Maleficent & Diaval: A happily ever after?

One-shot :)

How long has it been since she has last seen him? Since he left her alone, without the shelter of her wings, the symbol of her strength? Leaning heavily against the pathetic enlargement of a twig, a bird in tow as a measly reminder of what she once had, she can't seem to remember when she last saw him, though it can't be long. "He did this to me so that he could be king." She murmurs, clenching the overgrown branch. "He did this to me so that he would be king."

Diaval caws softly from the nearest tree, scarcely understanding who she means, who the 'he' might be. But it doesn't matter. A bird doesn't have to know everything; they can't possibly have enough brain for it.

But he's a smart raven, that Diaval. It takes little time for him to figure it out, and when he does, the bird-man hesitates to tell her that the King has had a child, a human one, born to him by that fair maiden Leah, daughter of Henry. She feels nothing for the Queen, for she knows Stefan, knows how endearing he can choose to be.

But then fury bubbles up in her chest, that another woman be deemed to have her happiness, that she and Leah are not that different, both equally in power and both played and tainted by the same man, yet Leah has emerged with an upper hand, with him still by her side, and a child that will be celebrated.

She sees the child, and cares not of its future, only of the spite that has wedged itself into the brokenness of her heart, the hatred that has arisen and grown. For a moment, she relishes in Stefan's weakness, his knees on the icy marble flooring. It brings back a twisted version of happiness when she sees him in such a compromising position, at her mercy, like humans always should have been. Why had he been any different?

But that happiness fades when she sees Leah. The Queen must not have seen this coming, must not have known of the wars that raged beyond Perceforest's borders, the battles that broke out in the free lands lining the Moors. She must not have known what Stefan had done to earn her father's trust, to even so willingly place her into the hands of a lowly subordinate she had never heard of. And yet she suffers, her ignorance now a burden, for she does not understand why her babe must be cursed, this innocent babe she has carried for nine months painstakingly, unaware of what its birth would entail.

From mother to mother, I can't lose my child. The message seems to carry across, from eyes of stormy waters to gems governed with the fierceness of nature's seven laws, and Maleficent falters for that moment, her head falling for just a fraction of an inch.

I can't, Leah. If I don't do this, nothing will hurt Stefan as badly as he hurt me. Nothing can ever balance what he did to me.

She pulls her gaze away from Leah, and locks it back on Stefan. Somewhere deep inside, something throbs, and warmth rises at the back of her throat, a warmth that turns bitter when she remembers that sweetness on her lips, the freshness of the air that cooled away the redness of their cheeks.

"The princess can be awoken from her death-like sleep." She faces Stefan, banishing the last ember of affection, the flame she will never willingly admit to again. "But only by—"

Her eyes snap to the Queen.

Is— Is she...not going to do anything?

"True Love's Kiss."

Leah still stands, frozen, as if she's merely carved out of the floor, a sculpture that cannot be moved. There's sorrow in the Queen's eyes, but if she truly felt love for her child, if she truly cared, why hadn't she joined in the begging, or the pleading? Why stand, like a useless thing they believed women to be, and just weep, watching her daughter's future be ruined?

Humans. She'll never understand them.

The rest of the curse leaves her lips, as though preordained. She cannot remember why she made it to last to the end of time, or why she didn't want to be able to change it. Is it because she's afraid she'll succumb to pity for the child? Because it has to bear the brunt of its father's doings, and the docile temperament of its mother, that failed to even defend it? This child will grow up parentless, uncared for by the world, because its parents are giving up on it now.