AN: This is the part where I think Maleficent will be a little OOC... though I did really enjoy writing her from Diaval's point of view. As I see it, he is practically the only one who knows her well and yet tests her limits a little all the time. I liked writing that... and I must admit I rather liked the final line of this, too.

Diaval

When we watched Prince Phillip kiss Aurora and nothing happened, Maleficent said to me, "I told you".

Of course, when Maleficent's own 'true love's kiss' for Aurora did work, she wouldn't hear anything about it.

"It's not the same," she insisted. "I consider the girl a daughter and true love between mother and daughter is not the same as true love between a man and a woman."

"It so is," I told her smugly, but she only sent a death glare in my direction that made me swallow and keep my mouth shut about the subject.

"If you ever see true love between a man and a woman," she said sarcastically, "real, true love… then you can come back to me and tell me 'I told you so'. Not a second before. Is that clear?"

I bowed. "Challenge accepted."

Aurora became queen of both the Moors and her own kingdom, and Phillip visited her in the Moors quite often; but apart from them becoming very close friends, nothing seemed to happen. Not between them, anyway. I wouldn't say that time was entirely uneventful, because many changes occurred in both the Moors and the human kingdom. They had been unified now, and the entire land prospered under Aurora's reign.

And then, one day, it happened.

I was just sitting in a tree in my crow form, watching Maleficent – just because she'd relieved me of my duties as her servant, did not mean we weren't friends anymore; and I mostly spent my time keeping an eye on either her or Aurora, since they both had a tendency to get into trouble – when a man walked up to her.

If I had been in my human form, I would have grinned at the expression on her face. As fierce and unfazed as she was in the face of danger, she could be completely taken aback by a friendly gesture; and this man, as I discovered quickly, was very friendly.

"Excuse me," he said, causing her to turn around. He bowed. "Forgive me for being so bold," he said, "but I could not help but notice that the stories I heard about your beauty have not done you any justice by far."

Honestly, the look on her face was priceless.

"Excuse me?" she demanded.

The man looked at her. "Everyone has heard of you," he said. "The story is told across the mountains and on the other side of the sea. They call it the story of 'Sleeping Beauty'. The story of a beautiful princess, trapped in a sleeping enchantment, who was saved by her fairy godmother. That is you, is it not?"

"Yes," she admitted, frowning a little, clearly unsure of where this was going. Frankly, I was unsure of where this was going.

He stepped closer and took her hand in his, kissing it. "My name," he said, "is John, Duke of the Upper Rivers across the mountains."

She eyed him warily. "Welcome to the kingdom, John," was all she said.

He raised his gaze to meet hers. "Would you mind telling me your name?"

She faltered for the briefest moment and I knew she was remembering her and Stefan's first meeting now. She had told me all about it at some point – one of her 'weaker' moments, as she herself always referred to them, in which she would confide in me about her past.

But it wasn't the same as with Stefan. I could feel it.

"Maleficent," she said curtly in reply to his question.

"Maleficent," he repeated. He smiled. "That is a beautiful name. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

She looked decidedly uneasy, which, of course, amused me to no end.

"Though I must say that the name they call you in the stories suits you even better," he said. "'Beauty', I mean."

It took both her and me a while to realise what exactly he meant by that. Once I did, I had to keep myself from bursting out laughing. She, however, just narrowed her eyes at the duke.

"You thought I was Sleeping Beauty?" she asked him incredulously. "Are you out of your mind?"

Manners, Maleficent. Manners.

John did not seem to mind, though. "Aren't you?"

She let out a hollow laugh. "Of course not," she snorted. "Does the princess have horns and wings and magical powers in your stories? I'm the fairy godmother."

"So you saved the princess," he concluded, not missing a beat. She grumbled something under her breath, always reluctant to admit that she had done something good. To Aurora, she was a hero; but whenever the new queen told Maleficent that, the woman would just cackle and brush 'Beastie' off. Stubborn old hag.

"Forgive me my mistake," John said. "I saw you and I naturally assumed that because of your beauty, you were the princess they were talking about… I am sorry."

I would have snorted, had I been able to – that must have been the corniest thing I've ever heard – but Maleficent, much to my surprise, just waved her hand.

"It's fine," she said.

I could tell by her facial expression that she wanted him to leave, but he didn't, and she didn't make him. Instead, she watched vigilantly as he took her in, studying her as if she were some kind of rare animal. He looked intrigued at the horns on her head and I could just see his gaze sliding down, past her long, dark hair (which she had started wearing loose again), bright eyes, prominent cheekbones and red lips, only to travel over her shoulder to the wings behind her back.

"Magnificent," he whispered in awe, still smiling as he reached out. "May I touch them?"

She bristled. "No," she snapped, automatically pulling her wings back and up, out of his reach. She reminded me of a cat putting up its back.

Now, of course, John's eyes just widened even further, seeing her huge wings in all their majestic glory. He tore his gaze away from them, though, and focused on her face instead.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She snorted. "No, but I might hurt you."

He didn't seem impressed at all. "Would you really?"

"You don't know me," she hissed, stepping away from him. I wanted to roll my eyes and yell at her. Sweet heavens above, Maleficent, do you not even know what it means to be nice?

"You're right, I don't," John agreed. "I'd like to, though."

Inwardly, I rooted for him.

Maleficent just sniffed and turned around. "Diaval!"

I came out of my hiding place, flying towards her. She changed me back into a human and asked, "What is Beastie up to?"

I sighed. "You really should stop calling her that."

She glared at me and I obediently pointed to the south. "Swimming with Phillip."

She nodded and walked off, clearly intending to go and check up on the girl. I turned around only to find John staring at me.

"I've never seen such powerful magic before," he said admiringly, staring at me, then at Maleficent's retreating back, and then back at me again.

I grinned at him and nodded in the direction the powerful fairy had disappeared in.

"Don't give up on her," I told him. I genuinely thought this man could thaw her a little, which was good for not just her, but all of us; and she deserved to have more people in her life to care about her. Heaven know she had, and still has, too little of those.

John nodded at me. "I wasn't going to," he said in reply to my remark.

My grin widened. "Good."

It took her weeks to let him befriend her, months to start trusting him, and years to let him in. More than once, I thought she was going to run away from him, or he was going to give up on her; but neither of them ever did what I expected them to do. He surprised me with his devotion to her. I asked him about it once and he said that he did not know what it was about her that drew him in, but he loved her and he was willing to give her all the time she needed.

I smirked, because I knew I would win. If this wasn't true love, nothing was.

Whenever people saw Maleficent, they were usually frightened or at the very least slightly intimidated. Her features, especially those enormous wings, sharp horns, and piercing eyes, tended to make people uncomfortable. They believed she was strong, or fierce, or evil, or untouchable. Not many people saw the hurt behind her mask. It had taken even me years of living by her side to see it, and I knew that what I saw now was not even the full extent to which her heart was broken. What she had showed me was only a fraction of what she had felt, and still did feel, because of Stefan's betrayal.

John, however, saw it. I think she knew that, and that was why she cautiously allowed him to get closer and closer until he was so far in there was no way she could ever push him out again.

I watched them grow closer and closer. I witnessed their first kiss and some other… first times… as well (no, I did not stay to watch. Of course not. I am not a pervert. I flew off once I realised that that was where they were heading).

One early morning, I was perched in a tree, careful to stay out of sight. John and Maleficent had travelled to the top of some high rocks in the Moors, from where a waterfall fell down into a large pool below. They – and I – could see all the way to the humans' palace from here. It was a beautiful spot. Romantic. Even Maleficent wouldn't be able to disagree with that.

I'd been out here all night, watching them. I knew that Maleficent was always still afraid of losing her wings again and ever since she had gotten them back, she had been restless in sleep, always tossing and turning, sometimes having nightmares, and waking up multiple times each night. I never mentioned it and neither did she. I did, however, always keep an eye on her when she slept. Just in case.

She was still asleep now, with her head against John's shoulder. He was awake and watching her; trailing his fingers along her wings and her face, pressing a soft kiss to her hair. I looked away and started picking at my feathers, purely to give myself something to do.

My head snapped back when I heard her cry out. She shot up straight, eyes wide and chest heaving, her hand immediately reaching over her shoulder. When her fingers touched the feathers of her wings, she let out an audible sigh of relief.

John tentatively touched her arm. "Did you have another nightmare?"

She just nodded and he folded her in his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. I saw the way her wings drew towards him, proving once again that she trusted him.

"Hey, Beauty?" he whispered after a while. He had started calling her that in the very beginning and even though she pretended to despise it, I secretly suspected her to like it more than she let on.

She made a noise in her throat to let him know she'd heard him, and he ran his fingers through her hair as he spoke.

"I lied to you, the first time we met," he said.

She immediately sat up, alarmed. "What?"

"I knew you weren't Sleeping Beauty," he said. "The stories spoke of her golden hair and they distinctly told that she was human. The moment I saw you, I knew it couldn't be you."

She furrowed her brow. "Why did you come to me, then?" she demanded. "And why did you pretend to mistake me for her?"

He shrugged. "Because I meant what I said that day," he said simply. "You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. This is going to sound really stupid, but I just needed an opening to talk to you and I couldn't really think of anything else," he confessed sheepishly.

I felt like banging my head against a rock. Even I, having spent most of my life in an animal form, could have thought of a better way to approach a woman.

Maleficent kept looking at him for a long time, seemingly lost in thought. She tilted her head a little to the side.

"I still don't understand," she said. "Why in the world did you take the effort to get to know me? Most people would have left me alone after my first sneer in their direction… but you just kept coming back. Why? What was so special about me that you had to try to come closer?"

He smiled. "You just looked like you needed someone who cared," he said.

She, of course, had no reply to that.

They kissed. I turned around and flew off.

They got married on a beautiful day in the spring.

Aurora and Phillip were present and so was I, of course; along with almost every other magical creature from the Moors. Aurora had been gushing over the incredible wedding dress she and the fairies had made ever since they had finished it, a few months ago, and the entire kingdom was buzzing with the news. Wherever I went, the upcoming wedding was usually the main topic of conversation.

As I watched Aurora and some of the fairies help Maleficent get ready, just before the ceremony would start, I managed to hold my tongue. I didn't even make a sound when they left and Maleficent turned around to face me, raising one eyebrow, her eyes piercing.

"If you have anything to say," she said, "then say it."

I played stupid. "What should I say?" I was grinning, though. The fact that she was willing to marry John meant that she really loved him, and we both knew that. So far for true love not existing. She couldn't be right about everything, after all – no matter how badly she wanted to be.

Her other eyebrow went up as well and my grin widened. "You look beautiful," I bowed, "Mistress." Then I brushed past her in order to take my place amongst the guests. As I did so, however, I could not resist bumping my shoulder against hers and whispering in her ear, "I told you so."

The fact that I had to spend the rest of that day in the form of a worm was totally worth it.

That was it... I hope you liked it. Please let me know in a review! :)