Note: I wanna thank my beta, Miriam Lange, for her help. I can't even describe you how thankful I am. 3

Chapter II
Death is a moment

Strong blasts of wind rose against the walls of the castle, worming through the crevices and fluttering through rooms and corridors. In the grip of the hallucination, Killian imagined the wind occupied in a graceful, romantic waltz, and he could almost see it smiling and dancing and bowing at the end of the music as etiquette commanded. But his imagination was running wild because of the starvation of the last three days, and because of the air that was intoxicating his mind, making the idea of hurting himself even sweeter. There was something wrong in that cell, something that was making him weaker than he had ever been in his worst adventures.

The last time he saw Emma was the last time he ate something and also the last time he was clear headed. Not a sound was heard in that part of the castle, no footsteps or voices or even the raven that used to check out the situation for Maleficent. Was this the price he had to pay for his obstinacy? Was this the treatment she was going to give him, the indifference?
Taking a seat against the wall, he looked out the little window in the cell and, even if he couldn't see much, he craved for freedom, for the withered branches, for the few thin hares that were still alive. That was all Maleficent had left them, all Emma had left them. He gasped, trying to ignore the raging hunger he was feeling, and he almost believed it was a hallucination when he saw the door opening as by magic, showing him a plate of steamy food just outside the cell. He didn't think it could be a trap and, as a vulture in front of a carcass, he lunged toward it. He tucked into the food, trying to stock up on energies, and then tried to climb the stairs, but it wasn't easy: he was even weaker than when he arrived and he leaned on the walls more than once, trying to face the dizziness. Along the path, Killian asked himself why she decided to suddenly free him and not to kill him, even though it was so easy, and the thought that she actually didn't want to started to penetrate his mind. And it became more than a mere doubt when Killian reached the top of the stairs and the hall where they first met, and he found the main door opened along with all the stuff he had been carrying with him in its imminence. Walking through the room, he could see it, the reason behind her actions: she wanted him to go back to his life, but, more than that, she wanted him to let her go, being happy with her life, and to never look back.

*
A hashed fear was all over the Enchanted Forest and it could easily be felt by everyone who was brave enough to walk through its paths: that anxiety came from every inch, as if it wasn't just the reflection of its inhabitants, but as if all of nature was taking part in that drama in the first person. The crackling sound of the branches moved by the wind was only the first sign of the sickness that was all around, but it was clear enough to shock everyone who knew that place before Maleficent's arrival. Because of that, it was basically impossible to believe that a situation so painful for most could be a source of pure joy for another person, the one who was also the master of all the oblivion. Maleficent didn't just like the despair she could feel in her victims' heart; she loved what she was looking at as if it was the sculpture of a talented artist. It was like her eyes could see in reverse: commendable for deplorable, shining for misery, pleasant for unbearable.
Walking through the dying trees, the young lass smiled and, as she was burlesquing her victims' pain, she started to dance and it looked like the wind was following her lead, dancing with her and around her. Bending down her head enough to cross the arch created by the thorns, Maleficent was about to start humming, when something abruptly drew her attention somewhere else: staring over the forest line, she was amazed to catch the silhouette of a young girl, not older than eight, with long, blond hair, running about with a stuffer rabbit against her chest. Happily. How could it be possible that she was so cheerful when everything was dark all around her? How could it be possible, Maleficent asked herself, that her darkness wasn't touching that little girl?
Her mouth half-closed, Maleficent couldn't stop herself from getting closer to the child and, when she stepped on a tiny branch, drawing the kid's attention to her, she stopped for a second, then reached one of the trees on the edge of the forest. The darkness hid her.
«Who's there?» the child asked, the trembling of both fear and curiosity in her voice. In the glimmer of the moonlight, Maleficent's eyes sparkled with amusement. «I know you.»
«Do you?» she said, the insane excitement in her eyes wondering what it would be like, to horrify that innocent lady and to haunt her dreams for many, many nights to come.
«Yes… Everybody knows you!» she answered quietly. «Come out! Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you…»
«Oh.»
A hoarse laugh filled the atmosphere and suddenly the child realized the truth of the warning her parents had been repeating to her about the beast who ruled the forest. She realized the danger of being so close to her, but she didn't run. Despite all the evidence, the most innocent part of her wanted to look at the beast and believe that it wasn't so terrible; she wanted to tell the people how the beast spared her life and let her go.
«Then you'd be afraid.» she said and came out. The silvery light of the moon fell all over her stunning silhouette and Maleficent could hear the sigh of relief coming from the young lady's mouth.
«You're very beautiful.» she confessed, smiling at Maleficent and mastering the courage to take a step closer. Maleficent smiled back at her, sweet and charming as she could be, and stretched her right hand to make the child trust her. «Are you going to hurt me?»
«Why should I?» she asked, tilting her head as she wasn't able to see the reason behind that question. Bending down on her knees, Maleficent smiled softly. «Would you like to meet someone?» The child's eyes shined in excitement.
«Who?»
«Come, my pet!» she said and, stretching her hand enough for her raven to roost on it, she waited for the child's reaction. Something deranged burned in her black eyes as she wanted to steal all that innocence and leave that body as an empty trunk. Quietly, the young lady started to come closer, her heart beating so fast at the idea of touching the bird that she let her stuffed rabbit fall.
«Stop it!» a voice screamed and, as awaken from a deep dream, the kid jumped and ran away, leaving Maleficent on her knees. Dissatisfied. Despite her disappointment, she looked peaceful and serene when she turned back to face the person coming from the heart of the forest.
«Killian Jones!»
«You wanted to kill her, didn't you?» he asked, walking toward her, but he stopped when he met her eyes and he read the worst dismay on them. And that black oblivion threatened him.
«That's not what you wanna ask.» she corrected him and Killian looked confused. «You want to know why I didn't kill you, why I freed you.» she said and smiled, raising her arm to help her raven fly. There was something thespian in her manners, as if every move was planned to make Maleficent look like the main character and everything else as a mere side characters.
«Why? Why this?» Killian asked. «Why don't you just kill us all?»
Maleficent sighed, almost disappointed in him, in his incapability to capture the main reason behind her actions. She started walking, ready to come back to her castle, but, when she was about to go past him, Killian grabbed her wrist. He couldn't even understand why, but he was relieved to feel that her skin was soft and silky as many other women's. For a long time, he refused to meet her gaze, even if he could feel Maleficent's eyes firmly placed on him, and, when he did, his heart skipped a beat: in the deep darkness of her soul, he could see a glimpse of his Emma, but he asked himself if it was real or if he just needed to believe it.
«Death doesn't offer me joy, Killian Jones. Death is just a moment, and a moment of happiness in a whole life is almost nothing.» she paused for a few seconds and smiled. «But suffering… Oh, suffering can last forever and is even more cruel than death.» she said and she read his inner thoughts, then she kept going. «Just as much as the love you feel for your Emma, sir. Isn't that horrific the way you love her and the way it deprived you of your reasoning when you came to my castle where no one dares to come?» Killian opened his mouth, but she stopped him from talking. «And, if I told you that I lied, that the woman you love so desperately is alive and that your cell was even closer to hers than you think, it wouldn't be horrific for you to sacrifice yourself in the name of that love?» She fell silent for a moment, while the pleasure of seeing all that pain in his eyes was burning in her chest. For a few seconds, in the condemnation of her eyes, he felt condemned himself. «And, yes, I could free her, but your death is not what I want.» Abruptly, she came closer, so close that, if he had leaned over her, their mouths would have been touching. «What I truly desire in exchange for her freedom is your slavery, so that I will make the both of you miserable and I could feed on your misery.»
When she fell quiet, her eyes never stepped back from his. They both stayed that way for what looked like an eternity, then she lifted her hand to Killian's face and caressed his cheek with the back of her fingers, as delicate as a breeze. It was a moment and, wrapped in a purple cloud of magic, Maleficent disappeared, leaving the echo of her words ring out in his head. Was Emma her prisoner?