Chapter 1: The First Cracks
Dawn came, and with it, many faeries woke from their slumber. Sometime late in the night, the celebrating finally ceased, and it was back to tending the Moors. However, there was one creature who laid restless and wide-eyed.
Diaval did not sleep. He perched himself, watching Aurora and Phillip sleeping the whole night through, and he felt disgusting. He could hear the mocking now – 'jealous little birdy.' His sight was dulled by lack of sleep, but he didn't care about that. As soon as they woke up, he would probably get chased away at best.
But he could not tear his eyes away. Even as the sun rose and glared in his vision, he could not look away. It was only when Aurora finally opened her own that he could find the strength to let go of his gaze. The wind felt a little bit more chill and taunting. He jumped down from the tree and dragged his human legs away from the scene.
The soil of the Moors had become much richer. White flowers, or at least their buds, rose from the ground all about him, and he sighed. Aurora was perfect for the ruling of this kingdom. She matched the beauty of all that lived here, the flowers, the creatures, and all. He bent down to pick one of the bent flowers from where he stepped. It had snapped at the stem, but retained its splendor before his eyes. Fragile beauty in its essence. He studied the flower as if an enigma and continued his walk, an eventual – and significant – splashing sound failing to meet his ears.
"I may as well turn you into a sloth, as slow as you are moving this morning, Diaval."
Maleficent strode toward him with careful steps as to not soak her feet. He didn't even notice that he was standing in the center of one of the many ponds of the Moors.
"I did not receive much sleep in the night. I fear I may have gotten too excited about the party," he lied. He knew that Maleficent was too clever to fall for his excuse, and to his chagrin, she nodded with a small smirk.
"That tree must have been very exciting, seeing as you didn't move from it until dawn." He looked down bashfully. "Regardless, I have a task for you. I was talking with Thistletwit – here, walk with me, Diaval." He trudged out of the small lake, shaking the water out of his boots.
"The problem is that, when Aurora was a child, just born, she was bestowed gifts from each faery. It is to this day that Thistletwit has not had the chance to bestow her own gift, as I had cut in and – well, you know," she trailed awkwardly. "The task I have for you is to figure out what Thistletwit's gift should be."
Diaval stopped walking once again. "What? How am I supposed to do that?" The scars on his temples wrinkled with his incredulous expression. Maleficent lifted her robes and carefully stepped on a mossy, wet stone.
"This is not an ordinary gift, Diaval. You witnessed it then, the gifts that changed Aurora's future. Flittle bestowed the beauty upon her. Knotgrass said she would never be blue, and that was only broken once, on my account, though quickly turned around on her leaving. I, before my bout of darkness truly came to fruition, allowed her grace and spirit. Thistletwit is now distressed upon not being able to give her own gift, and we have decided that you are the best candidate to decide what Aurora needs."
"I disagree." His objection was far too quick and Maleficent whipped her head toward him. "You, mistress, would be far more qualified to know what the queen needs."
"And I disagree with that. I understand where your argument is coming from, but think back to her younger days. I was careless. I did not look after her as much as you did. You expressed much more worry for her well-being than I ever could have," Maleficent said, placing a hand gently on Diaval's shoulder. "Consider this as my last request as your mistress."
Diaval looked straight at Maleficent, though she did not return his stare. "Is this… is this my final task?" His voice became higher with his growing smile.
"Let us discuss the details later. For now, we must keep focus on the gift."
"Very well, what will you have me do, then?"
Maleficent thought for a moment, then sighed. "Aurora is as happy as ever. It will be difficult to tell, but you will have to talk with her. Observe her a little bit, draw out what could hinder her performance as queen, or, I suppose, her performance in general. Remember, Diaval, this is not a light wish to be granted. It is not what she wants, but what she needs as a person that she will receive."
He scoffed. "You faeries always have your little quirks about everything you do. Very well, Mistress. I know what to do."
"Then let us finish our nature walk, hmm?"
"Certainly." And he felt feathers forming on his back just as Maleficent began to rise off of the ground. "Finish our nature walk. You cheeky woman," he said, but the words were a jumbled mess of caws from the back of his throat. He shook his small head and flew up to her, then they soared above the mountains to view the rest of the Moors.
The rivers never flowed in one particular direction, Diaval noticed. Where one large one laid, it branched off, curling to meet the sunken paths between the trees. Some pieces changed to a darker blue as the waters got deeper. Diaval had never seen such drastic landscapes in his life; the rule of Maleficent in her dark times was one of determination to destroy the men of the neighbored kingdom, so he, of course, never had the chance to just fly and look as he was doing now. Speaking of his mistress, apparently she decided to soar above the clouds, because he could not detect her presence in his peripheral vision.
Something else, though, from the corner of his eye caught his attention. In that one second, the sun turned from inviting and warm to scorching and painful on his night-colored wings. It was Phillip and Aurora, running the meadows of the former borders together. Aurora nearly tripped, but Phillip caught her easily, dipping her head low enough to touch the wildflowers with her tamed hair. They were laughing, a genuine act of happiness.
He did not want to see this. The sun was too hot, and dizziness swirled in his head. He swerved away from the scene, but as a result, Diaval violently crashed into a very large pine tree. The tree quivered with the force and a few needles rained to the ground. He had cried out in pain, voice lost in his animal form and piercing the sky, but nothing more. A shooting jolt in his shoulder only increased in intensity the further closer to the ground he got.
"Oh, goodness! Oh no. Knotgrass, come quickly, we have a bird down," Flittle exclaimed as his body began to grow as a human again. "Or… or not a bird, I don't know."
"What are you – oh good heavens, he's turning into a man!" Knotgrass covered her eyes with her tiny locks of blue hair.
"Enough of that, you twit! We need Maleficent, quickly." Flittle zipped quickly from Diaval to Knotgrass, a panicked muttering escaping her lips and her wings. They were both alarmed when a small gust of wind knocked them away from the wounded – and suddenly well dressed – servant of Maleficent.
"I am here. What happened?"
Knotgrass pursed her lips. "I dunno, Maleficent. T'was only a bloody, quite literally, companion of yours who very well might have crushed us, if we weren't as nimble as we –"
"Fell out of the sky, right he did! Nearly cut the tree down with that beak of his –"
"Don't interrupt me, you rosy ninny!"
"Y'did the same to me, nasty blueberry." Both ceased their arguing when brown wings shut around Maleficent's body and her hand stretched toward Diaval, encased in turquoise magic.
"When did he turn to human?" she asked, mild alarm lacing her words together. Diaval scrunched his nose and shut his eyes as tightly as possible. "He should only turn if I tell him to."
Flittle clicked her tongue. "It's quite obvious, isn't it?" The tone in her voice made it sound like it should be the simplest thing in the world, but Maleficent looked back to the red faery with no understanding of what she meant. "Oh my gods… Knotgrass, we know something about magic that she doesn't!"
"We do?"
"Yes, the thing about the shifting. And the hurting."
Knotgrass frowned, eliciting a groan out of her elder sister.
"Alright, nevermind, I know something about magic you don't, Maleficent." Flittle said nothing for a couple of moments before being given an expectant look. "Oh. Right. Well, a being that is shifted often, whether by their own magic or others', if hurt will shift into the form that supports a damaged body the best. In this case, it was either human or bird, and the magic chose human. Not that he needed it. It was only a little branch."
"Is there something wrong?"
Each faery gasped, sans the larger of the three, and they hid Diaval behind Maleficent's cloak. They turned to the approaching queen, her prince trailing behind, kicking grass off of his boots. The two smaller faeries giggled nervously.
"Aurora, dear. We weren't expecting you to be in this part of the forest," Knotgrass said, twiddling her thumbs.
"I was just out with Phillip on the borders… why is Diaval hiding behind your dress, Godmother?" Aurora asked, suspicious and a little out of breath. Maleficent blinked a long blink and released her fingers from the soft fabric on her cloak. Her godchild took a shaky breath. "What is this? What is wrong with him?"
"Beastie, I think it's best if you leave this to us," she said, moving her shoulders to the side and stepping back when Aurora approached. Diaval gasped in pain behind them and Aurora disregarded the suggestion.
"Diaval? Diaval, say something." She had crouched down so that she was eyelevel with him, but kept her eyes on his wound. There was still a little bit of blood trickling down his black satin coat and it tainted its silver buttons. A branch, about two centimeters in width, was protruding from his shoulder. It was small, but would have done a lot more damage if he had remained a bird. She, instead of touching the stick, lightly tapped his cheek, trying to elicit a response.
"He's conscious." Aurora looked briefly back to Phillip, who was still standing quite far from the tree. "Phillip, come help me hoist him up."
He hesitated. It was odd to Aurora, because it took a whole ten seconds before she even heard the clank of his sword against his belt. By the time he reached them, Diaval's eyes were already opening. They all jumped at the sound of his voice, though what he said was more surprising.
"Get away from me."
xxxxxxx
A/N: wow, thank you guys for the favorites and follows! I wanted to update today so that, one, a couple of chapters would be up before I get really into it, and two, I am graduating tomorrow, and I don't want you to think this is dead or anything (like, come on, it's been a day and you already want more ya greedy sillies). Anyways, to comment on a review a guest made; indeed, my friend, we will have to see exactly where the prince ends up in the circle of drama ;)
Until next time.