Maleficent & Diaval (Maleval) - I'm Alive

by RavenDiablo

A Drama Romance, the story parallels the movie and it's events. Taken mostly from Diaval's point of view, it shows how Maleficent and Diaval's initial master/servant relationship evolves into a friendship and finally a steamy romantic relationship. Cover image provided by the lovely and talented Akadio from DeviantART. Enjoy and please review!

18. Chapter 18: Medusa

Maleficent - Diaval Fanfic – I'm Alive by Raven Diablo

Chapter 18 – Medusa

The evening went by very slowly. The sun had set and everyone was gathered for dinner in the banquet hall. No one was really in the mood to eat. Earlier, the faeries that diagnosed the condition of both had long left. Robin and Knotgrass looked as if, by some twist of fate, they became the ones in eternal sleep. Knotgrass was expected to awaken and live, but with much of her powers depleted, but Robin's magic was almost fully gone and it was predicted that he might live a few days to a week at best.

Queen Aurora, Prince Philip, Diaval, and Sir Joseph sat on either side of the table. Flittle and Thistletwit had a small table and chairs and place settings that were from the toy doll house that was still sitting in Aurora's original bedroom. This was placed on the middle of the table.

Maleficent sat in Queen Aurora's chair at the end of the table as that chair was fitted with a harness that would allow maleficent to sit with her wings up. She was still very much in pain and she held her head in her hands being distraught after explaining to Queen Aurora what transpired in the dungeon's hold during the reattachment of her wings. The Queen sat with tears in her eyes and a handkerchief in her hand.

"So now you don't have control over your powers, your excellency?" Sir Joseph asked Maleficent.

She lifted her head up and a look of despair was etched along her face.

"No, she doesn't," Flittle jumped into the conversation and explained. "It is some kind of after effect of what happened when Maleficent tried to escape. Her magic backlashed through her body and that is what knocked out Robin. But by doing that she triggered something in her body that is forcing itself to heal first and she cannot use her magic, during this process. She has to heal first. Once she is healed her magic will return and she could save Robin.

"Could the both of you save Robin?" Diaval asked.

"No, too much of our magical energy was already used to help Maleficent. Without a good period of rest, if we try to save Robin we could put both of our lives at risk and still, there would be no guarantee it will be enough to save him," Flittle continued.

"Obviously Knotgrass is out of the question as well," Thistletwit chimed in.

"So we have three high healing faeries that need healing themselves," Diaval said, looking deep in thought. "What about if we grouped together a bunch of the other faeries that have healing abilities to save Robin?"

"It doesn't work that way as we don't know every single faeries healing capability, if one of the faeries has significantly less magic power, then that faerie's life is at risk," Flittle said. "Only a high healer knows his or her limitations."

Queen Aurora sat at the table wiping her tears as she said, "So that means we are stuck then and Robin will die."

"I tried to save him, Aurora. I really did try," Maleficent said with her voice quavering. "But something just went wrong. I couldn't escape, but I just somehow dug down deep and willed myself to save Robin and that is when the backlash happened. I don't know how it happened since I normally need my hands free to use my magic." Maleficent paused, "I just know I wanted him to live more than anything else at that moment. He was more important to me than my wings, or myself."

Maleficent again put her forehead into her hands.

"My dear, would you know of anyone outside of the kingdom that could help?" Diaval asked.

"No, Diaval. I never left the Moors for any length of time and I am not familiar with any other faeries that live in the adjacent areas to the kingdom. The only one that might know is Robin, and he is unconscious now," Maleficent said as she looked up and her eyes met Diaval's.

"Like I said, we are stuck!" Queen Aurora pouted.

Everyone hung their head low for a long time and it was quiet in the banquet hall.

Sir Joseph suddenly looked up and scrunched his face a bit. He then began to get up from his seat, "Excuse me your highness and your excellency. I have to check on something."

Maleficent looked to Sir Joseph and said, "Sure."

Sir Joseph got up and mumbled to himself, 'Maybe, just maybe' Diaval heard this and looked puzzled at Sir Joseph as he shot up and left the room. He proceeded to get up from the table.

"What's the matter?" Prince Philip asked.

"Prince Philip, he's got a look on his face like he is up to something," Diaval answered as he kept looking at the door. "I would like to know what."

"Diaval, help me out of this...I'm coming too." Maleficent asked.

"Yes, my love."

"Aurora, you and Prince Philip, get a head start on us." Maleficent said.

The two got up and headed for the door as Diaval carefully took Maleficent's wings out of the harness and secured them together on her back. She winced in pain as he lifted them in place.

"Are you Ok, my love?" Diaval asked.

"Yes, but the pain is back. Please let me have my staff."

Diaval reached around the throne where he put her staff earlier.

"Here you go."

Maleficent found that she once again needed her staff as a brace to get up and lean on while she walked, very much in the same manner as the day she discovered her wings were gone. Diaval was always by her side and held her free hand to steady her as she walked. While Maleficent was feeling better and could walk around she still couldn't move very fast. She didn't want her wings to move to much as that aggravated the pain.

"Well I guess dinner's over," Flittle said to Thistletwit and they both flew up and out the door and followed everyone down the hall.

They slowly but surely made their way down the halls of the castle. Aurora soon came back to meet up with them.

Soon they reached Sir Joseph's quarters, Prince Philip was waiting outside the door which was open. Maleficent was breathing heavy from the walk and she looked to Diaval.

Diaval knocked on the open door and Sir Joseph looked quickly up as he was rifling through his book case.

"May we come in?" he asked.

"Yes, Yes, of course." Sir Joseph answered.

Everyone entered the room. Being the captain of the guard, Sir Joseph was the only guard to have a suite on the royal floor and as such his suite was far larger than any of the other guards or workers in the castle.

Sir Joseph's room didn't have too many pieces of furniture in it. But he had several paintings on the wall. Most were of snakes and snake like beings. On the far end of his room was a window that appeared to go into an adjacent room, but upon closer examination, it was a very large tank. Diaval went get a closer look and he could see a large snake slithering in the back and it began to slowly move forward. As the large head came out from some branches that were placed in the tank, Diaval's eyes widened and he jumped back from the glass.

"Don't worry Diaval, he can't get through the glass," Sir Joseph said. "Even if he did, he's a big lug. Very docile. Mostly he just likes to be pet on the head."

Queen Aurora chuckled a bit and then asked, "What kind of snake is he?"

"A Python," Sir Joseph said as he rifled through his book case.

"Pet on the head?" Maleficent questioned, "Isn't that dangerous? What if he bit you."

"Well, he never has, but if he did, he's non-poisonous."

"Interesting," Diaval said, "I thought all snakes killed their prey with venom."

"Not all. Some snakes, like the Python, kills by constriction. Squeezing the air out of it's prey until it can't breath anymore."

"Oh," Diaval said. "That doesn't sound too pleasant."

Diaval cringed as he knew that snakes are a formidable predator of birds. Snakes usually eat bird's eggs. He found he couldn't gaze upon the tank for too long.

"It isn't, but a snakes got to eat."

Aurora asked, "Does he have a name?"

"Yes, Bernie."

Prince Philip stifled a laugh, "Rather unusual name for a snake."

"Not really, I named him after a good soldier friend of mine that died in the last battle when King Henry tried to take the Moors."

Prince Philip wiped the smile off his face. "Oh, Sorry."

"It's OK."

Maleficent hung her head low and said, "Sir Joseph, I would like to apologize for anyone that you cared for that lose their lives in that battle."

"Don't be, your excellency. Bernard was one of my soldiers that was bent on destroying you. The good thing was that he didn't get to you. We were at war at that time, I am just happy things have finally changed for the better. So it is water on the bridge as far as I am concerned."

Maleficent bowed her head in reverence.

As Sir Joseph continued his rifling, everyone looked around his quarters. Diaval picked up an unusual staff that had a carving of a snake's body that ran all the way up to top of the staff which was the head of the snake. Maleficent noticed for the first time that the ring on his finger had an engraving of two intertwined snakes. An older shield that hung from the wall also had a pair of snakes who's bodies ran around the perimeter of the shield. The heads crested over a small hole for peering out.

As everyone looked around they could tell that Sir Joseph had an affinity for snakes. But over his desk was a rather unusual painting of what could only be described as a hideous beast. It was clear the beast was female and had a facial structure much like that of a human but covered in green scales and was all bumpy and jagged. The canvas painting went as far to show the creature's neckline and shoulders. But the dominating feature of the painting was that instead of human hair she had a large number of snakes that grew out from her scalp. The snakes were all coiled in a manner to give the implication of what she would look like if she had curly hair. It was hard to tell where each snake started and ended. Most of the snakes had their mouth open agape.

Queen Aurora was ready to say something about the horrific, but yet interesting painting, but was interrupted before she could speak.

"Ah ha! Found it!" Sir Joseph exclaimed as he turned around waving an old scroll in the air.

"Found what?" Maleficent said.

"It is a scroll that might give us directions for a possible answer to our dilemma." Sir Joseph said as he opened the scroll up, put it on his desk and started to read.

Queen Aurora then interrupted and said, "What is that? Pointing to the painting of the hideous creature just over his head.

"That, my queen, is the answer we seek." Sir Joseph nodded towards the painting.

"What?" everyone except Prince Philip said in unison.

"Her name is Medusa. She is very unique. Half woman, half snake and very powerful. She has magic."

Prince Philip spoke up, "I have read about her...but she's just a legend."

"No, no Legend. She is real and exists."

"Naw, you pulling my chain mail links?" Prince Philip said.

"No, I am serious, sir. This scroll has directions to where she is living. Surprisingly she's only a few days away from here. Long ago I even tried to follow it and the directions check out."

"Really?" Maleficent asked as she looked over Sir Joseph's shoulder at the map and directions on the scroll.

Flittle and Thistletwit flew into the room and joined the conversation. "Sorry we are late, we just wanted to check on Robin and Knotgrass before coming here." Flittle said.

"So, how can she help?" Queen Aurora asked.

"Well, for one..." Sir Joseph lept back to his book case and pulled out a green book and rifled through the pages. "This book mentions she has great healing powers. The fellow that gave me this book and map actually has seen her and witnessed her healing a large snake that was hurt."

Everyone looked wide eyed except Prince Philip.

Prince Philip said mockingly. "Okay Okay. Say she does exist, I am sure that book mentions her other, more famous power, right?"

"What other power?" Diaval asked.

"Well, legend has it that her face is so ugly that the mere look upon her face will turn any man to stone," Prince Philip said.

All eyes shifted to Sir Joseph.

"Unfortunately, He's right," Sir Joseph agreed.

Prince Philip continued, "Supposedly she was cursed by a powerful wizard because she wouldn't love him and he made her so ugly that any man that would gaze upon her would instantly turn to stone."

Sir Joseph nodded, "Yes, that is also correct, it is in the book as well."

Queen Aurora had a proud look on her face at Prince Philip's knowledge on this particular discussion. Normally he was the quiet type. But seeing how he came forward was impressing the young queen.

Sir Joseph then proceeded to say that long ago he developed a fascination with Medusa and wanted to see her mainly to satisfy a challenge and prove that her existence was fact and not legend. Being much younger and bolder at the time he didn't give it much thought that he was putting himself and his followers at great risk. He also initially believed that Medusa's turning to stone ability might also just be a myth.

Everything on the map checked out right up to the point where they saw a structure on a large island in the middle of a lake. They proceeded to build a raft that would go across the lake when Sir Joseph saw something that made his blood freeze. In a nearby forest there was a group stone statues of soldiers that were all in battle poses and all of the soldiers eyes were fixed on one point in the middle. While that was odd, what was even more odd was the facial details of horror on the solders faces. The details were impeccable and nearly perfect. It was clear that it was nearly impossible even for the best stone carvers to do. Furthermore, why was a group of stone statues in the forest so far from civilization? Sir Joseph said that the stories were probably true and not only did Medusa exist, so does her power of turning men into stone. He suddenly got cold feet and changed his mind. He didn't want to put his men at risk. They all made the wise choice and decided to go back home.

"So you been there before?" Diaval asked.

"Yes, I have, but we went by horse and carriage and on foot. The trip took about 5 days to get there. We may not have that long. I wanted to see if there might be a faster way, perhaps going by sea. That is why I was looking for the scroll." Sir Joseph said.

"So why didn't go by sea back then if the trip was faster?" Diaval asked.

"Back then we were not yet allied with King John. His kingdom is situated on a bay and thus there might be another faster way if we go by ship," Sir Joseph answered as he looked on to the map.

"Well, first we need to get my father's permission to use one of his ships, but say we do and Medusa exists. You seen yourself she can turn men to stone," Prince Philip said, "So if we go now, what is going to make the trip different than when you went before?

"That is because this time we have her." Sir Joseph lifted a hand in Maleficent's direction.

Maleficent looked shocked and exclaimed, "Me?! What makes you think I am going to risk getting turned to stone by some monster? You forget I don't have my powers right now."

"Well, the legend says she can turn all MEN to stone with her look, it says nothing about female faeries," Sir Joseph answered with a grin as he continued to look at his map.

"That is a vague line to bet my life on there Sir Joseph," Maleficent said starting to become cross. "Still, say by some chance I am immune, what am I going to do without my powers?"

Flittle said, "If she can fully heal you, you can get your powers back and help Robin."

"Precisely", Sir Joseph said glancing up. "I can see you are in pain and I am sure you want that to go away."

"Yes, but, I have been around long enough to know that nobody does anything for anyone for nothing and given the history of what you are saying about that woman, what are we going to use as a bargaining chip that would entice her to just to even listen to us?" Maleficent asked.

"Well if it is gold or money she wants, we can pay her" Queen Aurora said.

"Not likely she would be in need of gold, but it might be worth bringing some." Sir Joseph said.

"And if that fails?" Diaval asked.

"Well, we have to think of something else," Sir Joseph said. "We would have to find out what she wants."

Everyone looked around except Sir Joseph of whom kept looking at Maleficent soon all other eyes were on Maleficent.

"Me again? What can I do or offer her?" Maleficent asked.

"Well, your excellency, with all due respect, if you can get her to heal you and your magic returns, you could probably offer her a heck of a lot more than just gold."

"I am still leery about your theory of her turning just MEN into stone. That is something I am not willing to gamble, especially now having a new kingdom to run," Maleficent said worriedly.

"I can help with that," Thistletwit said. "I can place an enchantment on your eyes. It will cloud your vision slightly, but it will also diffuse her ability to turn you into stone by looking at her."

"The book also mentions that she cannot turn anyone to stone from a reflection," Sir Joseph said. "My queen don't you have a hand mirror you can loan to Maleficent?"

"Yes, I believe so," Aurora answered.

Maleficent let out a deep sigh, shook her head and said, "Oh, alright. I'll do it. Robin was willing to give his life for me to see I get my wings back, then I must do my best to save his life. He helped to raise me and I have to try to save him."

"Very well," Sir Joseph looked up from his map. "I believe we might be able to cut the trip down to 3 days. A little less than a day on land and the rest by water." He looked to Flittle.

"Yes, I think that will be more than enough time," Flittle said. "Robin should hold out that long."

Maleficent paused and looked at everyone and then back at Sir Joseph, "Do you think she might still be alive? For all we know she could be long dead and those statues are hundreds of years old."

"No, they weren't. The stone soldiers had no wear, no moss growing on them and their armor design was of modern design. It was fairly recent that they were turned to stone."

"How long ago was your trip?" Queen Aurora asked.

"About 20 years ago" Sir Joseph replied.

"Sir Joseph! Much could have happened in that time." Maleficent said in a distraught manner.

"Well, we don't know just standing around here. We have to go and see. Hopefully she is alive and will reason with us. I am sorry your excellency, but this is the only thing I can come up with and unless someone has a better idea, we better start preparing for our journey." Sir Joseph said.

Maleficent nodded.

"Alright then. Who is all going to go?" Queen Aurora asked.

"Well for certain, I am going to need you to watch over the kingdom, Beastie, in the event something should happen to me, the kingdom will still have it's rightful ruler." Maleficent said. "Sir Joseph, you are obviously coming as you been that way before."

"I am coming too," Diaval said.

"Of course...and obviously, we have to bring Robin with us too," Maleficent said as she placed her hand on Diaval's upper arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Well, then I will leave immediately and secure permission my father so he can prepare a ship. Most likely, my older brother, James, will head up the journey by sea as he is the finest captain in Ulstead, " Prince Philip said in a slightly boasting manner, obviously proud of his older brother, Prince James. "Oh, I need to borrow your fastest horse so I can make haste back to my father's castle."

Sir Joseph nodded, "Take my horse then."

"Ok, then it is settled and we will leave tomorrow morning for Ulstead. I will put together a small posse of my men that will offer us some protection. With us carrying gold and cutting through this section of woods," He pointed to the map and continued, "I am concerned for the safety of everyone on this trip. I don't want us to get raided by bandits." Sir Joseph said.

Maleficent turned to Diaval and mouthed the word 'bandits'.

Diaval was actually amazed that Maleficent didn't put up any kind of fuss about him coming along. If he didn't know any better, it actually looked as if his normally fearless woman appeared to be scared. She looked at him almost as if to say, "I need you."

Later that night Diaval was finishing up on packing things for the long trip. Maleficent was sitting in bed with her wings outstretched again in that contraption again. She was breathing a bit heavy and her eyes winced every now and then. She let out a painful sounding sigh every now and then and rubbed her legs anxiously. She was dressed in a nightie that Aurora specially made up for her. It was a nice maroon color halter nightie that had her back, shoulders and arms exposed. It was long and normally would cover up her legs but it was bunched up on one side and her left leg was exposed up to the thigh. Diaval looked at how beautiful his woman was just laying there, but the look on her face kept him from experiencing any kind of pleasure he normally would had she been feeling better.

"I can see you are in pain again, my love." Diaval said.

"Yes, it seems to be rather bad tonight, mine sweet." Maleficent said closing her eyes tightly for a moment. "It must be just me. Robin has been on my mind the whole day and the thought of this trip is stressing me out. That is probably what is making the pain worse."

With a helpful look in his eyes, he said, "Is there anything you want me to do for you?"

"I don't know, perhaps you can reach around and rub my back, that usually helps."

"Gladly!" Diaval smiled.

Diaval climbed into the bed and laid next to his lady and reached around to her back as there was ample space behind the contraption to allow her wings to protrude from behind it. Diaval began to rub her lower back first and then slowly and gradually he reached her sweet spot. A reflex action caused her wings to shudder a bit. The action caused Diaval to immediately stop.

"Oh!" Maleficent yelped out, but then let out a sigh. She hung her head down and placed her arm around Diaval. Seeing she was fine he continued to caress her back. As he did so, she began to emit some more soft sweet sounding moans.

"It is working, but I can still feel the pain through it. I think I need something more...powerful."

Diaval looked around and then his eyes were drawn to Maleficent's legs. The two hadn't been intimate for a couple days and he certainly wanted to get close. He figured something THAT powerful, might help out more.

"What if we made love? Would that be powerful enough?" Diaval questioned.

"Oh, Diaval, I know you mean well but it's having to be in this contraption that certainly puts a damper on my mood. Anyway, I can't lay down directly on my back as that would really be painful. I don't think it would be any better on top of you with my wings loose," Maleficent said and then continued. "Anyway, how could you be certain that will work?"

"Well in the past it has been proven that getting close and rubbing your back certainly helps, so why wouldn't that?"

Then it suddenly hit Diaval...something he remembered in a previous conversation with Robin.

"I know what to do," Diaval said with a smile.

"You do?" Maleficent asked.

"You will not need to do a thing, all you need to do is lay there and let me do all the work."

"Alright, mine sweet, but what are you up to?"

"It's a surprise!" Diaval exclaimed anxiously.

"Oh, really then?" Maleficent asked as she giggled a little bit as she placed her hand on her chest.

Diaval proceeded to move towards the lower part of the bed. He slowly started to massage her feet.

"Diaval, a foot massage is nice, but certainly rubbing my back was more helpful with the pain," she sounded disappointed as to his big 'surprise'.

Diaval then looked to her with a slightly evil looking smirk, "Just trust me on this one, my love. Don't move, don't say anything, just let me make you feel good."

Maleficent was surprised at the authoritative sound in Diaval's voice, but at the same time she felt a bit turned on by the strength in his voice. She knew he had something bigger planned than just a foot rub. She just tried to relax and even closed her eyes while Diaval worked his magic. Perhaps relaxing would help with the pain too.

After a while Diaval started to work his way up to her ankles. Then she could feel him tugging a bit on her nightie creeping it up more as he began to caress her calves. Her breathing became a bit heavier as she began to focus more and more on what Diaval was doing and less and less on the trip. Diaval moved her skirt up further as he reached around under her knees. Her breathing became heavier yet and she raised her legs up a bit so Diaval had better access. It wasn't long before he pushed the skirt up yet further and splayed his fingers out and pushed them up her thighs. First the outside, but then slowly moving to the inside.

Maleficent was breathing much heavier now and instinctively parted her legs on her own. Diaval began to rub the inside of her legs.

"Oh...Hmmmmmmm," she let out a small moan. It was now that she could feel that it WAS having an effect on her pain and it was subsiding. This encouraged her to relax more and opened her legs even wider. She cold feel Diaval run his fingers right up to her undergarment. He suddenly changed positions to where his body was right in between her legs and he laid his head down right below her womanhood. He slowly began to lick the inside of her thighs.

"Ohhhhhhh, Diaval!" she called out. "Oh, that feels nice."

Diaval continued to alternate between licking and kissing the inside of her thighs.

"Diaval, you are going to make me want you."

"I know", Diaval said as he looked up from between her legs and their eyes met. He raised his eyebrows.

"If you know then why are you trying to arouse me?" she asked.

"You will see, like I said you don't have to do a thing, my love."

With that Diaval began to pull on her undergarment and ease it down her legs.

"Diaval, remember I said I don't think it is a good idea that we make lo..."

"Relax, dear, just close your eyes and let me do the work," Diaval interrupted in a very soft voice.

His voice was very sensual sounding to her ears and she felt she could just relax and let him have his way with her. She knew he would never hurt her. But by pulling down her panties, she knew he was up to something big.

"Ok, Diaval, I trust you."

Diaval's head disappeared beneath the skirt part of her nightie. She began to feel his breath on her womanhood. His breath was pushing past her curled hairs. This alone was making her hips twitch. Then he began to blow right straight on to her labias. She twitched a bit more.

"Oh! Diaval...What are you going to do?"

He didn't answer.

"Diaval?"

She called one more time, but then she felt his lips kissing hers. He licked slowly up and then back down on each side.

"Ooooooooo!" Maleficent called out. She started to move her hips as Diaval continued to circle his tongue around.

"Oh, my word! Diaval, what are you going to do to me?"

He stopped what he was doing, looked up and he just said, "Huh?"

"Nevermind", Maleficent shook her head as she pushed his head back down.

Diaval continued his circling with his tongue and then finally he ran it up the middle and with the force of his tongue alone, she could feel him parting her lips and his tongue kept going in deeper and deeper until he reached the top where his tongue practically wrapped around her clitoris.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Maleficent yelled out as she gasped. "No, No, No! That feels much too good!"

Diaval proceeded to lick around her clitoris and the feeling was incredible. This was not like anything she felt before. She brought her legs up and opened them as wide as they could go forcing the skirt all the way up. She could now see Diaval as he continued to make love to her in his 'special' way. His eyes were closed and he countinued to work his magic with his tongue.

"Ohhhhhh...Ooooooooo!" Maleficent called out.

She began to run her fingers through Diaval's hair

With her legs wide open now, Diaval used his fingers to help spread her labia's further open. His gentle touch made her moan even louder. He continued to lick around her clitoris.

"Oh, Diaval, please more!" She said again thrusting her hips closer to his face.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, actually, it is working." Maleficent gasped out between breaths.

"Don't try to talk then, just relax." Diaval said gallantly and then went back down.

Maleficent couldn't help it. She felt totally under Diaval's control...a feeling that she both liked and disliked at the same time. But Diaval was right, it was a surprise AND it was working. She did feel much less pain. Furthermore, the feeling was incredible. The way he worked his tongue around her clitoris was indeed special and she was loving every moment of it. It was only a matter of time when she could feel that tingling building up with in her.

She began to push her hips harder and harder towards Diaval's face. Clenching her fingers around the locks of his hair. Diaval began to lick faster and firmer now. He grabbed a hold of her thighs, and then ran his fingers up and down them.

"Hoooooowwwwwwwohhhh," Maleficent yelled out, hoping that no one else in the castle would hear. But the feeling was so intense. She knew she was going to climax big. She leaned back more so she could thirst further. Her thrusting was becoming very rapid, the bed and the contraption holding her wings was making all sorts of creaking and groaning sounds. Diaval reached his arms up and and Maleficent grabbed a hold of them.

"I'm going to...Oh! Mine sweet!"

Diaval didn't say anything, but she suddenly felt him insert his tongue into her vaginal opening. Her body instantly tensed up and she pulled back suddenly across Diaval's arms unintentionally digging into them with her sharp nails.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She let go of Diaval's arms and then hooked her arms behind her legs pulling them further apart.

Once again another wave hit her as Diaval pushed his tongue deeper inside of her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She gasped.

Then Diaval used his finger to rub her clitoris as he continued to insert and withdraw his tongue slowly at first, but then building up.

Maleficent could feel another climax build up, "Ohhhhhhh, again!" This one hit even harder than before. She could feel it coursing through her body as she clenched her fists hard and curled her toes.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Mine Sweet!" she gasped out, "What you do to me is so wonderful!"

She then could feel him flicking his tongue very fast as he continued to rub her clitoris. Again she could feel the sensation build up...this one was going to be big. With another heavy thrust from her pelvis, the rigging holding up her wings suddenly gave way and her wings slumped down to the bed. "Oh My!" she exclaimed looking at how her wings just fallen next to her. But amazingly she wasn't in any pain at the moment.

Diaval jumped back, sat up and said, "Maleficent! Are you Ok?"

"Yes, my love," she said passionately.

She looked down at the way Diaval was sitting on the bed and noticed a rather large bulge had appeared on one of Diaval's pant legs. She immediately crawled down to him and began to undo his belt.

"Maleficent, my dear...I thought you didn't want..."

"Shoosh, Diaval, I see you are in need. The pain has subsided enough and I want to make love to you."

Diaval looked surprised, but didn't question any further, he just assisted her in quickly removing his pants and undergarment. He was already nearly erect. Maleficent just hopped on top of him and guided Diaval's penis inside of her. The insertion alone brought on another wave.

"Ahhhhhhhh. Ohhhhhhhh!"

"Another one?"

She nodded her head, 'Yes' and then said, "I think I am going to keep having them. Please keep going push push!"

Diaval complied as Maleficent pushed down harder. She could feel him get larger inside of her. As soon as he was fully erect and pressing firmly against the walls of her vagina, it triggered another climax.

Maleficent noticed that Diaval's breathing became very deep and he started to breathe through his mouth. Every now and then she could feel him squeeze and for a few moments he became even harder. This caused Maleficent to let out a loud moan each time. But the third time, another climax hit.

"Ohhhhh! Sheeeessh!" She cried out gritting her teeth.

"Ummmmmmmm. Oh, I really felt that one!" Diaval moaned.

Maleficent smiled as she was happy he could feel her climaxing. She was starting to perspire even on the cool night.

"Come for me, Diaval. You have done so well for me tonight, it is your turn." She said as she pulled her nightie off. She was now completely naked. Her wings draped down towards the back of her body and were partially outstretched across the bad. The upper part of her body was starting to glisten.

Diaval's eyes were fixed on her and he slowed down for a moment, the slight perspiration on her body accented her lines in the dim light of the room.

"Oh my gosh! You look like an angel, my dear."

"That is very sweet of you to say, my love. Soon we will fly together. Very soon."

With that she began to pivot her waist driving herself down further. Her body undulated rapidly as she grabbed a hold of Diaval's shoulders. Every now and then she would open her eyes and could see how he couldn't take his eyes off her. His eyes kept running up and down going from her face slowly down her torso and to her womanhood and he carefully watched himself go in and out of her.

Diaval began to run his hands over her stomach and then slowly up to her breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" She called out and she got that tingling sensation again and started to drive faster. She was starting to perspire even on the cool night.

"Diaval, are you almost ready?" she asked even though the look on his face told her everything.

He started to wince and he moved his hands down and wrapped his fingers around her small waist and then that was all he could stand. He closed his eyes tightly and arched his pelvis up.

"Ohhhhhhhh, Yes, my love. I am!"

She started to thrust heavier to the point where she started to feel him reach her extreme. Then she felt it, he began to get really hard and his penis expanded just a little more, but it just enough to bring her to the edge. She slowed down just a little just to feel this moment of expansion all the way through her length. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt her self on the edge of a big climax.

Diaval threw his head back and moaned loudly. She could feel him throbbing heavily"

"Oh, My! Oh Yes! Oh Yes! Ohhhhhhh!" she exclaimed loudly.

He then sprayed his love inside of her finally triggering a very large orgasm for her. They both let out very loud moans.

Maleficent collapsed down on top of Diaval and hooked her arms under his shoulders. He still held on to her waist. She was perspiring to the point were beads of sweat where on her forehead and her neckline glistened.

"Oh my, Oh my, Oh my!" she gasped looking into his dark eyes. "Where on earth did you learn to do that with your tongue. That was spectacular! I never had that many orgasms."

Diaval raised and eyebrow and the expression on his face almost looked as if he was too scared to reply, but reply he did, "Need you ask? Robin of course."

Maleficent laughed, "Figures." She paused, "That little fellow sure knows how to please a woman." He never talked much about his wife, but I know he loved her. Apparently he sure knew how to please her too and well, I might add."

Diaval giggled, "Yes, he has some good ideas. Being new to all of this I need all the help I can get."

"I must say you did extremely well. That was amazing," she said between breathes as she was still breathing hard.

"Thank you, my dear. Wow, you are very warm."

"Well, I am warm from all that pushing!" she giggled and then continued, "I guess than it is in our best interest to try and save him.

"Yes, my dear, he is my best friend and I want him to be around for a while."

"I too, Mine Sweet. I too." she said as her voice started sound tired. Her body was cooling down and she turned to pull her wings over the both of them.

"You're wings are very very beautiful, my dear." Diaval said softly.

"Thank you. They will keep us warm too, my love." Maleficent replied in a similar soft tone.

"Goodnight, my dear, I love you."

"Goodnight, mine sweet, I love you too."

The two then just laid still and fell asleep from their throws of passion. Maleficent still on top of Diaval with her wings wrapped around them both.

The next morning after breakfast everyone was gathered by the carriage house outside. A few of Sir Joseph's men were getting on their horses and two wagons were prepared to make the land leg of the journey to Ulstead. One wagon had the necessary supplies needed for their trip and the other, much larger and ornate carriage, would be for Maleficent, Diaval, and Robin to travel in.

Maleficent was just finishing with Flittle and Thistletwit, the latter of which placed a special enchantment on her eyes that would allow her to turn a special filter on and off at will. After the faeries offered their blessings on the trip, Maleficent and Diaval went outside to meet with Sir Joseph by the carriage house. Diaval was carrying a large covered basket. Inside the basket was Robin in a makeshift bed. He was wrapped up carefully to make sure he would stay warm.

"Good morning your excellency and Good morning to you sir," Sir Joseph greeted them.

"Good morning", Maleficent and Diaval said together.

"I take it you both had a good night sleep?"

Diaval stifled a laugh and Maleficent smirked back at him.

"Oh, I see," Sir Joseph surmised at what they were grinning about.

"Yes, we had a good night sleep," Maleficent answered. "Thank you. And I take it you are well rested for the trip ahead?"

"Yes, your excellency."

Sir Joseph lead them both to the large ornate carriage.

"Here is your ride, it's a sleeper coach", Sir Joseph said as he motioned to the door. "King Stefan had it built as he intended to go on trips with Queen Leila. Alas, he never did use it."

The coach's front section had windows on the sides and doors. The back section was elongated and had no windows on the sides. The back of the coach had a small window on the back. Amazingly the windows were not open, but had glass in them. The rear wheels of the coach were very large extending far up the sides. The front wheels were much smaller and were mounted to a steering axle.

"It was yellow and white, but I had it painted black with red trim," Sir Joseph said. "I didn't want it to stand out at night."

"Well, Sir Joseph, I believe you know my favorite color by now," Maleficent said.

"Yes, that was another reason too. I didn't think you would have liked the original colors."

"Quite so. I wouldn't want to be traveling around in something that looks like a cake."

Diaval burst out laughing. Maleficent looked at him and laughed herself.

"You three will be in here," Sir Joseph said as he opened up the door to the carriage and flipped down a small step stool. "I will be riding along side with Prince Philip's horse, since he has mine."

Maleficent climbed in first, followed by Diaval. Sir Joseph sat down on the bench next to the door that was facing the rear of the coach. Opposite the rear facing bench was the forward facing bench which was much larger. Maleficent and Diaval took a seat there. The entire interior of the coach was furnished with wood and crushed maroon velvet upholstery. The upholstery had gold accents as well. The seat cushions were very comfortable as the seats were built with long trips in mind.

"For the 'sleeper' part. The fronts of the seats flip up and the back pushes all the way down just by flipping that lever there on the wall." Sir Joseph instructed.

Diaval pulled the lever as he said, "like this?"

"Wait Diaval! Not while you are..."

With a loud thump, both Diaval and Maleficent fell backwards as the back of the bench slammed down.

"...leaning back on it." Sir Joseph finished what he wanted to say after the harm was done.

"Oh!" Maleficent exclaimed as she fell back, but she caught herself from falling all the way with her arm. She just laughed.

Diaval let out a loud 'ooff' when he fell back, but then he joined his lover in laughter and Sir Joseph joined in too. When they regained their composure, Sir Joseph got up and explained that the back could also be put in a slanted position and he took the liberty of hanging some cords from the roof of the carriage so Maleficent could keep her wings up while they were traveling. Unfortunately because the carriage was not very wide she couldn't outstretch her wings, so the harness would only hold them slightly out. Sir Joseph began to explain some of the other features of the coach such as the small overhead cabinets where they could put their clothes or other items. In a cabinet to the back there was even a small wash basin with a bladder of water. Another cabinet had some glasses and one flask with wine and another with water. There was also a matching curtain that could be drawn separating the windowed section of the coach from the back, for privacy. There was a small curtain on the back window too.

"This is really nice," Diaval said.

"I hope this meets with her excellency's approval?" Sir Joseph asked.

"Oh, Yes, Sir Joseph, it is wonderful. Looks like we certainly will be traveling in style," Maleficent answered.

Sir Joseph and Diaval placed the basket containing the sleeping Robin on the reverse facing bench and they strapped it down.

"Well then, we best be on our way," Sir Joseph said as he exited the carriage.

No sooner did he leave when Queen Aurora hopped into the coach. Maleficent and Diaval sat up as she entered. She then wrapped her arms around both of them and pulled their faces close to hers.

"Oh my! I am so going to miss you both!" she exclaimed with a tear in her eye. She threw her arms around Maleficent and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I hope I will be OK running things here by myself while you are away."

"I am sure you will be fine. You already possess natural leadership abilities. We will not be gone very long," Maleficent assured.

"You take care of Godmother now, Ok?" Aurora asked of Diaval.

"With my life, if need be."

Aurora reached over to Diaval and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The then put her hand on his face.

"Awww, that's a sweet thing to say! You are such a good gentleman and so kind. But do take care of yourself too." Queen Aurora had a hard time letting both of them.

She then got up and turned to the basket Robin was in and she gave him a kiss on the forehead and whispered, "Please come back to us my friend, we all need you."

She looked one more time at both Diaval and Maleficent and let out a deep sigh, "Well I best be off otherwise I am going to stay here all day."

She once more hugged Maleficent and Diaval before leaving the coach. The coachman closed the door to the carriage and took his place up front on a bench that was positioned close to the top of the coach. Sir Joseph came around and nodded to him. Soon the entire posse was off. Given the nature of past trips from Malora to Ulstead, would normally take a little more than half a day on horseback, it was going to take almost the whole day with the wagons which travel much slower. And so they estimated they would reach Ulstead by night fall. Given that Prince Philip made haste using the fastest horse in the kingdom to get back home. All hoped that Prince James would have the ship ready for them to depart on time.

Maleficent and Diaval didn't bother putting the seat back up and the two just sat up looking around and became more acquainted with the carriage. After a couple hours on the road Maleficent and Diaval just snuggled up close to one another and figured they would pass most of the time sleeping.

Despite his better judgment, Sir Joseph felt he could take the shorter route through the woods rather than go around it, which would shave off almost an hour off their trip.

Maleficent and Diaval came too as they noticed that the carriage had stopped. There was some kind of commotion going on outside. Both sat up and looked out the window. Bandits! Apparently they were ambushed and Maleficent was looking straight at one dressed in black holding a sword to Sir Joseph's throat. They looked out both sides. There were 6 of them.

Maleficent could feel the anger build within her and she then said in a stern voice, "Diaval, I'll take care of this. Make sure my wings are tied up. I don't want to look weak."

"No, my love! Don't! You don't have your powers!"

"I still can feel my adrenaline burn within me. Don't worry, I can still handle them."

"I am not going to let you go out there," Diaval said worriedly, "Aurora said to keep you safe."

"Oh shoosh! Just tie my wings up as I asked. "You forget even without my powers, I am probably the scariest thing in these woods."

Diaval reluctantly complied. As he finished tying her wings up, one of the bandits burst into carriage. He took one good look at Maleficent and darted right back out of the coach, shouting, "Dragon! They have some dragon woman in there. Run all back to the woods."

"You see, Diaval?"

Maleficent stood up and slammed open the opposite door that was facing Sir Joseph.

"Release him you wretched fools or I will turn you all into toads," Maleficent's voice echoed through the woods.

Diaval was even amazed that given her condition at how powerful her voice still sounded.

Her shouting caught the bandit off guard that held the sword to Sir Joseph and he quickly regained control of the situation as when the bandit looked away for a split second to gaze upon Maleficent and Sir Joseph snatched the sword from him being clearly the stronger of the two.

Maleficent raised her hands and tried to make her her magic come forth, but as it just sputtered and sparked and swirled oddly. It definitely wasn't what Diaval would normally see. It didn't seem to do anything other than put on a messy light show, but Maleficent's trick worked and it was enough to scare them off. All were running into the woods, the last one being the bandit that held Sir Joseph. Both Diaval and Sir Joseph noted that he had a round stain running down the inside of both legs of his pants.

Sir Joseph raised his hand to his chin and said, "Hmmmm, Diaval's right your excellency, you do seem to have a knack for doing that."

Maleficent smiled and then snickered.

"It worked! Nice bluff, my dear!" Diaval said.

Pretty soon everyone else was joining into the laughter. Then one by one the soldiers bowed down to Maleficent thanking her.

"I was a fool your, excellency." Sir Joseph said lamentably, "I was hesitant to go this way, but I thought it was going to save us some time. I ended up putting us at risk. I should have known better. I'm sorry."

"I wish you would have consulted me before taking the shortcut, Sir Joseph," Maleficent sounded very annoyed. "Coming in here was very risky, but alas, I guess we are all at wits end as we do not have much time to save poor Robin."

"So, there will be no punishment, your excellency?"

"No, you realized your mistake and apologized. But do not do something like that again without consulting me. Now get us back out to the main road as soon as possible. We might not be so lucky the next time."

"Yes, your excellency and thank you."

Diaval helped Maleficent back into the coach and they both sat down. Maleficent let out a long sigh. "That was a close one." She then winced a bit.

"Is the pain coming back?"

"Yes. I think I should sit with my wings up."

Diaval put the back up on a slant and clipped up Maleficent's wings. Soon they were back under way. There was a bit of a silence between Diaval and Maleficent as both were quiet thinking about what just happened. She then opened up the cabinet containing the drinks and she pulled out the wine bottle.

"That's the wine, my love."

"Yes, I know," She said sarcastically. "I think I would like to try some, perhaps the alcohol would help with the pain."

Diaval looked in amazement as he didn't know Maleficent or any faerie for that matter, to drink alcoholic beverages. It is known very well through the land that magic using faerie's and alcohol don't mix. But since she didn't have her magic now anyway, perhaps it was OK. She handed the bottle to Diaval as she took out the glasses. He tried to pop the cork out of the bottle but couldn't. Maleficent looked into the cabinet and took out a corkscrew that was on the side and dangled it in front of Diaval.

"I think you will be needing this?" She said coyishly.

"Oh...yes, I believe so."

Diaval then used the corkscrew to open the bottle and poured some in a glass for each of them.

"Let's toast then," Maleficent said, "To Robin. May he once again life his life to the fullest."

"Yes," Diaval replied. "To Robin. Long life to him."

They lightly tapped glasses and both took a sip. Diaval immediately spat it back out just nearly missing her lap.

"Diaval!" Maleficent shouted.

"I am sorry, my dear," Diaval said shockingly. "I wasn't expecting it to taste that bad."

Maleficent took a sip of hers, "It isn't bad, it just has a different taste." Maleficent grimaced as she swallowed. Diaval cracked the door open and poured the wine out of his glass and then he went for the bottle of water instead.

"I think I will stick with good ole water."

Maleficent laughed, but then winced in pain. She said, "Please, mine sweet, try not to make me laugh. It is hurting again."

After taking a sip of water, Diaval cuddled up close to Maleficent and reached around her back and gently massaged her sweet spot. She closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. Despite the off taste of the wine, Maleficent had put some more in her glass and sipped some more. She kept her eyes closed as Diaval continued to massage her back. Maleficent looked out the window and noticed that they pulled out of the forest and were back on the main road. They were much safer now and the two relaxed a bit more.

After a long while, Maleficent had finished her wine and Diaval's hand had grown tired from massaging they once again snuggled up close to one another. Diaval rested his head on her shoulder. And she reached up and played with his hair, running her fingers through it. Diaval would let out a small moan every now and then. The sun was beginning to sink in the sky as it was becoming dusk.

"Perhaps a bit of shut eye the rest of the way in should do us good," Diaval said.

Maleficent nodded, agreeing with him. She sat up a bit as Diaval put the back of the bench further down. As she lowered her self down, Diaval readjusted the cords holding her wings. The left wing he lowered more so he had room to lay down beside her.

"Diaval?"

"Yes, my love?"

"Please take me out of this. I want to lay down against you."

"Okay," Diaval complied as he removed her wings from the contraption. He then set the back of the bench all the way down into a bed and the two cuddled up close to each other. Diaval laid on his back and Maleficent laid partly on top of his body draping her right wing over him like a blanket.

"Hmmmm, that's nice," Diaval said softly as he ran his fingers through her feathers. "I know I said it before, and I will say it many many times more, you're wings are so beautiful."

Maleficent smiled and closed her eyes. She gave Diaval a soft kiss and said, "Thank you, my love, I'll always appreciate the kind remark. I just can't wait for the day when we can fly together."

"I too can't wait to fly with you, but just to see you fly would be a treat in itself, I know how much it means to you."

"Yes, but at least I was not without flight these past 17 years. I will never forget you're kind gesture of offering for me to ride on your back as a dragon, mine sweet."

"It was my pleasure, it always was my pleasure."

Maleficent just smiled as she became misty eyed and laid her head against Diaval's chest. Diaval stroked her hair gently with his hands.

"Hmmmm, you like to play with my hair."

"Yes, immensely. Your hair is so soft and smells so sweet.

"I like it when you play with my hair and comb my hair. You always do a nice job combing my hair. It makes me feel good too."

"When can I comb it out for you again, my love?"

"Probably on the ship."

She let out a sigh and Diaval felt her nestle her head more firmly into his chest. He rested his head against one of her horns. The two slowly drifted off to sleep together.

It seemed like only minutes passed as Diaval nestled in under Maleficent's wing, when the carriage stopped. The lack of motion awakened Diaval. It was now very dim outside with only small traces of blue in the sky. The sun had nearly set.

There was a knock on the door and Sir Joseph exclaimed, "We have arrived in Ulstead, your excellency."

The land part of their journey was complete.

"Maleficent, wake up, we are here."

She shook her head as she came too. Diaval helped her sit up and then proceeded to tie her wings back up. Maleficent straightened herself out and when Diaval was done with her wings, she helped him straighten himself out too so they both would look presentable.

Sir Joseph opened the door and reached for Maleficent's hand. As he helped her out he announced.

"Her excellency, Madame Maleficent of Malora."

As Maleficent exited she quickly grabbed her staff. She was surprised to be greeted by King John himself. Diaval exited next and they all bowed before the king.

"Arise Madame, Maleficent. Good evening to you." King John said.

"Lovely evening, your majesty."

"Quite so, Madame and Welcome To Ulstead!" King John bellowed in a boisterous manner waving towards his town and castle behind him. "Well, I hope your trip was a safe and uneventful one."

"Well, we DID have an interesting encounter taking the shortcut through the woods," Maleficent said as she narrowed her eyes to Sir Joseph of whom, still bowed in the presence of the king cowered even further down.

"Oh, really? Please do tell me, but later. First I would like to introduce you to my first born, Prince James," King John gestured to the fine strapping gentleman to his right. "He is our finest sea captain as well and he will be your captain for this voyage."

Prince James bowed down and took Maleficent's hand and gave her a kiss on it. Diaval grew wide eyed as at first it seemed as if Maleficent was going to pull away at the gesture, but for some reason didn't.

"Charmed and a pleasure to meet you," Maleficent said, "Uhumm, should I address you as Prince or Captain James?"

Prince James replied in a soft baritone voice, "You may address me as you wish, but most call me Prince James on land and at sea they call me Captain."

"Very well then Prince James."

"Well, then, I see you are in good hands with my son. I have also noticed quite the change in appearance. Your wings, they are magnificent."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Well, as I certainly would like to chat some more, I understand you are on a tight schedule and need to make haste," King John said as they started to walk towards a large ship docked nearby. "Philip has informed me of everything and that you are helping your friend."

"Yes, that is correct."

"I did try my best with my son James to assist in getting a ship ready for you under such short notice, but at least the trip is only a couple of days out. So we were able to prepare the ship rather quickly"

"I thank you for your kindness and generosity in doing so, it means very much to me," Maleficent said placing her hand over her heart.

"Well, it is my way of saying 'thank you' as well for opening up trade between our kingdoms. I also hope that things go well between my son and Queen Aurora as I would like to see our kingdoms to be united."

"As do I"

"But doing good business is a solid start."

Maleficent nodded her head in agreement. Just then, Prince Philip rode up on Sir Joseph's horse.

"Welcome to Ulstead your excellency, Sir Joseph, Sir Diaval," Prince Philip greeted as he dismounted. "Father, I take it everything is set for our guests?"

King John looked to his son, James. "Oh, Philip, yes, we are ready to set sail. Are you going to go with them?

"No, I am going to go back to watch over Malora with Queen Aurora."

King John nodded, "Very well, then. Your excellency you will be in good hands with my son, and I best be getting back to the castle."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"I bid you farewell all and have a safe trip! Please do tell me everything when you get back," the king gestured with his hands as he became wide eyed with wonder. "Oh! I took the liberty of having a fine dinner prepared for you. Since I know you want to get under way, I had it set up on board. Bulk up and enjoy!"

"Thank you again."

"It's my pleasure," King John said as he smiled and bowed to Maleficent and then he walked over and gave Prince James a hug and Diaval could hear him bidding him a safe trip. Prince Philip also gave his brother a hug and a solid pat on the back. King John waved his hand back one more time before he climbed back into his carriage when Philip called back to him.

"Father wait! I am going back up the castle too." Philip shouted. "I need to get some rest and be off tomorrow morning at dawn."

"Very well son, come on in."

Prince Philip climbed into the carriage and both him and his father waved one more time as the driver set off taking the two back to the castle.

Prince James stood looking at Maleficent almost as if staring.

"Is everything alright, Prince James?" Maleficent asked.

"Oh...yes...yes. Sorry, I know I must have been staring," answered in a frightened tone.

"Yes"

"Well, forgive me, but even though my brother mentioned you were very different, he didn't mention that you were also..." Prince James paused as he swallowed hard "...beautiful."

"Why, thank you, Prince James." Maleficent said as she bowed her head.

Diaval had a look of disdain on his face as once again he got that jealous feeling. Again he felt like he was competing for Maleficent's love.

"Right this way, your excellency," James said with an heir of royalty as he waved a hand towards his ship.

Everyone started towards the ship as a team of servants began unloading the wagons and placing the goods aboard the ship.

As they approached the gangplank, Prince James gestured again, "Behold the HMS Legacy, our home for the next few days...and my dad's pride and joy. Welcome aboard!"

"Thank you...Captain." Maleficent bowed her head.

Everyone else responded with a 'Thank you, Captain," as well.

Prince James just smiled as he continued his way on board.

Diaval stepped on to the gangway first and then taking Maleficent by her hand to help balance her on the rickety walkway and he helped her step down onto the ship. As the others were walking on board, Diaval took a good look at the ship. While he had seen a ship when flying and occasionally landed on a mast of one, he never really was 'at sea' before. Being on human feet now, the ship they were on seemed very large. It had three main masts. It was as wide as their room at the castle was long. Clearly a ship built for royalty, it was a deep emerald green with gold and black accents on the outside and the decks were a nice deep reddish wood. The sails were gold with the town's crest on the foremost sail in black.

A figurehead of a mermaid with red hair adorned the prow of the vessel. There were all sorts of items on deck that Diaval didn't know what their purpose was for. The back end of the vessel was much higher than the front and had three levels above the main deck they were standing on. The levels were stepped like a stair case with the first two having a balcony on each and atop the top most deck he could make out the ship's wheel.

The ship was bustling with activity with people moving about to and fro carry things onto the ship and to different areas of the ship. Some slowed down and bowed towards Maleficent, others clearly turned the other way and moved swiftly past. Others yet, had a look of fright on their face and even ran away. One fellow had his eyes so much on Maleficent that he didn't watch were he was going and almost ended up over the railing.

"My father had this ship built for long trips to other lands. His quarters comprised the first two of the three levels aft, that is where you and Diaval will be staying, your excellency," James said as he began to explain the layout of the ship. "The top level is my quarters, which is right below the helm."

"Since my father had prepared a meal for us at the castle I would suggest heading one deck below where the dining lounge is. The lounge is the largest room on the ship and pretty much where most of the royalty spends their time on a voyage. It is kind of like an 'all purpose room'," James continued. "Do go on below and start with dinner, I am sure you are all starved from your trip. I will be joining you later on, but my place is up there until we get under way." James pointed towards the ships wheel.

Captain James looked towards the entrance to the stairwell, a female servant was waiting next to the door.

"Angelina will take you below," Captain James motioned to his servant. "Oh, Sir Joseph, I will place that in your room for you."

"Actually this basket contains Robin, he should be in the room with her excellency."

"Understood," James took the basket off of Sir Joseph's hands and made off to a door that was just to the left of the door that led to the stairwell.

Everyone else proceeded to the stairwell.

"Hello! Hello! Your excellency and sirs! I am Angelina, at your service," she bowed towards Maleficent and then continued, "you can just call me Angie, whistle or wave to me, whatever floats your boat." She giggled and added, "That is a little bit of a seaside pun there."

Diaval and Sir Joseph smirked at her remark. Maleficent just raised an eyebrow.

Angelina continued, "We have a nice dinner prepared for you below. Please, follow me. Just watch your horns as we go down, your excellency, the ceiling in the stairwell isn't very high."

Angelina seemed very bubbly and outgoing for a servant, not shy at all and definitely had a sense of humor. Generally it was rare for servants to speak directly to royalty but she seemed very polite and respectful. More than likely she was one of the main or head servants at the castle. She certainly didn't seem to be afraid of Maleficent and actually seemed to admire her horns as she kept glancing up at them.

They descended to the first deck below the main deck. Maleficent found she had to crouch a bit down and tilt her head back to clear the initial part of the stairway's ceiling. The stairway descended on a curve and became more oppulent as they made their way down. It opened up wider at the base and the ceiling became higher. Maleficent was able to stand up fully for the last several steps down. Exiting the stairs, they were greeted with a very finely appointed room with white walls and gold trim. There were very ornate moldings and trimmings within the walls. The room was as wide as the ship and nearly half it's length. It could fit about thirty or so people in itself. The windows were fairly large and lined both sides and the rear of the ship. There were large comfy seats and tables placed around the windows on the sides and there even were a couple of sofa / daybeds located near the aft windows. In the daytime one could imagine the view from the windows wrapping around the ship, but being that it was nightime the windows just presented black voids into the darkness outside. The windows did have emerald green curtains that had a lace gold trim on the edges and they were tied open.

In the center was a long banquet table. The dining table had places for 14 people of which only four place settings were set on the opposite end of the staircase. The servant gestured to Maleficent and offered for her to sit at the head of the table. This chair was different from the rest and appeared to be more like a throne rather than a chair. Maleficent assumed it was King John's normal place at the table. The servant then gestured for Diaval and Sir Joseph to sit on the right side of Maleficent. There was a single setting to Maleficent's left side and it was assumed to be the captain's place at the table. Captain James did mention that he would join everyone later once he got the ship under way.

Once everyone was seated, Angelina retreated through a set of doors to the right of the stairs and moments later came out with a few bowls of steaming hot soup. They could hear a bell ring three times in the distance. Then there was a sudden lurch. Diaval was caught off guard as the room swayed somewhat and he looked to Maleficent and she appeared to have a frightened look on her face as she immediately grabbed the sides of the table and started to breathe heavy.

"Are you alright?" Diaval asked.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting that," Maleficent answered. "It's not every day a room this size moves."

"Sorry, your excellency," Angelina said as she was barely even phased by the lurch. She just pressed on and placed the soup bowls in front of everyone, "I take it you were never on a ship before?"

"No," Maleficent blurted out. "First time."

"We are getting under way, that was the lurch you felt. But once we get going you will not feel a thing. It supposed to be pretty calm out tonight, so we will not be moving very fast at all."

"I see," Maleficent said finally feeling it was OK to release her grip on the table. Diaval could see there was a look of concern on her face.

"What is it?" Diaval asked.

Maleficent leaned over and said, "If it is calm out, the ship will not move very fast. I am concerned if we will make it on time."

"So the wind pushes the ship then?" Diaval asked. "The more wind the faster it goes?"

"Yes, Diaval," Maleficent answered.

The servant then said, "At least we have some wind tonight, some days we could be at sea with NO wind, and we don't get anywhere anytime soon."

"Oh, dear. We can't have that," Maleficent said placing her hand over her heart.

"Don't worry, your excellency," the servant said reassuringly, "That happens VERY rarely. Captain James is very experienced at sea and if there is wind out there, he will find it. But it is going to get cold tonight, so enjoy your soup as it will warm you up. It is a special seafood bisque, it is the Captain's favorite."

Diaval looked up from the white thick concoction presented before him. "What is in it", he asked.

"Halibut, Prawns, Leak, in a cream broth," the servant answered, "It is actually the Queen's recipe."

Diaval and Maleficent looked at each other a bit dumbfounded as if they were looking for a hint of familiarity from one another. But it was Sir Joseph that spoke up first.

"Sounds good enough for me," Sir Joseph said as he started to dig in. "Hmmmm, it IS good!"

"Thank you, Sir" Angelina said. "If everything is fine, I will go back into the galley and get the next course ready for you."

Maleficent nodded and waved her on and then she proceeded back to the galley.

Maleficent and Diaval just looked at one another, not being too familiar with the various sea life outside their own moors. But then Diaval decided to give it a try. He uttered a small, "hmmm" and kept on shoveling his spoon in.

"I take it is that good then, Diaval?" Maleficent asked.

"Hmmmm, yes, very much so," Diaval answered, but then went right back to tucking away at his soup.

Maleficent held fast to a diet of fruits and vegetables and was not keen on eating any kind of meat. Yet, being around humans now, she felt she would be imposing and be a bother and come off as 'picky'. She wanted the people of Ulstead to like her, especially King John. She knew he would probably be the first ask about food on board and she wanted to give him an honest answer.

Hesitantly she dipped her spoon into the thick broth and at first tried to work around the pieces of meat and went for the leak and other bits of vegetables instead. But with the thick white broth that proved to be a futile attempt given the meat was also white. She took a spoonful from the edge of the bowl and slowly brought it to her mouth. She closed her eyes and winced as she put it in her mouth. She was going to just swallow straight away, but then her eyes flew open. Wow! The soup was good and extremely tasty. Suddenly she started to feel more hungry than she was and pulled the bowl closer and started to shovel some more into her mouth.

Diaval looked up from his bowl and started to laugh.

"Whoa! I guess you really like it, huh?

"Yes, it is rather good, and I am very hungry."

"Normally you don't eat any kind of meat, right your excellency?" Sir Joseph asked. "I have noticed that at the castle you seem to avoid any kind of meats and go straight for the fruits and vegetables."

"Yes, that is correct."

"So you are a vegetarian than."

"Yes, faeries believe in 'live and let live' and that every animal has a right to life and shouldn't need to die to satisfy a hunger. I am no different. However, I do sometimes indulge in some insects if their numbers get out of hand and threaten the balance of nature at the Moors," Maleficent informed.

"Oh, I understand. But why the exception now, if you don't mind my asking?" Sir Joseph continued to pry.

"Well, if you must know, I feel I am enough of a bother already asking King John to prepare this grand ship at such short notice. I don't want to come off as a demanding and picky priss. I...I", Maleficent stuttered as she realized that she was beginning to to think more and more of what other people thought about her. She kept thinking back to a couple nights ago when she met the Duchess and she knew she was demanding and not talked about well by others. So she just came out with it and continued, "I just want these people to like me."

"Still, if what you are eating is not to your liking, you shouldn't..."

Maleficent raised her hand to halt Sir Joseph.

"I am fine, the soup is good. Better than I expected." Maleficent said as she continued to spoon away at the bisque.

"As you wish, your excellency."

Diaval looked a bit surprised too that Maleficent was eating the soup, but he didn't say anything as she was apparently enjoying it. In fact when the servant came around to offer seconds on the soup, she obliged.

"Wow, you really do like the soup, huh?" Diaval asked.

"Yes, it is rather tasty and it is warming me up inside."

"Splendid!" Angelina exclaimed excitedly. "Next course will be our famous royal salad." She said as she retreated back to the galley.

Maleficent let out a sigh of relief as a nice hearty salad was right up her way. Hopefully there will be no meat in the salad.

When it arrived, Maleficent was treated to a familiar site of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes. A rich, thick white dressing was placed on the side.

"The salad is a favorite of both the king and queen. The dressing is a special blend made by King John himself. His wife goes nuts over it!" Angelina explained. It seemed that she was opening up more and more and becoming more talkative as the night progressed. She especially looked with admiration to Maleficent.

Diaval stood up and walked over to the servant just as she was entering the galley. It seemed as if he whispered something in her ear.

"Yes, My Lord, I understand and apologize," she said before disappearing fully into the galley.

Diaval thanked her and then returned to the table. Maleficent looked at Diaval with narrow eyes as he began to sit down. She was ready to say something when Sir Joseph spoke up first.

"My Lord, huh? You seem to be acquiring quite a few titles there 'Master' Diaval," Sir Joseph said jokingly.

Maleficent and Diaval giggled. He responded, "Apparently, but I don't want to go around introducing myself as 'Sir' yet as Queen Aurora hasn't gotten around to knighting me yet."

Sir Joseph nodded as he continued to eat from his salad. Maleficent again wanted to say something to Diaval but was yet again interrupted when Captain James came running down the main staircase and almost stumbled.

"Whoa! Excuse me, I am so sorry to be tardy my fine guests, but with the wind being very calm tonight, it took me longer than usual to get navigate out of the inlet, but we are safely out and I left the helm with my first officer so I can join you," Captain James explained. "Now, I hope I didn't miss much?" He took his place on the lone empty table setting to Maleficent's left.

"Just the soup, Captain," Sir Joseph said.

"Dang it!" he said putting a scowl on his face just as Angelina exited the galley.

"Oh! Captain, don't you worry, we still have plenty more, I will prepare a bowl for you immediately," she said quickly and then went back into the galley.

"Thank you," he shouted back to her and then turned to his guests, "I knew mother made my favorite seafood bisque tonight and I certainly didn't want to miss that!" Captain James smiled as he looked around to everyone at the table already starting their second course. "So is everyone enjoying the meal so far?"

"Yes, Captain." Maleficent responded.

"Splendid! I do hope everything meets with your expectations, your excellency."

"Yes, everything is fine and the ship is very beautiful."

The servant came back out with both a bowl of soup and a plate of salad for the captain.

"Thank you. Thank You." he said turning to both Maleficent's and Angelina in turn. "The Legacy is indeed beautiful. It is our grandest non-warship and it is an honor to sail her. Father very rarely lets me take this ship out on my own, as I said before, it is his pride and joy. But he had other matters to attend to in the kingdom and couldn't come along."

Suddenly Maleficent began to feel a wave of guilt come over her that Prince James went through all the trouble to get their grandest ship ready for her.

"I feel very honored that you went through all the trouble to prepare your finest ship for us, but that wasn't necessary. I told your brother, 'nothing fancy'." Maleficent said.

"Yes, I know, he did relay that message. But preparing the Legacy was my father's doing. He wanted you to go in style. And honestly, it was not a bother for me. I jump at any chance I can get to sail the Legacy," the captain replied. "Because of her size, she lays so well on the sea even in bad weather. It is like sailing a comfy couch."

Diaval and Sir Joseph both let out a hearty laugh while Maleficent smiled and said, "Understood."

"Well, I hear it is going to be a very cold the next couple nights, I can feel the temperature going down quite a bit the last hour," the captain said. "So everyone bundle up tonight."

Maleficent listened to the captain as he continued to explain the weather in detail in between taking bites from his meal. She and the others just continued finishing their salad. She was very curious as to what Diaval said to the servant and was waiting for the right moment to ask. Just then an aroma filled the dining room as the next course was being prepared. It the odor of seared meat. She was wondering what it was they were going to have when the smell caught the nose of the captain.

"Mmmmmmm, smells like Steak and Potatoes!" he exclaimed. "One of my favorites. I hope you will enjoy it your excellency. We used some of our best cuts of meat for this trip."

Again that guilty feeling came over Maleficent as it was sinking in as to the great extent the royal family of Ulstead went to make her trip feel like a vacation.

After everyone was done with their salad, the servant came out with the main course and it was indeed steak and potatoes with a side of string beans. She served this to all, with the exception of Maleficent. Instead, she had a larger helping of potatoes, string beans and other assorted mixed vegetables.

"I hope you enjoy this, your excellency, it was all we had in the galley. My apologies but we didn't know..." she started to explain as she was cut short by Diaval making a 'cut it' motion across his neck.

Maleficent looked narrow eyed to Diaval.

Angelina noticed and just cut things short, "Just enjoy, and call me if you need anything else."

Maleficent continued to look narrow eyed at Diaval. Sir Joseph kept his head down and minded his own plate as he started to indulge himself in the well prepared steak dinner.

But the captain looked on, saw that Maleficent had something different brought out and said, "Did I miss something?"

Maleficent sighed and was ready to speak when Diaval spoke up first.

"I got this," he said to Maleficent as he placed his hand on hers.

"Captain, Maleficent is a faerie and faerie's don't eat meat. I apologize that nothing was mentioned in regards to this on our behalf."

"Ahhhh, I see," the captain replied. "But I see that the situation as been rectified."

"Yes, captain." Diaval said.

"Well, then everyone enjoy your dinner!"

"Thank you," everyone else replied.

Maleficent kept giving Diaval a cross look and she could feel a bit angered that he didn't let her know first what he was going to do. She couldn't help feeling that she would now come off as picky or demanding. But as dinner went on, the exceptional tasty dinner made her calm down, her anger soon faded and she realized that Diaval was just acting in her best interest. Furthermore, if it wasn't for him, she might have been stuck eating steak tonight, a dreadful thought at that. The mixed vegetables and potatoes were really good.

After dinner was over, Diaval was interested in talking on the deck with Maleficent.

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend that, Sir Diaval. It is supposed to go down to freezing tonight. It will be very cold out, " Captain James explained. "I recommend going straight to your quarters and getting bundled up in there nice and tight."

"Thank you, Captain," Maleficent said.

"Well, I best be off and bundle up myself. I have second watch tonight and have to find ways to keep warm myself!"

After dinner, Captain James directed Sir Joseph to where his quarters were and then he had Maleficent and Diaval follow him back up the staircase towards the door that led outside to the main deck. Next to this door was another one.

"This is an alternate way into your suite in the event you don't want to go outside, such as is the case tonight being so cold out, " He explained.

Captain James opened the door to the suite and showed them around the room. The entire room was mahogany with mother of pearl inlays. It looked like a room in a stately manor house rather than a cabin on a ship. A large desk that matched the room was on the far aft end facing forward but had its left side facing the window. The chair for the desk was adorned with gold trim and resembled a mini throne. Along the window was a day bed and some nautical odds and ends were placed along the sill and yet more items were mounted on the window frames.

In the day bed was Robin's basket. It was strapped to one side of the daybed to prevent it from moving. Maleficent took a quick look in to see how he was doing. He was still fast asleep.

A large round table dominated the center of the room which had a chess board inlayed into it. The table had four comfy chairs around it. There were cubby holes around the edge of the table and within those cubbies there appeared to be all sorts of games. There was another large table opposite the desk that had cubby holes within the large legs on each side. With in the cubby holes were maps and scrolls. While there was as stool type of chair near it, the table appeared to be meant to be stood at. There were pieces of navigation equipment resting on the table. Apparently this is where the King could have group discussions about where they were heading. Above the desk there was a large window. Flanking the main door that led out to the main deck was a large book case that had many books. Next to the book case on each side was a narrow but tall window that looked out to the deck. The curtains were currently closed. Next to the King's desk was a spiral staircase that went up to the next floor.

"Up there is the bedroom and bathroom," Captain James said pointing the way.

Maleficent liked this type of staircase better as it was tall enough that she didn't have to duck. She and Diaval climbed the stairs up. This room was also made mostly of wood, but was made of a light oak. The room wasn't as large as the one below because of the balcony outside the fore part of this level. The bed dominated the room and it was very unusual in that the mattress was held in a frame that resembled a large swing.

"My father had the bed built specially to counteract the swaying motion of the ship if we run into rough weather, it works like a hammock."

"Oh, that's interesting," Maleficent said as she gave the bed a push. It rocked gently. The blankets on the bed were very thick.

Then the captain pointed out the dressers on each side of the bed and said, "My servants took the liberty of putting your things into the dressers and your Master At Arms, Joseph put this rigging up on the bed," he paused for a bit and then hesitantly asked, "May I ask what is it for?"

Maleficent looked to Diaval and she had a look on her face that she was put on the spot and really didn't want to explain her situation to the captain.

He then continued, "I couldn't help but noticed that you have some kind of brace on your back supporting your wings."

Maleficent sighed deeply and then answered, "If you must know, In addition to Robin, I am not well myself which is another reason for our quest. I am the cause of Robin's condition as he tried to heal me."

"So I take it you cannot fly."

"Yes, that is correct."

"I am sorry. I know it sounds like I am prying, but I can also see you are in some pain, your excellency."

Maleficent nodded her head, 'yes'.

"I am sorry to hear that," Captain James said in a very heart felt tone. "Being captain, I am responsible for your well being and safety. If there is anything I can do to help you, or ease your pain, just please let me know."

"Thank you, but in that aspect I am well taken care of," she said as she glanced over to Diaval and smiled.

"Okay then."

He then pointed to two large cabinet structures that flanked the doorway to the room and said, "On the left is a walk in closet and you will find your robes in there as well as extra blankets should you need them tonight. On the right is the bathroom."

Maleficent walked over to the bathroom as Captain James opened the door. She took a peek into the bathroom and was surprised to find a commode that actually flushes...on a ship no less! The sink was a large basin that also had its own drain.

"Yes, that was something my father insisted on was a fully functional loo."

Everyone laughed as the captain pointed out a table with a mirror over it that was in between the bed and walk in closet. It had it's own matching chair.

"This is something that you might take a liking to, your excellency. A vanity table ."

Maleficent walked over to the table and checked out the drawers and other odds and ends. There were four candles that flanked the mirror, they were currently out.

"Well, if you do not have anymore questions, I will be heading topside, your excellency."

"We are fine, Captain," Maleficent said. "The suite is beautiful. Hard to believe this is all on a ship."

"Yes, it indeed is and thank you. Very well then, have a good night and keep warm."

"Thank you for providing us with such grand accommodations. You had a swell night too," she said.

"My pleasure," Captain James said as he turned and headed towards the door. "Oh! Almost forgot one more thing. Should you need something just pull that string over there by the right side of the bed. It will summon a servant to you."

"Thank You."

Captain James exited out the door and the cold air rushed in from outside. Maleficent could hear him exclaim, "Burrrrr, it is going to be a cold one tonight!" as he shut the door behind him.

Maleficent turned to Diaval and said in a stern tone, "So, you told the servant, huh? After I mentioned I didn't want to be cause for inconvenience."

"I'm sorry, my love, but it seemed like they didn't know and certainly I doubt you would have eaten the steak and you would have been hungry. However, I know you need your strength so you can get better." Diaval explained. He hung his head low and continued, "I hope you are not cross with me."

"Well, I was initially, but I realized that very situation that either I would have been stuck eating the steak or leaving it and going to bed hungry after that long trip. Further, you saved me from explaining myself in the latter case." Maleficent said. She paused for a long time looking down. Then she smiled and looked in his dark eyes saying in a sweet tone, "You do have a tendency to know the right thing to do. Thank you, Diaval, mine sweet."

"You're welcome, my dear," Diaval replied, relieved that Maleficent wasn't angry.

As Maleficent and Diaval were getting changed for the night, the cold air from outside was slowly seeping into the cabin and the two began to shiver as they were changing.

"Wow, the captain is right, it is starting to get cold in here," Diaval said.

"Yes, it is."

"Let me help you get your wings...", Diaval said before he was cut short.

"No, not tonight. Since I have my wings back now, they will help keep us warm."

Diaval raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he ran his fingers along Maleficent's left wing. He seemed to be lost in thought.

"Diaval?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You seem to be deep in thought."

"Well, it is just the thought of what you just said...keeping us warm with your wings."

"Yes, I did."

Maleficent smiled at Diaval and put her hands around Diaval's neck and drew herself close to him. He placed his hands on her waist. As they looked deep in each other's eyes, Maleficent grabbed the forward edge of her wings with her hands and wrapped them around Diaval's body. The gesture started to make Diaval breathe heavy. He lifted his hands from her waist and ran the backs of them against her feathers. He switched his hands around and ran his fingers along the insides of her wings.

Maleficent just smiled and asked, "Why Diaval, why are you breathing so hard?" she said seductively.

"I...I don't know. It's just your wings around me...I find myself so attracted..." he said, but stopped suddenly as his eyes locked with hers and once again he put his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

Maleficent ran her tongue over her lips as Diaval drew nearer. She could feel his heart beating hard as she pressed her breasts against his body. She closed her eyes as their lips met. As usual, the kiss started off soft and slow first, but then grew in intensity. After a bit, Diaval pulled back and then said to his lover, "Thank you, it is just a kind thing for you to offer."

She could see his eyes start to mist over slightly.

"Of course, I certainly wouldn't allow you to be cold while I am all nestled up warm in my wings. That would be selfish, my love, " She said in a coyish but seductive tone.

He pulled her close and they locked lips again.

"Oh! My! Diav...Hmmmmmm," She exclaimed as she closed her eyes. He pushed his tongue into her mouth and he could feel her intertwine hers with his. The kiss became deep very quickly and Diaval could feel himself start to tingle. As they continued to kiss, he become larger and stiffer. He moaned a bit and started to open his mouth looking up with his eyes closed. He felt his lover start to turn the tables on him as he found she was pushing him up against the wall of the ship between the vanity table and the side window. A dresser was just below the window.

As he felt his manhood start to creep down his leg, it was inevitable that she would feel it. Immediately she forced her leg between his and she started to grind her waist into his manhood. She began to breath heavy.

"I guess we are going to 'christen' the ship on the first night?" Diaval said between breaths.

"Oh, you better believe it, mine sweet." She said as she began to untie her robes.

Diaval quickly undid his belt and lowered both his pants and undergarment in one shot. His undergarment got hung up a bit on the way down, but he soon recovered and was naked from the waist down. As soon as he stood up, he found a beautiful svelte leg swing up and rest it's foot on his shoulder.

"Whoa! Warn me the next time you do that, you could have kicked me in the face," Diaval said in a scared tone. He noticed that she still had the robe draped over her, but she was completely naked as she was twisted a bit sideways from kicking her leg up onto his shoulder, one of her breasts was partly exposed.

"Don't worry, my love, I would never do that to you."

She then began to creep her toes up the wall as her body came closer and closer to him. Soon her body was resting up against his and she wrapped her arm around both her leg and his shoulder.

"Oh, my! You can do a full split now?" Diaval was a bit in disbelief as he put his arms around her waist and leg, to balance her more.

"Well, I was able to do it for a while now, but it wasn't comfortable until recently. I been trying to keep limber stretching out my legs when you were sleeping or weren't around. I noticed I began to be able to hold this position longer and longer."

"And why is that?" Diaval asked in a bewildered tone.

"Well, I have been wanting you take me this way"

Diaval again looked with uncertainty as he said, "Are you sure? This doesn't look like a comfortable position to get intimate in."

"Well, it is a bit 'stretching' things, but I want to see what it feels like."

Diaval smiled at her pun as he brought himself to her. Being nearly the same heights, making love standing up was an interesting possibility. He kept caressing her leg and then crept closer and closer. He started to lightly rub her clitoris and she could see his manhood get larger and stiffer. She moaned a bit from his touch but then shook her head and said, "I am Okay, Diaval, just take me."

She wrapped her fingers around his nearly erect penis and slowly guided him to her. She pressed gently towards him. Her jaw dropped and she took a deep breath. Diaval's breathing also was getting heavier.

"Are you OK? I hope I am not hurting you this way," Diaval said with concern.

"Hmmmmmm, no, mine sweet, on the contrary it is an amazingly different feeling, but do go slowly," Maleficent had a sheer look of pleasure on her face.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt you. Ahhhhhhh," Diaval said as he felt a small throb sensation course down his penis as he still became larger.

"I know you will not, you are always so good that wayyyyyy. Ohhhhhh!"

Maleficent began to loose her footing a bit, but Diaval held on to her fast so she wouldn't fall. She then switched over from leaning on his right shoulder to his left balancing herself better he pushed himself deeper inside of her.

"Uh! Ohh! Hmmmmm!", Maleficent started to call out as he finally reached his full size and was pressing against her walls fully. The angle she was in prevented him from going all the way inside of her, but also that angle had a very different feeling. And she could feel herself build up to climax.

"Maleficent, you are getting too loud, they will hear."

"I...I know, …Sss...Sorry, I can't h...help it."

Diaval could feel that her one leg she was standing on was starting to wobble a bit.

"Perhaps we should switch to the bed?"

"Not yet...It feels too darn good. After I climax like this. Push Diaval I am almost there."

Diaval complied, but he watched his lover's face grimace, as she tried to stifle her moans. The look on her face just made him get even more firmer. She grabbed the window frame and began to pivot her body very forcefully against him pushing him into the wall.

"Whoa!" Diaval gasped between his breaths. He struggled to keep his footing for the both of them.

"It's coming."

She then pulled herself into his body so hard, the wind was knocked out of him. But then he felt her start to queeze around his penis. Her mouth hung open as she stared into his eyes and had a sneering look on her face. Her fingernails were digging into his shoulder. She placed her mouth over his neck and let out a long moan.

He could feel the constrictions around him and he was close to ecstasy himself.

"Did you?" Diaval asked even though there was no question that she reached ecstasy. It came much sooner than previous times and he felt a feeling of inadequacy come over him as he wasn't ready to reach ecstasy. She slowed to a stop and her leg started to give out and she began to drift way from his body. His penis throbbed a bit as he pulled out and it made Maleficent gasp.

"Yes! Didn't you feel me?" She said as she swung her leg back down to the floor.

"Yes, I did. I just wanted to ask anyway."

She thought for a moment and then said, "But I didn't feel you."

"Sorry, my love, it just...well, you just came so quickly. I didn't reach climax, but I was close to it."

"No, no, don't be sorry, my love. I just didn't know it would come so quickly either," She said as she motioned to the bed. "Come, we will continue on the bed. I want you to climax too."

The two approached the bed and then leaned down to fall into it, but the force of them laying back on the bed together made it rock back and forth quickly.

"Oh!" Both yelled out at the same time almost falling out of the bed together, but Diaval was quick and put his foot down to stop the rocking.

Maleficent then turned him over on to his back and draped her wings over the both of them.

"Oh, mine sweet, I think we are going to be VERY warm tonight," she said raising her eyebrows.

The rest of their clothing was lost quickly, as Maleficent tried as best as she could to keep most of their bodies covered with her wings. As the night pressed on it kept getting colder and colder in the room.

Making love proved to be a bit awkward on the unique bed as it constantly swayed as they moved. The two got back up and kissed and hugged towards the walk-in closet, opened it up and pulled all their clothes and blankets down to the floor while still kissing each other. They slowly collapsed to the floor and continued to make love with Maleficent on top until both reached ecstasy and she collapsed on top of Diaval carefully draping her wings around him. They tucked their legs under a blanket that had fallen near their feet. They didn't say much at first just listening to each other panting as a result of their throws of passion.

"I don't want to go back up into the bed, I am happy with you on top of me wrapped in your wings," Diaval said as he still was breathing heavy.

"Hmmmmm, I can feel the heat rising from your body. I don't want to move either. When you make love to me, it makes my pain go away."

"For me...I just can't get enough of you, my dear. I find myself needing you. You couldn't know how horrible a feeling it was when I saw you in that contraption and though you had d..." Diaval stopped short.

Maleficent saw his bottom lip began to quaver and he suddenly pulled her close and his body began to shake as he buried his face into her shoulder.

"Diaval? Please don't be upset! I am here and I told you I wouldn't do that to you."

Maleficent then thought of the moment at how Diaval managed to carry her all the way up to their room in the castle. It demonstrated to her his strength and tenacity when it came to his love for her.

"When you carried me up those steps and just kept going despite how tired you were, I just can't explain the feeling I had within me. But I know for certain I wanted you to be near me more than ever in my life. I never had anyone care for me the way you do. I just kept looking at your arms and I just wanted you more and more with each step higher you took."

Diaval pulled back and Maleficent held his head in her hands and wiped his tears away with her thumbs. She then closed her eyes and gently gave him a kiss laying with her full weight on his body.

"Hmmmm, you are so warm!" She said after they kissed.

Maleficent slid partly off of Diaval's body, but made sure her right wing kept him nicely covered. She rested her head next to his. The two were looking at each other face to face, staring into each other's eyes not saying anything.

After a long while, they soon found themselves in almost total darkness as the candles in the room began to burn out. The two nestled together even closer, Diaval draped his arm around her back sneaking his hand out from under her wing and rested his hand right on her sweet spot between her wings.

Maleficent moaned softly as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"It certainly is warmer sleeping with someone than being alone" she said.

"Yes, it is. I think finally we are going to really keep warm this winter."

Maleficent giggled, "Yes we will, indeed."

The next morning Diaval woke up to find the morning light shining through the windows in their room. They were both still lying on the floor in the closet and Maleficent was still laying partly on top of them with her wings draping over their naked bodies.

Despite the cold night, he woke up feeling very warm indeed almost too warm. But since his face was exposed he could feel that the room itself was still very cold from the prior night.

Soon he felt Maleficent start to stir and she rubbed her eyes. "Good morning, my dear," he said.

"Good morning, mine sweet," she replied. "We slept in here all night?"

"Yes, it was just too cold out to move and frankly I certainly felt warm under your wing."

Maleficent just smiled as she said, "Yes, I remember all to well how they kept me warm on the coldest of nights on the Moors."

Then Diaval could see she went into a deep thought.

"What's wrong""

"Nothing, I was just thinking that I hope Aurora does regularly check up on the Moors. I am worried that the fae folk are going to drive poor Balthezar nuts!"

"Oh, I am sure she will, you know how Aurora loves the Moors."

"Yes, you are right," Maleficent nodded in approval, "Speaking of checking up, it is a good idea to check up on Robin."

Diaval nodded. Not knowing what time it was, the both of them got up and started to get dressed. They put on clothing rather quickly as the room was indeed very cold. They grabbed something that they knocked to the floor the previous night as it was kept warm from them laying on it all night. They didn't hear footsteps above them, so they figured that Captain James must already be up top or perhaps in the dining room. But they figured they would get dressed to go outside to get a fix on the sun for the time first they were out at sea.

After checking up on Robin, they went back up and exited their bedroom door, they went to the the railing of the balcony and looked out forward. They watched the men below busy doing their chores or carry things about on the ship. Looking out past the sea and to the nearby shoreline, they had noticed that the cold night had taken it's toll on the local foliage as most of the leaves that were left had fallen. There was also a dew mist that hung in the air further inland.

Just then they heard a familiar voice rang out from above them.

"Good morning, your excellency! Good morning Sir Diaval!"

Maleficent turned around and placed her hand on her brow to shield out the morning sun from her eyes. Diaval just squinted. Captain James waved to them from the helm of the ship.

"Good morning Captain!" They replied together.

"I was just waiting for you both to awaken, I will meet you below for breakfast," he shouted down to them.

Maleficent and Diaval made their way to the side of the balcony where they went down to the main deck and then they went down the same stairwell that they went down the prior night for dinner.

The two were greeted by Sir Joseph of whom was already in the dining room.

"Good morning, your excellency. Diaval"

Maleficent and Diaval replied, "Good morning as well."

He asked how the two slept the prior night being that it was so cold out. He said he had slept under two heavy quilts and still felt cold.

"Well, at least you two have each other to keep warm," Sir Joseph lamented as he continued. "I really do need to find myself a woman."

Both Maleficent and Diaval laughed.

"There is no one in town you fancy?" Maleficent asked.

"With the exception of Queen Leila, no, not really. It isn't the ladies, it is me. I just want someone that is...different."

"Different? How so?" Diaval asked.

Sir Joseph looked at both Maleficent and Diaval and then down to the floor, "It's hard to explain. If you don't mind, I would prefer not to discuss it on an empty stomach."

Diaval was ready to say something when Maleficent raised her hand and looked at Diaval as she said, "Very well then. Let's sit down and have breakfast."

Diaval had a disappointed look on his face as he was curious as to what Sir Joseph was getting at. He wanted to pull Maleficent aside to talk to her in private, but then Captain James came down to greet them.

"Good morning all!" He said as he made his way to the galley and poked his head inside the door. He mumbled some instructions to whomever was inside and then they all began to take their seats at the table.

As breakfast was being served, Captain James explained that due to the lack of wind last night, they had not made good progress. He was hoping that the wind would pick up today otherwise they might not arrive within their planned time. He was also concerned if they had enough provisions if they are another day at sea. They were only good for one more bad day out. Another concern of his was that if the temperature dropped further, the Moriches Inlet could freeze over blocking their path to where Medusa's home was. He was keeping his fingers crossed that wouldn't be the case.

The wind did pick up a bit later that day and they were moving, but still not as fast as the Captain wanted to go. Overall it was a nice day at sea. Maleficent and Diaval took walks often on deck even though it was cold out. They played some games in their room, despite not being familiar with them.

They slept in the bed that night but had to get used to the gentle rocking motion that occurred whenever one of them moved.

On the next day of their trip they had awaken to snow falling from the sky. A fresh light dusting of snow was on the deck...just as Captain James had predicted when they were at Ulstead port. The trees and ground were covered with a thin blanket of snow. Unofficially winter had arrived. Also there was quite a breeze in the air.

Captain James greeted them from below with a cup of tea in his hand.

"Good morning! Thank goodness fate was on our side last night!" the captain said excitedly. He then pointed up to the sails which bellowed out from the wind and was pulling the ship along at a good clip. He continued, "Look! The wind has finally picked up rather well during the night, I believe if this keeps up we might make our destination just before late afternoon tomorrow!"

Later on that day the snow stopped and the wind picked up even more and they were moving pretty fast. Despite the fact that the wind made it colder outside, Maleficent and Diaval bundled up really well as they were very interested in how fast the ship was moving now. They would look over the sides of the ship and then they made their way to the prow of the vessel and Diaval was fascinated at how the ship was cutting through the water effortlessly, watching the waves lap up the side of the ship. He had glow on his face the whole time.

"Amazing isn't it at how something this big can float. We are moving pretty fast now and you can barely feel it!" Diaval exclaimed.

"Hadn't you ever landed on a ship's mast or something when you were a raven?" Maleficent asked.

"Yes, but it is different from this perspective, I never was this close to the water on a ship before."

"Understood," Maleficent said as she made her way right to the front most railing and closed her eyes feeling the wind rush past her face. Diaval watched his lover take in the moment and suddenly he got an idea. He stood behind Maleficent and started to take off her harness.

"Diaval! What on earth are you doing?!"

"I want to try something," he said as he put the harness down and lifted her wings up, "Try and cup your wings."

Maleficent looked at him baffled as to what he was trying to accomplish as she didn't have the strength yet to even lift her wings. Yet, she found that she was able to curl her wings even though it was a bit painful to do so. As she did so, Diaval manually lifted her wings up and into the wind. As the wind caught her wings, they started to lift up and almost got away from Diaval, but he pulled them back down. Maleficent could feel the wings pulling on her back and starting to lift her. She grabbed the railing in front of her.

"Oh! Oh! Oh my Diaval!" Maleficent said with a surprised look on her face. She then looked at Diaval in amazement and wonder. Finally, she looked back out to the water and excitedly said, "Do it again!"

Diaval complied but this time opened her wings up all the way. This time he had to outstretch his arms all the way to hold her wings down. Maleficent held on to the railing as she nodded to him she was ready to cup her wings. As she did so, she felt the lift much greater this time and she could feel her feet slightly coming up from the deck. Diaval had to hold her wings with nearly all his might. Maleficent winced in pain as she attempted to cup her wings further. Just at that moment a gust of wind came over the bow and lifted Maleficent up off the deck about a foot or so.

"Whoa!" Diaval called out as he finally couldn't hold on any longer and Maleficent's wings flew upward. Maleficent came down and lost her footing and landed backwards falling into Diaval. The two collapsed to the deck.

"I am sorry! So sorry my dear. I shouldn't have..." Diaval said apologetically in fear of possibly causing Maleficent more pain.

"Shush shush, Diaval!" Maleficent interrupted as she turned around and planted a kiss firmly on Diaval's lips. But she quickly withdrew as she realized they were outside. Luckily because it was so cold out everyone was below decks with the exception of Captain James of whom had a ringside seat up at the helm. The two of them looked aft of the vessel and watched him tip his hat from the back of the ship as he had his other hand on the wheel.

They both scrambled back to their feet and helped wipe the snow off each other. Diaval helped Maleficent put the harness back on. Every so often he would glance around to look at her face. She had a mile wide smile and she had a certain 'glow' to her whole face. He knew he did well. When he was done, he stood by her side.

She turned to him and softly said, "Thank You, mine sweet. That was amazing. You always know how to do the right thing for me. You make me feel like a queen."

Diaval grinned as said, "Well, you kind of are a queen. But you're very much welcome, anytime, my dear." He started to gloat. "I love it when you have such a radiant smile on your face. You look so...beautiful."

"Thank you," she said again. Maleficent kept looking at Diaval and smiled.

"Ummmm, does this mean we are going to get intimate tonight?" Diaval asked knowing that the answer probably would be a 'yes'.

Maleficent suddenly wiped the smile off her face and held her hand to her chest. She had a shocked look on her face.

Diaval in turn, wiped the smile off his face as suddenly he realized he said something wrong.

"Tonight?" Maleficent snapped giving Diaval a very stern look. "Who are you to say I am going to wait that long?" She raised an eyebrow and the smile returned to her face.

Diaval looked dumbfounded at first, but when Maleficent gave him a seductive smile, he knew exactly what she meant and played along. "Ahhh, Yes, my apologies, my dear. That was a very wrong assumption for me to make."

"Apology accepted, mine sweet. You should know that when you give me something that special, an immediate show of gratitude is warranted."

"Immediate? Oh, yes, I agree."

The two started to laugh as they headed aft to their room.

"Would I be correct in saying things are going to get very warm for us now?"

"Indeed it most certainly will."

The next day was final day at sea and when Maleficent and Diaval greeted the Captain in the dining room for breakfast he was excited to give them the news that they had reached the Moriches inlet and it did not freeze over. Furthermore, the wind still kept up and he expected that they would arrive at their destination towards the late afternoon.

After breakfast, Captain James discussed with the group that they needed a change in plan in terms of their attire when they depart in the long boat. Their planned use of dark clothing would make them stand out in the forest as they approached. He felt it was better that everyone would wear light clothing. Luckily the servants were able to put together some outfits for those that didn't have light clothing. Angelina herself helped out greatly and made a nice long ivory colored cloak for Maleficent which covered her wings.

With some of the extra material that was used to make her cloak, Maleficent was was sitting at the vanity table putting the finishing touches on her new headdress to wrap her hair and horns up in. The lighter beige color would help to blend in with the snow. Diaval was helping her out as lately he very much enjoyed putting her hair up and taking it down. He preferred the latter as he enjoyed combing her hair out. In fact Diaval combed her hair more then she did.

"You are going let me take this off when you return?"

"Yes, Diaval, I know how much you enjoy combing my hair out."

"Well, I enjoy it because I love to see the effect it has on you."

Maleficent giggled and arched her shoulders forward as she answered, "Yes, I do get very turned on by the way you comb my hair as you do such a wonderful job. I just feels so darn good when you do it. I am even thinking about having you style my hair so it is not so straight all the time."

"Really? Oh, I really would enjoy that," Diaval grinned from ear to ear.

"Well, you have a good eye for detail. You don't stop until it is done right. I know whatever you do will turn out great. So I trust you."

Their conversation was interrupted by some moaning and sighing sounds coming from the spiral stairwell below. Diaval said, "I think Robin is coming around!"

Quickly the two got up and went down the spiral staircase to the level below and peered into the basket that Robin was resting in.

Robin blinked his eyes a few times and started to look around. He then focused his eyes on Maleficent of whom was right over the basket.

"Oh, no! No! No!" Robin yelled out, "I failed you, my dear Maleficent. You are with me here in faerie heaven? Damn me for not being strong enough!" Robin said as he began to sob.

"No, No, Robin, you are alive, we both are alive. The procedure was a success...somewhat."

Robin leaned up and he looked around.

"What?...where are we?" Robin said, holding his head, "Oh my head hurts!"

"You are on a ship, the HMS Legacy. It's King John's ship," Diaval said.

"King John? Here? Robin asked.

"No, he isn't here, but his son, Prince James is. He is the Legacy's captain," Maleficent said.

"Oh." Robin said, he paused looked around and continued squinting his eyes, "Why are we on a ship?"

"Well, mainly to help you"

"Help me?" Robin questioned as his head started to clear. "Whoa, whoa, I am supposed to be dead! No wait, there was a strange flash of light, and that was the last thing I remember and now I am here."

He held his hand up. "I can't scan you. I have no power left. Can you fly?"

Maleficent shook her head.

"You interfered, didn't you?" He said in an angered tone, "That explains why I am still alive."

Diaval interjected and said, "There is bad news Robin, Flittle says you have depleted all of your magic and doesn't give you much longer to live."

"Yes, that I can feel. I feel I am near the end. Oh, I am hungry?

Diaval saw that the line that called the servant was near their bed also ran down next to the day bed. He gave the line a tug. A few moments later a servant knocked at the side door. Diaval answered the door and it was Angelina. He asked her if he could get something to eat for Robin. She nodded her head and went back downstairs. He returned to Maleficent's side. Robin appeared to be angry.

"Angie is going to bring up a cup of soup for you."

"Thank you, Diaval," he said. Then he turned his attention to Maleficent.

"Maleficent WHY? Damn you woman! You never listen to me! Why did you put yourself at risk for me? I am going to die anyway. Giving my life to you was to give you your freedom of flight back.

"Robin, I am sorry." Maleficent said as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Just then a servant returned entered with a small cup of soup and a small spoon.

"Thank you, Angie," Diaval said and then she retreated back through the door.

"Oh that smells good!" Robin exclaimed he sat up. "Wow, I am hungry."

"Here then," Diaval said as he gave him the soup with a child size spoon.

Robin took a few spoonfuls of soup and he kept looking at Maleficent angrily.

"Now where was I? Oh, yes, I was scolding you for not listening to me again."

Maleficent turned back to Robin and said, "Robin, listen, I was too stupid to think you were able to do this, I was so wrapped up in being able to fly again I didn't know how much I was putting on you and the other faeries at risk. So when I realized what was going on, I fought back. I wanted to stop you as I wanted you to be in my life more than my ability to fly.

Robin took another spoonful of soup and then let out a long sigh, calming down a bit. He then said, "I thought I was able to do it with the others, it was just the wings were stored too long and took more magic to restore than I thought. Knotgrass and I knew if we sacrificed ourselves, it would be enough. But then you started to fight back. I could feel it, then all of a sudden there was that white light and it hit me and that is all I remember. What did you do? How did you do it with your hands tied?"

"I think I willed it. At that moment I just felt such a strong love for you, like you were a brother or...a father. I wanted to stop you. I realized that the Moors stands to loose so much without you. I realized I still need you in my life."

"So...that was it. Your love is altering your control over your magic. You willed your magic to take over to do what you felt was right. I have read about something like that happening, but never witnessed it before." Robin shook his head as he ate a few more spoonfuls of soup. "Hmmmm, this soup IS good! So, as I was saying, you have a special power that is stronger than both of your parents combined and it will continue to grow."

"Well, I can't say much for that power now, for some reason as a side effect of what I did to save you, I am without power and in pain."

"Hmmm, by cutting the procedure short, I figured you would be suffering in pain as you healed, but I am baffled at the loss of your power. If you are in pain you might have an infection and your body is using all of it's energy to fight it. Somehow, your body reversed it's priority and it is putting your health before your ability to use magic."

"So once whatever is causing this is removed, my magic will return?" Maleficent asked.

"Yes, most likely so," Robin said as he took a couple more mouth fulls of soup. He then paused and continued, "You still haven't told me why we are on a ship and what's with the beige headdress?"

"Sir Joseph believes there is a woman that is very strong in healing magic. We believe we can bargain with her to heal me and once my magic has returned I can transfer some of my magic to you and save your life."

"Whom might this magical woman be? I don't know of anyone that has a power that can heal you on their own." Robin asked as he sipped another spoonful of soup.

"It's a woman by the name of Medusa," Diaval said.

Instantly Robin spat out the soup in his mouth and gave a cross look to both Maleficent and Diaval, "Medusa! No! That slithering serpent haired monster helps no one! She's cursed and has a severe hatred for mankind because of that curse. All the humans here are in danger. Have Prince James turn around at once!

"Wait now Robin, do you know for a fact she is really exists and is still alive?" Maleficent asked.

"Yes, she exists and yes she is alive. She IS a kind of a faerie you know."

"No, I don't know. What do you mean by saying, 'kind of'?"

"Well, a very long while ago there was a supreme race of humans called 'Gorgons'. They were very rare, but they were nearly perfect in every way. They could live to be more than 1000 years old, in rare cases, they can even have immortality. They had no recessive traits. Nearly perfect bodies, no ailments, no physical defects. Legend had it a group of three Gorgon sisters got on the wrong side of a very powerful faerie warlock and he cursed the whole family. All three sisters were cursed with a snake like appearance with snakes for hair, their legs replaced with a snake's tail and very ugly faces. Any man gazing upon their eyes would trigger a magical reaction that would enter a mans eyes and turn him into stone from the inside out. From what I gather, unlike her sisters, there was a side effect with Medusa and she gained some magical abilities.

"So does she a strong healing ability?" Maleficent again asked.

"Yes, that was an ability all Gorgons have."

"What else can she do?"

"I am uncertain, and that is why I fear you going to see her. You wouldn't stand a chance without your power."

"Robin, I don't intend to fight her, I want to negotiate a deal with her. There has to be something she might want or need."

"Yeah, she wants to be left alone. There is too MUCH to risk on the account of me. Turn around, I don't want to go to my grave knowing you been turned to stone by some sadistic snake headed monster."

"I once thought all humans thought I was a monster. When we formed Malora, I found out that wasn't true. In fact I am finding out that my parents were right and that there are good humans out there. Take Sir Joseph for instance, I know he admires me very much. I have also earned the respect of King John and his sons. A king, Robin. A king accepts me. All of this," Maleficent said as she gestured to the ship. This is all King John's doing. He made this trip happen."

"What?" Robin looked in disbelief.

"Yes, Robin. The only thing King John wanted out of this is to trade with Malora."

"But even if there are good humans out there, how is this going to help you with Medusa?"

"For starters, I can help convince her that she is not a monster and maybe I can give her something she wants."

"I don't know, Maleficent. I don't want you to risk your life on the account of me."

Robin grabbed a hold of Maleficent's sleeve and pulled himself up. Maleficent took a hold of his hand and helped him up.

"Listen to me, and listen well. This world will stand to lose quite a bit if it loses you. You are the key that will unite this world. You are the key that can end war in this world that will unite everyone."

Robin fell back into his makeshift bed and began to shut his eyes, "Oh, I am so weak, I need to rest."

"Ok, Robin, just please stay with us a bit longer, I promise to help you," Maleficent said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Robin's eyes flew open, "No, you promise me you will stay alive. Malora is just the icing on the cake. You are going to do great things for this world." he said softly as he closed his eyes. "Please stay alive and don't do anything like you did that time with the volcano."

"Ok, Robin...You have my promise."

"Good, Good, stay alive, save yourself, don't worry about me." Robin barely whispered as he laid back down and his hand slipped out of Maleficent's. Once again he slipped out of consciousness and went back to sleep.

Maleficent had tears in her eyes as she turned to Diaval and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Volcano? What about the volcano?" Diaval asked.

"Not now Diaval, another time," Maleficent shook her head and then turned back to Robin. She then continued, "Oh, he must be so ill in that he was babbling that I am some kind of savior of this world. I am not a god. Not me, Diaval, all I do is screw things up."

"No, that not true. I see what you have done to Stefan's Old Kingdom. I see the affect you have in Ulstead. I think Robin might be right, you are natural born leader. I do believe what Robin says and I believe that if anyone could unite this world and bring it to peace, it would be you. For one you are the smartest being I have come across."

"Oh Diaval, there are many things that I don't think of that you do. Like before at the ship's prow with my wings. I believe you are smarter than I am. So many things you were right about that I was wrong about."

"Oh that is just common knowledge among any creature with wings. I am sure you would have thought of it, but you just have so much on your mind right now."

Maleficent looked to Robin once again lying still in his bed.

"We need him, Diaval. There is something he knows. He is older than most of the faeries on the Moors. He has knowledge no one else has."

Diaval put his arms around Maleficent and said, "Ok, we will do our best to save him, but for me my main concern is to keep you alive. We do make a good team and I think we can get through this. One thing that will help us is that Robin knows for sure that Medusa is not a legend and is real. He knows she is alive too. Furthermore, she's part faerie. I think she will listen to you."

"I hope you are right, Diaval, I hope you are right."

The two embraced and gave each other a nice long kiss before exiting and going topside.

Maleficent, Diaval and Sir Joseph met up with Captain James at the helm of the ship.

"We are doing well, and should arrive late afternoon or early evening, long before nightfall." Captain James said as he pointed out their current location on Sir Joseph's map.

"We will anchor here and then your team can go in on a long boat to Medusa's island."

"Will the ship be out of site?" Sir Joseph asked.

"At that distance, I believe so."

"Fantastic, Captain...Prince James, you have done well." Maleficent said.

The sun was getting lower in the sky when they finally reached their destination. Their timing was nearly perfect, if only off by one day, arriving in the early evening. Captain James had already prepared the long boat ahead of time with supplies the group might need. Even though they were expected to return the same night, they could spend a night if they needed as the long boat had extra provisions. As such the long boat, which normally could hold 12 men was full to capacity. Maleficent, Diaval, Robin, Sir Joseph, two of his guards and the boat's pilot were the only ones going in to the island. Everyone, with exception of the boat pilot, was dressed in light clothes and white hoods so they would blend in more with the newly fallen snow. Maleficent was wearing her white cloak over her brown robe underneath. The white cloak along with her new headdress certainly made her blend in better with the now snowy surroundings. Maleficent figured that the less people that go to the island, the better their chances.

As they navigated down the river, it became narrower and narrower as they approached. Even though the sun was still well up in the early evening sky and most the leaves were off the trees, the forest was very densely packed. Most of the trees were deciduous, but there were a good amount of evergreens too. After a while, the river began to open up again and form a mouth that opened into a large lake. In the center of the lake was a very large island.

"We will go around to the west side of the island. The forest on the island is thickest on that side, and there we will make camp," Sir Joseph said.

As they exited the forest, Diaval saw a sign at edge of the river that read: 'Private Property: Turn Around, Go Back, Do Not Enter, If You Value Your Life.'

Sir Joseph mocked, "Hmmm, I guess she doesn't take to having house guests."

There were some dim chuckles amongst the men on the boat. Even Maleficent smirked a bit. Diaval didn't feel like smiling. He kept thinking about the impending danger they were rowing closer and closer to.

As they entered into the lake, the large island in the middle came into into view. Diaval could make out part of a large imposing stone structure situated on the east end of the island. But from the west end, from which they were approaching, the island was densely packed with trees just as Sir Joseph said.

"Oh, my," Sir Joseph's face became pale. "She's been busy."

"What do you mean by that?" Maleficent asked.

"When I came here last time, 20 years ago, the structure was like a large stone manor house, it now has the makings of a large villa," Sir Joseph answered.

"Well, then we have our answer. There is a good chance she's alive." Maleficent said and then added, "That sign we just passed didn't look more than a couple of years old. It was recently placed."

"I would say so," Sir Joseph said in a reassuring tone.

They slowly made their way across the lake and pulled the long boat on shore.

Sir Joseph pointed and said, "Look there is another one."

Another sign was posted on the beach. This one read: 'Forbidden Forest – I would Turn Back NOW, If I were You. Enter and DIE!'

"Ooooo, she must have had a bad day when she posted that one," Sir Joseph quipped. Again there was laughter among the men. Again Diaval wasn't laughing.

"Enough, Sir Joseph," Maleficent said.

"Sorry, your excellency, I am just making a little light of the situation." He apologized.

After everyone exited the boat, Maleficent stood on the shore and spoke to everyone.

"From here on in, I go alone," She said.

Everyone looked at each other and then back at Maleficent with a shocked look on their face.

"No, Maleficent, I am not having that, I am coming with you. You need another pair of eyes to watch your back." Diaval said.

"Gentlemen, please excuse me," Maleficent said as she pulled Diaval aside behind a large tree that was out of view of the others, of whom continued unpacking the long boat to set up camp.

"I am sorry Diaval, I know you want to be with me, but you heard what Robin said. I am going to go alone because if we approach together, she will see that you are human and probably kill us both. Alone she will see that I am not human and if she is indeed a faerie or part faerie, then my chances of success are greater."

Diaval started to breathe heavy, "I...I can't do this. I need to be with you to protect you. You don't have your powers."

Maleficent began to speak lower in a deeper tone, "Precisely Diaval, I don't have my powers and you don't have the enchantment placed on you. What am I going to do if you turn a corner and end up staring her in the face? You will turn to stone and I will be alone again. What am I going to do then? Now that I can't have. I can't lose you. If I had it my way, I would have had you stay on that ship where you would be safe. Now please, back off and stay here."

Diaval noticed the change her tone when she said, 'I can't lose you.' The feeling of her love for him was strong on those words and he knew she was right. Still he had a lost puppy dog expression on his face and he nervously kept wringing his hands together. Maleficent started to take a couple steps towards the camp, but then turned back around to Diaval and pushed him up against the tree and planted her lips against his and began to kiss him very hard, immediately pushing her tongue into his mouth.

"Hmmmmphhh!" Diaval sighed loudly as he could feel his worries temporarily being washed away by her powerful kiss. After they kissed Diaval said in a near demanding tone, "Promise me you will come back."

Without hesitation, Maleficent said, "That I will do. I promise, you can count on that, but you stay here and don't try to follow me!"

"Faerie's promise?"

"Yes, faerie's promise."

The two returned to the camp.

Sir Joseph gave a copy of the forest section of the map to Maleficent and instructed her where the entrance to the villa should be. But now after seeing how much has changed over the years, he wasn't sure.

He then explained, "The sun will set in two hours. It will take a half hour to walk to the the villa, and obviously a half hour to walk back. So that will give you one hour. Make sure you don't take much longer as it will be dark in two hours and you will not see a thing in the forest without light. Here take this flare. If you are in any kind of trouble whatsoever, aim the flare up and strike this side with a rock. It will create a star burst in the sky and we will come for you."

"Ok, Sir Joseph," Maleficent said, taking the flare from him and putting it in her pocket.

"Here some gold, if this is what she wants we have 5 full bags here and 20 more in the ship if need be."

"Thank you."

Sir Joseph's men built a small fire with a shield around it to prevent any light from showing in the villa's direction.

Maleficent looked at the flame and said, "Filter Vision On" The enchantment Thistletwit place on her earlier was still working fine. The fire's defined edges were fuzzy but she could still tell it was a fire. The same was true for everything and everyone else around her. She could still see who they were, but the details just seemed slightly fuzzy. She then turned the filter back off. Then she patted her pockets and located the mirror that Aurora had given her. She took a sandwich and a canteen of water from a basket on the beach. She grabbed her staff and then looked around as the rest of the men watched her. She started to think about the final leg of her quest and about Medusa. If I had lived alone these many years, just being able to talk to someone might have her ending up in a very long conversation. There was a good chance that one hour may not be enough.

Maleficent shook her finger as she turned to Sir Joseph, "Sir Joseph, change in plan. I think I will need more than an hour with her. If I am not back in an hour, then give me until dawn."

"As you wish, your excellency. Just keep in mind, after daybreak, it will be harder to make out that flare if you are in trouble."

"Dawn!" Diaval shouted in a distressed tone.

"Yes, Diaval. I might need more time. I just want to let you know now."

He began to wring his hands even more now. But then stuttered, "Wa...W...Well, I see there is no changing your mind on this. Ju...just when you get your powers back, please give me a sign."

Maleficent thought of something he was very familiar with and suggested, "Green lightning in the cloud?"

"Yes, that will do," his voiced was laced with stress.

"Well fellas this is it. Remember to keep Robin warm."

"Yes we will. Be safe, your excellency," Sir Joseph said, "and good luck."

"Yes, your excellency our blessings are with you," Sir Joseph's men said.

"Please return safely, Madame Maleficent," the long boat's pilot said.

"Very well then, thank you all. I best be on my way then and I hope I am able to reason with her and I can help bring our dear friend Robin back to us." Maleficent said as she headed towards the forest which was already much darker than the beach.

As she was heading towards the forest. Diaval came up beside her and once more pulled her behind the large tree. He held her face in his hands and gave her another kiss.

"Remember you promised."

"I will be back. If there is a problem, I have the flare."

"I just hope you don't have to use it."

"As do I."

"You know, you look just as good in white as you do black," Diaval said.

"Thank you, my love, you always know how to say the sweetest things to me."

"I love you, my dear."

"I love you too, mine sweet."

Maleficent turned towards the forest and followed a somewhat disused path that lead deeper and deeper into the forest. Diaval watched as she started on her way, but then she stopped to read what appeared to be another sign. This one was too far for him to read. Just before she was ready to continue, she turned to him once more and blew him a kiss. Diaval put two fingers to his lips and did the same. She smiled and then turned around and continued walking. He continued to watch as more and more her movements disappeared into the snowy surroundings.

He then slumped down against the stump of the tree and began to weep.

"Please, Please, Please come back to me. I don't know what to do without you. You are only gone a couple minutes and already my heart is aching for you. I just can't spend the rest of my life without you."

"Diaval?" Sir Joseph called out. "Come by the fire it's getting cold, we are going to prepare some sausage and beans before we settle in."

Diaval looked up to Sir Joseph and he couldn't hide his eyes and the tracks of tears on his face.

"Oh! I'm sorry Diaval, I am interrupting, I will leave you be."

"No, it's OK. I know it might seem strange to see a guy shed tears."

"Not true, and I understand. I know what you feel for that woman and as burly and strong a gentleman as I am, I think I would be doing the same thing you are right now. You have an extraordinary woman there, and I have said it many times that I am envious of you," Sir Joseph said as he turned to leave Diaval be.

"Sir Joseph?"

"Yes?"

"You never answered my question when I asked 'How So?' in response to you looking for a woman that is different?"

"Indeed I have not," Sir Joseph sat down next to Diaval and put his back up against the tree, "I felt rather uncomfortable explaining my self in front of Madame Maleficent, so I opted out. But since it is just you and I now, I guess I can tell you."

"It goes back to when King Henry was in power and he ordered an attack on the Moors. I kind of felt inside that it was wrong to just conquer the Moors. I figured that we could reason with the creatures of the Moors in a peaceful manner. But no, that isn't what he wanted. He wanted to go storming in there swords drawn high. But he was the King and I just followed his orders. As we approached the Moors, this majestic creature came flying from out of the sky and came down to the earth with such a commanding force. So powerful looking and yet a female. When the order came to charge to kill her, I couldn't bring myself to do so. I ended up fighting on the sidelines and avoided contact with her."

Just then one of Sir Joseph's men came over with a couple of plates and cups with water in it.

"Sorry to interrupt you sirs, but I figured after the long trip you both would like something to eat."

"Yes, Martin, Thank You."

Sir Joseph took a quick bite of his sausage before he began to continue speaking.

"After the battle, which was a loss, I found I couldn't get the woman out of my mind. She didn't strike me as a monster from the Moors, but a beautifully unique person. I never saw anything like her before. I even approached King Henry in an effort to find a way to reason with her, but he wasn't having it, he was dying and wanted her dead and instructed me to carry out the order. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just kept making excuses that I couldn't find her. Later it was the same with King Stefan when he asked me to do the same."

"Just a wild guess, the woman you speak of was Maleficent," Diaval said.

"Yes, it was."

Diaval could feel that jealous raging feeling come over him again as he put his plate down. He could feel an anger start to swell within him. He closed his eyes and thought to himself that on top of everything this was something he didn't want to hear.

"So, you have feelings for my Maleficent?"

"No, Diaval. Don't forget, at the time, originally the one I had feelings for was Princess Leila. I was so close to having her too. Had I carried out King Henry's order, I would have been King and Princess Leila would have been my wife as the Queen. But the cost was too high. I didn't have it within me to kill Maleficent.

"So when Queen Leila died, you turned your interests to Maleficent?"

"Yes."

"I knew it! I could see the way you talk to her and are always around her."

"No, No, No, Diaval. That is not the way it is. I am trying to explain myself and this isn't easy. She loves you and that you know already and I know that as well. I am a gentleman and would never cut in on your action. Our discussions are strictly about kingdom matters. Look, you know yourself she doesn't allow anyone to touch her with the exception of yourself, and perhaps Aurora. You remember the night of the ball when I placed my hand on her shoulder, the look she gave me?"

"Yes, I do remember that," Diaval sneered a bit knowing that fact.

"I am just saying that after seeing and later getting to know Maleficent...well, I...I knew I wanted a woman like her. That is what I mean about being envious of you. That is what I meant about wanting someone different."

"So you want a woman that is a faerie. A pure heart."

"Yes, exactly! Even though the chances of that really happening are slim to none, it is something I desire."

"Well, it is a large world, Joseph, and there are many faeries out there. Perhaps one day it might happen. It was a very slim chance that Maleficent and I crossed paths as well, but let me make one thing very clear. I earned her love in the hardest way imaginable by being a servant to her for 17 years. So forgive me if you notice that I will have a tendency to keep my eye on you. Now, if you will excuse me, I wish to be alone."

"Yes, Diaval," said softly as he started to get up and walk away. He knew he inadvertently upset Diaval even more than he was already.

Diaval watched him as he walked to the campfire. He wondered deep inside if what Sir Joseph was saying was true. But thinking back, even though he and Maleficent did talk often, it usually was about kingdom matters only. Maleficent didn't seem to be interested in him in any other way either. Diaval tried to get his head together and perhaps he was over reacting due to the stress he was under. He knew that Maleficent loved him and only him. She never let anyone touch her besides him and Aurora. He thought back to the night of the ball and when Sir Joseph put his hand on Maleficent's shoulder, the look she gave him was priceless. No, perhaps he was over reacting. It is just these feelings of jealousy were new and difficult to understand. He just knew that he wanted Maleficent all to himself. He felt somewhat possessive and kept thinking, 'She's mine, she's mine and only mine. Maleficent is my woman, my only love. I don't want anyone taking her from me.' He looked to the sky and continued, 'please be safe and come back to me.'

After brooding for a while he finished his dinner as he began to think of the moment at hand and he focused on where Maleficent was. He figured she should be coming upon Medusa's home at that very moment.

Maleficent stood at the edge of the forest and slowly made her way to the back entrance of the villa that was before her. The villa was made completely of stone bricks and had ornate carvings of animals, but the majority of them were snakes. One carving appeared to be a self portrait of whom she was to meet. The carvings in the stone were exquisite and meticulous in detail. The entrance to the villa was flanked by two large marble balls. They appeared to be perfectly round. They were highly polished and shiny. There was another one of those 'Keep Away' signs like she saw before. This one read: 'Keep Out! Do Not Enter. Unless You Want To Become A Stone Statue.' Her signs seemed to becoming overdone and in a strange way, comical.

She looked around and noticed that while there was snow all over the island, the villa didn't have so much as a single flake on it. Leaving the forest, she would completely stand out in her white outfit. Luckily she was wearing her dark brown robes underneath the white cloak and she simply took it off and packed it away as she approached the villa. She unwrapped part of her headrests that was covering each of her horns, so once again their original color was exposed. She proceeded to sneak around in the shadows hoping not to be seen or caught off guard. She kept thinking of her promise to Diaval. But she hoped that between Thistletwit's enchantment, the mirror Aurora gave her and that was a female faerie, that she was well protected against being turned into stone.

But there are other ways Medusa could deal with her especially since she didn't have her powers to help her. What if she had another weapon? Maleficent suddenly began to feel a tremendous surge of fear come over her. Her breathing became very heavy and audible as she started to walk up the ramp to the door. She was surprised to see that one of the double stone doors was wide open.

Then another fear came over her. What if Medusa was out? What if Maleficent and her crossed paths in the woods and that she somehow knows about her party on the beach and they are in danger. Without her magic Maleficent felt utterly helpless and was becoming more and more terrified by the moment. She began to wonder if coming here was a mistake. She decided now would be a good time to activate Thistletwit's enchantment and she whispered "Filter Vision On". Instantly the lines and edges of everything she was looking at was a bit fuzzy. This would make seeing details difficult, but she certainly was safer.

After entering the doorway there was a long hall that had a couple of closed doors on each side, but it was open at the end. Slowly Maleficent crept down to the end of the hall which opened up into an open hallway that wrapped around an open courtyard. The hallway had lit torches on the wall and on the opposite end of the courtyard there appeared to be a waterfall and a pond which was frozen solid. But outside of that, there was no snow in the open courtyard. The hall continued out to the courtyard. Two large rectangular pillars and a huge stone beam framed out a doorway out to the courtyard. The courtyard was much more ornately adorned than the hallway leading to it. The foot stones on the ground had an ornate leaf like pattern carved into it. Maleficent had to bend down to get a better look at it. Because of the enchantment the details in the carvings were less pronounced. The hand rails that encircled the courtyard had very ornate balustrades. The workmanship was exquisite and even exceeded that of many of the stone fixtures within Malora castle.

At regular intervals around the edges of the courtyard Maleficent noticed stone statues. She couldn't help but go to the nearest one and inspect it closer. The statue was of a soldier and it was perfectly carved. The details around the face seemed to have been an impossibility to have been carved out with a hammer and chisel. This was definitely the work of magic. But was it a stone soldier? Or was it real soldier? She looked at the shield the soldier was wearing and she gasped at the outline of the insignia. It was one of King Henry's men.

Apparently her gasp was louder than she expected as she heard a stone 'shifting' sound and she quickly darted behind one of the wide pillars that adorned the entrance to the courtyard. She looked to the entrance where she came in and noticed that the door that was open was now shut.

'Damn it, Mal!' she said to herself as now her escape route was cut off. If she came to be in trouble, her only course of action would be to fire the flare, but that would do little good as it would take the men a half hour to get to the villa to help her.

After a long while of hearing her heart pound heavily in her chest, Maleficent took the mirror out of her pocket and began to look into the mirror, scanning the courtyard's reflection as a precaution. She felt trapped. What should she do next? Should she continue to sneak around? Would it be better if she announced herself as that would seem less sneaky?

'Diaval probably would have figured this out already, and he calls me the smartest person he knows,' she thought to herself. Finally she felt announcing herself would be best. She wasn't going to take any chances though. She had the mirror, she had Thistletwit's enchantment on and finally she closed her eyes and stepped forward from the pillar but stayed near to it. She swallowed hard.

"I seek audience with her excellency, Madame Medusa! I come peacefully and I am unarmed! I just need to speak with you." Maleficent's voice rang out and echoed on the hard stone surfaced walls. She then laid her staff on the ground near the pillar and raised her open hands to show she was not armed. Still having her eyes closed, she suddenly heard a rustling sound followed by a loud hissing sound. Maleficent had suddenly never felt so helpless and in a way so foolish as to leave herself so open. In doing so, she felt she was violating her promise to Diaval. He heart started to beat violently hard in her chest. Her instinct for survival took over and she quickly turned and took her spot behind the pillar.

"Do not move from that sssspot!" A hideous raspy female voice rang out in the courtyard, "I have an arrow trained on your heart and I rarely misssss. I sssee you ignored my sssignsss."

Maleficent couldn't tell where the voice was coming from as it seemed to be all around her. The voice had a tendency to slightly elongate the 's' sound as if a snake was hissing. It had a very gravely sound of that belonging to elderly woman, not pleasant on the ears at all.

"Who or what are you, winged creature? I have never seen your kind before," the voice hissed.

"I am Maleficent, your excellency, I am a faerie from the Moorlands of the west."

"A faerie you say?"

"Yes, your excellency."

"Interesting. All my life of watching the seasons cycle about 200 times, the only thing that visits me are those lousy human men of whom just come here and are out for no good. They only take from me. Had you been one of them I would have quickly dispatched you. But you sound different, you have a woman's voice, those horns and those wings. Definitely not features of a man. Further, no one has addressed me as 'your excellency' before. Many just address me as 'monster'. However, you are polite and respectful, I like that."

"Yes, I am a female faerie."

"Ok, Maleficent of the Moors, I have lowered my bow, come forward so I can see you better."

Maleficent inched forward from behind the pillar and opened her hands holding them out from her body, but she kept her eyes shut.

"My, you are certainly a pretty one. Open your eyes."

Suddenly Maleficent's heart pounded even harder in her chest.

"I can't. I am worried if I gaze upon you I will turn to stone," Maleficent called out, trying not to show fear in her voice.

"Huh! Human tales. You probably read that in a book, didn't you? Well, for your information, that only applies to humans. If you are a faerie as you say, you are immune. I cannot turn a faerie into stone."

"May I?" Maleficent motioned to her ears as she slowly lifted her hands up and pushed her headdress back back to reveal her pointed ears.

"Ahhhhh, indeed you are a faerie. I too have pointed ears" she said. "But you will have to open you eyes to see them"

"So then, then it is true that you are faerie as well?"

"Part faerie actually, but where did you hear that?" Medusa's voice hissed.

"Another faerie told me," Maleficent said.

"So you see then, believe the faerie as that is the truth and not the man," Medusa said matter of factly and then continued. "And as from one, faerie to another, I will hear you out. But first I would like you to open your eyes and see you spread your majestic wings and fly."

Maleficent kept her eyes closed as she explained, "You see, your excellency, that therein lies the problem and why I have come to see you."

Maleficent didn't want to drag out the conversation. She just wanted to complete the task at hand and get back to Diaval as soon as possible. She decided to keep it short, tell the truth, but not give out too much information.

"I can't fly as I am not well," she said. "I have been given word of your exceptional healing abilities and that is why I have come to seek your assistance. I am willing to offer you payment for your assistance."

"Ooo, I like your manners and polite tone, you must be regal. But tell me, if you can't fly, how did you get in here?" the voice questioned.

"You left the door open."

"Oh...Yes, sometimes I do that." she giggled, "Well, actually I do it often, silly me." the raspy voice said, but it seemed to be clearer now, as if the voice was moving closer. Maleficent took a couple steps back closer to the pillar again. She also noted the change in Medusa's voice for a moment and she actually sounded more lighthearted in regards to leaving the door open. But her tone shifted back to its original menacing sound.

"As I understand, all faeries have some sort of healing power, so if you are ill how come you don't heal yourself?" she asked.

"In becoming ill, I lost my powers...uhhh my power to heal." Maleficent said quickly catching herself from possibly making a deadly mistake in revealing she doesn't have her powers. Maleficent never felt as afraid in her life and she was worried her fear was showing and she didn't want to show weakness.

"I see," the voice sounded skeptical. Perhaps she did pick up on her slip of the tongue? "Don't you have other faerie friends that could help?"

"Yes, but I am the last of my kind and the other faeries have lesser powers than I. A small group of four of them of which I refer to as 'high healers' tried to help me and in doing so, one of them depleted his power completely. He is lying close to death and I have to help him before he dies. He is an important part my life as I had known him since I was a child. He is also another reason why I am here."

"Ahhh, and so the plot thickens and I am finding your story becoming more and more interesting."

Suddenly Maleficent heard a gravel shifting sound which definitely came from the courtyard and she quickly jumped behind the pillar again. She quickly reached into her pocket for Aurora's mirror and looked into it. Because of it's small size, it forced her to scan the courtyard. Finally she locked in on her, Medusa. Maleficent gasped as the books and drawings were remarkably accurate as to her appearance. Her predominate feature was a good number of snakes that grew out of her scalp. They extended a good way out from her head and were nearly even with her shoulders. Her torso was humanoid and the lower portion of her body was that of a snake and she slithered across the ground instead of walking on legs. Slung over her back she wore a bow and quiver with arrows. But because of the filtered vision, she couldn't make out her details. She thought that now that she knew where Medusa was located she was safe behind the mirror and turned the filter enchantment off to get a better look. Conveniently, Medusa slinked her way into the sunlight as the last few rays of daytime found their way into the courtyard.

Her body was dominantly covered from head to tail in green scales that ran down her arms and body. The scales changed to a gold color towards her abdomen. Her chin had dark scales that became lighter and blended into the gold and green scales as they ran down her neck. The snakes for her hair were a light brown and black. The only sight of skin she had was that around her eyes cheeks and mouth. Her skin here was a deep golden tan making her face very dark. She couldn't make out much details in her eyes, but they appeared to be predominately yellow. Overall, her face didn't look as bad as that what was depicted on the canvas painting in Sir Joseph's quarters. While she wasn't as easy on the eyes, Maleficent didn't see her as the ugly nasty beast described in the human books and scrolls. But she still did have a frightening and menacing appearance.

Looking again at her torso, she had a rather muscular build for a woman. Very broad shoulders and Maleficent could clearly see the lines defining her arms. The indentations her shoulders made as they met her biceps was very pronounced. Her shoulders were clearly larger than her own. Looking down her arms, her biceps and triceps were easily visible. Her forearms were also pronounced, starting out thin at the wrist but bulging out considerably at the elbow, overall giving her arms a very curvy appearance. Her midsection formed a tight hourglass shape and where the scales turned color on her abdomen, Maleficent could see the partitioned indentations from her abdomen muscles. While her features were still feminine in appearance and weren't as large as Diaval's, she was just as defined as he was, perhaps even more so in her abdomen.

Maleficent thought to herself, 'she's built like a Clydesdale'. She wasn't wearing much either, which was odd as it was getting cold out. It appeared she had a very ornate bronze bustier that covered her breasts and the straps ran criss crossed around her neck in a halter style. She had ornate bronze arm bands on her upper arms just covering the top part of her biceps. She had a small band around her waist and from the band hung many small gold and green tassels. The garment gave the appearance like she was wearing a very short skirt. She wore a slave ring type bracelet on one hand and that was bronze and leather. It ran part way up her forearm. Maleficent deduced that it probably protection for when she used her bow.

"My you are a timid one," the reflection of Medusa spoke to Maleficent, "And my oh my, I must say you have beautiful eyes, from what I can see from here. I still would like to see them up close. Why will you not trust the word of one of your own kind when I say it is safe for you to gaze upon me."

"It is because I made a promise to someone that I care about deeply, that I would safely return, and forgive me, your excellency, but I don't know you and I don't want to take any chances. What I need is some assurance that you will not turn me to stone."

"Fine!" Medusa blurted out as she sounded a bit annoyed, she pointed to a large portrait carved into one of the courtyard's stone walls. The portrait was that of man with pointed ears holding on to a book and wearing a conical shaped hat. "My father was a part faerie and he was immune. In fact he was my only companion for the first fifteen years of my life, before he was brutally killed by those barbaric humans. They also killed my mother, ten years before that."

Maleficent gasped as the fate of Medusa's parents were the same as hers and she replied, "I am sorry to hear that. My parents were also killed in a war with the humans."

"Interesting how we have that in common," Medusa said in a slightly softer tone as she started to slither closer.

"P...Please don't come any closer," Maleficent's voice cracked a bit as she knew she was trying hard not to give away her fear. The fact that she didn't have her powers was seriously affecting her emotions. She suddenly felt she was in the position that many a human was when they encountered her. It wasn't a pleasant feeling in the least bit.

Medusa stopped moving forward and hissed, "Hummph! After all these years, I finally meet a faerie, a woman no less, and even she looks upon me to be an evil sadistic monster that wants to kill people for fun. Don't believe everything you read, my dear."

Even in the small mirror as the light of day was waning, she could see a glisten in Medusa's dark eyes and her chin wrinkled a bit.

"No, I don't see you as a monster. My Moors has creatures of all different types and shapes and sizes that many in man's world would perceive as odd or even ugly. I live with them and not a single one I see as a monster."

"Oh. That is nice to know," Medusa said surprisingly. "But if that is so, then you have no need to fear me. Come out, I promise I will not harm you," She took her bow and quiver off her back and tossed it aside. She then continued, "I take it you understand the meaning behind a faerie's promise."

Suddenly Maleficent recalled her conversation she had when she first talked with Aurora. She suddenly found herself in Aurora's role. Then she recalled how other humans would recoil, quiver and run off in her presence because she looked different. Perhaps through her stern and raspy voice, there was something more to Medusa. Perhaps the readings were wrong and like herself, Medusa is just simply misunderstood. And human fear of her painted her into a very bad picture.

"Yes, I do," she replied as she put the mirror back in her pocket, closed her eyes and whispered, 'Filter vision on'. She wasn't going to take any chances. She just prayed that either Medusa was telling the truth and/or Thistletwit's enchantment would work.

Maleficent slowly turned from around the pillar with her eyes closed and held her breath. Then just a crack she opened them. Thistletwit said she would know if the enchantment was blocking out any magical energy going to her eyes. But so far nothing, she opened her eyes a little more and could start to make out Medusa's form. Still nothing. She finally fully opened her eyes. Again nothing. She now gazed fully into Medusa's yellow eyes. The filter prevented her from seeing any details, but there was nothing she felt. She was standing in Medusa's range of view very much alive. She then released her breath very audibly and proceeded to breathe hard thereafter.

"There now. That wasn't so hard, pretty lady, no was it?" Medusa said as she slowly clapped her hands.

Maleficent felt a bit shameful. First for giving into fear and now that she was being mocked. One thing was for certain, Medusa had a sense of humor.

Medusa slinked a bit closer until she was only a few feet away. She was very intersted in Maleficent's eyes. As she looked closer into her eyes, the snakes on the sides of her head moved further away, showing her pointed ears, they were twisted and grotesque, but nevertheless pointed. Maleficent nodded in acknowledgement.

"My my, you have such wonderful eyes," she said.

Maleficent tried at best to focus in on Medusa's eyes, but with the filter on, she was forced to step closer to her. She was at arms length to her when she could finally make out more details. She now noticed that she had a pair of fangs that slightly poked out and over her bottom lip. Her eyes were grey where Maleficent's were white and the iris was mostly yellow. The pupils were dark vertical slits. Her eyes were typical of that from a snake. Surprisingly her eyes were nice to look at.

"Thank You, and you have nice eyes as well."

"Oh, come now. I have the eyes of an animal, my eyes are not beautiful like yours."

"Where I am from, some of the most beautiful eyes are from animals. Shame that in many cases man doesn't see such beauty because it is something they are not familiar with and unfamiliarity frightens them easily. But for me, I have seen many different eye types, shapes, sizes and colors. Most of the eyes I have seen in my realm I consider beautiful and so, in my opinion, I think you have nice looking eyes."

Medusa hung her head down as she let it what Maleficent said sink in. She smiled a little bit and then spoke softly, "Well, thank you, then."

"You're welcome."

She then raised her head back up to meet Maleficent's eyes and continued, "It was my fathers eyes that last gazed upon these eyes so many years ago, since then, no other hath gazed onto them without them turning them into stone. My father liked my eyes too..."

"So the power you have to turn to stone emanates from your eyes?"

"Yes. I have no control over it either. It is a curse I inherited from my mother."

Medusa looked to the sky as the last rays of light left the courtyard and the temperature became more chilly. She crossed her arms and started to rub them.

Maleficent also figured that it is getting late and with the sun behind the villa, it was almost near sunset. She should have been starting on her way back to the camp already.

"Ok, now let me get this straight, Maleficent of the Moors," She continued. "You became ill and lost your power to heal and fly. Your friends tried to help and that didn't work and one of them is left near death. So you my help to heal you so you can help your friend. Is that correct?"

"Yes, precisely."

"May I ask how this happened in the first place?"

Maleficent dropped her arms down to her side as she was becoming anxious. In a slightly annoyed tone she said, "Medusa, your excellency, my time is running short and it is a very long story. I am more than willing to pay you to help me. I have bags of gold with me and..."

Medusa interrupted raising her hand, "Oh, while I do want to be compensated for my time and efforts, I am not interested in your money and gold. I don't need it here. But, I do find your story very interesting and for starters, as part of my compensation, I would like to hear it. I find your voice soothing to my ears and I long to hear a good story." Suddenly her voice shifted and became somewhat less raspy and had more emotion in it. "Maleficent, as you might realize, I am very much alone here. This is the first time in an extremely long time that someone is actually speaking to me face to face with me. I desire conversation...I crave it. This...Us talking with each other is worth more to me than any pot of gold."

Maleficent stood silent for a long while as she was slowly realizing that what was writen in Sir Joseph's book, was all wrong. Medusa didn't sound like a sadistically evil being at all. She's just lonely.

"I understand, but my time to return is getting short. Perhaps I could offer you something else for now. Once you heal me I could use my powers to offer you something. Once I take care of my friend I will return and tell you the story."

Maleficent all of a sudden realized that she just gave away her bluff in saying AFTER she was healed she could offer her something. Now, Medusa knows she is without all of her power. But did she catch on?

Suddenly there was a sharp glow in Medusa's eyes as she hissed, "Return? No, you will never return. You will get what you want and never come back."

"No, I will come back and I will promise to."

"Faerie's promise?"

"Yes."

"Not good enough."

Maleficent was shocked at Medusa's response and raised her voice in disbelief, "What?! I believed you and did as you asked. Why will you not believe me?"

"Well, you said don't have time for a long story, and that certainly is a long story. Tell me yours and I will tell you mine. But in short, you do not say when you will be back and you will make me wait and wait."

Maleficent looked up at the sky and realized that she was getting well behind in her return to camp. She knew she wasn't getting out of telling Medusa her story that evening.

"Ok Ok, I will tell you the whole story."

Medusa started to smile and the snakes became very active around her head. "Very well. Let's go inside, it is get becoming much too cold for me out here and my body is losing heat. I need to warm up."

Maleficent thought this was a bad idea as if things turned ugly, she couldn't fire off the flare.

"If you don't mind I would rather stay here. I have a cloak in my bag, if you would like, you can wear it to keep warm," Maleficent suggested.

"You want to talk out here? What on earth for? Besides, your cloak will not help as I am cold blooded and I need a source of heat to keep my blood warm."

"I just have my reasons."

"Okay, so you don't trust me. Let's put it another way, if I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead already," Medusa sounded very irate. She then slithered off to one of the stone statues that adorned the courtyard. In one swift move, she wrapped her tail completely around the statue and with a loud, "Uhhhhh!" from her voice, the statue exploded into a thousand pieces."

Maleficent's eyes flew open wide and she jumped back towards the other wall. She felt a sudden fear surging through her as she watch the statue disintegrate from the sheer strength and power from Medusa's tail. Medusa made her way back to Maleficent and crossed her arms over her chest. Maleficent backed up further but tried to stay close to the wall.

"My, Medusa, that was very impressive," Maleficent said as she swallowed hard. "It was growing increasingly difficult to hide her fear.

"Once again, I am not going to hurt you, I have nothing to gain by doing so and we both lose out. You don't get healed to save your friend and I don't get my story."

Maleficent thought hard and realized what Medusa was saying was true and that her distrust in the situation lies in the fact of her escalating fear. Had she indeed want to kill her, she would have done so long ago. Maleficent also could feel the temperature drop considerably. She then said to her, "I'm sorry, I am not thinking very well because of my being ill. Lets go inside, I am getting cold out here myself."

Medusa let out a long sigh and nodded her head and said, "Very well. This way." Medusa pointed back towards the way Maleficent entered the villa.

The two went down the corridor and with a wave of Medusa's hand, one of the doors on the side opened with a grinding sound. At first the gesture surprised Maleficent as thus far Medusa didn't show signs of her power. But being a faerie it was certainly a given. But what extent of her power, Maleficent didn't know. Medusa went in first followed by Maleficent. Inside the room it was much like a foyer of a small palace, it was very warm inside, almost too warm for Maleficent. But more then likely it was very warm because Medusa is cold blooded. Towards the back there was a ramp leading up to another level and another ramp going down. There were many stone ornaments and carvings of different shapes and sizes in the foyer. There were also various pieces of furniture...all made from stone. On some pieces of furniture there were some nice decorative blankets and pillows over them. The foyer had a warmer look to it than the outside of the villa. She watched closely as Medusa closed the door with a wave of her hand. Medusa noticed.

"Oh! I do have another power besides healing. I can manipulate anything made of stone. My home," Medusa said as she raised her arms up and pointed all around her, "I made it all myself. Anything made of stone, I can move telepathically, I can alter it's structure, change it's shape, carve into it with my fingernails. I can even heat it up! Here, watch this," she said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Medusa walked over to a large pillar in the room and put her hands on it. An orange glow emanated from her hands and after a few moments she withdrew her hands, turned around and put her back up against the pillar, "Ahhhhhhhhhh. Warmth! Come here lean up against the pillar."

Maleficent's eyes widened as she had the very same power. She was about to say something, but then decided not to. Maleficent walked to the opposite side of the Pillar and put her hand on it. It was indeed very warm to the touch. Having noticed that her pain was slowly increasing as the night was progressing, she took a cue from Medusa and turned her back towards the pillar and pressed her back into the pillar. The curved shape of the pillar nestled right in between her wings. The warmth felt good on her back, very soothing, especially being so long outside in the cold.

"Yes, that is an amazing power," Maleficent said as she closed her eyes and took in the warmth.

"I have noticed you are in pain, is it severe?" Medusa asked.

"It comes and goes, but yes, at times it gets very severe. I been good up to now, but it is starting to bother me again."

"I can find out exactly what is wrong with you, if you take my hand," Medusa said as she reached her hand around the pillar and held it out for Maleficent to take.

Maleficent looked at the scale covered hand before her and hesitated to take it. But she was also very curious as to what could be wrong with her and with her magic shut down, she couldn't even scan herself.

Medusa wiggled her fingers and said, "Come come now, it is just my hand, it's not going to bite you."

"No, it is not that. I'm sorry," Maleficent placed her palm into Medusa's scaly hand. Her hand was nearly ice cold from being outside for long. She cringed as Medusa wrapped her fingers around hers. Unlike the warm touch from Diaval, Medusa's hand didn't feel good in hers at all. Also given that she didn't like to be touched except by Diaval, she had a feeling her blood was curdling inside of her. She knew she was grimacing, but being behind the pillar Medusa couldn't see her face.

"Hmmmmm, your hand is so warm. Oh, I could hold it for hours."

Maleficent couldn't fathom holding the scaly hand for any longer than necessary. Soon she saw a yellow sparkling glow come around both of their hands.

"Ahh, there's the problem," Medusa said moments later.

Maleficent perked up as her mind was taken off her hand and she focused on what Medusa was saying.

"Maleficent, you have a bad infection. Good thing you are here. If this condition was allowed to persist, your life would be in danger," Medusa said as their hands unclasped and not a moment too soon. She quickly withdrew her hand. He could feel her fingernails scrape up against Medusa's fingers.

"Easy there tigress. Your fingernails are sharp!" Medusa exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, but you sure did pull your hand away fast."

Maleficent closed her eyes as she recalled what Robin said about interrupting the process. Now above all, she felt she was at the mercy of Medusa. If she didn't heal her, there would be a good chance that she would die, Robin would die and perhaps even Knotgrass. Everything would be for nothing.

"Oh, Robin, he was right again. He said not to interrupt the process, but I tried to stop him from putting his life at risk."

"Robin? Process?"

"It's part of the story, Medusa. I know you want to hear it as much as it pains me to tell it."

"I am sorry to hear that, but I do want to hear it and I will be there for you. Let's get comfortable then."

Maleficent noticed that suddenly Medusa was becoming more polite and even concerned about her feelings and well being. She began to realize more and more that she has the capacity for warmth and kindness. Far from the monster the writings tell about her. She noticed Medusa was letting her guard down a bit and she even sounded different from when they first started speaking outside.

The two moved from the pillar to the center of the foyer where there was a long couch and a chair next to another pillar that had a torch in it. The chair was angled a little away from the couch. Medusa put her hands on the arms of the chair for a little while warming it up and then slithered aside and offered for Maleficent to take a seat. The chair was large and had a pillow on the back and a blanket folded on the seat. When Maleficent sat down in it, the warmth seeped into her body and she closed her eyes."

"Nice and warm, Yes?"

"Yes, it is very nice. Thank You."

Medusa then proceeded to do the same with the nearby couch. She then climbed into the couch, but oddly on the side that wasn't facing Maleficent. She completely outstretched her body on the couch and laid it's blanket over her tail. Maleficent had to lean forward to see her prop herself up on the arm rest using it's pillow. She then closed her eyes. "Ok, I'm ready", she said.

Maleficent couldn't help but giggle a bit as Medusa seemed like a little girl getting ready to hear a bedtime story being told to her by her mother...or father. It was such a sharp contrast to the warrior like behavior Medusa had exhibited in the courtyard. It had her wondering, could that warrior attitude be just a facade? But she didn't say anything and just wanted to proceed. She knew it was past sunset and she knew that Diaval probably was nervously wringing his hands wondering why she hasn't returned or given a signal that she was Okay.

Maleficent then started to tell her story starting with the thing that pained her most, "It all started when I fell in love with a human man by the name of Stefan that I have known for most of my child hood..."

Medusa suddenly sat up in the couch and had a stunned look on her face. "What? A human?"

"It is a long story, Medusa, it will take a while to tell it," Maleficent said sternly, "Please, let me continue."

"I apologize, I will not interrupt you further."

"Good."

Medusa laid back down and didn't say anything as Maleficent continued to tell her story. There were times when she heard a gasp or two from her, but for the most part she was quiet and still. The story was difficult to tell especially when she got to the part where she lost her wings. Maleficent was near tears and her voice quavered as she continued to tell Medusa what Stefan did to her to gain the throne.

Suddenly Maleficent heard some sniffling and then then soft sobbing and stopped telling the story.

Maleficent leaned forward in her chair and she saw that Medusa was lying with her back facing her and she was still. She got up and slowly walked to the couch. She then heard the sounds of stifled sobbing. Moving closer still, she realized that Medusa was crying heavily into the pillow on the couch. The snakes for her hair all were drooped down hanging over the edge of the couch. Oddly it seemed as if they looked sad too. Several of the snakes looked up to Maleficent and they indeed looked as if they were sad. Maleficent looked on with curiosity as the snake's emotional state was directly reflective of Medusa's emotional state.

"Medusa, are you alright?" Maleficent asked.

Medusa turned to face Maleficent, there were heavy tear tracks running down her face and her eyes glistened in the light from the torch.

"Oh, that bastard! Son of a Bitch! How could he do such a horrible thing to someone so beautiful. What was he insane?"

"Hummph, yeah!" Maleficent smirked.

"Had you known me back then I would have done to Stefan what I did to the statue out the courtyard. Oh! I would loved to have heard every bone in his worthless human body snap as I watched myself crush him to death! What a fool to turn down the affections of a faerie. I certainly hope you got your revenge against him."

Maleficent had a surprised look on her face as she was telling her story and how Medusa had become so wracked with emotion. She almost reached out for her to want to console her, but didn't. However, she began to feel she could trust her more. As she turned away she whispered, "Filter Vision Off." Immediately the haze around her eyes disappeared and everything in the room became sharp and clear making the room appear even more majestic than before.

"I am sorry, I didn't get that? What did you say?" Medusa asked.

Maleficent was shocked to have been overheard and just responded, "Oh, I said 'Stefan's a Jerk Off.'"

With that Medusa burst out laughing and all at once the snakes perked up and their little tongues were flickering in and out of their mouths.

Maleficent joined in and started to laugh herself.

"Please, please, continue. I am sorry for interrupting with my show of emotions," she said.

"Don't be sorry, you are only expressing what is in your heart. You might be cold blooded, but I see you have a warm heart."

Medusa's jaw dropped, "Oh! Oh! That is the nicest thing I have heard in such a long time."

Maleficent could feel her eyes well up as she was touched by Medusa's emotional reaction. Seeing her get so involved with her story thus far proved very well to her that Medusa is emotionally very much like herself. Her initial thoughts on the beach proved to be correct and that Medusa is actually a kind woman who was corrupted by the evils of mankind, very much in the same manner as to what happened to her. Medusa would be shocked to hear what she had to say next as when she began to tell of how the hatred began to swell inside of her and she began to plot her revenge against Stefan and thus she continued her story.

"After I regained my composure, I could feel the hatred start to well up within me. I grabbed a small twig on the ground and it expanded and grew into the staff you seen me with. The staff initially helped me with walking as the pain was gripping me in my back. Walking was slow and difficult at first and I wanted to walk somewhere flat. I walked on the west end of the Moors and just kept going with every step the anger was building within me. I passed between a pair of walls, knowing they were made by humans, I just blasted the wall apart behind me with each step. I could feel the blood rush through my veins and looked down to my arms. Never before in my life had I seen my veins bulging so much, but I never was so angry before in my life either. But as the anger built up, it started to feel good. I felt very strong and powerful and I liked the feeling very much.

After a long while of walking, I heard the sounds of a raven cawing in distress. A small group of farmers and their dogs were hovering over the raven which was trapped in their net. They were going to kill it. Given my distaste for humans at the time, I scared them off by changing the raven into a man. Besides, I needed something that had wings anyway so I could plan my revenge."

And thus, Maleficent explained how she met Diaval and how she plotted against King Stefan. The evil feelings within her grew and when Diaval gave her the news of the arrival of Stefan's baby girl, she knew what she was going to do. Place curse on Aurora. As she continued on, she followed the emotional expressions on Medusa's face during the highs and lows of the past 17 years of her life. Medusa seemed exceptionally exuberant when Maleficent told her how she finally got her revenge against Stefan. She was even making fists and pretending to act out scenes as Maleficent told her story. She continued on with her story telling how Aurora became her godchild and Diaval became her lover. She explained of her uniting her kingdom with that of Stefan's through Aurora, the rightful heir. She continued on right up until the dreadful moment when things went wrong in the dungeon of the castle when Robin, Knotgrass, Flittle and Thistletwit attempted to restore her wings.

"And so, without my powers I couldn't save Robin, I couldn't heal myself and I had no one to turn to. Sir Joseph was the only one that came up with a plan and that is when you came up. And so I planned a trip to come out here to see you and here I am."

Medusa bounced up from the sofa and began clapping like a little girl would at the end of a show.

"Oh, what a story! I am so glad it had a happy ending for you. And my oh my, I should be calling you, your excellency!"

"That will not be necessary," Maleficent said.

"Amazing story! I can't believe that you actually made peace with the humans and found out many are not all bad. And Diaval, he is so amazing! Wow! What a perfect gentleman. I loved how he came up with that plan with Robin so you could ride him as a dragon. He offered for you to rub and lay in his wings. So touching! I am so happy you found love with him!" Medusa said excitedly. As she became more and more excited, so it seems the snakes did as well. They were darting too and fro and it seemed like they were gesturing in their movements as Medusa was doing with her hands. She then slumped back down on the couch and sighed heavily. "What a romantic! I so wish I could find love, but it will never be looking like this." She paused a bit as if off dreaming in another world, but then quickly came back to and continued, "Oh! I am so sorry, I am rambling on. Please, go over to the pillar and just lean up against it with your wings facing me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am going to heal you, of course! I have been touched by your story so much that there is no question about my helping you. After what you been through, you deserve it. In fact, if you want anything, just name it, you want to stay the night, you want dinner. I will be more than happy do what I can for you."

Maleficent let out a huge sigh as she said, "Thank You."

She walked over to the pillar and leaned up against it as Medusa instructed.

"This might hurt a little...Ok, perhaps more than a little."

"Do you have to touch me?" Maleficent asked Medusa's hand drew near.

"No, I can keep my hand a few inches away from your body," Medusa looked puzzled by Maleficent's reaction. "But it is better if I am in contact with your skin."

"Alright, go ahead," Maleficent said, once again cringing at the thought of being touched. She especially didn't like the feeling of Medusa's cold scaly hands on her. But things got worse as the spot Medusa picked out was directly on her sweet spot right between and below her wings. As Medusa's hand was cold, Maleficent jumped at her touch and arched her back pulling herself away.

"Sorry, but that spot is particularly sensitive," Maleficent said.

"Oh, my hand must be very cold. Let me warm it up for you."

Maleficent nodded her head as she started to warm the pillar up. She could feel the warmth too and leaned into the pillar more. After a few moments of having her hands on the pillar she returned to her back and then said, "I am going to only place my fingertips on your back if that feels better for you."

"Yes, thank you."

Her warm fingertips did feel better than her entire cold hand on her back.

Medusa began the procedure and Maleficent felt warm at first, but then there was a slight stinging sensation which slowly began to grow.

After a few moments Medusa gasped and Maleficent turned around to see a look of shock on Medusa's face.

"What? What's wrong?" Maleficent asked.

"The power you possess is truly immense! Far greater than my own!" Medusa said surprisingly, "Wow! I bet you are probably the most powerful being at your Moors. I bet you can even change the weather."

"As a matter of fact, yes, on both counts. I can change the weather...locally of course. I don't do it often as I know I can upset the balance of nature. I made the mistake of doing that when I was a child."

Suddenly the pain started to escalate very much like when Robin first attached the wings in the dungeon. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, but she didn't want to call out.

"I am sorry, I know it must be painful," Medusa said. I must say though, your friend Robin did an exceptional job. I can barely see the join mark. Very cleanly done. I underestimated his work at first when you explained it, but now seeing it...he knew what he was doing."

Maleficent nodded her head in acknowledgement. But the pain increased more and she couldn't help but call out.

"Ahhhh, Ohhhhhhhh! It hurts!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"I am getting very nauseous," Maleficent said as she breathed heavily.

"Hang in there, it will subside soon."

"Ahhhhhhh!" Maleficent screamed out aloud a couple times, but then there was just one quick sharp stab of pain and it began to subside as Medusa said it would. But the feeling of nausea was still increasing.

"Some of the nerve endings atrophied too much and I am fixing that too," Medusa informed Maleficent.

Soon, the pain was gone and an invigorating surge started to course through Maleficent's body. The surge ran from her core and straight out to her wings.

"All done!"

"What? That's it? That was fast."

The pain was totally gone from her wings, but she still felt very nauseous.

"Yep that's it! Your friend, Robin did the bulk of the work. So I just finished..." Medusa stopped mid sentence as she saw the look on Maleficent's face she then said, "Oh! You are not looking too well, your face is getting more paler by the second and your skin looks clammy."

Maleficent looked to Medusa as if her facial expression alone wondered what was going on with her. She could feel her stomach contract and she began to swallow hard. So hard it was audible.

"Oh, my you poor thing, you're gonna hurl. Let me get a basin."

"Hurl?"

"Yah, you know; barf, blow chunks, get sick, throw up?"

"No, I don't know..." Maleficent said but was interrupted as it happened again and there was a low gurgling sound coming from her stomach. Maleficent started to breathe hard not knowing what to expect next.

"Oh, no, no, no!" she yelled out.

Medusa's eyes widened and she said, "I will get the basin."

She quickly slithered to a door in the back of the foyer near the ramp going upstairs, Maleficent was impressed at how fast Medusa could move slithering on her tail. Then she could feel her stomach start to contract more. She tried to fight it.

'No no, not yet ,Mal', she said to herself as she started to look around the foyer but there was nothing with an an appropriate opening in sight. She could hear her stomach gurgle and the contractions were increasing. 'No no. Please!' Maleficent thought to herself. She then recalled seeing an empty flowerpot in the courtyard. She started to run towards the door and subconsciously waved her hand and the door opened. Her sudden movement made her stomach contract very hard and she could feel something come up her throat. 'Oh gosh! This can't be happening to me I'm a faerie!" she thought to herself. She fought again and caught sight of the flowerpot by the wall. She just reached the large flowerpot in time when her stomach finally wasn't having it any longer. This time she felt her stomach squeeze hard and she just opened her mouth as it forced its way up her to her mouth and finally came out. Maleficent closed her eyes at this point. She could still feel her stomach heave a few more times. The experience was awful and Maleficent couldn't wait for it to be over. She hacked and coughed loudly.

"Uuughhh! Stop! Please stop!" She called out.

With one more large heave it was over. Maleficent's eyes began to water and tear after the horrible experience as she still leaned over the flower pot.

"It must be so awful," Medusa said as she stood in back of her and started to place her hand on her back, but Maleficent stood up and quickly backed away.

"I'm ok now, I am sorry...I am so embarrassed!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, as long as your feeling better," Medusa said as she offered Maleficent a damp towel. "You have a little bit on corner of your mouth."

Maleficent took the towel and wiped her mouth. She then closed her eyes and said, "I feel so darn weak! What the heck brought that on?" she now sounded annoyed.

"Never got sick like that before?" Medusa said as she handed Maleficent a large stone mug filled with water.

"No! Never! I mean I got nauseous before but it never came out like that. I was always able to make it go away," Maleficent said as she took a few sips of water and rinsed her mouth out and tried to cover herself as she didn't want Medusa to see as she spit the water out into the flower pot.

"Hmmm, I am sorry, it must have been the infection. Purging it from your system, it had to come out somewhere. Mostly if I get an infection I can catch it before it gets that far, but you had it in you for a while. Lets go back inside so you can rest up."

The two went back inside. Medusa picked up the basin which she placed on the railing.

"I came out of the back room with the basin, towels and water and I noticed that this door was open and you were gone."

Maleficent looked at the door as Medusa closed it behind them. She then raised her hands and a green glow formed around them wisping back and forth normally. She sighed heavily as she smiled. She didn't realize in her haste to leave the foyer that she opened it's door with her own magic. She walked over to the pillar she leaned against earlier and the green glow switched to an orange glow. After a few moments the pillar slowly warmed up and she couldn't help but lean into the pillar and feel the warmth she created seep into her body. Her look changed from surprised to relief as she realized her magic power had returned.

"Oh! It's back! My magic is back! Oh, thank goodness! Oh, thank you!

Medusa smiled, rapidly clapped her hands and then exclaimed, "You're welcome! I see you have that power too." She slithered to the other side of the pillar and leaned her back against it.

"Yes, but I can't manipulate stone like you do. I can move it around and heat it up, but I can't change it's form like you do."

Maleficent found herself to be exhausted after being sick and just leaned up against the pillar and made green wisp traces on the pillar. She reveled in the moment of finally having her powers back.

After a few moments, Medusa then slithered around to and behind Maleficent while she was still leaning against the pillar.

"You will not be needing this anymore," Medusa said as she undid the harness that held her wings up and tossed it in the nearby chair. "You may not be able to fly for a couple more weeks, as you do need to build strength back up in those wing muscles. But you should be able to open and close your wings on your own now."

Maleficent backed away from the pillar and closed her eyes. She could feel a surge again as she she tried to pull her wings up on her own. They responded. Then she outstretched her wings, but very slowly. It was tough to do, but she managed to get her wings fully opened.

"Wow! Now THAT is something you don't see everyday," Medusa said with here eyes wide open. "What a wingspan!"

Maleficent looked back at her open wings as for the first time in 17 years she was able to spread her wings once more. The feeling overcame her and she immediately felt the tears well up in her eyes. The whole evening she fought to keep her feelings in check, but now she experienced a tidal wave of emotions she couldn't hold back. She swallowed hard to try and hold back her tears.

Medusa noticed and shook her head, "Oh, come now! You don't have to prove you are strong to me, I know you are a strong woman. Go ahead, let it out. I will not think of you different otherwise. If I had a stone for each time I shed a tear, my home would be as large as a castle by now."

Maleficent's eyes welled up so much she began to fan them. She could feel her bottom lip quiver as she couldn't hold it back. She then turned around towards the pillar as she folded her wings back up, she placed her arm between the pillar and her face and sobbed heavily into her arm.

Suddenly she felt an arm embrace her around her waist.

"No, no, I am Ok." Maleficent said as she moved out of the way and wiped her face.

Medusa had a puzzled look on her face but offered her a handkerchief. Maleficent took it and wiped her eyes.

"I only want to comfort you," Medusa said. Her snakes drooped down her back again and she looked as if she had pin straight hair. One of the more curious snakes peered over her right shoulder. Curiously the snake also had a concerned look on it's face.

"Thank You Madame Medusa. Thank You Very Much." Maleficent said through her tears.

"You know, you can hug me, I will not break, you know?"

Maleficent hung her head down at the thought of that much body contact between them, but she also didn't want to hurt Medusa's feelings and show she wasn't gracious. She forced a smile as she started to lift her arms, but then she remembered one thing, "Oh! I almost forgot! I need to send a message to let Diaval know I am OK, please let me back into the courtyard."

"Sure, but you probably can open the door yourself now."

"Oh, Yes! Forgot that too," Maleficent giggled.

Maleficent went to get her staff which was leaning up against the wall. With a wave of her hand, the door opened.

"You're right, I can! Thanks to you!"

Medusa stood with her arms crossed and just shook her head as she smiled. She proceeded to follow Maleficent, when a wall of cold air came into the foyer as the door opened.

"Whoa! It's getting cold out there." Medusa said.

"Yes, it certainly is," Maleficent said as she opened her pack and pulled out the white cloak and put it over Medusa's shoulders.

"Why thank you, your excellency." Medusa said as she bowed.

Maleficent smiled and giggled a little bit. She went to the middle of the courtyard while Medusa warmed up the same pillar Maleficent was hiding behind earlier in the evening. She then leaned her back against it. Maleficent slammed her staff to the ground and a large shaft of green light made it's way up and into a cloud that was hovering above. Green lightning shot out from the cloud.

"Wow! That was impressive!" Medusa said.

"Well, I am sure they saw that. Diaval should be much relieved."

"I could imagine so, it must be really nice to be in love like the two of you are. To have someone to care about you."

Maleficent let her mind wander as she began to let it sink in as to what Medusa said. As the two went back inside Maleficent pointed her staff at the flowerpot in the corner and a beam of green light came out and created a large flash inside the pot.

"There now, I feel better that I cleaned up my own mess."

Medusa laughed as they went back inside and she closed the door behind them, "Thank you, I appreciate that. I certainly wasn't looking forward to cleaning that up."

"Oh, my! Forgive me, it is your turn now," Maleficent said.

Medusa smiled and even her snakes perked up a bit.

"I would like you to make me human. You..you can do that right?" she asked nervously.

Maleficent looked in disbelief and was amazed at her host's request, given how much she seemed to detest humans as she made clear earlier.

"Why? I thought you didn't like humans, let alone want to become one."

"Because I don't want to be alone anymore. In fact, I want to come with you back to Malora. You said the humans there are more accepting of those that are different. But if I was one of them, I would naturally fit in, right? I been cursed with this form for 200 years and I am ugly. My heart doesn't fit this form and I feel it is time for a change."

"Well, for one, I don't find you ugly. But I understand you reasoning in regards to humans. They can be very judgmental in regards to what they don't understand. However, my concern is that you are a faerie and you stand to lose all your powers and your life would be severely shortened as a human. Also, once done, I cannot undo it. It is not like the case with Diaval as he is a non magical entity.

"I see your point, but could you at least remove my curse? I want to be able to look at and talk to people and not turn them to stone."

Maleficent said, "Well, come here, let me see what I can do." Medusa slithered over to her and Maleficent put her hand over her chest.

Maleficent put her hand over Medusa's chest and a yellow wisp came forth. She thought for a while.

"It's strange, you don't have many powers, but what you can do is very strong. As I said you stone manipulating ability far exceeds my own ability. But your healing ability is through the roof."

"Yeah, but you can do way more than I can."

"But as I explained to you, I am not without my limitations," Maleficent said. "Your healing power is almost without limit." She wrinkled her nose a bit and then continued, "I cannot undo the curse or remove your ability to turn people into stone."

Medusa's heart sank and once again the snakes dropped back down her back.

"However, I can give you full control over it. You would have the ability to choose to use your power or not."

Medusa's eyes widened as she said, "Really?"

"Yes, and I can make it permanent too."

"Oh, dearest Maleficent you sure are a great one! Please, Please Do It."

"Very well."

Maleficent grabbed her staff and waved her hand around it. The head turned purple as did her hand. She then placed her hand on Medusa's chest. A few moments later, she let out a gasp and her eyes opened wide.

Medusa exclaimed, "You did it! I can feel it! I can completely suppress it now!"

Medusa threw her arms around Maleficent's waist and pulled her body right into hers. She rested her head on her shoulder she whispered, "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Maleficent replied, but she felt so uncomfortable with Medusa completely embracing her body. She was ready to pull away when the snakes began to start to explore around Maleficent's head and began to rub against her face and cheeks. They seemed to be very playful and one even wound itself around one of her horns.

"Uhhhh, Medusa, are these snakes poisonous?"

"Uh, huh. But don't worry, they will not bite you. They know I am happy and they seem to like you."

"O'k-a-y." Maleficent said slowly as the snakes continued to nuzzle up to her face and neck. She slowly pulled away from Medusa's body, not making any sudden movements. But soon it was over and she was back within her own space. She let out a sigh.

Medusa looked puzzled again when Maleficent pulled away, but then thought perhaps she was a bit afraid of her snakes and she explained, "You probably noticed that the snakes on my head respond the same way as I am feeling emotionally. If I am happy, they are happy, if I am sad, they are sad, you only have to be careful when I am angry. Then they might bite. But you have not to fear anyway, as a faerie, you should be immune to their poison."

"Yes, I have noticed that throughout the evening," Maleficent said as she held her hand up near Medusa's shoulder and one of the snakes came out and started to bump its head against her hand and nuzzle it. "Interesting." Suddenly the snakes all came down low and rested their heads on Medusa's shoulders.

Medusa hung her head low as she said, "Well, I guess this is it now. You are going to leave and help your friend now?"

"If you are satisfied with what I have given you then, yes, I must be on my way."

Medusa nodded her head, 'yes', but she still had a sad look on her face.

"What's the matter? You don't seem happy."

"Well, it is just that now I am starting to trust you, I am letting my guard down. I feel I am getting closer to you and naturally well, I have not held anyone since my father died. I miss it. I miss being held. Despite what you have done for me, there is a very slim chance that I would ever find someone to share my life with. Most of this world is dominated by humans that would fear me, or worse try to cause harm to me," She paused and her eyes started to well up as she continued. "I don't want be alone. Maleficent. I want to love and I want to be loved. I was born this way and it isn't fair! I am not a cold heartless person. But who could ever learn to love a beast."

"No, you are not. I can see that. You have a good heart and you are not a beast."

Maleficent thought about what Medusa said. She knew once she leaves Medusa, she would be all alone again. No one to touch, no one to hold. Maleficent realized that unlike herself, Medusa wanted to be held and touched. Her many years alone made her crave being close. With that she swallowed hard and slowly placed her hand on Medusa's chest, her chest was cold. Medusa lowered her chin so it touched Maleficent's hand. She closed her eyes. Maleficent could see in her face how much she enjoyed the touch.

"Hmmm your hand is so warm," she said softly as she lifted her chin and put her hand on top of Maleficent's.

Maleficent did another scan of Medusa's body. After a few moments, she said, "I believe I can do something more for you."

"Really? What?" Medusa asked inquisitively.

"I think I can bring forth your human and faerie traits and suppress some of your snake like traits. That would change your appearance considerably. It is kind of a trade off on what you initially asked. You would be more human looking, but retain all your faerie abilities and longevity."

Medusa pulled away and looked with wonder into Maleficent's eyes, "Really? What would I look like?"

"Exactly? I do not know, but I believe there will be many marked improvements. But, the curse is creating limitations, for example, I cannot give you hair, you will still have your snakes."

"Well, anything has to be better than this," Medusa gestured to her whole body. "Go ahead give it a try."

"Alright, but unlike before this one might be painful."

Medusa slithered over to where she placed her bow and quiver and removed the leather strap from it. She then came back to Medusa.

"I will need to go in through the base of your back."

"Do you need me to lie down or stand up?"

"That is up to you, whatever you prefer."

Medusa looked over to the pillar and made her way over to it and wrapped her tail around it. Medusa smiled as she put the leather strap in her mouth and wrapped her arms around the pillar. She rested her head on the pillar and nodded to Maleficent that she was ready.

Maleficent grabbed her staff in one hand and placed her other hand at the base of Medusa's back right where the depression in her back was the deepest by her waist. She up turned her palm and rested her middle finger within the depression on Medusa's back. As before a purplish glow emanated from her staff and around her hand.

"Now, whatever you do, do not move," Maleficent said.

Medusa mumbled, "Uh huh" through her teeth.

Maleficent closed her eyes as she concentrated her magic into Medusa's spine. Almost at once Medusa let out a high pitched squeal. Her fingers splayed out across the pillar and she tightened her tail around it. After a few moments Maleficent could feel Medusa's body start to tense up. The snakes were going nuts and Maleficent had to pull her head back as she feared she would get bitten by one or more of them. Medusa was grunting loudly as grabbed a hold of the pillar even tighter. Her body was now starting to quiver and shake. Maleficent noticed that the green scales on her back were starting to change to a tan color and meld into the form of skin. This spread all across her back and made it's way up Medusa's body. When it reached her neck and face, Medusa let out a loud scream.

"Maleficent, please! It is hurting me badly. I feel like I am dying, I feel I am burning up!"

"Don't worry you are not dying. I am very sorry that the pain makes you think so. It'll be over soon, just hang on a bit more."

Medusa gripped the pillar so tightly where her tail wrapped around it that it started to crack.

"Medusa! Let up on your grip! The pillar is cracking!" Maleficent was amazed at how much strength Medusa had in her tail.

Medusa switched her grip to her arms instead. Her arms were now mostly skin and her muscles looked even more defined than before, as they were clearly bulging from the grip she had on the pillar. Her back was nearly fully skin now and Maleficent was amazed at the beautiful golden tan color her skin was becoming.

The purple magic wisps made its way out of Medusa's facial openings and she as she let out one more loud scream. Then it was done.

Medusa slumped to the floor and Maleficent crouched down beside her.

"Is it over?" Medusa said with a totally different sounding voice. Her voice was now very smooth and clear. Her 's' sound was now very pleasant sounding, very clear and normal in length. She had a very similar smoke quality sound to her voice as Maleficent's, but slightly higher in pitch.

"Whoa, this can't be. Oh! That voice, is it me? Is this is my voice?"

Maleficent gasped and her eyes flew open wide as Medusa turned to face her. The changes to Medusa's face were radically different.

"What? What's Wrong. Did something go wrong?" Medusa reached up to place her hand on her voice box, and then she noticed her hands and arms were completely changed. Her jaw dropped in amazement. She rose up from the floor and looked at her whole torso. In place of scales she now had beautifully tanned skin. She ran her fingers across her toned abdomen, coursing her fingers along the defined edges noting the changes in her abdomen muscles as she breathed. Below her waist line, skin then changed to scales as her tail pretty much remained unchanged. The transition formed a nice attractive 'v' shape on her abdomen. She reached up and began to feel around her neck and face. She then ran her fingers across her collarbones and neck and then up her chin, over her lips."

"No, nothing went wrong, Medusa, quite the contrary. You turned out extremely well...I think anyway. In my eyes you are quite lovely in fact."

"I hope you're not being modest!" Medusa exclaimed, "I still can't believe I just said that. My voice is..."

"Rather beautiful?" Maleficent finished her sentence. "No, I am speaking the truth, you are very easy on the eyes now."

"Oh...I feel warmth from inside me."

"You are semi-warm blooded now. Your body will be able to partially generate it's own heat. It was something that needed to be done to maintain oxygen levels to your skin.

"Oh! Please, mirror, mirror! I want to see for myself," Medusa said excitedly holding her hand out knowing that Maleficent had a mirror on her.

Maleficent pulled out the mirror she had in her cloak and gave it to Medusa, as she said, "I really do hope you like what you see. I honestly tried my best, but as I said, there would be some things I couldn't change such as your hair and your tail. But you still will retain your magic abilities, your longevity and if you chose to use it, your ability to turn to stone."

Medusa's eyes flew wide open as she looked in the mirror.

Her face was completely human in appearance and like the rest of her torso, her scales were replaced with beautifully tanned skin. Her skin was smooth and soft and didn't have a single blemish on it. There was a smooth transition from skin to scales as the scales formed a rather attractive widow's peak on her forehead. The transition line extended to behind her ears, it nicely framed out her face. Her ears were a bit more elongated and came to a nicer more famine shaped point than before. Her teeth were pearl white and perfectly straight. While she still had her fangs, they were much smaller now and concealed inside her mouth with no overbite as before. Her lips were almost as red and as full as Maleficent's. Instead of scales for her eye brows, she now had what appeared to be hair. Her eyes were a green with yellow very similar to Maleficent's own eyes, but a little lighter green. Around the pupil was a light hazel colored corona. Her pupils were now round.

"Your eyes were the hardest to do. But I know you liked mine so much, I tried to give you similar eyes. Your eyebrows were difficult too. They are actually scales but are thin and angled out. From a couple feet away or more, they will look like you have hair."

Medusa looked up to Maleficent and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her hands shook as her eyes welled up with tears. She put her right hand over her mouth and began to weep loudly as she continued to look at herself in the mirror. However, this time the snakes didn't droop down as before. In fact quite a few of them tried to look in the mirror and looked back to Medusa's face as if they too were surprised at the changes.

Maleficent waited for Medusa to regain her composure as now she was the one fanning her eyes.

"I...I look amazing! I just can't believe this is me.! Am I really seeing this? No, No way!"

Maleficent smiled as she recalled how she had the same reaction when Aurora created that beautiful black dress she wore the night of the ball.

"Yes way! It is indeed you," Maleficent replied smiling.

"I...I am at a loss for words! I don't know what to say."

Medusa then quickly slithered over to Maleficent.

Maleficent knew what was coming next, she closed her eyes as she braced for impact. She could feel one arm wrap around her waist and another around her neck. She tried not to cringe as she could feel Medusa pull her close pressing her body right into hers. She opened her eyes slightly and cracked a smile.

"Thank you so much!" Medusa said, "This is so wonderful! You have made me so happy!"

Maleficent was about to say, 'You're welcome', when suddenly Medusa closed her eyes and placed her lips on hers and gave her a solid kiss right on the mouth. The suction on her mouth was very powerful but her lips felt very soft and gentle. Shocked and in disbelief, Maleficent didn't know how to react. She put up her hands and a wisp of green magic gently pushed Medusa away. She had a horrified look on her face.

Medusa was stunned as to the manner in which she was pushed away. She started to become angered and she clenched her fists. Her snakes started to stare Maleficent down.

"What?! What is it with you? I have noticed the whole night that when I try to offer you my thanks and gratitude you push me away. It is like my hugs, my kiss, are not good enough for you. Didn't you like my kiss of gratitude? I know being alone for so long I am a bit out of it, but I thought I gave you a decent thank you kiss."

While at first Maleficent thought the kiss was meant for passionate reasons, Medusa clearly was indicating it was a kiss of gratitude. She sat back up and composed herself.

"No, Medusa, it is not you. It is me, there is something with me. There a couple things I must tell you."

Medusa placed her arms across her chest as she awaited Maleficent's answer.

"For starters, I wasn't expecting a kiss like that, especially on my mouth," Maleficent's voice became very stern but she was careful not to sound angry. "Usually a kiss like that is reserved for passionate moments between a man and a woman, not for show of gratitude. In that case a simple kiss on the cheek or temple is fine enough. In my case that isn't even necessary. A simple thank you with no bodily contact is gratitude enough."

"Well, when my father did something for me that was nice I kissed him like that and he was fine with it."

Maleficent had a shocked look on her face, she was breathing hard as she said, "While he might have been fine with it doesn't mean it was necessarily right."

"You are still breathing hard, so I must have done well, I know he breathed hard too when I kissed him well."

"I am breathing hard because I am shocked. I allowed you to hug me and you took it further," Maleficent said loudly, "Which brings me to the next thing, don't give me another reason why I don't like to be touched."

Medusa now had the surprised look on her face as she dropped her arms back down to her side and said, "What? What do you mean you don't like to be touched?"

"What I didn't tell you as I told you my story is that ever since Stefan took my wings, I don't let anyone touch me. When someone does try to do so, it makes my skin crawl and my blood curdle. I just don't want to be touched."

Medusa looked disappointed and her snakes hung down low on her shoulders.

"Well, what about Diaval? How can the both of you be intimate if you don't like being touched?"

"Diaval is an exception. We built a trust bond over 17 years when he was in my service. We only recently confessed our love for one another in fact. But slowly over the latter part of those 17 years, I have been allowing him to touch me. His touch is the only one that pleases me. He has a certain way of touching me and I know it is him and I feel safe when he touches me. But that only happens with him."

"Okay, but what of Aurora, your Godchild?"

"Believe it or not, I do cringe when she wraps herself around me too tight. But I am fine when we hold hands. So it is something I think in time will improve."

Suddenly the anger on Medusa's face disappeared. She then said, "I'm so sorry Maleficent, I didn't want to violate your trust. At first I when I noticed you pushing me aside I thought there was something wrong with me, like you didn't want to hug a monster."

"No, Medusa, that isn't it at all. As I have explained, it is me, not you."

"Ok, I understand better now."

Suspecting Medusa might have been abused as a child, Maleficent turned her attention back to her father and asked, "Medusa, did your father do anything else to you besides kiss you on the mouth?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, did he ever...touch you?" Maleficent glanced to Medusa's breasts and then again down further, not knowing for sure if her reproductive system would be in the same place as most humanoids. At any rate, Medusa got the message.

"Oh, heavens no! He never touched me in those places. But I did notice though, when we kissed that part between his legs would start to swell and become harder. When that happened he got all uncomfortable and would quickly run away."

Maleficent breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Medusa wasn't molested by her own parent. "Ok, but he still shouldn't have been kissing you that way."

"Well, it was my idea."

"What?" Maleficent's said in a shocked tone as her eyes widened.

"Yes. Well, because I was so hideous looking and because of my curse, he probably knew I would never meet someone that would be able to or want to kiss me. When I was younger I saw how he and mom kissed, so I wanted to know what it felt like. So he understood my situation and agreed that I should at last know what it feels like. So he complied we kissed. I ended up liking it. I wanted him to kiss me again like that, but at first he didn't want to do it again. Later he said to me only on special occasions to show gratitude. It wasn't something that happened often, but I appreciated it when he did it. It just made me feel special.

"Well, it was still wrong. He should have never allowed it. And you shouldn't have pushed him into it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. I kissed you that way because the gift you have given me is tremendous. So I wanted to give you a really big kiss of gratitude for it."

"Well, you are living in isolation for a long time and do not know better, so I understand, but I do want to make it clear that you are NOT to kiss me again."

"Okay, but would you...at least allow a long hug?"

Maleficent paused for a long moment. She thought back on the evening and realized that Medusa had two different personalities, one was the warrior side of her that was on guard around anyone she didn't trust, but once Medusa began to trust someone, she was all smiles, had an outgoing personality, and was very affectionate, much like a typical teenager. Maleficent realized that it must be getting late and right now she just wanted to get out of there so she could help Robin.

"Alright, a hug only, but for now it's done, trust me you have given me more than enough thanks for tonight. That being said, I accept your thanks and at this point I am going assume you are happy and compensation for helping me has been fulfilled."

"Oh, most definitely. I look pretty now. You have done such wonderful work."

Medusa picked up the mirror and started to look at herself in it.

"That is good and it also makes me happy that things turned out well. I must say it has been a pleasure to meet you and I thank you again for healing me. But I do have to get back to Robin."

The excited look on Medusa's face faded into sadness, she shook her head and said, "No No, please don't go! Please stay the night, I want to talk with you some more."

"I am sorry, but I have to go. I am already behind my time."

"Please, can you wait until morning? I have a bath pool in the basement. It is nice and heated, you can get yourself cleaned and freshened up. In the morning we could have breakfast together."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow when Medusa mentioned the heated pool. After getting sick before, she was tempted to take a nice soothing warm bath to freshen up. But she shook it out of her head as she knew she needed to get back to Robin as his time was ticking away.

"Look, Medusa, I appreciate your hospitality and inviting me to stay in your home with you, but it took a day longer to get here and we are getting very close to the predicted time Robin might pass. I have to get back to him as soon as possible. Let me go to him and I will return to you.

Medusa started to become sad again as she said, "No you wont! Once you leave you will forget about me and I will be all alone here for another 200 years. You don't understand that these short hours you have been with me have been the best moments of my entire life. You proved to me that life is worth living. I find you wonderful, being a faerie like me and I need a friend in my life."

Maleficent replied, "I will be your friend and I give you my word and promise to return. I could never forget you or what you have done for me. Ever."

Medusa hung her head low, but then whispered, "Ok." She hesitantly raised her hand and the door opened.

"Thank you again for all you have done," Maleficent said as she put her cloak on and grabbed her staff, "Don't be upset, I will come back."

Maleficent turned and walked towards the door when suddenly Medusa slithered very quickly around and in front of her, blocking the doorway. Maleficent was still impressed by Medusa's speed as she moved.

"Please take me with you then."

Maleficent let out a heavy sigh and was about to say, 'no' but Medusa continued.

"What you have done for me far exceeds what I have done for you. Let me help you heal Robin, through me you will not have to worry about depleting your magic. My magic reserves are much greater than your own. You know this to be true. I can also heal your other friend, Knotgrass. I am also very useful I can help you in other ways too. I saw you raise an eyebrow before when I mentioned my heated bath pool. What do you think about my building you a heated bath pool in your castle?"

Maleficent gave it some thought and found she was put in a position where she couldn't refuse Medusa's offer. Faerie's like Medusa came in very short supply and having her as an ally and close friend could prove to be advantageous for Malora. Perhaps in the near future she would bring her to Malora. But for now, she wanted to take things one step at a time and take care of Robin first.

"Alright, you can come. But first just to help Robin."

"But I want to go to Malora with you. I want to see what your kingdom looks like, I want to see your Moors"

"Perhaps another time right now I have to get back to the ship and...

"Ship! You came on a ship?"

"Yes."

"Oh! Please, please, let me come? I have never been on a ship before. I will not be a bother, I will not make much noise or eat much."

As Medusa was rattling off ways of how she would become 'invisible' on the return trip and during her stay at Malora, Maleficent couldn't help but smile at how in a few hours that a woman with a menacing voice, snakes for hair, had an arrow trained on her and now she was acting like a little girl going on a trip to an amusement fair. Maleficent thought it over and realized it would be good for her to get out and see what is out in the world. While that wasn't a possibility before, now with full control over her powers and her new looks, she certainly would have an easier time fitting in. Ok, so she is still a woman with a snake's body and snakes for hair, but she certainly looked much more pleasing to the eye. Also, as she said, she could also assist her in restoring Knotgrass' magic too.

Finally Maleficent gave in, and said. "Ok, you can come with me to Malora..."

"YES! YES!" she shouted.

Maleficent raised her voice and said, "IF and only IF, I have permission to bring you aboard the ship, as the ship does not belong to me."

"Ok, understood."

Maleficent shook her head and said, "I hope you are not going to be a handful and I have to keep my eye on you."

Suddenly Medusa realized she was becoming over exuberant and realized herself she was acting like a child.

She cleared her throat and spoke in a lower voice, "I am sorry, your excellency, that will not be necessary. May I have a few minutes to gather some of my things for the trip."

"Of course," Maleficent said as she smiled at how Medusa regained her composure so quickly. One thing was for certain, Medusa did know how to act properly. In time she did want to find out more about her parents.

As Medusa went off up the ramp to the next level, Maleficent reflected on the night and breathed a sigh of relief that the trip was a success so far. Furthermore, next to Diaval and Aurora, she seemed to have made a very unique friend of whom could prove to be very valuable in the future.

Medusa came back down and she was carrying a small wooden box with a handle on it. She was wearing a white shrug like jacket that was a bit small for the current cold conditions outside.

"Oh, that jacket will not do. Take it off."

Medusa took the jacket off.

Maleficent then waved her hand and with a green wisp a nice dark green cloak formed around Medusa, it had a large hood and extended almost down to the ground when she stood up. The cloak was nice and thick and with Medusa now being semi warm blooded, it would keep her warm. Medusa thanked Maleficent as she put up the hood and then all the snakes poked their little heads out from the space between her chin and neck. They just sat there looking at Maleficent and flickering their little tongues.

Maleficent could help but laugh. She shook her head and said, "They can be pretty comical, huh?"

"Oh yes! I would even talk to them often, up to now they are really my only friends."

"Can you speak to snakes and understand them?"

"Yes, a little bit. I am not fluent though."

"Interesting."

Medusa turned off the torches in the foyer and other parts of the section of the villa they were in. As they went outside, she was about to turn off the torches in the courtyard.

Suddenly they heard voices outside. Maleficent could make out the voices of Diaval and Sir Joseph.

"Those are my men. Damn! I told them to stay at the beach!" Maleficent said. "Let me go first, they might be armed and I want them to see me first, then they will know everything is OK."

Maleficent went to the main door and opened it but she stood inside of the other door that was still closed.

"Watch out, she's coming! Get ready with your bows," clearly the voice was Sir Joseph's.

"Stand down gentlemen it is just I, Maleficent!" her voice boomed out to the forest.

A worried voice echoed out from the woods, "Oh thank goodness. Thank you! Thank you!" Diaval said as he ran out of the woods and headed towards his lover. Maleficent then turned out the door and came down the ramp to greet him. At the base of the ramp, he threw his arms around her and planted a solid kiss on her lips. There was clapping and whistling from the woods.

"Mmmm, Diaval...Hmmmm, Everyone's...Hmmmmm, watching."

Diaval reluctantly broke the kiss and Maleficent said, "Why are you here when I specifically gave instructions for you and the others to remain on the beach?"

Sir Joseph came forward out of the woods next and said, "I am sorry your excellency, he just got so worried for you. When he saw your signal, he insisted it was OK and he wanted to meet up with you. I told him of your instructions and that he wouldn't find his way through the forest at night but that didn't stop him. I didn't need him end up getting lost and we would have to look for him. So we all took the longboat and went around the forest and came up on the south side and reentered the edge of the forest here."

"I am sorry, my love, I just..."

Maleficent interrupted Diaval by putting her finger over her mouth. She raised an eyebrow as a green wisp emanated from her fingertip. She then touched her staff and it glowed a bright green showering the area with light. She hinted that it was OK as she had her magic back.

Diaval and Sir Joseph smiled, "Nice to see you have your magic back your excellency. I also see that you are not chasing us off, so I take it things went well with Medusa," Sir Joseph said.

"Yes, they did. Medusa was an exceptional host and had treated me well. We have agreed to a deal and in the process we formed a friendship with one another."

All of a sudden there were more cheers coming from the forest as the other men came out. They cheered Maleficent on and congratulated her.

Maleficent looked to see if everyone was accounted for and then raised her fingers as she said, "Who has Robin?"

"I do," the boat pilot came forth with the basket which was covered in heavy blanket with just a small opening to allow air in.

"Alright. Now, gentlemen, Medusa has not only agreed to help me, but also Robin. Her appearance is very different and unique, but I expect you to be on your best behavior as she helps me.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, we are mortal men we go in there wouldn't she turn us to stone?" Martin said.

"That was one of the things I did for her, she now has total control over that, so you can gaze upon her without fear of being turned into stone."

Maleficent waived to the boat pilot, to bring Robin over. She unwrapped the blankets and placed her hand on Robin's chest.

"Oh my, Oh my." Maleficent said as her eyes widened.

Diaval started to breathe hard and asked, "Is he still alive?"

"Yes, barely. Diaval, in your mysterious way, you did the right thing by bringing everyone here. Once again, I owe you one. Robin wouldn't have lasted the night. We have to make haste, NOW."

Just then a beautiful female voice from the doorway rang out, "Maleficent, bring Robin into my house. We will do this in here as it is too cold out there. Everyone else remain out here."

The men tried to peer around Maleficent to get a good look a the figure in the doorway. With her hood up, they couldn't make out details around her head, but they could clearly see the figure was not standing on a pair of legs, but propped up on a long tail. Sir Joseph was particularly interested and went as far to approach the ramp.

Sir Joseph raised an eyebrow and looked at Maleficent, "That's Medusa's voice?"

"Yes."

"What a beautiful voice, much like your own, your excellency." Sir Joseph looked bewildered as he looked up to the doorway and saw the hooded figure in the doorway.

"Actually I think her voice is better than mine," Maleficent said.

Sir Joseph turned to Maleficent and said, "The guys are freezing. Breaking camp even made us more cold. We need to warm up."

Maleficent looked to the guys which were rubbing their arms up and down and moving around to try and stay warm. She then looked to Medusa and called back to her, "Can the men come inside? They are freezing as I didn't intend for them to be outside this long."

There was a long pause but then Medusa said, "Alright, but may I have a word with you first?"

"Sure," Maleficent called back up. She then turned around and asked for Robin's basket. The boat driver handed the basket over to her and then she went back up the ramp.

Medusa slithered over to the handrail and an orange wisp left her hand and coursed through the stone handrail and down into the ramp and up to the torches. Suddenly the torches lit up on the walkway.

Sir Joseph moved slowly up the ramp next to Maleficent and tried to get a better look at Medusa. But then she turned around and retreated back into the villa.

"Damn it!" He said. "I want to see her."

"Language, Sir Joseph. You will see her in good time."

"Sorry, your excellency."

Maleficent proceeded up the ramp with Robin and met up with Medusa in the foyer. She placed Robin's basket on the table and Medusa peered inside.

"So this is the little fellow we are going to save."

"Yes, but about my men?"

"Follow me," Medusa said as the two exited the foyer and Medusa opened the door just opposite. The room was much smaller than the foyer. Inside, Medusa touched a couple torch like lamps that sat on tables in the middle of the room. The torches lit the room with a nice warm glow as they had an unusual ceramic looking lamp shade. The tables flanked a large semi circular stone couch that the west side of the room. There was a large round table in the middle that followed the contour of the couch. As in the foyer, the couch it had a long blanket along it's length and pillows placed on the ends. Opposite the couch there was a large fireplace. There was another smaller couch along the east wall and two cabinets with assorted trinkets in them flanked the couch. There were also a couple of chairs in this area. While not as ornate as the foyer, it still was a nice warm looking and cozy room. There were two doorways towards the back of the room that flanked a large book case.

Medusa continued, "I am not really keen about having humans I don't know in my home, but I can see they are in need of a place to warm up. I know first hand what it is like to be freezing my tail off on a cold night so I can relate. So since they are with you, I will say Okay, they can come in."

"Thank You," Maleficent said.

"This room is a sitting den and was a part of the original section of the house. It was here when my father was still alive as such it is the only section in the villa that still has a human style bathroom to the back." she pointed to the open doorway on the left. This room also has a nice large fireplace."

She went over to the fireplace and waved her hand a couple of times. There were little stones near some tinder under a log and they vibrated very fast and in no time a flame was burning under the log.

Maleficent thought to herself, 'So that is how she lights the torches and fires, by vibrating rocks so fast they ignite the torches.' She looked up to Medusa and said, "Thank you, Medusa, it does mean much to me. One of those men is my Diaval."

Medusa dipped her head in acknowledgement as she retreated through the rear door on the right. She returned with a large bowl of fruit, a large pitcher of water and some cups all made of stone. She then closed the door behind her.

"Your men have to leave their weapons outside of my house and they are to stay in here. Once inside, they will not be able to leave as it is obvious magic is needed to open and close the doors here. Do inform them of that as they may not be too keen on being confined in here."

Medusa stood by the entrance to the room and said, "I am not ready to make an introduction. I know that is not polite of me, but this is all new to me and my heart is in my throat right now. But perhaps after we help Robin, I am wondering if you could do a formal introduction.

"Yes, absolutely. I will meet you in the foyer after I get them settled in. Oh, and thank you again."

Medusa smiled and nodded, she turned around and slithered out the door and across the hall, disappearing into the foyer. Maleficent returned to the main door and invited the men inside.

"Gentlemen! Our host, Medusa, has allowed you to enter her home. She has prepared a room for you with something to drink and eat. The room has a fireplace to warm up by. As per her wishes, everyone is to place their weapons outside the main door here."

The men didn't hesitate and all ran up the ramp and started to pile their weapons outside the doorway. Many mumbled, 'thank goodness', 'warmth'.

Diaval didn't have any weapons to leave so he stood next to Maleficent.

"Diaval, go inside and warm up, second door on the right."

Diaval nodded and ran inside. As he was ready to enter the room, he noticed the door opposite was open. He thought he saw the outline of someone in the door way so he stopped to get a closer look and he pulled his hood off his head.

"Hello," the figure said coming out of the shadows.

"Medusa?" Diaval asked his voice slightly wavering and he was ready to shield his eyes.

"Uh huh. My you are a handsome fellow," she said as she moved a bit forward and pulled her hood back so he could look at her face.

Diaval lowered his arm and looked in amazement. Even though she had a head full of snakes as the books and scrolls said, she had very attractive face. Diaval found he couldn't help but stare.

"Forgive me, your excellency, I just didn't expect you to be so...pretty." he said.

"Why thank you. That is sweet of you to say," Medusa said. She turned to look down the hall and the other men were starting to come up to the room.

"Talk to you later after we save your little friend."

"Of course, my lady."

Medusa turned away and slinked back into the foyer, she had a bit of a swagger to her slithering. Diaval caught her waving her fist in the air. Sir Joseph came up next to Diaval and looked into the room across the way just to catch part of Medusa's backside as the door to the foyer slid closed.

"Damn it again!" he said, getting frustrated that he couldn't get a good look at Medusa.

The other men walked past the two one by one as they entered the den.

"Did you get a good look at her, Diaval?" Sir Joseph said.

"Yes, we spoke for a bit in fact."

"Really? What did she look like?"

Before Diaval could answer, the sound of the front doors closing caught their attention and Maleficent came up the hall and said to Diaval and Sir Joseph, "Inside gentlemen, it is cold out here and I still have something to say."

Sir Joseph shook his fists, grumbled and turned to go into the den.

"Is he okay?" Maleficent asked Diaval.

"Yes, as far as I know."

Diaval entered the den first followed by Maleficent and she shut the door behind her.

The five men inside were taking off their jackets and were lining up in front of the fire jockying for a spot to warm up by the fire.

"Gentlemen," Maleficent said, "I have to say that since our host is a faerie as I am, the only way to open and close the stone doors on this villa is with magic. Now either I leave the door open and it will be cold in here, or I close it and it will warm up nicely in here, but as such you will not be able to leave this section of the house. It may take some time to heal Robin, so you might stuck in here for a while. To the left, in the back, through the open door, there is a bathroom. On the table is a bowl of fruit and a pitcher of water in case you are hungry or thirsty. Any questions before I leave?"

"Your excellency, I have one," the boat pilot said.

"Yes"

"Have you any idea how long it will take?"

"I am not certain. I would say a couple hours, perhaps less with Medusa's help"

There was commotion amongst the men. Martin for one didn't like the idea of being locked in for that time period.

"Your excellency, if we choose to have the door closed, what if for some reason you and Medusa pass out or something happens to you both while trying to save Robin, what are we to do?

"That is not a likely scenario as you already know, I am all healed and my magic has returned to me. Also Medusa is kind of a 'super healer'. Together we have more than enough power to revive Robin 100 times over."

"Oh! That's good," the men said as they shook their heads in approval.

"You don't have anything to worry. Also, don't forget, my Diaval is with you. I certainly want to be with him when this is over. So I certainly do not want to keep him, nor the rest of you in here longer than necessary. On the upside, you are certainly much safer and warmer in here then outside."

The men all agreed and seemed to be more at ease and seemed to prefer to have the door shut to keep the warmth in the room.

"If there are no further questions, Medusa and I have some work to do to bring our Robin back to us."

No one else had anything to say.

"Very well then, I hope to be back in less than two hours."

Maleficent opened the door, exited, and closed it behind her. She then entered the foyer and joined Medusa. It was fairly dim in the foyer as Medusa only lit two torches that were near the table where Robin was.

Medusa seemed very jovial and cheery swaying to and fro.

"My, you seem quite jubilant all of a sudden."

"I think it worked with you transforming me, Maleficent."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, when you were letting the men in, I caught the attention of one of them, and I pulled my hood back, I said 'hello' and he said my face is pretty! Oh, it just such a wonderful feeling...a human man calling me pretty! I think I have a shot with the human men, maybe even with that fellow."

"Oh! Well, that is interesting. But remember, I did tell you that not all men are bad and you will find some human men that will like the way you look. So you see I was telling you the truth about the way you look now."

"Yes! Yes! I believed you and it was true! I can't thank you enough."

"So who is it?"

"I didn't get his name, but he said he wanted to talk to me when we were finished with Robin."

"Well, at least you broke the ice with one of the men," Maleficent said with an impressed look on her face as apparently the new look she created for Medusa actually attracted one of the men already! She couldn't help but wonder that the gentleman Medusa referred could have been Sir Joseph or his man, Sid. It couldn't have been Martin or the boat pilot as she followed them two into the villa.

Medusa gloated for a bit, but then asked, "So, are the men OK with being holed up in there for a while?"

"Yes, I believe so. I did prepare them that they might be in there for a while. I think most will either go to sleep or read one of your books by the fire."

Maleficent moved towards the basket. She undid the blankets and placed her hand on Robin's seemly lifeless body. He had almost no glow at all and his breathing was very shallow. Even though he was in the foyer for a while now, he still felt cool to the touch.

Medusa then hung her head down and softly said, "Nice of them to meet you, from what I overhead it would have been a terrible mistake if I kept you here tonight. I am so sorry, my selfishness almost cost you your friend. Sometimes I have to realize that the needs of others do have to come before my own."

"It's Ok, don't worry about it. Everyone is in place that needs to be and we still have some time." Maleficent said reassuringly. "Ok, I think how this is going to work is I am going to transfer my magic energy to Robin and you are going to transfer healing energy to me. That will keep the magic flowing without my need to rest."

Maleficent lifted Robin out of the basket and cradled him like a baby. She walked over to the couch and sat down. Medusa followed sitting beside her.

Maleficent took a couple of breathes and said, " Okay, place your hand over my heart and I will place mine over his."

"Okay", Medusa put her hand over Maleficent's heart.

"Your task will be simple. When you feel my energy get low, you will replenish it."

"Understood."

Maleficent put her hand on Robin's heart and then a blue glow surrounded her hand. After a while the glow started to emanate across Robin's body. Once his whole body was glowing the same blue color, Medusa started to keep the energy going within Maleficent. Her hand glowed yellow.

"How long do you think it will take?" Medusa asked?

"Between one and two hours. We shouldn't talk as we should concentrate on the task. The stronger our concentration, the less time it will take. If there is a disruption, it will take longer"

"Understood."

An hour and half later, progress on Robin was going well. The blue glow around him slowly changed to purple and then that became more and more red. The glow was subsiding in favor of Robin's red glow. This was a good sign as his body was taking the magic infusion well.

"Maleficent, how much longer?" she asked in a soft tone.

"Not much, you are doing well we are almost there. How do you feel?"

"I am fine, but it's been such a long exciting evening," she said as yawned. "I am a bit exhausted."

"Well, it will not be much longer now, I think I can handle it from here, you have done more than enough."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Medusa removed her hand from Maleficent's chest and then pulled the cloak Maleficent made for her over her body. She even pulled the hood over most of her head. She coiled up on the couch and laid her head down on the pillow. Almost instantly she fell asleep. Maleficent looked to her and thought, 'Such a wonderful creature, why would anyone curse her family so bad that it was passed down from her mother to her?' It was something that Maleficent would have to ask her another time. Several moments past and soon the purplish glow was completely red.

"There! That should do it," she said as she stretched her fingers out and rubbed her hand. Even though she felt fine and not tired, her hand felt nearly numb for holding it in one position for so long.

Maleficent got back up and placed Robin back into the basket. She looked at Robin's body resting in the makeshift bed and it had a nice bright red.

"Well, only one thing left to do." Maleficent snapped her fingers in front of Robin's face.

Robin shifted his head from side to side and then his eyes fluttered open.

"M'lady?"

"Yes, Robin?"

He slowly started to sit up and looked at his surroundings in bewilderment.

"Ok, wait, wait, wait. Now, this time, am I alive or dead?"

"You are very much alive. Notice anything different?"

Robin looked down to his body and then his hands.

"Hey! I have my glow back! My magic is back! But how?"

Maleficent waved her and and a green wisp floated around it.

"Ohhhhh! You have your powers back too! So then you saved me!"

"Yes, but..."

Robin interrupted. "Ohhhhh, Lass! You are wonderful! You found a way to bring me back and your here, your wings are here. I'm here! Looks like things are going to be back to normal at the Moors!"

"Robin there is something I have to tell..."

"Tut tut, m'lady a major thank you is in order!

With that Robin stood up and waved his finger for Maleficent to come closer. She complied and he gave her a hug and a gentle kiss first on her left cheek and then her right.

"Thank you, m'lady. Thank you, thank you, very much!"

"You're Welcome, but..."

"Time to stretch my wings!" Robin rudely interrupted again. "Feels like I was laying on them for an eternity!"

With that Robin took off and started to fly around the room.

"Yahooooooo!" Robin yelled out.

"Robin! I have to tell you something."

"Okay, Okay, just let me fly around this place a bit first and stretch my wings!"

Before Maleficent could answer, she turned to saw Medusa start to sit up and she took the cloak off. Apparently the noise Robin was making flying around woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and said, "Oh, my what's all the racket going on in here? Did it work, Maleficent?"

"See for yourself," Maleficent said as she raised her hand up towards Robin who was flipping, doing barrel rolls, and pillar flybys.

Medusa pushed the cloak aside and sat up with a smile on her face.

As Robin was flying around all happy as he flew back to Maleficent, he caught sight of Medusa and yelled out, "Oh Shit!" and crashed right into Maleficent knocking her back down on to the couch. From there he darted behind the couch and just poked his eyes over the top edge.

"Ouch Robin! Watch where you are going!" Maleficent shouted.

"Sorry, m'lady," Robin said.

Medusa looked cross and put her arms on her waist, "Real nice! And an 'oh shit' to you too. Is that the greeting and thank you I get for helping to save your life?"

Robin flew up and sat on the back of the couch, rubbed his eyes, and said in disbelief, "Naw, No way. Medusa?"

"Yeah?" she answered rocking her head slightly side to side.

"Wait! Wait! Wait a cotton picking minute here! You can't be her, Medusa is not supposed to be beautiful. But you...you are stunning, gorgeous actually. Whatever happened to and I quote, "A face so hideous it would turn a man to stone?"

Maleficent leaned over and whispered into Robin's ear. "I had a hand in fixing that. It's what I been trying to tell you, but you wouldn't let me. Let's just say it was part of the deal to save your bum." She ran her finger down Robin's nose.

"Impressive," Robin said to Maleficent raising his hand to his chin.

Medusa crossed her arms on her chest.

"What of that nasty disposition she supposed to have, I thought she doesn't help anyone?"

"Why are you talking like I am not in the same room with you? You are rude and obnoxious!"

"Robin, you are offending her and she is correct, she did help save your life. You would have died if it wasn't for her. You owe her an apology and show her your gratitude."

Robin hung his head down as he hovered in mid-air and apologized, "Sorry, I guess I am wrong. After hearing the stories and what was written in the books, well..." Robin cut himself short as Medusa threw her arms down to her side and rolled her eyes. She then started to stare him down with narrow eyes.

"Stories again!" Medusa said impatiently and then yelled out. "Monster, they say. I am a monster, right?"

"Robin," Maleficent leaned over and said, "You are making matters worse!"

He slowly flew over to Medusa and placed his hands over his heart and said in a very serous tone, "I am very sorry Madame Medusa. I do very much do appreciate your saving my life. I thank you from the bottom of my heart." He flew over and gave Medusa a kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, that's much better. Apology and thank you accepted."

"Robin, much has happened since the incident in the dungeon of the castle," Maleficent said. "It has been a long trip and an exhausting evening. But in it all, I have found myself a new friend in Medusa. Whatever you have learned or read in the past about her, you throw it out of the window and forget about it. The woman that stands before you is very generous and kind hearted. Get to know her well and respect her as you would me."

"Yes, M'lady"

Robin turned back to Medusa and said, "Forgive me if I have a tendency to over react and come off rude. Apparently my past knowledge of you is obviously incorrect and misplaced. But I was telling the truth about the way you look," Robin folded his arms in front of him and started to sway a bit. "You are certainly much prettier than I expected, and wow! For a woman you have some nice muscles."

Medusa bit her lower lip and her cheeks began to get a red tint to them.

"You're schmoozing me now, huh?"

"Perhaps," Robin said with a huge grin oh his face.

"Ok, so I guess you don't seem half bad. Initially I thought you to be rude and couldn't show your gratitude. You will find that I am big on that. I like to show gratitude for when someone does something nice for me and I expect no less for when I do something for someone."

"Yes, Madame, I understand," Robin said.

"There, that's better. At least now you are acting like a gentleman. I am working off new slate on life now with much thanks to Maleficent," she said raising a hand towards her and then continued, "She graciously changed my appearance to what it is now. So yes, I was not as beautiful as I am now and in that aspect the stories were probably correct. I was ugly and repulsive and had a horrible voice. Where the stories are wrong are in regards to my disposition. I am not a heartless monster. I am a faerie and I do have feelings and emotions. I know what is right and wrong. I know love and hate and I have been exposed so much to the latter, that finally I would like to know what it is like to love," she paused a bit, "and possibly one day be loved."

"Well, Medusa, you are off to a good start so far," Maleficent said.

Robin shook his head as he eyed Medusa up and down. He then turned to Maleficent and said, "Lass, you sure can cook!"

Robin burst out laughing, Medusa joined in, Maleficent couldn't help but join in too.

"Soooo, that's two gentlemen in one night that said I am pretty Maleficent!" Medusa shouted with joy. "First the gentleman from earlier and now Robin. I think I AM off to a good start!"

Maleficent and Robin agreed as they smiled at Medusa. But suddenly Maleficent wiped the smile off her face and shouted, "Gentlemen! Medusa I forgot about the men!"

She quickly got up and ran for the door, she waved her hand and the door opened up. She got to the door to the den and just as she was ready to open the door she suddenly heard singing inside. Robin flew out behind her, trailed by Medusa who threw over the cloak first before heading out.

Medusa said, "Are they singing in there?"

Melficent nodded, 'Yes'.

Maleficent, Medusa and Robin put their ears to the door and listened in:

"They're pickin' up prisoners and puttin' 'em in a pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance!
Rebels been rebels since I don't know when
And all she wants to do is dance!

Well distilled ale is the local drink
And all she wants to do is dance, dance!
They mix it up right in the kitchen sink
And all she wants to do is

And all she wants to do is dance!

And Make Romance.

She can't feel the heat, comin' off the street
She wants to party (hooo), she wants to get down (hooo)
All she wants to do is, all she wants to do is dance!"

"I don't believe it. Diaval is singing with them!" Maleficent said in a shocked tone.

Robin said seemingly distraught, "There having a party in there without ME! Er ahh, Without us!" he corrected himself, "Darn it! I am missing the fun!"

Maleficent sneered at Robin, "They sound like they had too much to drink."

Both Maleficent and Robin turned their head to Medusa.

"Don't look at me," Medusa had a genuinely surprised look on her face when she continued, "Maleficent you saw for yourself I put out only water for them."

"Yes, I did, I remember that. But what if they brought it on their own?"

"Well, I think it is time to crash this party, huh ladies?" Robin said pulling up his trousers.

"You got that right," Maleficent said under her breath as she was becoming angry.

Medusa slowly cracked the door open and tried to peer inside but she couldn't see much with the way the door angled into the room

"Medusa, my friend, subtlety will not get you far in this world," She said as she rolled up her sleeves and narrowed her eyes, "Time to make a grand entrance."

With that a wisp of green came from Maleficent's hand and the door flew wide open.

The men inside were lying or sitting about in various positions. One was nearly upside down with his legs on the back of the couch. The boat pilot was stacking the books behind the couch as high as it could go, but he was startled by Maleficent's entrance and the pile of books came crashing to the floor.

Martin was tossing grapes across the room and Sir Joseph was leaning back on a chair along the same wall as the door and was trying to catch them in his mouth. He nearly choked on a grape as Maleficent entered.

Diaval was lying outstretched on the table with his legs wide open and a bottle of rum in his hands. He didn't seemed to be phased by Maleficent's entrance as he was making lewd movements on the table and had his eyes closed and was still singing a part of the song:

'All She Wants To Do Is

All She Wants To Do Is Dance

And Make Romance'.

Strewn about the room were various bottles of liquor. The men were in various stages of inebriation. Diaval appearing to be in the worst shape of them all.

"Gentlemen!" Maleficent's voice boomed, "Party's over!"

All eyes turned towards the door and at least three of the 5 men exclaimed, "Oh Shit!"

"You people seem to have a big problem with that word, huh?" Medusa asked.

"Not I. I only use it when I am really angry, like I am about to be," Maleficent said.

Maleficent entered the room, but Robin and Medusa stayed outside only peering in.

The men quickly gathered themselves up and tried to neaten up the room and all but Diaval stood up straight and tried to make themselves presentable to Maleficent. Diaval was nearly passed out on the table and barely lifted his head to look at Maleficent. His eyes were very glossy.

"Oh! Hi ya sexy! You want to dance and make romance? Let's make some heat as I'm sooo friggin' horny!" Diaval said, his speech heavily slurred.

A couple of the men started to giggle and chortle.

Maleficent glared at the men and yelled out, "You think that's funny? Well, I am not amused in the least bit!"

She then glared Sir Joseph since he was highest in chain of command and shouted, "How could you let this happen? Who got him drunk? He is a bird for heaven's sake! This stuff could kill him!"

Maleficent was becoming more furious by the minute. She took the bottle of rum out of Diaval's hand and she threw it in the fire. The resulting explosion made the men jump back towards the wall.

Martin lamented, "Ohhhhh, that was a nearly 200 year old bottle of rum! It's gone!"

Maleficent turned and glared at him.

"Okay, time to shut up!" Martin said.

She turned towards Sir Joseph and snapped, "Did you guys bring this stuff in here?"

"No, your excellency, it was right there on the bottom of the book shelf," Sir Joseph said as he pointed across the room. "Diaval was actually the one that found it."

Maleficent noticed that out all the men, it seemed as if Sir Joseph was the most sober, almost as if he had nothing to drink at all.

Maleficent then marched to the doorway and only saw Robin peering in. Robin nodded towards the other door to the foyer. Maleficent continued to march out the door and Robin made way for her. Medusa was standing very low in the doorway as Maleficent approached her with very narrow eyes.

"I...I am sorry, Maleficent, I completely forgot about the alcohol that was on the shelf I kept it on the bottom shelf of the book case. It was there when my father was alive. I barely touched the stuff myself. So, I didn't think anything of it."

"Medusa, locking men in a room with alcohol is a recipe for disaster, but I guess being cross with you would be unfair as you wouldn't know that."

Maleficent returned to the den and went to Diaval. She placed her hand on his chest, and closed her eyes. A purple glow formed around her hand. For a moment her anger passed, and she said softly, "Thank goodness, there is no damage. I am going to remove the alcohol from his system."

Maleficent looked to Sir Joseph and said, "In the event a situation like this arises again and you are with him, I am giving you specific instructions that he is not to touch a single drop of alcohol in the future. Am I making myself clear."

"Clear as crystal Madame Maleficent. Again I am sorry."

"Good."

Diaval was coming around, "Wha, What. Where am I."

"You got yourself drunk"

"Really? But I don't remember."

"Of course not, the after effects of alcohol. But I do have some good news, sort of a bit of a surprise." Maleficent said.

Maleficent wanted to go outside to get Robin, when Medusa said, "The gentleman on the table, is he going to be OK? He's the handsome one that said I was pretty."

Maleficent's eyes suddenly flew open and she glared at Medusa. "WHAT?!"

Robin knew better and he flew off to the side. He tried to get Medusa's attention from behind Maleficent by mouthing, 'she's gonna blow' to her and made an exploding motion with his hands.

"Maleficent, are you Ok? You are not looking right. You look like you are getting angry with me, and I just said, it honestly was a mistake."

"No, I am not angry with you about the alcohol," Maleficent pointed back towards the den and shouted, "That's my Diaval!"

"Oh, no," Medusa gasped as she started to turn pale.

"He's the one who said he wanted to talk to you later?"

"Yes, but..."

Maleficent raised her finger and closed her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She then turned around and stormed back towards the den and noticed two of the men were peering out the doorway.

"Out of my way, gentlemen", she said.

They quickly moved aside and Maleficent made her way to Diaval.

""Come," she said to Diaval.

He got up and replied, "What's going on?"

When they got outside, Maleficent instructed Robin to help the men get sober. Robin gave Diaval a small wave, but forced a smile in lieu of the situation. Robin then flew into the den. There were some cheers among the men.

Maleficent had Medusa follow her and Diaval into the foyer. After they all entered the foyer, she slammed the door after Medusa entered.

"Alright, now before I seriously lose it, I want to know exactly what is going on between you two."

Diaval had a baffled look on his face, "Nothing, my dear."

"Don't you 'my dear' me. Did you meet her and tell her she's pretty?"

"Yes, but it was a natural reaction as I wasn't expecting her to look this way. The books, and paintings of her depict her as ugly. So when I saw her face it was just a reaction."

"Did she say you wanted to get to know her better?"

"Oh! No, no, not THAT way. She said she wanted to talk after Robin was healed, I figured all of us would talk later as a group to get to know her. That is what I meant, she said she wanted to talk later."

"Okay, I see." Maleficent said, sounding a little less angry. "So outside of your 'pretty' comment you were not flirting with her?

"No, absolutely not. Why would I do that when I have you."

Maleficent looked to Medusa with narrowed eyes and said, "That was not what you told me. You told me HE wanted to talk with you later."

Diaval glared at Medusa and said, "What did you say to her?"

Medusa slunk down a bit and placed her right arm behind her back and grabbed her left arm. "What I said earlier wasn't entirely true. I did flirt with him, not the other way around, but I didn't know he was Diaval."

"But you find him attractive."

"Yes, but..." Medusa said but stopped short.

Maleficent's eyes grew wide and the look of anger started to build up in her face and she started to breathe heavy. Green wisps of magic started to swirl around her hands.

"Maleficent, please listen." Medusa said as she started to speak rapidly, "He was the first man I laid eyes on since my father passed without having him turn to stone. Just to talk to him was a huge thrill so I flirted with him a bit. Attractive or not, had I known he was Diaval I wouldn't have done so. I know how much he means to you. I mean really, would you think of me to be that foolish after hearing your story to want to take your man away? I couldn't do that to you. I only known you for such a short while, but I already care for you as a good friend and I would never step on your happiness. When you spoke of Diaval in your story, you only said he had dark hair and dark eyes. In the dim light tonight, all the men appear to have that description."

The green glow around Maleficent's hands disappeared and her face softened as she replied, "That's true, I didn't tell you that his defining feature are his scars." She paused a bit, sighed and continued, "I did have an enjoyable evening with you, Medusa. And likewise, you seemed to have enjoyed the evening yourself. I wouldn't seem right that you would ruin things between us since we were just starting to form a friendship."

"No, no way."

She then turned to Diaval and said, "You never told her who you are?"

"No, the conversation didn't get that far."

"But you did come out on your own and say she was pretty."

"I am trying to tell you it was just a reaction." He paused for a bit and continued, "Just because I told her she was pretty doesn't mean there is emotional weight behind it. I think the Duchess is also pretty, but that doesn't make me want to be with her. I think Aurora is pretty, but I see her more as a step daughter that I am helping you raise. Even though I think Medusa is pretty, it is not like when I tell you that you are pretty. When I tell you that you are pretty, it HAS weight, it HAS emotion. I cannot begin to explain how beautiful you are. You are the only one I want to be with.

Maleficent hung her head low and slumped down in the chair next to her. Her eyes began to well up after hearing Diaval's words.

"Alright, Diaval. I'm sorry."

"Diaval, that was beautiful! I could only wish that a guy would love me the way you love her and tell me those sweet things." Medusa said, near tears herself. She then turned to Maleficent and said, "Maleficent? Are we still friends?"

"Yes, of course and I owe you an apology too. Diaval's right, I am being irrational and I honestly don't know what just came over me. It's never happened before. However, I am going to say this, should you flirt with another guy again, make sure he is single," Maleficent said.

She nodded her head and then said, "Is there anyone you could recommend for me in Malora? Just to be on the safe side."

"Medusa, it doesn't work that way. There has to be attraction and then talking to finding out if you have similar traits and interests..." Maleficent said but then paused for a long while. After she said 'interests' it hit her, "Actually..."

With that Maleficent got up and started to go towards the door.

"Actually what?" Medusa said.

"Just hold that thought, I will be right back."

She opened the door and went across the outside corridor to the den. She suddenly got a weird thought that she left a bunch of men alone...with Robin. She didn't know if it was worse to leave the men with the liquor or Robin.

She slowly opened the door and much to her relief, the men were sitting down nicely on the couch and they were laughing at Robin. Robin was hovering near the fireplace and was telling jokes. Maleficent couldn't help but smile that Robin, the Moor's jester was finally back and doing what he did best, making folks happy.

"Ahhh, M'lady, as you can see everyone is sitting nicely and enjoying themselves."

"Yes, I see, keep up the good work Robin," she then turned to Sir Joseph and said, "Sir Joseph, come with me."

"Yes, your excellency."

"Don't bother bringing your coat, just come as you are."

Sir Joseph looked at himself and he was wearing a fairly thin tunic that had a wide open neckline and very short cap sleeves that left much of his arms exposed.

"Am I going to meet her?" he started to sound anxious.

"Yes"

"YEAH! Finally!" Sir Joseph exclaimed loudly.

Martin then said to him, "Heh, are you going to meet your future wife?"

The others laughed and in jest, Sir Joseph threatened to punch Martin in the arm. Maleficent took a good look at how large Sir Joseph's arms were and smiled knowing how well built Medusa is.

"Come Sir Joseph, we must not keep a lady waiting."

Sir Joseph got up and followed Maleficent out the door.

Meanwhile in the foyer, Diaval caught on to what Maleficent was doing and he said to Medusa, "Do you have anything nicer than that heavy cloak, like a dress or something?"

"Yes, in my room upstairs. Why?" She said pointing to the ramp in back of them.

"Well, you are going to meet the guys and I figured, you might want to be dressed in something more...presentable?"

"Oh! Yes. Definitely."

"Can you put it on real quick and wait until I call you?"

"Okay."

Medusa slithered up the ramp and Diaval stood in front of the ramp with his arms crossed.

Diaval then hollered upstairs, "Give me sign to let me know you are ready."

"Ok"

After a few moments Maleficent came in from outside and she looked around.

"Where is she?"

"I had her go upstairs and slip into something nicer."

Maleficent grinned and said, "Great minds think alike. You knew what I was up to, huh?"

"Yes. Oh! You can bring him in, I will announce Medusa when she is ready."

Maleficent nodded and brought Sir Joseph in and sat him down in a chair that was close to and facing the the stairway. She then used her magic to light the torches that flanked the ramp. Sir Joseph settled in and he looked anxious.

A few moments passed and Maleficent wanted to check on Medusa. She shouted up to her that she was coming up. After a few more moments, Maleficent came back down and whispered to Diaval that she was ready.

Diaval announced loudly, "Gentlemen I present to you, Ms Madame Medusa."

Sir Joseph leaned forward as he saw a shadow start to come down the ramp.

Diaval stood to one side of the ramp and Maleficent looked on from the couch constantly switching between the ramp and Sir Joseph's face.

As Medusa descended further she came into view from her tail up. Diaval had the best view of her first as he was closest to the steps. The dress Medusa was wearing was a deep olive green and it was asymmetrical and very modern looking. It wrapped around her torso and extended up and formed a cap sleeve over one shoulder. The rest of her arm was bare. The skirt section was balanced out the asymmetry by being longer on the side that had the totally exposed shoulder. The skirt had tassels that hung down around the entire lower perimeter of the dress. The pattern on the dress made it appear to be a diagonal wrap around her body. There was a small cutouts on the sides of the dress. The dress nicely showcased her well toned arms.

Diaval moved next to Maleficent as he continued to watch on. Maleficent's eyes were riveted to Sir Joseph's eyes. As Medusa's face came into view both Maleficent and Diaval could see that Sir Joseph's and Medusa's eyes flew wide open and both had an expression of wonder on their faces.

"Oh My!" They both said together.