooner would be the best."
"Yeah, I—" Aurora stuttered, trying to hide her discomfort the best she could. "I mean, I know I should, all right? But it's just—" She sighed again. "I don't know if I'm ready to be alone just yet."
"Oh, but that is one entirely different matter, princess." Maleficent answered in a velvety tone that sent delicious shivers down the girl's spine. A cool hand landed on the small of Aurora's curved back. "Furthermore, who told you that splitting with your prince-friend meant that you ought to be or your own?"
The Sleeping Beauty was left speechless, eyes transfixed on the pink road ahead of her, where yelling children and smiling parents were stalking towards the Castle. She didn't know if her loss of words were due to the new expression Maleficent used to talk about Phillip, or the deeper meaning of her assertion.
The kids seemed not to have noticed the two main characters of Sleeping Beauty, and Princess Aurora was grateful for that.
The hand slowly caressed her back, before it vanished into thin air, as if it never existed, and Aurora was fighting against the will to miss this peculiar touch. She failed.
But then, she had no time to dwell on that disturbing thought, for children was far more smart than parents when it came to find their idols, and there they came, from both sides of the bridge, trapping the two women — sworn enemies in fiction, but blossoming friends in reality — together. When she finally realized all the implications of the situation, Aurora's mind froze in her head.
Oh God. Now how the hell are we going to explain to five-year-olds why the princess is talking with her villain?
And indeed, all the kids that were currently approaching wore confused, frowning brows and grimacing little mouths.
Her villain? Seriously? Aurora was still trapped in her troubled mind. Now where did that even come from?
"Mom! Mom! The princess's in danger! Look, Maleficent! She's... she's gonna hurt her! She's gonna... Oh my God! She's gonna kill her! Mom, we gotta do something, right?" A little girl was crying in her mother's skirt, while the mother was looking at the dark fairy with not so well hidden apprehension.
It seemed even the parents had trouble discerning the truth from the acting. And Aurora decided to act, so she took a step forward and stood between Maleficent and the terrorized kid.
"Hello, children," she started with a sweet, soothing voice and a matching smile. "I am so honored that you worry so much about me, but really, I am fine. I'm not in danger, you see?" She pointed at a group of safety officers that were luckily walking up the Main street just at the perfect timing. "I am well protected here. Everything is made so that nobody is hurt. We are all together here, learning to live together, in peace and security."
"But—" Another tiny girl, far more younger, stepped forward, staring at her feet and twisting her shirt in her small hands. "But... isn't Maleficent... evil?" She whispered that last word.
That caused Aurora to stop in her tracks, all words drained from her tongue.
"Er... Well, she, er..." She interrupted herself to steal a glance at Maleficent, who was glaring at her with all her poise and graceful disdain, then went back to the child. "Yes. Yes, she is evil. But..." She kneeled in front of the girl, cradling her trembling hands into hers. "But that is how the world is made. Not everyone is nice or gentle. Some people might be mean, selfish, or even cruel. But that doesn't make them monsters, all right? They're just humans all the same. Or fairies. That doesn't make such a difference, anyway. Sometimes, all they need is a little... company."
The small brunette girl raised blinking eyes towards the princess, and soon enough, a giant, gleaming smile blossomed on her round face. In one second, she was back at her mother's side, and the blonde-haired mother offered both a puzzled look and a rewarding smile to Aurora, who slid back on her feet, at Maleficent's side.
In the end, the children got what they wanted. Pictures with their favorite Disney princess and villain, autographs, warm words and some chilling glances from one very angry-looking fairy that was, like always, playing her part perfectly. And when the kids scattered around, Maleficent placed herself right behind Princess Aurora.
"Well, well," she murmured into her ear, as bittersweet as honey. "What was it with this sudden oh so wise speech, now, princess? Did you turn into Dumbledore along the way and I am simply performing in the wrong park, perhaps?"
"Yes, well, that's an interesting theory," chuckled Aurora, attempting to mask the delicious shiver that shook her whole body. "But I don't think so. One would say I was trying to save our jobs, you know? What would Walter say if he knew Maleficent and Aurora were walking the park, talking like two old pals?"
"Is it really what you think we are doing, princess?" asked Maleficent in a deadly slow voice as she circled the princess's body, her head freezing just a few inches away from Aurora's. "Chatting like... two old pals?"
"Well, I..." She struggled to swallow, her eyes inexorably attracted to the blood red lips. "I don't know. That's certainly how it looked like, though."
Maleficent took a step backward, tilting her head to the sky as she burst into a cold, maniacal laughter. "Oh dear. You are so, so... so naive, princess."
Without another word, the black woman turned on her heels and disappeared into the Castle in a twirl of black and violet fabric, leaving only her deep laugh to echo into Aurora's dumbfounded ears.
The afternoon Parade went smoothly, without any unfortunate event to mention. Aurora and Phillip stood side by side at the forefront of the Sleeping Beauty chariot, whereas Maleficent occupied the back, along with her plastic-made dragon-self. Princess Aurora did not once sneak a peek at her prince, but the latter didn't seem to notice that odd show of coldness, even though they never exchanged one single touch, not even as much as a brush of elbows.
Aurora could feel an intense, burning look coming from behind her, sending sweet shivers down her neck during the whole event, but she did her best to ignore it. Now that would be quite inappropriate for Princess Aurora to share insisting, piercing glances with her so-called sworn enemy in front of a hundreds of simple-minded children.
That night, when she returned to the comfort and silence of her room, she reflected on her day and made a decision. She could not stay with Prince Phillip anymore. He was a nice boy, very gentle, thoughtful and loyal, but that was about all. No attraction, no desire, no flame sprang from her body towards him. And she didn't see herself spending her whole life pretending.
In the end — and it hurt to acknowledge it — Maleficent was right. In this relationship, she had always been simulating, whether it was pleasure or happiness, and she always will be. Unless she put an end to it, and that's what she meant to do, sooner rather than later.
She put down her hairbrush in a tired sigh and put on her silk light blue nightgown.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She froze on her bed, wide eyes darting to the closed door, one single thought crossing her mind.
No. Not again.
She held her breath, wondering if maybe, just maybe, if she made no noise, if—
"Hey, Aurora. I know you're in there. Are you okay?"
Damn it, she thought with growing annoyance. Can't have just one single night to myself, now can I? Yet she decided to stay right where she was, that was to say, lying on her bed.
"Love," Phillip's voice became more tight, more insistent, "We didn't see each other much today. I just wanna know if you're okay."
"I'm fine, Phillip. Thank you for your concern." She said eventually, without bothering to conceal the weariness in her tone. "I just have this very tiresome headache, you know? But I took a pill, I'll be all right."
"Oh, that sucks. Look, let me in, okay? I'll try and ease your pain a little..."
The innuendo was not lost on Princess Aurora, and she cringed at the sultry, heated tone her boyfriend took to supposedly convince her to let him in for her own good.
"Thank you, dear. But I'm better off alone tonight, really. All I need is a bit of peace and silence."
"Now come on, Aurora! You can't shut me out every night." His voice gained a few decibels, causing the young woman to jump slightly on her bed. "I'm here to help you. And I need to see you, too."
"Look, Phillip, this is very nice of you, but—" Aurora stammered miserably as she slowly got up from the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible, all the while trying to find the right words to fend Phillip off, once and for all, even though deep inside, she knew somehow that it would be vain. "We'll see each other tomorrow, I promise. We'll go to the bar, you know, the one you showed me on my first night? But tonight, I'm really not in the mood. It's not personal, rest assured, but I just need to be alone. Please, understand."
The long, heavy silence that came from behind the door took over the whole room, and suddenly her small dormitory seemed so huge, so vast, that Aurora felt like she was nothing but a tiny miserable insect lost in the immensity of Nature. And finally, the silence was broken.
"Aurora, you're not well. I can hear it, and I can feel it, too." A deep intake of breath, and Phillip chose this very moment to expose his intentions. "I'm gonna enter, whether you like it or not. You're not thinking straight. If you don't open the door, I'm gonna force it open. It's for your own good, Aurora. Plus, if I don't protect you, who will?"
And that was too much for Aurora. She rushed towards the door and banged on the wood with all the strength she could gather.
"That is enough, Phillip!" She yelled at the door. "How am I supposed to let you in when the last time I opened the door to you, you literally jumped on me without bothering to ask if you had my consent?!"
"W-What? But... But you didn't say no! You didn't... you didn't push me away! So... you mean, you didn't... like it? Even a little?"
"Well, you did say you would be quick." Aurora let out a husky, rocky laugh, very uncharacteristic of her. "So I figured that if I let you finish, I'd spare me the effort. It would be quite a gain of time, as well."
"But I... I don't understand. You sounded so excited. You even moaned, and you screamed!"
"Yes," she sighed, resting her forehead on the wooden door. The argument was starting to bring out her exhaustion. "That's called simulating, Phillip."
"Simulate— What? No! No... That's not possible! You... You didn't even say no!"
"Oh, but I did," she objected, her voice cracking ever so slightly, but not enough to catch Phillip's concern obviously. "I asked you to stop and leave me alone. I asked you to let me rest and come back later. I said I didn't mean this kind of "quick", but you simply didn't listen."
There was a deep, awkward silence, punctuated by sharp, jerky breaths on the other side of the door.
"Oh God. Aurora, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I thought—"
"You thought I enjoyed it despite my disagreement, yes I get it. It's okay. I don't resent you for it. I made it sound as if I were okay with it, I know."
"But you've been so distant ever since you got the job here. I thought I'd try to revive the flame, right? But you always seemed to reject me..."
"Yes." Aurora answered firmly, finally finding the determination she has been seeking. "That's because I don't think I can continue like this."
"Continue like this? What do you mean?" Phillip asked, his tone bordering on pleading. "Surely you don't mean—"
"Yes, actually I do. I don't think we should continue, Phillip. I don't want to pretend anymore. Your father and my aunts wanted us to be together because it would have been the pragmatic thing to do; two good, noble families reunited, and everything would be just perfect. But we never really had the choice. We deserve to choose. We deserve better than this farce of a relationship. It's been five years, Phillip. It's enough." She sighed, for what felt like the hundredth times this evening. "I don't think I'm in love with you, I don't even know if I ever was, actually. But I would easily settle for a sincere, trouble-free friendship—"
"No!" A heart-rending cry hit the door and Aurora's ears, soon followed by a fierce blow on the door, forcing the princess to step back. "You can't dump me! Not after everything we've been through! We were happy together, you can't draw a line under that happiness just because I made a mistake!"
"Now that would be a bit more than "just a mistake", don't you think?" Aurora cried back as she went back to her bed, seizing her hairbrush thoughtlessly, on pure instinct. "You're about to break my door down just because you can't stand me saying "no" to you! How about we call it "a break-up for our own sanity", hm? What do you think?"
There was no other answer than another powerful bang on the door, whose hinges trembled slightly.
"For Heavens sake, stop it Phillip!" As her plea went without effect, she started knocking on the wall with her toothbrush, desperately, thinking that maybe someone else, someone with good intentions, would hear her.
But Phillip would not listen to reason, and he kept knocking on the door, so strong that the edges of the door were now coming out of the doorframe. In response, she banged on the wall ever so loudly. Another kick and—
Bam.
There it was. The door fell out of its hinges and hit the floor with a deafening sound, leaving Aurora open-mouthed and astounded, as Phillip appeared in the doorframe, lit by the bleak lamps of the corridor.
"Stay right where you are," she said slowly, warily, while never averting her gaze from Phillip, despite her whole body trembling with fear. The hairbrush slid from her fingers.
"You have no right to do that to me," he growled, completely ignoring her order as he took several steps forward.
"A relationship is made out of two people. If one of them no longer wants to continue, then there is no relationship," she retorted as calmly as her shaking voice allowed her.
"But Aurora, think a little. What would you do on your own? I did everything for you, I was the one who gave you this job. Now what would you do?"
"I don't know, Phillip. Do my job, live my life, enjoy my free time, make some friends. I'm sure I'll find something to do with myself."
"Bullshit. You're lying. You're nothing without me!"
As he lunged forward, Aurora covered her head with her hands in a desperate howl, so that when all she felt — or rather, heard — was a loud Boom, she found herself relieved, even hopeful. She opened her eyes slowly, only to find Phillip crawled on the ground at her feet, a long, thin staff hovering above his crushed body. Aurora raised bewildered eyes to the green hand that held the scepter, and then to the owner of the hand, the delicious tall, black silhouette of her so-called enemy.
Maleficent.
She prevented herself from shouting that name at loud in a burst of utter joy, but instead, she offered the brightest smile she had ever made.
The evil fairy had just saved her life and dignity, all the while humiliating her tormentor by causing him to trip miserably over a scepter. A scepter led and controlled only by those beautiful, cold hands. The thought of those hands saving her with only a flick of a wrist was suddenly very appealing — enticing, even — to her.
"Well, that article reveals itself more and more useful as days pass, indeed." The deep voice caressed her eardrums like crimson velvet.
"You... you saved me," she managed to mutter, half-shocked, half-enthralled. "Thank you."
"I told you I needed my sleep," answered Maleficent tersely, her black eyes boring into Aurora's. "You two are quite keen on wreaking havoc at night. This is getting slightly irksome."
"Yes, well..." Aurora couldn't help but chuckle nervously as she stalked forward, avoiding Phillip's lying body to come to Maleficent's side. "I'm sorry for the disturbance, once again. I wish it'd have turned out differently. Believe me."
"Oh, I do believe you."
Aurora lifted her gaze in time to see Maleficent's extended hand, which she took without thinking twice, letting the fairy guide her among the chaotic remains of her room. She was unable to detach herself from those two obsidian orbs that always seemed so empty, yet now radiated with warmth and fury. Destructive, raw fury.
Beautiful.
"Prince Phillip," Maleficent called, as chilling as ice, "Stand up and leave. And may I suggest that you never come back."
Phillip complied, not without a few pained groans, and turned to face the two women.
"Look, Maleficent, this isn't your business, that's—"
"From the moment you are within earshot, you become my business, Ô dear prince." Maleficent cut him off sharply, as if his words were nothing but garbage. "And you are much too noisy for my taste. So you will leave this room, and never come back, for Princess Aurora made it clear you are not welcome here anymore."
"How dare you? You— You... you witch! That's none of your business, Aurora and I—"
"Out, Phillip." She gritted out, eyes flashing with danger, staff pointing right at his chest. "Right. Now."
With another growl, one mad glance towards each woman, Prince Phillip was out of the room. Aurora let out the respiration she didn't know she was holding, until now.
"Thank you, Maleficent," she breathed, "thank you very much. I didn't know what to do to make him understand. He wouldn't listen, he—" She sighed tiredly, rubbing her eyes in the process. "It's over now. I'm free. But..." Her voice gave up on her, and she finished in a quiet whine. "I'm all alone now."
"Now, now, princess," Maleficent's silky voice almost caused her to startle, but the soft hand that tilted her chin up calmed her instantly. She let herself be led towards Maleficent's gracious face and lost herself into the black, tempting orbs.
"Who said something about being alone, hm?"
Those last words sent a million tiny little electric waves through her belly and abdomen, and her lips did not obey her when they chose to curl into a solar smile. That smile was addressed to Maleficent, and no one else.
"Does that mean you'll be staying with me, Maleficent?" She asked in a shaking whisper, unable to look away from the red twisted lips.
"Be careful what you wish for, princess," Maleficent whispered back, as the blood red lips got closer, and closer, and closer. But while Aurora wished to brush this hypnotizing mouth, instead one green finger stroke her bottom lip, and then...
Then, it was over. The curse was broken.
Maleficent took a fast, rapid step back and turned around, staff hitting the ground as she headed towards the door.
"You better tidy this appalling mess, princess."
And as Aurora bent down to fetch the damaged chair, Maleficent clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
"Not tonight, however. I have had enough of your... passionate antics for one night. And for all eternity, to be quite fair."
She lifted a hand in the air just as she reached the door frame. "Do not forget to fix what is left of this door. We would not want someone to see you as you indulge in some other lecherous activities, now would we, princess?"
Aurora could not help the pink tinge that crept on her cheeks, nor the smile that shone in the darkness as she placed the lamp back on the desk.
"No. No, of course not."
"Very well. Goodnight, Princess Aurora."
"Goodnight, Maleficent."
And despite the chaos that was still surrounding her, the toppled chair, the scattered sheets, the rolling pens and the wrecked lamp, Princess Aurora never slept so well.
Not even when she was under a very infamous spell, and that certainly meant something.
Unfortunately, Aurora couldn't hear the same thought that crossed a very different mind at the very same moment.
For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well.
That Maleficent might think that just after she witnessed the final split between Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip was obviously nothing more than a funny coincidence.
Or was it?
Author's Note:
Nothing to say, except one thing.
I'm back!
And I am not giving up on this fanfiction.