Green Eyes and Blue Flames

Some Time Later

A month went by and Hades became a frequent visitor to Maleficent's castle. She would activate the portal spell she found to allow him to enter her domain and he would come to see her one day every week and as promised, she would teach him a bit of simple dark fairy magic every time; either casting an easy spell or even brewing a potion or two. And when lessons were over for the week, Hades would study and practice what he learned down in the Underworld. Luckily, Hades has always been quite smart and a fast learner and he got the hang of it quite quickly. However, he still couldn't do most of the things his tutor could do, but he was willing to learn what he could all the same. And during that time, Hades and Maleficent had grown rather close and they started to become very good friends; he looked forward to his weekly lessons with her and she looked forward to his regular visits.

But since the day their lessons began, Maleficent had started to have very strange dreams almost every night. These were no ordinary dreams, however; they were unimaginably vivid and seemed very, VERY real and the dark fairy saw things that would frighten even her. She didn't like that, and that frightened her even more. She didn't think to talk about it with Hades, either because she didn't know how to bring up such a subject or she feared he would mock her for being afraid of her own dreams; the last thing she wanted was to be laughed at by someone she genuinely enjoyed seeing and having around. So she kept these thoughts to herself.

She had just woken up from another unnerving vision when Hades was due to visit. She quickly opened the portal and the God of the Dead entered the library, eager for another lesson.

"Sorry if I'm late, teach." Hades said as he came in, the portal closing behind him. "I was just handling a few extra things down under and I..." He turned to Maleficent and noticed she looked like she had just been woken up. "Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, I'm fine. Why would I not be?" She yawned. "Oh, excuse me." She turned to her bookshelf, took out a book, and opened it on her desk; it was a potion recipe book. "Now let us begin today's lesson, shall we?"

"Maleficent, is something bothering you?" Hades asked suddenly.

Maleficent paused. "...Why do you ask such a thing?"

"Well, correct me if I'm way off here, but you seem a little out of it today."

"I... I'm not certain what you mean."

"You know; unprepared, a bit rushed, looking pretty tired."

She turned her head away from him. "I haven't any idea of what you're talking about."

He gave her an incredulous look; he didn't believe her. "Please, we've known each other for a while now. I can tell when you're lying." He paused and took a step closer to her; she stayed silent. "Oh come on, you can tell me. I bet you'll feel a lot better once you get it off your chest."

Maleficent paused before turning back to face Hades. "Do you promise you will not judge or mock me?"

"Of course." He crossed his heart.

She let out a sigh and sat down in her desk chair. "Very well." Hades pulled up another chair and sat down next to her.

"Okay, now what's on your mind?"

She hesitated for a moment. "I... I've been having dreams for the past several days."

He raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"...I NEVER have dreams. Not the ones I've been having recently, to say the least."

"Oh yeah? What kind of dreams?"

"Visions of my own demise; however... it would be different every time. For example, I would be chased through a burning forest, I fall off of a cliff, I would be impaled, dismembered, disemboweled, beheaded, crushed, devoured from the inside out, and even unwillingly transform into a putrid pile of moss and swamp muck. I would see it all unfold, and there is never anything I can do to stop any of it. And I cannot explain it, but I always felt afraid in these visions. And I fear nothing... until now, that is."