Maleficent - Diaval Fanfic – I'm Alive by Raven Diablo
Chapter 7, Apples & Mud Pies
"Curious little beastie", Maleficent said as she and Diaval were looking on as the now 15 year old Aurora was searching all around the thorn wall for some kind of opening.
Maleficent seemed to enjoy it more and more going out to the cottage. Over the years she appeared to grow fond of Aurora, but she still kept her distance, especially now that the child was in her teens and her senses were keener and Maleficent knew that Aurora had the feeling she was being watched. Diaval didn't know what to make of Maleficent's personal interests in Aurora, but it was clear there was something more going on than her bent on seeing the curse play out.
In the past several years, King Stefan attempted two large attacks against the Moors, but his feable army was no match for the thorn wall Maleficent made. Thusfar the past two years he made no further attempt to attack. However, something was going on over at the castle too as many of the ornate furnishings and decorations were being replaced with iron plating and armorments. King Stefan was clearly up to something and this is what Diaval wanted to find out. He knew bringing back good information for Maleficent to use made her happy and he was always rewarded well.
Diaval suspected that as the day of Aurora's 16th birthday neared that King Stefan might have a plan to draw Maleficent to his castle and perhaps fight her on his turf since fighting her at the Moors was nearly impossible. Given these changes, Diaval started to go out at night while Maleficent checked up on Aurora alone.
Diaval was early back on his trip out to the castle one day. On his return of this day Maleficent had the news that she ran into Aurora and the two had spoken. Aurora thought her to be her Faerie Godmother!
"What?" Diaval laughed, "You got to be kidding me."
Maleficent passed a shocked look at Diaval "Why not?", she said with a pouty face.
"Oh No...You mean it?!" Diaval himself sounded shocked, "You lead her on to believe that?"
"Diaval, I don't like your tone of voice. Don't you mock me."
"I'm sorry, my mistress", he apologized, but still he was caught stifling a giggle.
Maleficent looked at him crossly and then said, "Don't you tell her otherwise either or there will be consquences. Oh! And never call me by my name in front of her either. I have told Robin to do the same."
"Ok, Ok. Whoa, Wait. What do you mean tell her?" he asked.
"You are going to accompany me tonight and meet Aurora", she said. "You are to look your best too."
"Ye..Yes, my mistress." Diaval was a bit frightened about the prospect of meeting the human princess up close and in person.
It had been many years past and it was some time since he received any kind of punishment from Maleficent. She many times now instead of saying 'you will be punished', she liked using the line, 'there will be consequences.' But Diaval knew this meant he would be punished.
Another change Diaval noticed was that she no longer referred to him as a servant, but as her confidant or on rare occassions she introduced him has her friend. He was hoping that his meeing with Aurora would be such a night.
In that same amount of time, Diaval never brought up the loss of Maleficent's wings again. However, he was hoping one day she would tell him as she said she would.
The years seem to fly by and Maleficent seemed to slow down on her changing Diaval into other animals. She seemed to be content with his normal bird form, his horse form and his man form. In fact the past year, those three forms were all he saw himself change into. Being the horse was always a treat as he knew that meant that he needed to take his mistress someplace fast. But sometimes they would just ride together for the fun of it racing up and down the Moors. For Diaval, not only did he enjoy being the horse, but this was the one time where he was in contact with his mistress as he loved the feel of her riding on his back. He never threw her from his back once. He as very careful and always gentle. It was during these riding sessions he could feel his bonds growing as he enjoyed watching her face light up and beam when he would ride with her very fast. They never went anywhere slow, he always rode at top speed and he knew she loved it.
But tonight was special, for the first time, he was going to meet and talk with Aurora. Maleficent wore a head-dress similar to the one she had at Aurora's christening. She wore a similar black dress but it was different in that it didn't have the long train behind her and the dress was shorter showing more of her lower legs. It made for easier walking around the Moors.
Diaval wore a new outfit that Maleficent made. It was similar to what he normally wore, but had gold detailing on the edges and cuffs of his sleeves. A gold stripe ran down his pant leg too. The whole outfit was a darker black than his old outfit. This one matched his hair more closely.
"Faerie Godmother? Faerie Godmother is that you?" Aurora questioned.
"Yes, I am here", she answered. "I would like you to meet someone."
He saw Maleficent nod to him and he flew down from the tree behind her and to the tree next to her.
"This is Diaval, my confidant and friend."
YES! Diaval thought to himself, she introduced me to Aurora as BOTH friend and confidant! With that he spread his wings and bowed his head.
"I know you!" Aurora exclaimed, "Hello pretty bird!"
"Oh, so you two have met then?" Maleficdent said.
Maleficent then waved her hand and a yellow whisp turned him into a man. This act frightened Aurora a bit and she jumped back. But after getting a good look at Diaval, her frightened face turned back into a smile.
"Hello, Aurora. I'm Diaval. I have known you since you were a little one."
Diaval walked forward took Aurora's hand and gave her a kiss on the hand.
"Oh, my...you are a gentleman", she said blushing.
"Thank you, Aurora."
"Well, introductions asside, we have much to do tonight", Maleficent said.
Aurora got all excited and Diaval had a puzzled look on his face as he saw her light up. She turned around and skipped and hopped into the direction of the thorn wall.
"Where are we going, my mistress?"
"Why my home, of course!", Maleficent answered. "At the Rowan Tree".
Diaval looked a little shocked.
"You mean in the Moors?"
"Yes, Diaval, that is where the Rowan Tree is ", she answered sarcastically.
"But you never let anyone in there."
"Shoosh now. The first night we talked I brought her into the Moors to show her our world".
"Why?" He asked.
Maleficent's eyes narrowed and she said something she hadn't in a long time. "Rule number 2, Diaval".
"Yes, yes, my mistress, don't question your motives".
"That's a good birdy."
The three continued to walk back to the wall, Aurora was quite a distance in front. With a wave of her hand, Maleficent parted the thorn wall. Aurora couldn't wait to get into the Moors and as soon as the thorns cleared she darted right in.
The two followed behind her and the thorn wall closed in behind them.
Maleficent took Aurora to the Rowen Tree where she lived and showed her around the house. She showed her her bedroom and retracted the roof for her in much the same way that she had shown Diaval.
"You have such a beautiful home, Faerie Godmother!" Aurora exclaimed as she plopped herself down on Maleficent's bed. "I love it here!"
She rubbed her hands up and down the nice fur covers on Maleficent's bed. "Oh, I so want to sleep here. Can I sleep here? Pleeeeasse!"
"Not now, little beastie, but one day you will", Maleficent said.
Maleficent put her hand over her heart and smiled a bit. Diaval could tell that Aurora must have hit a soft spot there. All three sat down on Maleficent's bed and looked out onto the Moors. Maleficent continued to talk about the land and the places she loved to go to in the Moors. Both Diaval and Aurora listened in with curious ears.
After that first meeting with Aurora, Diaval accompanied his mistress many more times. For one thing it was certainly more interesting keeping and eye on her in the Moors then to be shacked out by the cottage.
All the while he noticed that Aurora really took an appreciation for the Moors and that made Maleficent very much interested in Aurora. On one warm night Maleficent lead everyone to the larger bog section of the Moors.
"I am going to show you the faeries that live by the bogs tonight, Aurora", Maleficent said. "You will get to meet the stone faeries and the wallerbogs. Robin will be joining us tonight as well and you will meet him."
"Oh, this is going to be a such a FUN night", Aurora exclaimed.
"My mistress, did you just say wallerbogs and Robin in the same sentence?" Diaval asked.
"Yes, I did."
"Well, then you know what that means, right?"
"Don't worry Diaval, I will keep my distance."
"Ok, so let me get this straight...you are purposely creating an open invitation to a mud fight?", Diaval whispered into Maleficent's ear so as not for Aurora to hear.
"Diaval, our purpose is to show Aurora the inhabitants of the Moors. She expressed an interest to me in regards to them and I am going to show her all she wants to know."
"Yes, but you DO know how this is going to end, right?"
"Oh! Stop your complaining, Diaval. Let the girl have some fun."
"Ok, my mistress, but it is going to get messy, AND I am in my best outfit again tonight."
Maleficent whipped around in front of Diaval, and eyed him up and down, taking note that his shirt was open from the neck halfway down his chest. She raised an eyebrow and agreed, "Yes, you certainly are."
"But let me fix one thing", she said and walked up to him and proceeded to unbutton his shirt the rest of the way down to his pants. She pulled his shirt open to show the scar he has all the way down his chest and abdomen.
"But this is the way I wear my other outfit", he said.
"Yes, I know."
Hmmm. Diaval thought to himself. She said 'dress your best for Aurora'. I don't think having my shirt buttoned down all the way would be considered 'best dressed'. But I guess she has her reasons and I am not one to question.
Soon they reached the bog and Maleficent introduced Aurora to the creatures that lived there. The stone faeries and the wallerbogs. The water faeries were also present. As she was explaining what the wallerbogs do, a red glow darted across the bog. That was all familiar to Diaval...it was Robin. He darted straight for Diaval and stopped within inches of his face. Diaval shifted his head to the side in fear that Robin would crash right into his face.
"Oh, boy.! Oh boy! We are going to have some fun tonight!" Robin exclaimed excitedly shaking his fists up and down. Then he flew off into the direction where Maleficent was explaining some of the plant life to Aurora.
"Hello Hello there my sweet young lass, you must be Aurora."
"Robin?" Aurora asked.
"Yes, indeed that is me!", he said happily and twirled in mid-air.
"Did my lady, here tell you what we are going to do tonight?"
"Yes, she has".
"Ok, then", Robin's voiced slowed and he kind of made like he was walking in mid flight, "I guess without further ado", he paused.
"MUD FIGHT!" He shouted.
Aurora looked shocked as this wasn't anything that her Faerie Godmother had mentioned at all, but she ended up rolling with it.
Almost immediately the water faeries dove into the bog and each grabbed a pile of mud and ALL hurled the mud at Robin. He didn't stand a chance. The poor faerie just was covered so bad in mud that fell right out of the sky and into the mud bog.
Maleficent said, "And now it starts." in a monotone voice.
"Ahhhh, they are just having a little fun", Diaval said. "You are the one always telling me to lighten up."
The two stood a good distance away from the ensuing chaos unfolding within the bog. Maleficent laid with her back against one tree and Diaval his back on the tree next to hers. Their feet were close together. Both sat with one raised knee and the arm on that side on their knee. Maleficent and Diaval were sitting as in a perfect mirror image of each other.
Maleficent reached into her pouch she brought along and pulled out a nice red apple and took a bite. Diaval noticed even in the dim light that his mistress' lips were more red than the apple. He watched her take a another bite. Then she noticed he was staring at her.
"Apple Diaval?"
Diaval snapped out of his stare, "Oh! Yes, my mistress."
She tossed him an apple and the two sat and looked on. By now they had Aurora join in and as with Robin, she was encased in mud.
Diaval started to giggle.
"Take that, and that and that! In your face!", Robin shouted has he beamed mudballs at the stone and water faeries.
Then out of the blue, a mudball grazed Robin's face, temporarily blinding him.
"Darn it! I can't see!" He tossed his mudball in the aparent direction from where the mudball hit him from.
Diaval's eye's widened when the mudball Robin tossed soared out of the bog and headed straight towards his mistress.
SPLAT! The mudball landed square on Maleficent's cheek. She turned her head and her jaw dropped.
All of a sudden, motion and laughter stopped and all eyes were on Maleficent. She clearly had a look of disgust on her face.
Diaval seeing Maleficent with her face blemished by the mudball and that expression on her face, he couldn't contain himself. He held his hand up to his mouth and started to chuckle. She darted an angry look back at him and that made him laugh even harder.
Her eyes narrowed and she had an evil smirk on her face. Then with a flick of her wrist a giant mudball rose out from the bog and slammed into Diaval. The sheer size of the mudball pushed him back into the tree. Everything except his legs were encased in mud.
All of sudden there was a roar of laughter amongst the group.
"Faerie Godmother, that was some shot! But poor Diaval!", Aurora said. She too was covered in mud with only some skin showing on her face. Her golden hair was loaded with clumps of mud. She ran over to Diaval's aid.
Everyone else was still laughing while Aurora was trying to scoop some of the mud off of Diaval.
"It's Ok, Aurora. I'll live." Diaval said.
"Take my hand, Diaval", she said.
Diaval reached out his hand. Aurora immediately grabbed it and pulled him straight into the bog with her. Now he was completely covered in mud sitting in the bog and everyone was laughing. He couldn't help but glanced over to his mistress of whom was also laughing.
"Your turn!" Diaval said as he grabbed Aurora and pulled her into the bog.
The 'splatter zone' increased considerably when all were frantically tossing mudballs at each other. Maleficent took a few steps further back than before to avoid getting hit. She looked on and smiled and laughed every now and then. Diaval always liked it when she smiled and had a good time. Tonight was much like the days when they go riding together.
Robin pulled Diaval aside, and said, "She used to never be like this. In the past she would join us. Since she lost her wings, she has been a complete stick in the mud. ...Oh, Ok, at least she IS laughing."
"Oh, I wouldn't say so. I mean look what she did to me. She made ME a stick in the mud."
Robin chuckled.
"Diaval!"
"Oh! her highness speaks. You better go before she turns you into a wallerbog next!"
"Yes, my mistress?"
"Would you be a dear and get some more apples for us."
"Sure."
Diaval got out of the bog and crouched down to the ground near his Mistress.
"Diaval, I said fetch some apples for us and not crouch down in front of me."
"Well, my mistress, you instructed me to be a deer. So I was waiting for you to turn me into one."
She looked on puzzled at first, but then all of a sudden just busted out laughing. Diaval didn't understand why.
"Diaval! That was a good one!" he heard Robin shout.
Diaval looked dumbfounded.
Aurora then spoke up, "Diaval, it was a play on words. When she said 'be a dear' as in D, E ,A ,R, she meant 'be nice' and not referred to the deer animal." she explained. "It is a popular human expression."
Maleficent stopped laughing for a moment and explained too. "I am sorry, it was a slip of my tongue, I usually don't use that expression around him. That is why he isn't familiar with it."
While Diaval had heard some expressions during his flights as a bird, he never gave them much thought. But this was one he had not heard of before. He stood back up and faced his mistress.
"I would like to get cleaned up first, if it is ok, my mistress" he asked Maleficent.
"Yes, of course." she replied and then waved her hand and he was completely clean.
"Thank You", he gave a little bow to her and then went off to a nearby apple tree to pick more apples."
As the night went on Aurora still continued to play in the mud with Robin and the other faeries. Maleficent and Diaval looked on while munching on apples. After a while an exhausted Robin plopped himself down next to Diaval, his wings so caked with mud that he couldn't fly.
"Ahhhhh, I'm exhausted, but THAT was fun!", he sighed. "My lady, if you may, I would like to be cleaned up too so I can fly home later."
"There you go, Robin", Maleficent said and like with Diaval, a wave of her hand and Robin was clean, glowing red once again.
Robin fluttered his wings as if to test to see if they were working properly and then he laid back down on the rock next to Diaval not having the urge to fly at the moment.
"What a night!" Robin said.
"Aurora, it is time to go" Maleficent shouted to her. "Let me clean you up too."
With the same flick of her wrist Aurora was clean too.
It was a great evening and as it came to a close everyone said their good nights. Aurora was growing tired herself and walked with Maleficent and Diaval very slowly to the wall. They managed to sneek her back into the bedroom of the cottage without waking the three faeries and then made way to their home in the thorn wall.
"I must say that certainly was a fun night. It was also nice to see you participate too, even if it was at my expense." Diaval said to his mistress.
"You laughed at me, what was I to to", she sounded a little offended.
"I'm sorry my mistress, I didn't mean to offend you. I just couldn't help but laugh. At any rate the biggest laugh was on me."
"Yes, It was a fun night, Diaval."
"Diaval..." she said "Would you be a deer?" and she proceed to bust out laughing. "No, I think YOU had the best laugh of the night." she corrected him. "At least for me, anyway".
As they walked they bumped their hands together. Diaval had a sudden urge to want to hold her hand as they walked. No Diaval, No. Don't. I know your feelings have been getting very strong for her, but you can't imprint yourself on her. She will let you go and you will be alone. Don't do it! He fought his feelings and moved a couple steps to the side. But Maleficent closed the gap again. He place his hand in his pocket.
Back at the house. Diaval stood in the doorway of the bedroom while Maleficent was sitting on the bed. He asked, "Will that be all for tonight, my mistress".
At first she didn't answer and just gazed at the scar on his chest.
"Hummm?", she shook it off with a start. "I am, sorry, Diaval, I wasn't paying attention, what did you say again?"
"Will that be all for tonight, my mistress?"
"Yes, that will be all. Have a good night", she said softly and then waved her hand. He turned into a raven and then he flew off into the next room.
Maleficent thought to herself. Why did I want him to stay with me tonight? And why did I want to get the urge to run my finger down that scar. I don't understand. I shoudn't have these feelings. But it is like the way I feel about Aurora too. Here is the child I cursed and yet she shows so much of an interest in me and my land and all who live here. Perhaps there is more to her than I thought. I don't know, there are so many feelings and emotions flying around inside of me lately it is hard to sort everything out.
She undressed and got into her night gown. Then she unraveled her head dress. Her hair was messed up. She grabbed her brush and sat down on the edge of the bed. She started to comb out her knots first and then do full strokes from the top down. Her mind wandered a bit and she pulled her hair more taut and closed her eyes. Oh, why do I want him to comb my hair out for me now. It just feels better when he does it.
"Di..." she stopped as she was ready to call for him.
"No, don't do it" she said softly to herself. "You know it might happen again like that first time."
She put the brush down and slumped down on the bed, rubbing her hands up and down on the soft covers.
"Tonight was a nice night", she whispered to herself.