Important note: What clutter do you wish for Diaval to have? Leave a note and I'll see what I can do! :)

Prompt: This chapter was inspired by Jett and her idea of Maleficent treating Diaval a little bit more gently due to his injury. (I'm not sure if I managed the gentle though!) Thank you very much!

Chapter 5: Dock-tor Diaval

Diaval was in pain. Immensely so. Unbearably almost, dare he say it. Cowering amongst the thickly leafed branches of a young birch, he peered through the rain soaked vines in an attempt to spot the equally drenched fox who had decided it would be a spiffing idea to make him his late-night snack.

If he cocked his head the right way, Diaval could only just barely make out the shadowy silhouette of the sodden bastard at the other side of the clearing. It was flitting to and fro, stopping every so often to sniff at something. Stupid rodent, Diaval cursed silently and adjusted his throbbing left wing. As soon as he was human again, he would give the beast a few solid kicks until it was unable to tell left from right.

And then a couple more, for good measure.

A drop of water fell from a leaf above him, and right onto the mangled wing. Diaval let out a pained caw as it hit the wound and the fox lifted its head to look into his general direction. The raven scowled back, despite knowing the animal couldn't see him behind the leaves. Turning his head to look at the gash, he felt the worry in his chest grow. It didn't look good. What if he lost his wing? What if he would never be able to fly again?

No, that was stupid. Maleficent would be able to fix him. She was the guardian of the Moors, surely she would take care of him as well? Speaking of his mistress - where was she? Shouldn't she be here by now?

Another drop of water fell and burst when it hit his head.

Feeling absolutely miserable, Diaval the Raven hunched up as well as he could with his hurt wing and settled in for a very long night.

The first rays of pale sunlight fell onto black feathers and made them shine a beautiful shade of blue. The raven was sitting on its perch high up in a tree, lids closed and obviously nodding. Every so often, its small head would tip forwards and then jerk back up again. Beady eyes, glazed over with sleep, would blink open for a split second before slowly drifting shut once more.

The dull throbbing in Diaval's wing was strangely hypnotic, and made it so very hard to wake up. Around him, he could hear the familiar sounds of the forest as it slowly came to life, but he couldn't seem to move a single muscle. His mind felt weirdly detached and left him with no control over his body.

In the end, it was a familiar voice that finally had him snapping to attention. "Diaval! Diaval, you miserable raven, where are you?" Struggling to keep his heavy eyelids open, Diaval let out a hoarse caw. Down below, Maleficent entered the clearing, eyes scanning the nearby trees, until they finally landed on his birch when he cawed again. As he watched her slowly walking over the grass that was still soaked with rain from the previous night, Diaval felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from his chest, and he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. Everything would be fine now.

"What are you doing up there?" his mistress asked in a rather irritated manner, her green eyes flashing. "I've been looking for you all over the place."

Despite the urge to shout and laugh in happiness - she had been searching for him! - all Diaval could manage was another, miserable squawk. He was sure that his sleepy mind was playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn there was something akin to worry in her expression. "You're hurt," she stated in a neutral voice. Another pained caw. "Come down, and we'll have a look at it."

Sometimes, Diaval missed his human tongue when he was in his real form. Right now, he could think of so many things he wanted to say. And how should I do that, he would ask her, with only one wing, and then react to her witty retort that would undoubtedly follow. He never noticed how much he missed his banter with the faerie until he actually lost the ability to speak.

"Today, if you have the time, Diaval," Maleficent called impatiently. "I have places to be."

Sure you have, he snapped in his mind and let out an indignant caw. Fixing little twigs and playing pranks on faeries and ordering me around.

Placing all his trust in his mistress and hoping that she would catch him for once, Diaval contemplated a few different ways to get down and in the end settled for the most direct one. Closing his eyes, he let out a loud, warning cry, gathered all his little raven-bravery - and jumped.

Of course, she didn't catch him. She never did. His body hit the wet grass with a dull thump, and for a moment all Diaval could do was lie there, dazedly, as pain exploded through his mangled wing and stars danced in front of his eyes. He almost didn't notice the light fingers that probed and prodded the hurt limb gently, until Maleficent's cool voice snapped him out of his haze. Once again. "It doesn't seem too bad," the faerie concluded her examination and straightened from where she had crouched down beside him.

Not too bad? Diaval wanted to ask. Damn right it is! I-just-fell-from-a-tree-because-I-can't-fly-and-you-didn't-catch-me-bad, that's how bad it is! All he managed, however, was a pained, slightly breathless caw. When he felt the now familiar magic take hold and was lifted up into the air, he didn't even protest. He did wonder, though. Where was Maleficent bringing him?

The answer soon became clear to him when they took the path that would lead them to the outskirts of the Moors. After Maleficent had wandered through the forest in silence, and he had floated in her wake in an even bigger silence - because, boy, was he scandalised. This was definitely no way to treat an invalid, even his somewhat dim raven-mind realised that. He wouldn't speak a single caw to her. - they came to a halt near one of the human encampments that seemed to pop up every now and then despite his and Maleficent's best efforts to drive every living soul away.

A quick wave with her hand sent the occupants running, and behind they left a right mess of weapons, clothes, and other stuff Diaval couldn't be bothered to think about right now. The throb in his side had gotten worse, and he almost cried out in pain when Maleficent turned towards him and transformed him into his human form. Gently, she lowered him to the ground where he fell to his knees, panting and clutching at his left arm. It hurt like hell.

"You should find everything you need to tend to your wound here," Maleficent said. Diaval shot her a pained look. "Wouldn't it be better to contact one of those dock-tors the humans have?" he asked meekly. Great. There went his vow not to talk to her.

The faerie sent him a fierce scowl and crossed her arms. "I will not allow any human into the Moors," she stated firmly. "And we are a two-days march from the next village which has even as much as a herbalist. If you're itching for a walk, I won't stop you."

Not deigning this with an answer, Diaval remained silent, thinking about what to do next. "Besides," Maleficent continued after a moment, her voice much softer. "Your wound isn't as bad as you're making it out to be." "How can you say that?" he whined, still clutching at his arm. "It hurts like hell."

The faerie only rolled her eyes impatiently and sighed. "At least have a look at it, Diaval," she ordered, clearly irritated, and so he reluctantly obeyed. Stripping off his black overcoat, he carefully rolled back the sleeve of his shirt. "Oh no," he cried, following a sudden inspiration. "I can't bear to watch!" Dramatically, he flung his good arm up to cover his face, swaying on his knees as if he were about to faint.

The look on Maleficent's face definitely was worth the pain. He could only see it for a split second, a mixture of surprise and worry, before her features smoothed over once more, but it had definitely been there. He'd seen it!

"Just look at the wound, you big oaf," she commanded imperiously, a sharp edge to her voice. Diaval snickered quietly as he bent over his arm, and from the corner of his eye he caught her lips quirking upwards in what had to be the tiniest smile he'd ever seen. How did the humans put it? The gain was worth the pain, or something like that.

When he looked at his wound, he found that Maleficent had been right. The gash was ragged and long, but shallow, crusted with dried blood and dirt. Definitely something he could tend to. If only he knew how.

As he sat in contemplative silence, one of the water skins the humans had left behind in their haste to get away was thrown through the air and bounced off his shoulder. "Hey!" he exclaimed, indignation flaring hotly, and turned to look at Maleficent. A bundle of coarse linen smacked him square in the face. "What was that for?" he asked accusingly once he had freed himself from the tangle of fabric.

"It won't heal from just staring at it," Maleficent quipped from where she was sitting on a fallen log some feet away, her staff leaning next to her. "Start cleaning the wound with the water."

Grumbling, Diaval set to work and slowly, accompanied with a stream of curses, washed the dirt and blood from his arm. When he was done, he looked at Maleficent questioningly and she jerked her chin at the heap of linen next to him. "Wrap it tightly around your arm." Blinking, he obeyed once more.

The next minutes where filled with even more cursing, the sound of ripping cloth, and frustratingly enlightening moments of clarity during which Diaval discovered how very difficult it was to wrap something with only one hand.

"Why can't you just heal me?" he complained after his third failed attempt to bandage himself up. "You do it all the time."

His mistress only shrugged and cracked a nut which she then handed to a red squirrel. The little rodent was sitting on her knee and accepted the food eagerly. Munching away, it seemed to care little for Diaval's hapless struggles, and he thought that it was much like Maleficent in this regard. "Have a guess," the fairy said, and when he kept grumbling and groaning, she shot him an irritated look.

"You need to learn to fetch for yourself eventually, Diaval," she explained, pointedly ignoring the even pointier look he sent the squirrel on her lap. "Would you rather I strangle myself?" he asked, finally managing to wrap the linen around his arm in a semi-successful manner.

"Oh, I have full confidence in you and your abilities to not choke to death while trying to patch yourself up," she answered flippantly and cracked another nut. When he opened his mouth with a low "Aaaah" she raised a single brow at him, but then tossed it in his direction. Holding onto his almost-bandaged arm with one hand to keep the linen in place, Diaval expertly caught the nut mid-air between his teeth. At Maleficent's bemused stare he winked at her playfully, then turned back to wrapping up his arm, but not before sticking his tongue out at the slighted squirrel.

By the time he finally managed to tie the bandage into a knot it was almost noon and his fingers felt stiff and cold. The squirrel had abandoned them some hours back in search of a different pastime and Maleficent had exchanged the cracking of nuts for peaceful tranquility. Perched motionless atop the log, she had closed her eyes and waited patiently for Diaval to finish dressing his wound.

Now he stood before her, black coat slung over one arm, and triumphantly held up the other. "I'm done, Mistress," he announced proudly and watched as her eyes opened slowly. Taking in his work, she quirked a brow and cocked her head. "Just when I was beginning to think we'd spend the night here," she quipped. He ignored it and instead shrugged back into his overcoat.

"Did you need me for anything special today, Mistress?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible. She caught on instantly. Of course.

"Why? Do you have somewhere to be?"

Meeting her curious gaze with a scowl, Diaval crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Almost," he admitted ominously.

"I have to kick someone."

Hey there!
Thank you so much for the reviews I got for the last chapter! You guys are amazing!
And thanks to you, I have a lot of ideas on how to continue this story.

I felt weirdly creative today but nothing turned out the right way, so to blow off some steam I jotted down this chapter.

You should also thank my cat, who made sure I stayed motivated enough to finish and upload it today by bringing a sweet, tiny, sadly dead mouse in as a quick snack. Thanks to that mouse I included the squirrel. Rest in peace, little bugger. (By the way, when I tried to take it from her she only growled and walzted out of the room. Now she's hidden the mouse somewhere in the house and I can't seem to find it.)

I hope you liked the chapter as much as I did. First I wasn't sure how to get the ball rolling, but once I had Diaval jump from the tree it was easier to write everything.

See you next time, hopefully, and please continue to leave me ideas on what you want for Diaval's clutter!

If enough people are interested, we could also do a twitter hashtag or something. Any ideas on what to use? I was thinking of #clutteringmaleficent, but that's entirely up to you guys! Let me know what you think of it, you've got at least three more chapters until I actually go through with that lovely brain fart of mine.

Love, planless