A.N: Thanks for all your kind reviews, and I've got to say guys, I'm impressed by all your Harry Potter references. I'm a huge fan myself. So, today I decided to indulge myself and write another chapter, because I really couldn't wait. Also, I've gotten a stomach bug and so I have a lot of extra time on my hands. Only thing is, is that as I'm also anemic without any food and nutrients in my body I'll probably be asleep all day. We shall see though.
Disclaimer: I do not own Maleficent and all rights go to their respective owners.
...
Elation was too light a word to describe how Diaval felt. He felt like even in his human form, he could jump a hundred feet in the air.
Maleficent smiled at him, untangling their hands and staring at the burns.
"I haven't healed yet?" She mused, feeling her cheek and wincing back at the pains of bruising, "That's odd..."
"You mentioned an extract of some sort Mistress, it hasn't worn off yet." Diaval supplied for her.
"Moonroot. It's very rare, except in the Moors. I wonder how he came upon it."
"How long does it usually drain magic?"
"With that potency?" Maleficent thought it over, "A fair amount of hours. He gave me more, before he finished and left. That was enough to take away most of my energy as well, because my magic hadn't even returned yet."
Diaval sat quietly, not sure what to say. He wanted to know what his mistress had endured to have such brutatily show on her body, but she was a very walled-in person.
Maleficent stayed silent in thought. She was making a timeline in her head, not wanting to have an entire day taken away from her.
Mid-day she began her trek to find Diaval, an hour perhaps, before sunset she arrived. The sun was setting when she ran from Diaval. After that her timeline was jumbled and messed, with no windows to speak of in that awful room she couldn't know.
"How long did he have me Diaval?"
"Pardon Mistress?"
"How long did Stefan have me?"
"Aurora and I arrived at the Moors only a little while after the sun had set. I immiediately went back, and it took me till the sun was raising to get you back here."
"Oh," the faerie said, almost gingerly. "That's only a few hours. I was afraid I had lost days in that place."
Diaval looked at his mistress, his head cocked slightly, like a raven. She was a curious being indeed.
"When will you be able to heal yourself Mistress?"
"Not long now, in fact very soon. I can feel my lesser injuries already beginning to become lighter."
"I think you were given a double dose Mistress, for you should of healed in your sleep if my mind serves me correct."
"You're right I probably was. I should of healed by mid-day today." She said lightly.
Diaval watched as Maleficent watched her injuries heal themselves, a satisfied smirk on her lips. Her gaze was going down her arm, before he came to his senses and intervened.
"Mistress you really don't need to see that." Maleficent looked up at him, a hard curiosity clearing beginning to build.
"And why is that?" She responded, her eyes flickering down onto her arm. "This is the only place he used a blade I want to see what he did."
Diaval caught her wrist before she could see any more, causing a wince from the faerie. He'd frightened her, although he knew she trusted him, abrupt contact still scared her.
"Diaval, let go." She growled, and he did, regretfully.
Diaval had wrapped her body in a robe, to keep her warm he told himself. Though he knew it was to keep the hideous cut hidden.
She flashed him another smile, patting his arm. "It can't possibly be that bad Diaval, but thank you for... caring."
Diaval bit his lip, watching as she slid her sleeve up. Maleficent's smile faded, but only for a moment, she had the same smile on her face in a second, only it was most definitely false.
"It isn't that bad." She told him, quickly pushing her sleeve back down. "It'll be gone in a moment's time."
"Mistress..." Diaval began, looking down and then back at her face.
"It's fine Diaval, just leave it." She turned her head away from him, taking a deep breath. "It could of been worse."
Diaval knew it could of been worse, he was very thankful it hadn't been, but it had been pretty bad.
"You've gotten Beastie to sleep. I'm glad."
Diaval turned his head towards the sleeping maiden, and he grinned at how peaceful she looked.
"Yes, after she let into her exhaustion she fell asleep in no time. She was quite distressed Mistress, but very relieved at your safe return."
"She surely knows I did it for her, and for you."
"Mistress, please don't ever do that again."
A smirk formed on his mistress's mouth and she quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Well since you asked I guess I'll just have to do it again."
Diaval smiled at her but it was not a full smile.
"Is there something wrong Diaval?" She asked him, giving the raven-man an odd stare.
"No, nothing's wrong Mistress. Everything's perfect in fact."
His smile widened for confirmation. She still had some doubts.
"Are you sure? You seem distressed."
Was there anything wrong? There were so many things that were wrong. A king was hunting his mistress and seeking to take away what Diaval thought of as his child. Maleficent had been tortured till the point she knew she was to die.
It hurt him, it hurt him so much. It hurt him when Aurora had screamed and cried into his shoulders, it hurt him when Maleficent had screamed in pain and he'd kept running. But she didn't need to know that.
"Just tired is all Mistress." It was partly true, he hadn't slept since the night of their argument.
"Oh, yes. You should sleep, I'll be fine. I imagine that two days of not moving will cause a bit of stiffness, so I really should stretch." Maleficent smiled at him and moved to stand.
She cautiously let herself slip from the tree, but as soon as her legs made contact with the ground below, they gave out from under her.
"Mistress!" Diaval cried out, quickly lowering himself as well.
"I'm fine Diaval. My legs just weren't used to carrying my weight."
"You're sure you're alright?" He asked while helping her up.
"Only a bruised pride. Sleep well Diaval."
The faerie bid him goodnight, seeming to rely on her staff more than usual. Diaval obediently nodded, changing into a raven to sleep.
Maleficent wandered her beloved Moors for a time, she had no desire to sleep. Apparently she'd gotten a full day's worth of it anyway.
The muscles in her back extended when she tripped over a rock, the ghost of her wings still trying to catch her. Maleficent sighed, eighteen years and she still couldn't get over her wings.
The faerie idly wondered if her wings were still in the palace, if she had been close to them the entire time of her torture. Perhaps she would ask Diaval if he had heard any chatter about it, or had seen them in his missions for her.
Maleficent stopped, realizing she had wandered into the portion of the wood most Moorfolk chose to avoid, for the dark creatures that lurked inside.
Curiosity took over the faerie, she wanted to see the rumoured 'dark creatures' that lived in her Moors. She was a queen after all, shouldn't she know exactly what she ruled?
She walked until she came to a lake, a very beautiful lake at that. She sat on a rock and stared out into it, she could see herself very clearly in the reflection. The bruises and cuts which had distorted her face before were gone.
A glimmer of water caught her eye, and her head turned in that direction, tipping her head in curiosity.
The water became many different colours of light, and it began to move on it's own, shaping the form of a person.
Soon a girl was standing in the spotless lake, draped in a white dress.
Her long amber hair clung to her shoulders, and went all the way down her back. The colour of the sky was only a close rival to the blueness of her hairs, and the fairness of her skin only a close rival to Maleficent's.
She was beautiful indeed.
"Hello." Maleficent bid her, tipping her head down slightly. "I am Maleficent. What do they call you?"
"I know who you are, Queen of the Moors, and I have no name. Only the names I wish for myself to have. Today I will be called Giselle." Her voice was very silky, almost hypnotic.
"Hm," Maleficent tipped her head up regally, turning it towards the lake. "Are there more of you, from the lake?"
"Yes, we are watchers, and shapeshifters. We have no true form, only what we wish to be."
"That is interesting indeed," Maleficent drawled, "And what is it that you watch?"
"Everything. Lately, we have taken to watching you. Your life is interesting to us, so many complications that we don't need to meddle in it."
"So you are meddlers as well? Exactly what do you do to meddle?"
The girl smiled, and it was then Maleficent knew these were wicked creatures indeed.
Giselle, as she called herself, swirled her delicate fingers over the water. The water rippled and followed her movements until a new image relflected along it's surface.
Maleficent stood and looked at the image, a perfect eyebrow raising itself.
There in the water, was Diaval and Aurora sleeping in their tree. Diaval had taken his raven form, his head tucked under his wing as he slept.
Maleficent couldn't resist the smile tugging at her lips as she watched them.
"Handsome man he makes no?" The smile faded away as the faerie looked back up, at the girl in front of her. "He is a shapeshifter too, but he can only take one human's form."
"That's correct. He is my companion."
"Oh but a little more than a mere companion. No use denying it, remember that we've seen."
The faerie's lips tightened into a tight line, before she turned and began her descent back to the light part of the Moors.
"Oh, where are you going?" The creature pouted. Maleficent turned her head to look at it, and when she turned it back the thing was in front of her.
"I'm going back to where I've come from."
"But there you barely have any fun. You find us fascinating, don't you want to stay a little longer?"
"No, there is enough fun and happiness where I am from. I doubt this will be the last time I see you though, now that I know you exist." Maleficent lied, she did not want to come back here.
The faerie moved past the girl, crossing into the woods.
"Oh no, this certainly won't be the last time you see us." The girl mumbled before liquefying back into the lake.
...
"Where did you go last night?" Diaval asked her the next morning, as they strolled beside each other.
"Oh, I just went for a bit of walk. My legs were more stiff than I imagined." She smiled at him, putting an arm on his shoulder.
"Yes, your tumble from the tree was an account of that."
Maleficent playfully smacked his chest, smiling as she turned in front of him.
"I won't be easy to love." She told him, almost as if saying 'Are you sure you want to do this?'
"Mistress, I've loved you for years, I'm not looking for easy I'm looking for you."
She smiled brightly, caressing his cheek.
"As you know, human contact makes me... wary. But I'm willing to try." She offered her hand, and Diaval took it gently. He kissed it before letting their hands drop, still tightly clasped.
"Besides, I know you'll never hurt me." She told him, lightly placing her head on his shoulder.
"Never in a million years Mistress."
A.N: Well, at least I'm not doing too bad.
On the note of this chapter, I've taken the common legend of a siren and revamped it slightly, but it is still technically a siren. And guess what sirens do, they lure in men. Excited, scared? Well I hope you are.
Thanks for reading, please review!