Note: This chapter is a little bit longer than the other two and I hope you'll like it, 'cause I really enjoyed writing it. And, again, I need to thank my beta, Miriam Lange, for her patience, for her help, for her kindness. Without her, you would read some horrors and I'm glad you won't.
About the person who asked me about Maleficent/Emma's parents, they're not Snow White and Prince Charming and you'll get to know them better in the future; at least, I hope so. :]
About the confused one because of the story, I know it's a little bit of a mess, but you're going to figure out some things starting from this chapter. I hope you'll have the patience to keep reading. :]
In the end, the last part of the chapter can be read with 'Once Upon a Dream' by Lana Del Rey. I put the link where you can start listening to it.
If you would like to let me know what you think about the chapter, feel free to tell me anything. I'd love it! :]
I'm sorry for any possible mistake!

Chapter III
One day. Maybe.

The day that Killian Jones opened the main door of the big, quiet castle, Maleficent exulted over the result she was able to reach. Three nights had gone by since the last time they spoke, and, even though she couldn't have any absolute certainty, she was sure that sooner or later, driven by the love that was inflaming every fiber of his being, he would have come to her to accept her offer. She didn't know what love was, she didn't know how powerful that feeling could be, but the strength of the emotions she had seen in his eyes every time the name of his beloved lady was formed with his lips, or the vibes she could see in those stormy blue eyes when she told him of Emma's fate, made her sure her pleasure would not be neglected.
That morning, the creaking of the main door woke her up and, when she came across Killian, she got a foretaste of the victory in her mind, in her heart, on her tongue. And she couldn't wash away that insane feeling that was overwhelming her when she thought about the trick she had played on him. Because, yes, she tricked him! She didn't have any idea of who Emma was, or of what happened to her, or of the intensity of their bond. According to her instinct and the circumstances of her arrival, Maleficent logically supposed that everything that happened to the lady couldn't be connected to her, because she had never heard of Emma before Killian's notice. And, even if she wasn't interested in romance, she couldn't help but blame herself when she realized the missed opportunity. She could have taken advantage of that feeling: love made people weak and she could have used that weakness to afflict even more misery on the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest. Killian Jones would only have been the first link a long chain of wrecked lives.
It was impossible to sketch out the excitement in her eyes or the irregular pulse of her heart. There was something warm and even quiet in her gaze, always burning with sick pleasure in the face of a sinister circumstance, something that not even the most talented artist or writer would have been able to describe. Wrapped in her long black dress, she greeted him and asked him to wait for her there, while she was going to get his loved one. And Killian listened to her! When Maleficent came back and placed herself on top of the stairs, he was still there, motionless.
The moment when she attended to their reunion was one of the happiest days of her existence and she couldn't stop the sporadic laugh coming from the core of her being, while the room echoed with her laughter. How was it possible to explain the pleasure she was feeling? How was it possible to describe the mixture of feelings her body was shaken by because of her trick? Because it was nothing more than that, a trick! Maleficent lied to Killian when she told him Emma was her prisoner. The young lady he was caressing, kissing, cuddling, was the beautiful princess of a close by realm who was paying the price of her vanity. Maleficent had met her many months ago and she could clearly remember the way the princess spoke to her, threatening Maleficent to defeat her power and make her nothing more than a vague memory to tell her future children, to show them the unbeatable strength of their kingdom. It was a sunny afternoon when Maleficent kidnapped her and locked her in a cell specially built for the occasion, a cell where the walls were covered by mirrors. Her beauty and the passing of time was fitting punishment for her pride. The irony was that her name was Belle.
To fog Killian's sight so that he could see Emma's lineaments on Belle's face and Belle's sight so that she could see her noble knight's lineaments on Killian's face was easy and it didn't require a lot of magic. And Maleficent had to force herself to stay in place and not to go to the two of them while she attended their reunion. When Killian said "Emma", Belle heard her name, just as when Belle said "John", Killian heard his name. They kissed and hugged each other with a deep tenderness, with an affection that would have damaged Maleficent's happiness if it hadn't been the prelude of a bigger suffering.
"I don't want you to stay! It's horrific and I love you. I don't wanna live without you!" she said, her voice broken from crying and with a tear-streaked face, as if a battle was raging in her heart between the joy of her freedom, the forthcoming split, and the guilt over her lover's fate. "Oh, Emma!" he whispered, his lips caressing her eyelid in relief. "We don't have another choice and you could live with your family, far away from here. You have to forget me as much as I have to forget you. That's the only way we can defeat her," he said and he looked at her with a soft gaze. What came after that was a sickening, unbearable sequence of promises, apologies, forgiveness, prayers that Maleficent barely noticed and, for a brief moment, her eyes fell in disapproval until her beloved raven showed up and pushed the two of them away from each other with venomous impetuosity. Eventually, the main door of the castle was closed and the raven came back to her.
Maleficent kept quiet for a long time, her happiness restored, but her black eyes never left Killian's silhouette, and, when he turned to her, he realized the unusual satisfaction that she was feeling. He regretted his attempts to find something of Emma in her, his certainty that Maleficent actually was his Emma, because he realized it was impossible. That woman, whose beauty was as distressing as much as her cruelty, had nothing of Emma.
«And so?» he said, shutting down the part of him that wanted to be quiet. The most pugnacious, impulsive part of him was sure that a woman like Maleficent, who lived all alone in such a big castle and with such a pure joy, should love the silence and he didn't want to give in to her wishes. At all.
«Yes?» she answered back, lightly tilting her head.
«Nothing to say? What do you expect me to do?» he kept asking, getting close to her at a slow pace and threw the bag he carried with him on his shoulder. «What's my destiny, now that I traded my life for Emma's?» He kept moving, until he was a few steps away from her.
«You can choose, Killian Jones: dungeons or a normal room?» The man jumped and scowled at her, unwilling to believe that she was telling the truth.
«May I? Don't you just want to throw me in a dungeon?» he asked, and she sighed and shook her head just like during their last meeting. She barely smiled, her lips as red as blood, and again Killian couldn't help but to find something of Emma in her manners. But how was that possible, when he had touched his lover's arms, and lips, and eyes, and eventually had seen her running away from the castle? How was that possible when he knew Maleficent could not be Emma?
«Oh, Killian Jones!» His name sounded sweeter on her red lips. «If that's what you want, your wish will be granted, but I have to say that I'd prefer to see your miserable soul haunting the castle, rather than to pay you a visit at the dungeons. But, if that's what you wish…»
«No. No dungeons» he interrupted her and she fully smiled, so fascinating that for the first time Killian truly understood why the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest couldn't stop her or realize what her aims were before it was too late. Even though her being was dominated by a mad degeneration, there was pureness and innocence in her, and he realized he would have fallen for them as much as the others if he hadn't been away when she first came and if his love for Emma hadn't been his compass.
«Well, then follow me, sir.»
And he did, even if that scene was so similar to the one that saw him locked in a cell for three days the first time he reached her castle. Following her, Killian couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the castle and of its mistress, and, even though he felt a hatred and a disdain for her that he never felt for anyone else, he admitted to himself that his heart would have skipped more than one beat, if she had been a normal human being. Maleficent was different than the enemies he was used to, she didn't hurt or kill or rape; her weapons were more subtle, more cruel, and she used life itself and its traps to wound people where everyone else used the sword. And Killian realized that she was the most dreadful enemy he had ever faced in his whole life.
«I have to warn you, sir. Sincerely» she said when they reached the room that was supposed to be his. Killian stopped in front of her, only a few centimeters left between them. «I'm not used to kill, I'm not that sort of person, but I already have and I won't hesitate if you will break our agreement.» she warned him and fell quiet, so that he could realize she wasn't lying. «I will kill you or her depending on my exquisite pleasure and I will let the other live, preventing the other from committing suicide. And trust me, the life of the survivor will be much worse than any torture, any pain, any horror you have ever seen in your life.»
Her black eyes were overwhelmed by the shadows of the monster she was, and, even though Killian had been trying to find a way out, he realized he would have been a fool by trying to escape Maleficent's desire. He needed to defeat her, not to run away from her.
«You have my word, Your Majesty. I won't try to run away from you, ever, and I would send Emma back to her realm if she would try to come to rescue me.» She stared at him for a very long time as she was weighing his words. «I believe you and your words and I'm not a fool. Trading my life for Emma's, I made a decision and I will honor it.» Abruptly, without any possible explanation, his heartbeat raised.
«When you arrived at my castle, your purposes were different» she said, and Killian was surprised. How could she know that?
«You're right…» he answered back, staring at the floor selflessly. Then his eyes reached for hers and he smiled. «But now you can see I'm not lying, that I'm honest. I gave you my word and I will honor my promises.»
«I hope so, sir.» Maleficent lowered her gaze for an instant, then suddenly took one step closer, narrowing the gap between them. «Because I'm not used to go back on a promise as much as you do.» Maleficent stared over his shoulders for a moment, then back at him, smiling softly, and Killian realized what she was going to tell him even before she started speaking again. Suddenly, her hands grasped his arms almost painfully, and, for the first time, he got the most threatening look he had ever seen on her face. «I may not have lifted a finger on the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest or not have killed anyone, but that doesn't mean that I despise the blood's warmth on my skin, because I do like it» she whispered, and he almost drowned in the black cruelty of her eyes.
When she loosened her grip on his arms, Killian had no time for saying something, because she went past him through the corridor. The sound of her heels tapping on the floor was all she left behind.

After that moment, it took more than a week for Killian to meet Maleficent again. Except for some casual encounters and when he saw her walking through the garden from the window of his room, it looked like she was avoiding him, or, at least, it looked like Killian's arrival changed nothing in her routine. To make up for it, she never failed to deliver a meal to him or anything else he needed, and Killian couldn't help but start asking himself how that worked. Was the castle empty except for the two of them and the raven, or did she have invisible employees? Or was it happening by magic?
Something changed one evening, the evening when a woman screaming in pain was heard around the castle. Coming back to his room, Killian got a glimpse of the raven roosted on a chair with a tiny scroll tied to his paw. Cursing the animal for biting him, he unrolled the scroll and read:

"Tonight, dinner will be served in the dining room."

Confused, he obeyed the written request, and, when he started having stomach cramps, he walked out his room. Even though he had asked himself how he would have reached the room without any guidance, he soon realized that he didn't need any: to make sure he would have been able to arrive at the hall, Maleficent only lit up the palace's areas that he had to walk through. And so he did.
When he reached his destination, Killian was astonished by the state of the room. It was darkness-shrouded with two big fires on the two opposite sides and a table was placed in the centre of the room, set with the finest silverware and flowers and candles. At some other time, he would have felt comfortable, but, in that moment, he couldn't help but feeling weird, not because he wasn't worthy, but because he wasn't dressed properly. And his astonishment grew when his stormy blue eyes rested on Maleficent.
She was dressed in a gorgeous evening gown with a black, strapless bodice and a no-frills full skirt of the same color; and surprisingly it suited her much better than the other one. Her long hair, usually straight, was now softly curled, and caressed the pale skin of her shoulders. She was enchanting, simply enchanting.
«Good evening, Killian Jones!» she said, and he needed a moment to realize that he was standing in the middle of the arc which led into the room with his mouth open. Acting nonchalant, he made his entrance into the room and bowed a bit.
«Good evening, Your Majesty!» he answered, but she smiled and shook her head.
«Call me Maleficent, please» she requested and he nodded. Getting close to the table, he noticed it was set for just one person. «Sit down, sir. You must be hungry!»
«Killian. Call me Killian» he interrupted her before she could go on, and he followed her with his eyes when she took a seat on an armchair next to the fire. «Don't you..?»
«I'm not used to eat along with other people, but feel free to eat, please» she encouraged him, and Killian couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He could easily understand her discomfort, but not the meaning of the evening itself. Why did she arrange a dinner if she didn't want to eat with him?
«It's been a while since the last time I saw you» he said, trying to change the subject to break the silence. Looking at Maleficent, who was staring at the fire intensely, Killian realized how comfortable she was with silence from the relaxed position of her shoulders, from the intent look on her face, from the rhythmic drum of her fingers on the goblet she was holding.
«I'm not sure if you're talking about seeing me or of talking to me.» She glanced up at him and her crimson lips lifted up. Killian couldn't stop himself and smiled back at her, vaguely amused.
«That's what I meant» he answered.
«Did you miss me?» she teased him, and her black eyes, which were reflecting the movement of the fire, showed an innocent cunning that made him laugh a little bit more.
«You mean your threats?» he asked, raising an eyebrow with an impudent look on his face.
«Touché!» she answered, and, still laughing, took a sip of the beverage in her goblet.
«Did you ever live with someone, Maleficent?» he burst out, and she looked at him with a huge curiosity while he was eating bread and soup. Maleficent realized that the more she was trying to remember her past before the Enchanted Forest, the more she couldn't see any person, any place that could help her to answer that question. It looked like a thick fog was hiding her memories and even her life from her, and she couldn't do anything about it.
«Yes, but I don't remember, actually.» She frowned and tried to defeat the fog, but she lost. «I don't remember at all, but it doesn't matter. I love solitude. It doesn't bother me» she said, and her intent expression was replaced by a relaxed one.
«Mmm» he muttered, and his moan drew her attention so that Maleficent started to stare at him.
«What?»
«I'm trying to figure out if I should be honored or not, since you decided to put an end to something you love so much» he confessed, and he looked conceited and sarcastic at the same time as he was getting rid of Maleficent and her lifestyle. But she laughed, laughed with a hoarse and beautiful sound before she stood up and got closer to the table. Her gaze was sharp when she looked at Killian.
«One day, perhaps, you'll figure it out. One day. Perhaps.»
Setting down the glass on the table, she fully smiled at him, then she turned her back and walked away. Killian couldn't help but stare at her, while the darkness was about to swallow her silhouette, just before she turned on a torch with a twitch of her hand. When it was impossible to see her anymore, he looked at his dish and he was about to fill up his soup spoon when the echo of a melody reached his ears and made him jump.
"I know you. I walked with you once upon a dream…"

*
watch?v=TZ44x0GnKh4
His steps ran fast on the marbled floor, following the trace that Maleficent left behind, and his heartbeat raised for no apparent reason. He wasn't worried, he wasn't hopeful, he wasn't scared. He was simply curious, but that curiosity was burning every inch of his being, every inch of his soul to such an extent that, as the fire was torching the stumps into the fireplace, he risked burning himself. He didn't know what to expect, he didn't know what was fair for him to expect, but, above all, he didn't know ifit was fair for him to wish anything. But, when he turned the corner and his gaze reached the dancing, close-eyed Maleficent and he realized she was dancing with nothing, with no one, he burned with a feeling he couldn't explain because it had so many different sides that he wasn't sure he wanted to explore it.
The day he met and let Emma go far away from that castle, trading his life for hers, he made a decision: the decision to forget her and the feelings he had been carrying with him this whole time, and to never look back. He knew Emma since she was a child, eight years younger than him and stunning in her magical beauty; that meant it would not have been easy to fulfill his aim to leave her behind, but he was stubborn and strong, and he didn't want Maleficent to accomplish her goal. So, he knew Emma and Maleficent were two different people, he had proof of that a week ago when he kissed the former and was reduced to slavery by the latter. But still, watching Maleficent dancing as she was wrapped into the arms of the most tender lover, he saw a glimpse of his Emma, of the naughty, young, stunning lady she used to be before he left.
"I know you. The look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam…"
Looking at her, Killian realized that, even though her eyes were closed, she wouldn't have made any mistake. Because she was not dancing for anyone but herself, moved not by magic, not by pride, not by mathematical movement, not by fear. She was enjoying every single step as she was dancing in the air, light as a feather, in a valley where she was all alone and no one could see her.
"And I know it's true that vision are seldom all they seem…"
Unexpectedly, he moved forward, bursting into the hall with a certainty that wasn't fitting well with him being a prisoner, and, not controlling himself, when Maleficent leaped next to him, Killian put his arms around her as the lover with whom she had been imagining dancing with. Surprised, she jumped, and, looking at him, she stared at the man for a very long time as if she wanted to understand his purposes, as if she wanted to know his feelings. But there was nothing but confusion in his soul!
Placing a hand on her hip and getting her close until their bodies were touching, he entwined her tapered fingers with his and waited for her to run away from him, because that was what her gaze was screaming. In the depth of her black eyes, Killian read her heartbreak, as if no human being had ever tried to touch her except to hurt her, as if her cold hands had never felt the warmth of other hands, as if she was scared to get crumbled by his touch. And, clasped in his arms, Killian realized she was fragile, so fragile that he couldn't stop his lips from saying:
"But, if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love at once, the way you did once upon a dream…"