Sudden moves - Maleficent x Diaval

A Special Gift

The evening air was chill. A smell of pine needles and roses hung in the air and particles of pollen and dust reflected the sunlight, making the Valley look even more magical, than it already was. A steady wind blew the particles away and revealed the view over the mountains, rivers and meadows of the moors, Maleficent was looking over.

A faint sound of music reached her pointed ears, indicating that the humans had arrived at the celebration, Aurora had planned, to celebrate the friendship between the moor folk and the human kingdom. Maleficent was nervous. Since her encounter with the now dead king Stephan, who'd betrayed her and cut her wings off, she didn't really trust humans, especially men. But Diaval was also male, she thought, although he technically was a raven..

But Diaval was different. He was caring, always asking for permission for everything.
Because...

"I'm his mistress and he's just doing as he's told" ,Maleficent thought loud, to reassure herself.
A silent tear ran down her soft cheek, but she quickly swiped it away. She had to make an appearance at the festivities her beasty had planned out. She wouldn't dissapoint her Aurora. Her feelings weren't important anyway.

She was a dark, filthy and mad witch. She didn't deserve love. She'd taken life from this earth. More tears ran down her cheeks, tickling her throat.
Maleficent tried to swallow her sobs. She shook her head in disbeliev of herself and covered her burning eyes with her slender fingers.
Hugging herself for a moment until she dried her tears and went to search Diaval, who was already with Aurora and their guests.

--------------------------𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊------------------------------

" Mistress! There you are, we were waiting for you here. You look a bit pale though, are you alright?"

Maleficent chuckled at Diavals greeting. Always so concerned, her dear birdie.
"I'm quite well, thank you!", she lied to soothe his concerns and keep the mood up for the festivities.

Diaval still gave her a concerned look, followed by a pained expression as she quickly turned away from him, her eyes still red from crying.
He didn't realize, did he? No, he couldn't have seen the sadness in her eyes. She thought she'd covered it up well enough.

The festivities went well. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Laughter everywhere, baked goods and fruit on wooden tables. A band playing the flute, singing and dancing on a cliff over the river. Everything was perfect.
Perfect harmony and peace embracing the two folks.

Two pixies handed out flower petals with honey and a water-fairy made colorful beads out of water drops from the nearby stream. The human children made bracelets out of grass and those beads and 'decorated' everyone with them. A little girl called Mathilda came running up to Maleficent, smiling widely at her and motioning for her to get on her knees.

Maleficent searched for Diaval, looking at him helplessly. Diaval couldn't hold back a low chuckle. His mistress was really cute when it came to children.

He raised his eyebrows at her and twitched his shoulders,his raven hair moving in the wind.

Mathilda took a careful step forward, grabbing Maleficent's long skirt lightly. The dark face looked down at the girl, raising the corners of her mouth into a tiny smile. She then raised her skirt a bit and kneeled down in front of the little one.

Matilda took one of the bracelets on her lean arm with green and orange pearls on it and straddled Maleficent's lap to reach her horns. Maleficent bowed her head to allow access to one of her most prized possessions. Matilda grazed the brazelet over the left horn and stood up proudly, looking up at Maleficent expectantly.

"Thank you..", Maleficent breathed. She'd never thought anyone would come near her today. Such a brave girl.
But Matilda should not be the only one to approach Maleficent that evening.

She received multiple bouquets of flowers from human familys, telling her how much they appreciated her effort with Aurora and the kingdoms. One older woman even gave her an elegant wooden necklace, which looked like silvery iron, so that she could also wear such jewelry.

When all the guests slowly filtered out of the moors, a thin looking girl approached Maleficent and bowed before her. She slowly shook her head, smiled reassuringly and motioned for the girl to stand up.

With new courage, the girl stood up and took one of the faes hands carefully in her own, touching Maleficents sharp nails and stroking her palm, before placing a little object in it.

In answer to Maleficents questioning, but awe struck gaze she replied :
"This is a revealing potion. It shows you what others made you forget in your past.
I'm sorry mistress Maleficent. Everyone knows..... I don't know.. If you-.. If you know though.I-If not I think you need to know.."
Tears were starting to swell in the girls eyes.

" What does everyone know? ", Maleficent asked softly. Feeling scared all of the sudden.
" I can't tell you", the girl answered, looked in the olive green eyes of the fairy in front of her and turned around to leave, leaving a confused Maleficent behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------

If someone reads this... Thank you so much for reading this fanfic. I really hope you like it and enjoy it as much as I do. I apologize for any grammatical or spelling mistakes, English isn't my native language :(
If you have any tips etcetera, please tell me!! 🌹

Yours, Julia