Aurora woke up to chirping birds and the cool morning air brushing against her skin, sending shivers of pleasure down her back. She loved waking up in the Moors, snuggled in the twisted roots of the Rowan Tree. It was such a serene setting. Water trickled down in the river below the cliff, the dew on the flowers sparkling in the early light, and -
"SQUAWK!"
Startled, Aurora looked up to see Diaval tumbling through the air. He quickly managed to save himself and swooped into Maleficent's nest. Laughing, Maleficent flew off a branch and landed next to Diaval.
"Why?!" cried Diaval the moment he had turned into a human, causing Maleficent to snicker harder. "Why would you do that?!"
"Do what?" asked Aurora, standing up. She reached back and fingered the braid Maleficent had woven the previous day. It was still neat.
"She crawled up onto my branch, put her face right in front of mine, and poked me awake while cooing, 'Diaval… Diaval… Diiiiaaavaaaal,'" Diaval said, mimicking Maleficent. Aurora giggled, and Maleficent smirked in satisfaction. "Why would you do that?"
"Because," Maleficent said, "it's funny."
"I beg to differ."
Maleficent grinned again, and turned to face Aurora. "Well, good morning, Aurora. Sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you. Yourself?"
"I slept well, thanks."
"Oh, I slept well, too, up until a bothersome little faerie prodded me awake!" Diaval complained, glaring at Maleficent. Maleficent's smile grew as she spread her wings and swooped next to Aurora.
"I'm going to go for a flight around the Moors and see how everyone is doing," she said to Aurora. "Would you like to come?"
"Of course," Aurora agreed, and the two set off, the young queen strolling down the cliff and the faerie gliding above her. After a moment, they were joined by a raven, who took a moment to dive at Maleficent's horns, cawing loudly.
"Hey!" Diaval came at her again, and Maleficent dipped down to avoid him. "Knock it off, you silly bird!"
Diaval crowed in amusement, then flew back behind Aurora.
The Moors were just waking up. Faeries stood, testing their wings, and then began their day. Some flew off to find breakfast, and others zipped up into the air to watch the rest of the sunrise from a treetop. A few of the wallerbogs snorted and grunted sleepily as they sat up, rubbing their large eyes. Others just rolled over, their drool dripping into the bog. The hedgehog faeries were more willing to awaken, unrolling and stretching, calling good morning to family and friends.
Aurora and Maleficent greeted the creatures cheerfully. The responses they received weren't quite as warm - most of the creatures still seemed shocked at Maleficent's sudden change in appearance and character. The wallerbogs, though, were quite accepting of her, respecting her ability to throw a well-aimed mudball.
"Good morning, Mrs. Russula," Aurora said to one Mushroom faerie who was rounding up her children.
"Oh, good morning, your Majesty!" she exclaimed, giving a tiny curtsy. Then she turned to her children. "Children, say hello to the queen."
"Hello," they all chirped, hardly pausing in their early morning antics. Aurora smiled as one sister approached a stem by the base of a birch tree and squealed in delight.
"Mother! It grew! See, it has a bud!" cried the young creature, pointing at the plant.
"That's grand news, dear!" Mrs. Russula said. She turned back to Aurora and said, "Scarlett planted that flower herself. It wasn't doing so well until she tried to use a little bit of magic to help it along yesterday."
"That's wonderful," Aurora said with a smile. "How is everyone doing?"
"Oh, splendid, everyone's splendid. The children are so energetic these days, they're quite a handful, actually," Mrs. Russula laughed, sending a fond look at her children. Then she frowned. "Saffron, just what do you think you're doing? Put that slug down immediately!"
"Slug!" cried Scarlett, standing defensively before her flower, spreading her arms out. "Keep it away from my flower!"
Saffron grinned and held out the slug as she began to approach Scarlett. Scarlett shrieked. "Mother!"
"Excuse me, your majesty," Mrs. Russula said hastily. "Have a good day!"
"You, too!" Aurora said as Mrs. Russula went to settle the dispute. Then she looked up. Maleficent and Diaval were nowhere in sight. Aurora scanned the sky for them, and caught sight of two winged figures soaring through the clouds. One of them let out a happy whoop before heading back to Aurora, a beam on her face. Aurora smiled, too, as Maleficent flew in a wide circle around her.
"Better keep up, slowpoke," Maleficent teased before zipping away. "First one to the Faerie Mound wins!"
With a strong flap of her wings, Maleficent was off, with Diaval trailing her. Aurora laughed, and ran off after her, even though she had no hope of winning. A few minutes later, she jogged up to the Faerie Mound, out of breath but glowing with pleasure. "That wasn't a fair race," Aurora said breathily, unable to help but grin.
"That was the point," replied Maleficent, raising her eyebrows cockily before turning and facing the flowered throne. "Is this your throne?"
"Yes," said Aurora, "but I don't sit on it often."
"It's nice," said Maleficent, but there was a note of uncertainty in her voice as she eyed the throne suspiciously. Perhaps she sensed the darkness from which the throne had first evolved. Despite the flowers blossoming on the throne's edges, the dark, twisted spine could, if one looked at it in a certain light, be viewed as slightly sinister.
Maleficent glanced at Aurora. Then Aurora realized Maleficent hadn't been looking at her, she had been looking behind her. Aurora turned her head to see what was there, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
"I'm going to go by the borders, make sure everything is alright," Maleficent said, lifting up into the air. Diaval gave a soft caw as he made to join her, but Maleficent said, "Diaval, you don't have to come with."
Recognizing his dismissal, Diaval settled back down on the arm of the throne, bemusement and concern flashing through his dark eyes as Maleficent took off, saying, "I'll be back in a while."
Aurora and Diaval watched the young faerie fly away. Diaval transformed into a human and wondered, "What is she doing?"
"I don't know, Diaval. Maybe she's remembering something. She seemed a bit worried when she looked at the throne, and now she wants to be alone."
"She's going where the Thorn Wall used to be," Diaval said quietly. Aurora frowned as she thought for a moment.
"Maybe we should tell her about what happened with Stefan," she said hesitantly. Diaval gave her a confused look.
"You said yesterday that we shouldn't worry about it and just let her be happy."
"Well, yes, but maybe it's better if we just tell her now. She's intelligent, she'll realize before long that something bad happened in her life, something that we're hiding. I don't want her to feel like we've betrayed her by not confessing."
This horrible thought twisted Aurora's stomach into a knot. She didn't want Maleficent to ever feel like Aurora had betrayed her. Aurora couldn't imagine the pain Maleficent would feel. Would Maleficent ever forgive her?
"Should we tell her, or let her be happy?" asked Diaval. Aurora thought for a moment.
"Perhaps we can tell her…" started Aurora, misery pulling at her heart as she thought of Maleficent's reaction to learning her future, and then remembering what Maleficent had said the previous day about being perfectly fine. "...But not immediately. We'll let her be for the time being. Once she brings it up, we'll explain."
"But you just said - "
"I know, Diaval," Aurora burst out, her voice trembling slightly, "but I just can't bear telling her at all."
Diaval didn't look convinced. Aurora took a deep breath to steady herself and said, "Better late than never… right?"
Giving a sigh, Diaval relented. "Alright, Aurora. But in the meantime, I'll return to the scroll."
A moment later, Diaval the raven was soaring back to the Rowan Tree. Aurora slumped in her throne, burying her face in her hands.
She didn't want to hide anything from Maleficent, but at the same time, she wanted to protect her happiness. If Maleficent found out who she grew up to be… Aurora couldn't think of how upset she would be. What innocent, kind eleven year old wants to find out they grow up to take seize of their homeland and curse a baby? Of course, Maleficent had been provoked. Had Stefan never betrayed her, Maleficent wouldn't have cursed Aurora. But if Stefan hadn't betrayed Maleficent, there would be no Aurora to curse.
Aurora took a quick break from her first series of thoughts to wonder what life would have been like if Stefan hadn't betrayed Maleficent. Would they have gotten married and had a child? Would Aurora have been that child?
No. Aurora was only herself because of her father and her own mother. She was, in fact, the spitting image of the late queen.
But that wasn't the point. She was getting distracted, and Aurora went back to thinking what she should or should not tell Maleficent. Perhaps if Diaval and Aurora just waited… But Aurora couldn't rely on that hope. She had no idea what the future held for them.
Perhaps she didn't have to make a decision just yet. After all, it was a big choice she had to make, and required a lot of thinking.
"Are you alright?" Maleficent's voice was concerned, and Aurora looked up as she landed. Aurora nodded, standing up and rearranging her features into a pleasant façade.
"Yes, I was just thinking," Aurora said, surprised to find that she sounded sincere. While it was true that she had just been thinking, the subject wasn't as light and airy as she was trying to portray.
"Okay," said Maleficent, bobbing her head as she accepted Aurora's answer.
Changing the subject, Aurora asked, "How was your flight? See anything interesting?"
"No," said Maleficent, sounding a bit dejected. Aurora's lips quirked ever so slightly at the corners at Maleficent's response to not having found a bit of adventure lurking behind some trees.
"Better luck next time," Aurora said. "So, what would you like to do?"
Maleficent grinned. "Follow me," she said, lifting up into the air and hurrying off. Aurora followed.
They arrived at a pond near the Pool of Jewels. Maleficent's eyes glimmered mischievously as she hovered in front of Aurora. "So tell me - what are your thoughts on getting a little bit wet?"
"I can handle a little water," Aurora said, smiling and crossing her arms playfully.
"Excellent," Maleficent said, mirroring Aurora's grin. "Then grab onto my ankle."
"Grab onto your - " Aurora blinked. Despite Maleficent being a child once more, this seemed like an extremely odd thing for her normally stern godmother to request. Maleficent thought nothing amiss, and her smile only grew as she held out her leg for Aurora to take. Aurora hesitantly grabbed above her ankle - was Maleficent taking her flying? Aurora couldn't help but think it was high time - she had pleaded before for Maleficent to take her for just one quick flight, but Maleficent always said no.
"Hang on," said Maleficent, and Aurora had only a moment to tighten her grip before she was dangling above the ground. She gave a shriek that quickly turned into laughter as the pair bobbed above the water. Aurora kicked her feet as her toes skimmed the water. The water faeries hastened out of harm's way, chastising the girls in their native tongue.
Maleficent flapped her wings again when Aurora wasn't expecting it, and the Queen of the Moors suddenly found herself being dropped in a pond. "Oh!" she cried out in surprise as she splashed into the water. Maleficent laughed gleefully as Aurora stood up, feeling a bit cold in the mid-morning air. "Sorry," Aurora said meekly to the water spirits, blinking water out of her eyes. But the faeries merely seemed amused.
"Galloping gargoyles!"
Aurora looked up to see a small, spritely faerie zipping up to the pond, his eyes round in astonishment. It was Robin, a dear childhood friend of Maleficent. "Maleficent, what happened?" he cried, coming to a stop before Maleficent.
"Hello, Robin," Maleficent said, smiling at the faerie. "How are you?"
"How am - the real question here is what happened to you!" Robin exclaimed, gesturing at Maleficent.
"Oh, right. I'm supposed to be older, aren't I?"
"You think so?!"
"Maleficent tried a spell that was supposed to send her back in time a night ago," Aurora said. "She woke up yesterday morning like this, with no memory of being an adult."
"That's insane," said Robin, his eyes somber. "You don't remember anything?"
Maleficent shook her head. "No, sorry."
Robin looked worried until Maleficent added, "Well, I remember you, so what's there to be sad about?"
With a relieved laugh, Robin said, "Aye, true enough."
Aurora felt a slight pang. Maleficent didn't remember her - wasn't that something to be sad about? Standing dripping wet in the pond and with Maleficent looking at Robin so happily, Aurora felt slightly unimportant and left out. But that was preposterous. Maleficent hadn't meant it like that, she was just trying to bring Robin's spirits up. Maleficent loved Aurora, even if she just didn't know how much.
"Have you two met?" Maleficent asked, chasing away Aurora's uncharacteristically morose thoughts. Aurora and Robin both nodded.
"Yes," said Aurora, giving Robin a smile, "we have."
"Oh, good," said Maleficent, landing by the pond. Aurora started wading over to her. "Want to do that again, Aurora? Except maybe this time you can hold onto Robin."
"Hey, no poking fun at my size, lass," jested Robin, poking Maleficent in the chest. She giggled, and he grinned. Aurora couldn't help but smile, too, her previous unhappy ideas forgotten. Instead, she thought about how grateful Robin must be to have this Maleficent back. Though he and Maleficent had begun talking once more after Maleficent had taken off her crown, Aurora knew he must have missed the young, light-hearted Maleficent he had watched grow up.
Aurora was pulled from her thoughts as Maleficent said, "I would never poke fun at your size, Robin. Your miniscule size is what makes many a prank possible."
"I'm fairly certain that was another joke," said Robin, circling around Maleficent as though inspecting her for any hints of sarcasm.
"My sincerest apologies," Maleficent said, grinning.
"Oh, yes, you were most definitely joking!"
Aurora beamed at the happy look on Maleficent's face.
...
Hey Malefifreaks! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Who caught "galloping gargoyles" from Harry Potter? Seemed to me the kind of thing Robin would say, and I couldn't resist putting that in there. Speaking of Robin - I do not own him. If you have read either one of the novelizations of Maleficent, you'll recognize Robin.
Please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
Kitty