AN: Wow, it's been a full week. I'm sorry my friends. Let's get on with "The Games," hmm?
Regina ran into Richard making coffee as she was getting herself and Emma breakfast the next morning.
"Richard." She smiled, closing her robe and tying it to look a little more presentable, "I trust someone took you in or you found quarters for yourself?"
"Eva." He grunted an answer.
"Maleficent isn't…?"
"Phyllipina isn't ready to deal with me." He filled a mug and added cream and sugar.
"She only lets Aurora call her that." Regina rooted around the refrigerator for something edible. She was about to give up and tell Emma to wait for Holly, but in the refrigerator she found yogurt and fruit.
"Mm," Richard grunted as he took a sip, nodding his understanding, "I know. But I can't call her Maleficent. The name means 'harm and destruction'. She's not, she's… She's my little girl. I created her. I abandoned her. I… I can never make up for it, but I'll not call her Maleficent. Not when I'm the reason she's so destructive. If anyone should be called Maleficent—"
"Don't finish that sentence." Maleficent said from the other end of the room. She didn't say anything more, she only moved to the pantry for food for herself and Aurora.
"Phyllipina—" Richard started but was cut off.
"No."
"Maleficent." Regina looked into the pantry with a curious yet scolding eye.
"No. You don't get to think he's old and sweet and been around you forever so you know him and know his sincerity. I'm his daughter, damn it. I know his sincerity. I know he's trying." She looked to her father, "I know you're owning up for everything. But I can't with you. Not right now. Not because you were found out by my lover." She took a frustrated breath, "Tell me, were you ever going to tell anyone?"
"No. I was going to let you live the rest of your life in peace." Richard looked into his mug.
"Then why let her read you? If you can block a seer, why didn't you?"
"I didn't think her gift real. I'd only heard rumors, never met her, never even seen her."
"So instead you decided to throw caution in the wind?"
Richard didn't have an answer.
"See? You're still deceiving. You were never going to say anything, but maybe if the seer knew who you were…"
"That's not—!"
"But it is! Daddy, you know it is!" Maleficent shook her head and made her way to the doorway, choosing to walk and keep her ground instead of poof back.
"I thought that if the seer was real. If she could read me that she would take me aside, talk to me. I could ask her how you really turned out, since apparently she was your lover. I know you're a private person, Phyllipina, I know you don't show your true self to anyone. I taught you to keep your cards close."
"Yes and somehow my heart still got ripped from my chest."
Regina couldn't just listen anymore, "That is not his fault!" She stared at the other witch. "Don't place blame where blame is not due."
"Don't act superior to me! To this situation!" Maleficent glared to the woman behind her.
"Don't pretend that I don't in some way understand this situation!" Regina's eyes lit with fire, "My mother killed my father so she could be the sole ruler before she even learned magic. She met Rumple and she learned to use magic, tore Daniel's heart out, got intimidatingly addicted to magic, to Rumple's many appearances, and then just up and left! And after 20 days of nothing, I was forced to take the throne at sixteen!"
Regina took a breath, "My father is dead and my mother's heart is literally rotten to the core. I have nothing. I had no one! Yet, I still rule over a kingdom, I'm still good! You though? Your father cheated on your mother before you were born. You have a sister you refused to get to know until after she died. You have daddy issues and you changed your name to suit your attitude. You decided to learn magic from the Dark One making yourself indebted to him and he is the reason Aurora's heart was taken! The reason your heart was taken!"
She huffed a breath out, "I do get to be superior to the situation because after all you've been through and all I've been through… You get love and a second chance with the parent that screwed you over. A genuine second chance. My mother's heart will be fully rotted in the next ten to twelve years. She's never getting out of that lamp. I get my love and I get to rule over a kingdom I never wanted to be tied to, to begin with. But I don't get a second chance."
Regina looked around to find a crowd gathered just inside the two doorways of the kitchen. "Excuse me." She poofed away with no food.
Maleficent walked over to stand next to her father. She swallowed hard and looked to the counter, tears in her eyes, "I suppose, she's got a point…" She whispered.
Holly and the breakfast crew slowly made their way into the kitchen to begin working.
Eva walked into the kitchen, "Aurora told me I could find you here. And that it would be tense. Which it is…"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma shook her head furiously as she sat on the couch of her parents' guest quarters, "No." She'd already dealt with too many emotions that week.
Regina had told her why didn't get breakfast four days before; that made her heart hurt. Watching Richard try to get to know his daughters again; that was sweet and sad. Seeing off the boys; she'd almost refused to let them go—she had help from Grace as the toddler tried to sneak into Eric and Ariel's carriage first, then Shrek and Fiona's and Nancy and Edward's before Delaney finally wouldn't let her say goodbye to anyone else. Emma on the other hand kept it together for the most part until the last one, until Chip had to leave. He'd promised that he could come visit on every couple weeks, or at least once a month, and all she managed was a nod as she buried her head in his neck; he'd truly become her best friend.
And now this shit!
"NO!" She said again as she looked from her wife to her parents to her grandmother again, "NO!" She stood up and stomped her foot as tears came to her eyes. "I won't let you."
"You've no choice, Emma." Eva said, looking at her.
"I'm a Pure One, I'm bound to have a way." The blonde crossed her arms defiantly.
"Emma." Snow scolded from her seat, "Now you had to have known that this was coming."
"I did not have to have known that!" she looked at her mother like she did when she was a child denying she'd eaten an extra cookie.
"But you did." Snow looked at her daughter, "Ever since she came to you, you knew that she wasn't going to be around forever. And then when Cordelia confirmed her to be a tutelary spirit…"
Emma mulled that one over, "NO!" She said again then looked to her grandmother, "I don't want you to go."
Eva took a ragged breath, "I have to."
Emma jut her jaw to the side and looked away from the woman to a wall. After a moment though, she made her way over and buried herself in her grandmother's arms. "I'm gonna miss you too much."
"I'll miss you too."
Emma nodded once before it was too much and she needed to breathe. She ran from her parent's quarters, ran down the hall, ran out of the castle and finally hunched over on the castle's front steps.
She heard the sound of boots against pavement and looked to the bottom of the steps to see Maleficent and Aurora dressed to leave.
Maleficent tilted her head to the side in question, "Are you quite alright? You look as though you'll be sick…"
"Eva told her she had to re-ascend. She loves Eva." Aurora answered Maleficent's question before she looked up at the sunlight through her lace parasol.
"What's going on?" Emma asked after a moment of just watching her basically sane friend.
"We're going to leave—"
"NO!" She yelled cutting off anymore words that could possibly come from her great-aunt's lips.
"No?" Aurora stopped looking at the sun through her now spinning parasol.
Emma stood up and finished the stairs to the bottom, where they were at, "No! Listen. A lot people have left me this week. I know I'm married and blah, blah, blah, but you two can't leave just like everyone else. You don't wanna go back to the Forbidden Mountain and I don't want you to. Regina doesn't either. She just likes to play around when she says those things!"
Maleficent raised her brows, "Okay. You need to calm down. Because, I'm not gonna talk to a crazy person lest her name be Aurora, my Briar Rose." Aurora turned from Emma to her lover and gave her a peck on the cheek.
Emma sat back on the bottom steps, "I'm calm."
Maleficent nodded, "I sent word to the Forbidden Mountain, requesting any mail from the Morpheus Lands be directed here. We've received nothing. They've received nothing. A while ago, we used to get a letter a month begging Aurora to come home. After they stole her heart, I'd write back, as the Briar Rose telling them she couldn't, not even for a visit. The letters stopped coming; though at the time I'd become too preoccupied with my Briar Rose to even notice. We think something is funky in the Kingdom." The witch rolled her eyes, "Okay, she, Aurora, Briar Rose thinks something funky has happened. Not malevolent nor menacing nor even bad, but merely 'funky'." She gave Emma a look, "It's the only word she's giving me. We're going to the Morpheus Kingdom by horse to see what's so 'funky'. I'm not going to poof us into a funk."
Aurora chuckled at the last phrase, "I might want to be poofed into a funk one day."
Maleficent laughed at her ladylove, "I don't doubt that, my love. Not one bit."
"The carriage is loaded, ladies." The driver interrupted the conversation.
Aurora turned to Emma, "We'll be back in a week's time, maybe before. We're going to tell my parents that we live here and we're getting married after we figure out why it's funky up there." She leaned down and hugged the new Shadow Queen.
"Yes, really, do you think I enjoy her parent's company? I don't really enjoy my father's company right now… But I prefer him and you and Regina over the goons."
"No, my parents." Aurora corrected, "The goons are at the Mountain." she took Maleficent's hand.
Maleficent gave Emma look, telling her she meant what she said, "Oh, yes. You're right, darling." She let herself be led to the carriage.
"I know that you're insulting my parents. I'm only letting you get away with it because they think you a goon as well." Aurora sat and looked out, waving to Emma, "Bye, Emma."
"Bye, Emma." Maleficent looked to the top of the stairs then looked down and around, "Bye, Daddy." She said softly, but loud enough for the old man to hear.
"Bye, Richard." Aurora waved to him as well.
"Goodbye Phyllipina, Aurora." He moved down the steps after the carriage took off and sat next to Emma, "You doing alright, kiddo?"
Emma shrugged, "Everyone around me is leaving."
"I'd hardly say that."
"The boys are gone." Emma put her head in her hand as she leaned forward.
"You'll see them again."
"But it won't be like it was."
Richard chuckled, "No, you probably won't compete with them for your wife's hand ever again."
Emma gave him a sly look, "You must be who grandmother Eva got her cheekiness from."
"Her mother was just as cheeky as me." Richard said. "Who else has left you?" He got the blonde back on track.
"Grandmother Eva."
"Oh, now… She's not gone yet."
"I know, but.. She's gonna leave and never come back."
"She might. If she's needed, she might." Richard placed a hand on her arm, "Don't do something to cause her to come back because… remember all the trouble you had to go through to get her here the first time. I mean… Do you really want to go through that again or worse?"
"No." Emma looked despondently to the ground.
"Who else?"
"Aunt Maleficent and Aurora."
"They're coming back in a week's time. They want to stay here with you."
Emma shrugged, "I guess." She looked down, "My mom and dad are going to leave too. I've never lived without my mom and dad…"
"That's how most children are to a certain age. But, you've got your wife and a country to help run."
"And I'm going to need my mommy and daddy to help me help my wife."
Richard laughed heartily, "You don't though. You're all grown up. You're the child we've done right in this family. You have both your parents and more than that, you love them both and they love you."
Emma didn't speak for a moment and finally a grin broke out on her face, "Yeah. We'll make sure to raise the next ones like me."
"A child that is part you, part your wife…" Richard shook his head, a sly smile gracing his features.
"That will be one amazing child." Eva's voice came from the doorway. She moved down to sit on the other side of her grandchild after the two turned to look at her.
Emma nodded as she looked to her grandmother apologetically, then leaned against her after she settled. The blonde then sighed, "I have a name picked out for the first one. It's going to be a girl. Two magical beings of the same gender without fail produce the same gender they are for the first-born. The second and any after the second is anyone's guess."
"Well, what's my great-granddaughter's and your great-grandfather's great-great-granddaughter's name gonna be?" Eva asked.
"Great-great-granddaughter. Now you're making me feel old."
~0~0~0~0~0~
About an hour or so into the trip, Maleficent decided to make the journey a little shorter. She magicked them all the way to the last stretches of the road that led to the most convenient entrance to the Morpheus kingdom.
Aurora looked outside after seeing her lover wave her hand about and a couple sparks fly. She looked back over to the blonde and narrowed her eyes, "Why did you shorten the trip?"
Maleficent smirked, "Don't tell me you didn't see that coming and you don't know why. I know you know both of those things."
Aurora stared at the woman before her before standing and moving to sit next to her lover, "You want to get it over with." She said before kissing Maleficent's cheek.
"I do." The witch nodded.
"Why?" Aurora stroked blonde hair as she cuddled with the woman, letting her lover's head fall to her sternum as she lay them down sideways in the seat.
Maleficent picked her head up, "You know—"
"Why?" Aurora asked her insistently.
"Because I'm tired and I don't want to argue!" The blonde fell against the woman once again showing her exhaustion, "I'm tired of fighting everyone and everything. I'm tired of defending my love for you to them, I'm tired of being the Evil Witch, I'm tired from trying so desperately to bring you back only to have my great-niece do it for me, I'm tired of the neglect I got from my father, I'm tired of pretending like I'm tired of him trying to make it up to me now, I'm just tired. I'm tired of confrontation, Aurora. I'm exhausted of fighting everything in my life good or bad."
Aurora leaned down and kissed Maleficent's forehead, "Then stop fighting." She kissed her cheek, "I think that it might make things better."
Maleficent looked up to her lover's eyes, "You think so?"
"Mhmm…" Aurora leaned forward and pecked the blonde's lips. "I also think that we shouldn't let everyone know we're back after you poof us back to the castle…" She sighed and looked around the coach, "Because I think I might just have the energy to not fight… for a long time."
Maleficent smirked and leaned up, kissing Aurora's lips, "I think I might just have energy to not fight for a long time as well."
Aurora smiled as her lover fell back into her embrace, "Good." she looked away for a moment, suddenly distraught as she played her lover's words over. She kept her tone as normal as she could ever make it now that she was back, "Call me Briar Rose. Call me your Briar Rose."
Maleficent knit her brows and looked up, "What?"
"I know you were—are tired, but please… I'm not Aurora, not who you called Aurora. Not really. I… I'm your Briar Rose. Right?"
Maleficent realized her mistake as she sat up and looked at the girl; she'd yet to call the Morpheus Princess by her given name since they'd got their hearts back. She had no idea calling her 'Aurora' would affect her lover like this, "Of course. You are my Briar Rose." She leaned forward and took her face, "You are my love, and you are my life. You hear me?"
Blue stared into blue seeing honesty and apology, "Don't be sorry, Phyllipina. Just call me Briar Rose when you're done being frustrated."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma walked stealthily along the hall. She kept her ears alert and tried not to make any sudden moves when going into a room. She was distracting herself from everyone up and leaving her with a rousing game of hide-and-seek with little Grace.
This little girl could really hide! She'd been down the entire hall and done a first look into each room. Now, she was starting to grow concerned.
She gave out three claps. A rule Delaney had instated a while before so Grace could never go too far into other parts of the castle. She waited and received nothing in return. She gave three claps again and again she got nothing.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing?" Baelfire asked as he, Hook and Graham turned down the hall.
Emma looked at the three of them, concern all over her face, "Have you seen Grace?"
Hook knit his brows, "She's in the garden with the other Shadow Queen and your parents… They're playing chase."
Emma crossed her arms. She knew she smelt Regina's magic in one of the rooms. "That little…" She passed the three men by, "Thank you." She said waving her arm behind her as she stalked off.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Why have we slowed to a pace I could stroll at?" Maleficent called to the driver.
"It's… Uhm… There's no one moving…"
"No one moving?" Aurora swiftly grabbed the handle of the door and jumped out of the carriage.
"Briar Rose!" Maleficent was quick to poof out to her, hug the princess and poof them back inside, "You don't know what's out here! Or why the people aren't moving! They could be dead! Something could hurt you! The same something that hurt them!"
Aurora gave the woman a coy smile and kissed her lips before quickly making her way back outside, that coy smile turning to a wide grin, "Phyl, they're asleep." She said as the blonde wrapped her arms around her once more, this time in annoyance rather than fear—that Aurora knew for sure.
Maleficent stopped as she heard her lover's words. And looked at the people on the ground, on chairs, even on top of and under outdoor tables, "They're asleep…" She narrowed her brows before shouting out, "How in the gods' names could they all be asleep?! Not everyone in this kingdom could be put under a sleeping curse and NO ONE in adjacent kingdoms know it!" She looked around and rolled her eyes, "This is absolutely ridiculous."
It was as she said those words that the driver, Aurora and Maleficent all saw a red light, a blue light and a green light traveling fast from the direction of the castle.
"Flora, Fauna and Merryweather!" Aurora clapped her hands.
Maleficent looked off to the side, "And it all comes together in one stupid, fairy package."
"Phyl!" Aurora admonished her lover, slapping her arm, "Be nice when they get here."
"Because they've treated me with ever-loving kindness?" Maleficent got defensive; she crossed her arms and looked at her lover, "They saw my horned crown, pointed and called me evil."
"Well… You were evil, darling." Aurora hugged her, "Then you met me and I changed you." She kissed the blonde's lips.
Maleficent looked down and around and back to her lover, "They still didn't need to be rude about it."
"Rose!" Flora's voice was heard. "Rose!"
"Rose!" Fauna's followed Flora's.
"Oh, Rose!" Merryweather said after the three fairies grew from their small colorful dots to human height as they stopped in front of Aurora and Maleficent.
Each fairy hugged Aurora before taking in the fact that Maleficent was with her. And as this realization came to pass, a collective gasp was heard from the three of them.
"Maleficent!" Flora covered her mouth in fear.
Merryweather, the feistiest of the fairies rolled her sleeves and started flying toward the blonde, "I'd like to turn you into a fat ol' hop toad!"
Maleficent laughed, "I'd like to see you try, fairy." She blew her breath out in a huff, magically producing enough air to send the human-sized fairy back to her sisters.
Merryweather started rolling up her sleeves. "Why I oughta—"
"Merryweather?" Aurora cut in, stepping in front of her lover, "Why is everyone asleep?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma stalked outside the mansion and into the garden. She had her hands on her hips when she spotted Regina tossing Grace in the air, twirling the girl around making her laugh. This all stopped when they heard Emma's, "Hey!"
Regina smirked over to her wife as she set the little girl on the ground, "Wife of mine, whom I love and adore." Regina held her arms out as the blonde came forth with a scowl on her face. She kissed her cheek, "You've had quite a day today." She said as she wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulders, hugging her.
"Yeah, and stealing the kid I'm playing with just adds a cherry to the top."
Regina kissed her cheek again, "Come now…" She kissed it a third time, holding her lips in place until she felt Emma begin to smile. "I can make that little infraction of stealing a playmate up to you…" She smiled into her wife's cheek.
Emma hugged the woman tight and shook her head at Regina's antics, "I feel as though we've switched places since we married. All you want from me is my body." She looked away dramatically.
"Yet somehow, your hand always finds its way to my rump…" Regina traced Emma's arm to the hand, proving her point when sure enough, Emma's hand was in fact on her ass. "Whether in public or not now…"
Emma shrugged, "You're my wife, I can touch your rump in public if I please." She looked down dejectedly, "Right?" She looked back into her wife's eyes with a pleading look on her face.
Regina couldn't help as a laugh made its way from her throat, "Of course, my love."
"Emma?" Snow handed little Grace to Delaney who had come to get her cleaned for dinner and started making her way over to her daughter, "Your father and I still need to talk to you. We weren't finished this morning when you… Well, when you ran away."
Emma stared at her mother a moment before pulling from her wife, hugging herself, "Yes, of course." She now looked anywhere but to her mother, "Might we do it another day? I've already had an eventful day… I don't need anymore surprises."
"I think you'll like this one, little princess." Charming came over and realized his error, "Excuse me, little queen." He smiled to his daughter then to Regina.
"I don't think I will. No matter how much you might think I would like it, trust me… I won't." She tried to subtly tell her parents that they weren't allowed to leave.
Regina placed her hands around her clenched, closed off, crossed armed love, "Darling, I think your parents know you a little better than you think. They've already spoken a bit with me, and I know I know you… It's not what you think."
Emma took in her wife's words. She looked between the love of her life and her parents a couple times, "It's not?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Maleficent laughed at the three fairies, "And you followed through on that wish? That wish which takes away from everyone in the Kingdom?" She turned to Aurora, "This is precisely why fairies shouldn't exist. They grant wishes without thinking of the consequences."
"What consequences are those?" Flora asked with a defensive cross of her arms.
Maleficent, who also had her arms crossed looked to the fairy, and an indignant stare in her eyes, "The consequences of granting a wish to two royals that asked to be put to sleep until their daughter stepped foot inside their castle again? How about the question of if the daughter never returns? How about everyone else in the kingdom? How about their wishes? Their wants? What if you put them to sleep during the worst moment of their lives? What if all they've dreamed about the last two years is that moment and what led up to it?"
"That's impossible. It's a spell not a curse. We're only allowed to grant good things." Flora crossed her arms
Maleficent rolled her eyes, "Okay, so say those same people are dreaming of what they want, they even think they have it. They wake up and then what? They're to continue on their miserable trek?"
"Since when do you care about anyone but yourself?" Merryweather huffed.
"That's enough!" Aurora once again stepped in. She turned to her lover, "Take us to the castle. Let's wake my mother and father and get this over with."
Maleficent gave the three fairies a malevolent stare before poofing them all, including the driver and their carriage to the castle.
"I'm just saying, Flora, Maleficent has a point. Is what we've done for the king and queen good for the people too?"
"Oh, hush, Fauna." Flora said as she made her way into the throne room after Aurora and Maleficent.
Stefan and Leah were already waking from their sleep. All it took was Aurora stepping foot into the castle. And all it would take to start to wake everyone else was Stefan and Leah to wake. The chain reaction had already begun.
When Stefan realized where he was, he shot from his throne and looked around, "Aurora? Aurora?!"
Aurora stepped from the shadows where she and Maleficent decided to hide until the princess could assess the situation. She stared at her father, "I'm here, daddy."
"Aurora." He hugged his daughter.
"Oh, Aurora, dear!" Leah glided swiftly to the two of them and enveloped her daughter in a hug. "We've missed you so much."
"I know." Aurora said.
"We're just happy you've come back to us." Stefan turned to see the three fairies, "Tell me, Flora, Fauna, Merryweather. How long has it been since you've put us to sleep?"
"It's been a year or so." Aurora looked around as lights started filling the castle, "The castle hasn't changed."
"No." Leah agreed with her as smiled at her daughter, "It's just like when you left."
A sneeze came from the shadows and Maleficent knew she'd blown her cover, "A little dusty, if nothing else." She said as she emerged.
Aurora smiled to the blonde and reached for her hand, "I had a feeling the dust would get to you."
"Of course, you did. Have your feelings been wrong yet?"
Aurora actually took time think about the question and after thorough analysis, a soft, "No." was her response. Then she became overly cheerful, "I like that I can be right all the time!" She hugged the blonde before her, "It gives me a leg up on you." She whispered.
"I'll let you have a leg up on me anytime you like…" Maleficent whispered in return and smirked as she kissed Aurora's cheek and pulled back.
Aurora smiled wide, "I bet you would." She turned to look at a knight that was leaning against a wall begin to wake up and covered her ears.
Just as Stefan, Leah and Maleficent looked the same direction, the knight, in full metal uniform, fell over causing a riotous echo in the room.
"That was obnoxious." Maleficent looked to her lover, "And you said nothing because?"
Aurora shrugged in response.
Leah narrowed her brows, "What's happened to you?"
"Has she done something?" Stefan looked at Maleficent as if he was considering spitting on her.
"No, daddy, if anything she healed me." Aurora smiled. "She helped heal me, anyways. She kept me alive."
Maleficent turned from them and looked down as she walked a few paces from the three.
"What do you mean, 'she kept you alive'?" Leah asked her daughter as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind the girl's ear.
"When Rumplestilskin and Cora took my heart… both times she kept me alive."
Stefan turned to face the blonde immediately, "And just why did they have her heart? Did you owe them something, decide to give them hers instead of your own? Was yours too small for them to even control?"
Maleficent held her head high, but before she could speak, Aurora got her father's attention, "Daddy, we're getting married."
"Beg pardon?" He looked back to his daughter.
"Yeah. We're getting married. That's why we're here. To let you know. That, and we're living in the Shadow Lands, not the Forbidden Mountain. We don't like it there anymore because of what happened."
"What happened?" Leah asked.
"I almost killed Phyllipina. I was being controlled by them though…" She shook her head, "I don't really want to talk about it with Phyllipina right here." She looked back to her lover and gave her a sad smile before looking back to her parents, "I only came back to tell you that we're getting married and you can reach us at the Shadow castle…"
"And that they are invited." Maleficent reminded her lover.
"Yes, and you both are invited to the wedding."
Leah looked from her daughter to Maleficent, "Why are you being agreeable and not threatening my husband or myself?"
Maleficent looked Leah in the eyes, "I'm done fighting. Briar Rose and I made that decision on the way here, so I'm just going to say a few things and then you both don't have to listen to me ever again."
She swallowed as she walked back over to her Briar Rose and took her hand, "I love your daughter, and your daughter loves me. We had our hearts ripped out by the dark one and Cora, and my great-niece that I didn't even realize was my family is a Pure One. She joined a competition for the Shadow Queen's hand where a lot of things went down. But what you need to know is that she restored our hearts to our bodies just as I had been on the brink of death and Briar Rose almost lost every sane part of her completely. The Dark One and Cora played with Briar Rose, controlled her, manipulated her. They drove her insane." She took a breath, "But that's all over now and we're moving forward. She's now got a third eye, and can read anyone and anything."
She took another breath and took the opportunity to kiss the other woman's hand, "We're not going to be apart from each other. You can't force that like you've tried before; no one can. And, if anyone does attempt, I won't even bother with my own magic; I'll call on my great-niece, the Pure One, to come and deal with the threat."
Leah stared at the woman for a long, hard moment. She nodded once, as if that stare told her everything she needed to know, "Would you mind if we had some time with our daughter?"
Maleficent shook her head.
Aurora kissed her lover, "Go to my room, I'll find you when we're done talking."
"Don't leave me alone too long." Maleficent whispered.
"They want to know what happened… I'll be a bit."
Maleficent gave her lover a frustrated look before leaving the throne room and going upstairs.
Stefan looked to Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, "Could you go make sure the people are adjusting well? Tell them that we'll make an announcement later about everything that's happened."
"Yes, your majesty." The fairies left as well.
Aurora turned to her parents, "So, what do you want to know?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma knit her brows and stared at the coffee table in Regina's study, "So… What you're saying is that you're gonna sign over the kingdom to me and Regina, and the White Kingdom will then be a part of the Shadow Kingdom, and they will have the same progressive laws, and you guys are gonna stay here in this castle with me and Regina?"
Snow smirked at her daughter, who still spoke in large run-on sentences with no pause for air when she got riled in this way or that, "Yes." She nodded.
"That pretty much sums it up." Charming added, nodding as well, waiting for a reaction from his daughter.
Emma nodded along with her parents, "And all you're waiting on is a grandchild in order to make that happen?"
"Yes." Charming answered first this time.
"Your father and I feel that would be the perfect time because at that point, we'll want to focus on being grandparents, not running a country. That is when we'll step down and let you, our only heir, step up. Only instead of taking over the White Kingdom, you will simply make the White Kingdom the Shadow Kingdom as well."
"All so you can play with my kids more than me…"
"Yes." Came from Charming, while, "No!" came from his wife at the same time.
Emma smirked at her father then looked to her wife, "Are you okay, would you be okay with taking on another country and preparing for a baby."
"Of course." Regina nodded, "Besides, it's not like we won't have help…" She turned to them, "I assume you'll be here to give us advice if needed?"
"Of course. As long as I don't have my grandbaby in my arms, I'll be all ears." Charming gave them his signature grin.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Aurora spent the afternoon with her parents and finally said goodbye to them that evening. Maleficent had, apparently, pushed the waking up process along with a little helpful magic. Her only excuse was that she was bored and could see them all waking up from Aurora's bedroom window.
They finally poofed back to their quarters in the castle that evening. She kicked her shoes off and poofed into some pajamas before walking out to the balcony. She threw a fireball into the fire pit and settled into the wicker bowl seat.
Aurora came out a few minutes later in her own pajamas, "I'm hungry." She said after plopping into the couch with her lover.
"What am I supposed to do about it?"
"Will you magic me some mashed potatoes? My favorite kind of mashed potatoes?" the Morpheus princess had a twinkle in her eye.
"Would you like anything to go with that?"
"No." Aurora shook her head. A bowl of mashed potatoes appeared in front of her. She smiled wide and clapped, "Yay. Thank you." She kissed Maleficent's cheek and waited for the woman to turn her head so she could kiss her lips.
Maleficent gave the girl a couple minutes with her potatoes before she couldn't keep it in anymore, "What did you tell them?"
Aurora smirked before she smiled, "It took you a long time to finally ask…"
"You're avoiding the question. It was the disgusting, disturbing truth, wasn't it?" Maleficent asked.
Aurora gave a slight nod, "I told them every last tragic bit. I told them that I loved you and that wasn't going to ever change. I told them about both times my heart was ripped out. I told them…" Her breathing became ragged and she turned from Maleficent as tears filled her eyes, "I told them about how I… I drained you. I told them about how being forced to do that was the worst pain I'd ever experienced. Worse than any of the times my heart was squeezed or magic was put upon it."
"You don't have to say anymore, Briar Rose." Maleficent could tell that telling her was hurting Aurora. That talking to her, the lover, was almost like reliving the experience for the princess. She kissed Aurora's temple and brought her into her hold, "You don't have to say anymore." She repeated, soothingly rubbing her back.
"Thank you." Aurora burrowed into Maleficent's chest.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
A few minutes went by, the two of them just staring at the flames.
Aurora finally spoke again, "We're getting married soon."
"Yes we are."
"And my parents are coming."
"Yes… they are…"
"And they want to give us the kingdom."
"…Excuse me?"
AN: Hope you enjoyed. What the boys are doing, have been doing, hints at their future will be the next chapter. Thoughts and feels? Please, read and review!
As for last chapter's quiz questions… And keep in mind that this is just a dream cast in the author's head—it's like 'Who's Line?' The virtual brownies mean nothing because the quiz questions don't matter…
Most of you that guessed said Dick Van Dyke for Richard Van Dyke, which I really, really hope was obvious. Some of you, my guest 'Lisa', carolm007, chemkate, and Alcandre all guessed that Laura was Easter Egged to be Mary Tyler Moore! Yay everyone! And I surprisingly only had two people take it a step further and guess that Julie Andrews would be Millie. My guest, 'Guest' and piecesofyourheart took home all the virtual brownies I can offer. Though, I have to give 'Guest' just a little more because she/he guessed why Millie was named 'Millie'. (It was the one you like to think, Guest.) Millie in my dreams would be played by Julie Andrews. This is the Easter Egged reason why: Julie Andrews and DVD were freaking Mary Poppins and Bert on (obviously) "Mary Poppins". MTM and DVD were Laura Petrie and Rob Petrie on "The DVD Show". Julie and MTM were Millie and Miss Dorothy Brown on "Thoroughly Modern Millie". The reasoning behind using 'Millie,' as Guest guessed was because 'Mary' would be too easy, and my throw people off if one is Mary and the other is Laura… Also, I didn't want to do Mary and Maria—those are too similar. And Victoria is, well… there's no connection with that one, so… yeah…
Now, for Jedipoet-Guest, you gave me a quiz question about DVD's brother. Jerry doesn't have credits until the 1960s… So, I'm not sure which show you're going for there. I mean, he guest-starred on DVD's show? Or are you wanting "My Mother the Car?" As for the 90s sitcom, I really, super hope you're wanting "Coach" because, I mean… It's "Coach!" haha.
Wow, this is a lot of bold… I'm done now!