This chapter is mainly going to be a flashback in third person because I hate writing in first person—I'm always afraid that I put too many 'I' in it. This will also be in italics to show that it is a flash back. A portion of the story will be Maleficent retelling the 'Maleficent' movie.
Enough with the author's note. On with the tale!
Enjoy.
Mal was merely five years old when she was walking through the market place on the Isle with her mother, Maleficent. The place boomed with villagers since a new shipment came from the mainland that day and Christmas was in the next couple days.
What? Just because they are villains doesn't mean they don't celebrate the holidays.
Mal wanted to look at the booths with her the one friend she had, so she asked permission from her mother.
"Don't stray too far," her mother warned. "I want you to stay in my eye sight. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mother!" Mal nodded her head excitedly. "Jay and I will stay only a few feet ahead of you."
Mal kept true to her promise. With every booth that the two went to, they stayed made sure they could see their parents—for Jafar had decided to walk with Maleficent.
The last one they ended up going to was surrounded by all of the other children. It leaned against a metal building that could break at any moment, but they didn't care. They were more interested in the exotic Auradon toys. The merchant was giving each child a free toy for it being so close to Christmas.
While the shopkeeper was doing so, the building was starting to rumble. He gave a toy to a child then shoo them off before doing the same to the next kid in line. Mal was one of the first kids to get a toy, but she stayed at the booth until Jay—who was one of the lasts in line, got his toy.
She ended up getting bored with waiting so she played with her new possession, a stuffed toy crow with only one small tear on the beak. The building started to shake even more dangerously. The retailer forced the rest of the children away because he was afraid it would collapse at any moment. However, he didn't see little Mal still aimlessly adoring her toy.
Before anyone could see it coming, a metal sign that hanged on the building broke free from its hinges and came tumbling down almost on top of Mal.
Almost.
Maleficent had heard the metal brake and turned in time to see it fall. Like in slow motion, she ran toward her daughter and pushed her out of the way. The sign hit her on the back, causing her to collapse on the ground. Mal rushed to her mother and tried to remove the sign off her with the little to no strength that she had. The moment that one of her tiny hands had touch the metal, a searing pain coursed through it forcing her to jerk it back.
Jafar came to the child's aid, but instead of helping her mother examined her hand. A bright red line engraved itself into the skin. That's when realization hit him.
"Get the sign off Maleficent!" He ordered the male villains. "It's made of iron!"
Immediately, they went to work on removing the lethal metal off the old fairy. Meanwhile, Jafar lifted Mal into his arms and rested her on his hip. "Your mother will be fine," he reassured the young child that was starting to sob. "They will get it off her and she'll be safe."
The ex-visier of the Sultan adverted his attention to dear old Lady Tremaine and her daughter Anastasia who were watching from afar. "Will you take the rest of the children back to your place? They don't need to see this."
With only a nod, the two women went to work on collecting all the children and bringing them to their home. The old woman had to practically drag Jay away from the scene—who wanted to stay to comfort his friend.
The villains finally managed to get the heavy sign off their ruler, but she was shaking erratically and two spots on her back became damp. Jafar barely had enough time to cover Mal's little ears before Maleficent let out a scream of agony and a shrill of pain. Even though her ears had been covered, nothing could keep Mal from hearing the noise. She cried for her mother.
"Don't touch her yet!" Jafar ordered Gaston, who was about to pick her up. "She's in shock. The iron landed on her old wounds and reopened them. Find something to carry her on—like a table, then give her at least thirty seconds to rest, and take her to her home to the Bargain Castle. Whatever you do, do not lay her on her back."
Jafar turned to the women that were watching. "Those of you that know how, grab any bandages or similar items that you can find and wrap Maleficent's back to stop the bleeding. Don't second guess yourself on how much you bring—it will take at least three layers to fully cover the wounds once, and don't make it loose. Keep it as tight as you can without her thrashing around. The rest of you, quickly write a letter to the King asking for medicine to heal the burns and to sedate the pain." Nobody moved until he shouted, "NOW!"
They asked no questions and rushed around to follow the orders. They knew just how the dire the situation is. If the dome had not been in place, things would have been so different. Maleficent would have been able to heal herself, making the only problems her staggering to walk and the burns.
A couple of the other men helped Gaston place Maleficent on the table. Once they hefted her in the air, she raised her head slightly and muttered with a stutter, "M-m-my b-baby g-g-girl—"
"She's safe," Jafar reassured the concerned mother. "Only a slight burn to the hand. Nothing as dangerous as your injury."
At hearing the news, she laid her head down and willingly allowed them to take her away.
All while her daughter was watching with horror.
Three hours.
That's how long it took the women to wrap Maleficent's back and for the medicine to arrive from Auradon. With the medicine, there was a letter from the King. He gave his condolences for the pain inflicted on Maleficent and swore he had no idea that there was any iron on the island. He promised that tomorrow some of the Auradon guards and knights will come to the Isle and remove the unstable building to prevent it from falling on anyone else or on the children. If any villain or their children were to find any other iron on the Isle, they can inform the king and it will be removed in a timely manner.
Along with the letter and the medicine was a package for Maleficent and her daughter from the Queen. She had sent a new black silk blanket for the mother—it was to be used to cover her while her injuries were healing since an average blanket would be too heavy. For the daughter, she sent a dark purple scarf with a dash of light pink to keep her warm during the winter days.
Anyways, Mal stayed in the living room portion of the house, cuddling her toy raven and her new scarf. She kept her eyes on the closed door of her mother's room. The men, including Jafar, had left to start tearing down the building and investigate the island for any more random iron.
Suddenly the bedroom door opened, and emerged Mother Gothel. She gave the scared child a small smile. "Your mother is asking for you," she cooed calmly. "Do you want to see her?"
With a brisk nod, Mal jumped off the couch and ran eagerly into her mother's room. The child didn't know what to think when she saw her mother laying in the bed, all bandaged up with her new blanket over her. She was curious about her mother's long brown hair that she'd never seen before.
"Mother, your hair is so pretty," Mal complimented as she tried to hide her sobs. She went and sat next to her mother on the floor and laid her head next to hers. "How come you hide it?"
"I don't know child," Maleficent confessed or fibbed. "But there is something I need to tell you—the truth of my tale.
"It is true that I cursed Aurora to a death like sleep, but it was not for not being invited to her Christening. I had known her father for a few years—we were great friends until his greed got the best of him. He was an orphan farm boy who wanted to be king.
"Stefan was a servant when King Henry became severely paralyzed after I injured him for trying to invade the Moors. King Henry declared that whoever killed me would become king when he died. Stefan came up with a plan.
"He came to the Moors after not seeing me for so long. He gave me a drink that put me to sleep in a few seconds. He couldn't bring himself to kill me, so he came up with a plan to make it look like he did. He had an iron chain that he used to cut off my wings."
"You had wings?" Mal questioned with a tilt of her head. "I didn't know."
"Not many do." Maleficent sighed. "They removed that from the tale that everyone knows. Stefan had brought my severed wings to King Henry. King Henry said he would reward Stefan greatly, to which Stefan said he'd be a worthy successor. I'll wait until you are older before I tell you the rest of that part of the story.
"Anyways, I had cursed Aurora so she'd only wake up by 'True Loves Kiss'. I cursed her that way because I believed there was no such thing and so did Stefan. The three fairies did take her away to raise her without her knowing about her curse. Diaval found where they were hiding her away on the first day."
" 'Diaval'?" Mal repeated. "I thought the bird's name was 'Diablo'."
"Many people think that child," her mother insisted. "Some thought that when the story was told, his name was 'Diablo' instead of Diaval.
"On the first night I wanted to glimpse at the young baby. Would you believe that the child smiled and laughed when I tried to scare her? On that day I gave Aurora the nickname 'Beastie', though you will never hear her called that now.
"On the second day, she wouldn't stop crying. The dear child was hungry and the three fairies didn't know how to feed her. By night fall, Aurora was still crying while the three fairies were sleeping with cotton in their ears. Diaval sneaked into the cottage, gave the child a flower to drink the nectar from, and rocked her crib so she could sleep.
"He and I watched the four of them from afar. It was no secret that I liked to prank the fairies just for the fun of it. One time I used magic to tug on one's hair and made them think another did it causing them to fight. My favorite trick was when I made it rain inside their home."
"That's brilliant Mother!" Mal praised. "I wish I could do things like that."
Maleficent smiled at her daughter's eagerness. "One day, the four of them were having a picnic in the meadows. The three fairies were distracted and didn't see Aurora chasing a butterfly dangerously close to a cliff. Right when she would have fallen off the edge, I enchanted the branches to catch her and force her back into the meadow.
"When she grew older, just a few days past fifteen, we met face to face for the second time. She mistook me for her 'Fairy Godmother'. Over the next few months, she spent a majority of her day with me in the Moors. I found myself growing fond of her. One night, a couple days before her sixteenth birthday, I tried to remove the curse."
"You did?" Now the child was confused. "Then why are we on the Isle?"
"I said 'tried', Baby Girl," the mother corrected. "I wasn't successful. I used all of my magic that I could access and screamed into the air, 'I revoke my curse! Let it be no more!' My attempts didn't work because of the way I had worded the curse. 'No power on Earth can change it'—that meant my powers too.
"The next day, Aurora claimed that when she was older she would live with me in the Moors. I thought maybe I could prevent the curse, so I told her that she didn't have to wait—she could live with me now. On her birthday, she told the three fairies her plans, but they let the secret slip about her curse.
"She came to me and asked if I knew about the curse. She discovered that I was the one that cursed her and fled from me to the castle. I had Diaval search for Prince Phillip. She had met him the day before and I had thought he would be able to save her from the curse. Problem was his kiss didn't work."
"It didn't?" Mal questioned. "But the story said it did."
"That's because everyone thought it worked." Maleficent sighed. She didn't think it would take so long to tell the story. "When the three fairies realized he was a prince, they forced him to kiss her. Since the kiss was forced, it didn't work. The fairies made him leave the room and they left to go find someone or something else.
"I emerged from the shadows and gazed at her sleeping figure. I apologized for cursing her and promised nothing would happen to her while I was alive. I kissed her forehead and she started to stir. The curse had broken because my kiss was one of a mother's love, which was true love. Before she could fully awake the fairies returned so I hid in the shadows. They believed that Phillip's kiss had worked.
"I sneaked out the room and attempted to leave the castle. The guards knew I had arrived and they had a trap waiting for me. As soon as I made it back to the entrance room of the castle, a giant iron net fell on me. I couldn't move it for it was draining me of my magic. Diaval was flying at the guards that surrounded me, pecking at their helmets to get them away from me. With the last of my magic, I transformed Diaval into a dragon."
"So you never did?"
"I could have." Maleficent insisted as she reached a weak hand forward to move a strand of hair behind her daughter's ear. "But Diaval always complained about how I never transform him into anything that he liked. I thought it would be the last time that I could transform him, and I was right.
"He got the iron net off me in a timely manner. However, I was so weak that I couldn't do any magic. The guards had surrounded me and they already had Diaval chained down. I fainted and the next thing I knew, I was here on the Isle."
"Why did you tell me the story Mother?" Mal interrogated as she was getting a little antsy.
"I told you the story because I wanted you to know something." Maleficent laid a motherly hand on her daughter's cheek. "Despite what everyone thinks, I do care about you. I already lost one daughter, I don't want to lose another."
King Beast was fuming in his seat when Mal finished her story. "King Stefan," he growled as he flexed his hand to get rid of the tension, "did that to your mother just so he could become king?"
"My mother didn't take the news very well either." Mal kept her gaze on the fire in front of her, refusing to look at the three royals. "But that's also the real reason why she cursed Aurora."
"But what was the rest of the story with that?" Ben wondered as he got out of his chair and sat next to her on the floor. "You had said that she was going to tell you when you were older. Did she ever tell you?"
Mal turned her head slightly. Ben could tell the look was from knowing too much information. "I planned on exposing him tomorrow," Mal revealed. "I wanted to tell the story so you'd understand why I did."
"Revenge isn't the answer," Queen Belle lightly scolded.
"I'm not looking for revenge." Mal insisted. "I'm looking to get even. He exploited our weakness, so I'll expose his along with how he really became king."
"What about the rest of his family?" King Beast pointed out. "What will his wife say, his daughter, or even his granddaughter? They won't believe you like we do."
"Actually," Mal paused to stretch her arms over her head, "I already told Audrey the story and she knows what I'm planning."
"You did?" Ben questioned in disbelief. "I didn't know you two talk."
"We have gotten along pretty well for the past few weeks. When we talk, she likes to tease me by calling me 'Auntie'," Mal insisted before she shook her head. "Turns out Stefan hadn't liked that Aurora had a daughter instead of son. He wanted her to have a king heir instead of a queen so that they could be named after him. Things are really tense between him and Audrey because she knows he doesn't like her."
Mal adjusted her head to look at her mother—whose cage was sitting nearby on the table. "After hearing the story of my mother turning Diaval into a dragon, I wondered if I could transform people or animals too," she confessed. "But I never attempted it."
"You can try if you'd like." King Beast offered. "I think the lesson has been learned."
Exhaling a breath of nervousness, Mal raised her hand in the air and it began to glow yellow.
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"Into a woman."
Cliffhanger! Pretty long chapter, huh? If I get ten reviews by my 7:00 p.m. today, I'll post the last chapter on Friday with my other story 'A Twist in Time'. If I do not get ten, the last chapter will be posted next Wednesday.