Daughter of Flames and Darkness

Happy Anniversary

Hades woke up one cloudy gray morning, lying on his stomach on bed sheets of deep purple silk. The fabric felt cool against his stomach and chest and the sheets smelled strongly of ripe blackberries and fresh ivy, Maleficent's signature scent. He breathed in the intoxicating aroma and sighed as a contented smile crept onto his lips. He rolled over and gazed at the beautiful woman lying next to him. Even while she's asleep, the Mistress of Evil always maintained an elegant and imperial presence; she truly was everything Hades had dreamed and more. After a moment, Maleficent slowly opened her eyes and smiled at the sight of Hades.

"Morning, beautiful." He greeted in a smooth tone.

"Good morning." She said as she leaned in for a kiss.

Their lips met, hers soft and cold and his warm and rough. It's been a year since Hades and Maleficent were married and that day was their first anniversary. After a few moments, they parted and sat up in bed.

"Happy Anniversary, babe." Hades said as he stretched out his back.

"Oh, is that today? I hadn't noticed." Maleficent joked; they shared a laugh.

"How've you been feeling today? Any better?" He asked.

"Not particularly so. But I've been ill before. You needn't worry, love." She replied.

Maleficent knew what Hades was referring to. For the past few days, she lacked the energy to do her usual everyday tasks and she's also had a few dizzy spells and vomiting episodes here and there. This behavior instantly concerned Hades, but Maleficent told him that she was fine and whatever had come over her would brush over in no time... but it hadn't and now he wasn't too sure. He gently tucked a strand of her raven black hair behind her ear. They gazed into each other's eyes, both of them lost in their affections.

"I can't help it, okay? Can you blame a man for worrying about his wife?"

"...I suppose not."

She reached behind her, picked up the Ember of Blue from her nightstand, and placed it around her husband's neck. She gave him a peck on the cheek and the stone glowed a pale blue to correspond with the blush on his face.

"You'll be late for work." She said.

"Do I have to go?" He asked, sounding dismayed. "I'd rather stay here with you, to make sure you'll be okay."

"Need I remind you that I am no damsel in distress and I can take care of myself just fine?"

Hades smirked, knowing how headstrong and stubborn his wife can truly be. Realizing that she made a valid point and not wanting to argue with her, he chuckled and kissed her forehead before he got out of bed to get himself ready for the day. He was wearing nothing but his dark blue pajamas hanging around his hips with a golden silk rope tied around his waist and his bare chest visible. As her husband was getting dressed, Maleficent hoisted herself out of bed, smoothed out her black silk nightgown, slipped a pair of slippers onto her feet, and put on a long sleeved robe of black lace. After a few minutes, Hades emerged from behind a set of curtains in his usual gray shirt and black chiton. He approached Maleficent as he finished putting on his sandals.

"You're sure you'll be okay on your own while I'm down under? And you really don't want to see a doctor about this or something?" He asked, taking hold of her hands.

In response, she smiled and said, "You already know my answer to both questions."

He smirked and let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. But if anything happens, even if it's nothing, just call me and I'll come running."

She giggled and they shared another kiss before he made his way to the door to head downstairs to prepare breakfast. But no sooner had Hades left than Maleficent felt dizzy and nauseous all at once; that dreaded feeling of sickness had returned and it was now worse than ever. It was only a matter of time before the vomit would come back as well. She put a hand to her stomach and leaned against the nearest stone wall.

"This cannot go on." She groaned. "Diablo!"

Within a minute, Diablo flew in through the nearest window and perched on the decorated headboard of the bed. He cawed a concerned caw as he noticed how pale his mistress's complexion suddenly looked.

"There you are, my pet. Fetch Dementia and go to the library, quickly." Maleficent said as she tried her best not to gag. "There must be something in one of my books that will say what is wrong with me. And there must be a cure to this ailment as well. It's only been four days, but I'm not certain how much more of this torment I can take." A wave of nausea instantly overtook her as her stomach lurched and her legs felt shaky. "Go! Find something, anything! I—"

And before another word could be said, Maleficent turned around and vomited all over the floor in front of her. There was a very long pause. Diablo stared in shock and stayed completely silent. Maleficent quietly coughed and panted a few times before her eyes darted back to her pet.

"Not again." She whimpered.

"Malef?" Her husband's voice called out.

"I'm alright!" She called back, wishing not to worry her husband. She turned back to her pet. "Just... go, please. And have... Pain and Panic... clean up this mess." She meandered over to the powder room and quickly shut the door behind her. After a moment, her retching was all that could be heard.

Diablo sighed and flew off to find Dementia.

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Find anything yet?" Dementia asked as she tossed another book to the side.

Diablo sadly shook his head while he was checking the binds of his mistress's books.

"Yeah, me neither."

The unusual pair had searched many different books and tomes for most of the morning and there was nothing in any of them that could explain what was wrong with Maleficent. But then a certain book caught Dementia's eye. She carefully took it off the shelf and the title on the cover read: 'Fairy Health and Well-Being 101'. She hoped this book might have some answers to her questions, so she opened the book and scanned the table of contents.

"Hmmm, where do we start?" She said to herself. "Psychological Health, Stress Management, Basic Nutrition and Healthy Eating, Heredity and Genetics, Physical Fitness..." Then she found what she was looking for. "Diseases and Sicknesses! Yes, perfect! Page 43."

Diablo stopped what he was doing and flew over to Dementia as she flipped to the page she was looking for. They scanned the entirety of the chapter to see if there was anything that could explain what sort of sickness the Mistress of Evil had. She sighed in disappointment.

"Well, this isn't as much help as I thought it would be." She said. "There are a few similar symptoms in here, but I don't think Maleficent has any of these diseases. What could be wrong with her then?"

That was when Diablo had a thought. What if his mistress wasn't sick at all? What if it was something else? He used his beak to flip through the book until he stopped on page 97; this page had a passage that listed all of Maleficent's current symptoms and what was most likely causing them. Dementia was confused, but she and the raven read the passage together and what they discovered made their eyes grow as wide as dinner plates and their jaws drop to the floor.

"The Mistress is not gonna like this..." The little imp nervously muttered.