Lonely Nights

A Lonely Holiday

A/N: I just really like umal angst and hurting myself.

Part One: This is enough to say 'Hello'

Uma understands trauma; she has enough of her own to understand that everyone handles trauma differently depending on the day, the mood, how strong they are.

     Uma has been coming to terms with the fact her mother was a narcissist who raised her to be 'perfect' and was punished anytime she wasn't doing exactly what she was supposed to. It took her five years to even be able to realize she didn't deserve the way she was raised. She shouldn't be a people pleaser. She should be able to choose herself first.

    So Uma finally started living her own life, a life with friends who would love her and support her, talk her through her dark days. She got to stop working in her mother's restaurant and go to school like she always wanted. She was finally living a life for herself, Uma was even lucky enough to fall in love.

    She met Mal at an art showing in October. Uma had been in front of an oil painting of a green dragon breathing out blue fire, it had left Uma feeling in awe because the dragon was burning a simple looking human woman alive. Uma had wondered why a dragon of such strong caliber would attack a simple looking older woman, who had fear all over her body language and expression.

    "Do you feel bad for the woman?" A voice asks from beside Uma, she almost jumps. When she turns she sees a gorgeous woman with long purple hair and green eyes that match the dragon's scales. Uma turns and looks back at the painting and the woman being burned to death.

    "I don't feel bad for her, but I do wonder what she did to deserve such a painful death. I want to know the relationship between the dragon and the woman."

    The woman next to her hums and nods her head "Well, I would like to think that this was the dragon tamer who treated the dragon so poorly and wanted her to be a mean bloodthirsty creature. The dragon didn't want to become that so when she was brave enough, she set fire to the dragon tamer and set herself free."

    Uma turns and looks at the woman as she speaks, when she says it her voice is lighter, it doesn't feel super heavy but there is a weight in her eyes that speaks to Uma, it looks and feels familiar to her. Maybe the woman beside was going through her own self worth journey that reminds Uma of her very own.

    "I like your story... If that is what the artist intended, do you think that the entire art piece is them working through the trauma they experienced?"

    "You see trauma through this piece?" The woman beside her asked before taking a sip of white wine.

    "Well, I think if we go along with the idea of the dragon attacking it's tamer... that could actually be a parental figure in the artist's life that they had to break away from... I would know, I did it a few years ago."

The woman raised her blonde eyebrows, it surprised Uma that with the intense shade of purple in her hair her eyebrows weren't dyed as well. "I'm Maleficent," She tells Uma and stretches out her free hand, Uma takes her hand and gives it a firm shake and a warm smile.

    "I'm Uma, it's very nice to meet you."

    Maleficent grins "Would you like to get a coffee after this?"

Part Two: Noticing the Cracks

From that day Maleficent and Uma began casually seeing each other, there was something very honest about Maleficent's green eyes that dragged Uma under; she couldn't deny her instant attraction and  connection to the woman next to her at the art gallery. They went out for coffee that night and shared stories. When they spoke to each other it was like they already knew one another and had been friends for a long time.