The Impostor

Tears of Remorse

''This one last gift, dear child, for thee,

The symbol of thy royalty,

A crown to wear in grace and beauty,

As is thy right, and royal duty.''

So that was all? A heavy golden crown, a sparkling blue dress, and a perfectly unknown prince?

That was all her real life, Princess Aurora's life, offered her?

If that was so, then Maleficent's curse was an act of mercy. Perhaps even the true key to her freedom... Why not?

She looked at the reflection the gold mirror gave her: a beautiful young maid of sixteen with hair of sunshine gold and lips as red as the rose was trapped in it, buried in her deadly silence. Her purple eyes were shining with tears ready to fall, her hands were trembling, her lips pursed into a grin of pure despair.

Then, her reflection seemed to fade away, and the mirror showed her what she wanted to see most.

Maleficent.

She was sitting on her stone throne, petting her raven's feathers with elegance, like always. But the gleam in her eyes had changed. There was no more mockery, no more lust, no more cruelty in those dark empty pupils. Only something odd and unexpected Aurora didn't recognize at first, for it was utterly impossible for Maleficent to feel, and even more to show, that strange emotion she couldn't scarcely put a word on herself.

Therefore, the princess tried to remember her last interactions with the wicked fairy. And everything abruptly, painfully came back to her mind. That obsession, that desire, that attraction...

She must forget all of it, now.

Surely, Briar Rose will never forget Maleficent, but Princess Aurora had to. And this literally shattered her heart into million pieces.

Still, one question remained stuck deep inside her tormented mind: forget Maleficent and be the perfect girl everyone wanted her to be, or let Maleficent's memory survive and let herself go straight to her own downfall?

Why did she have to choose?

She didn't want to be Briar Rose, yet she didn't want to be Princess Aurora either. She wanted to be both. She wanted to remember, and most of all, she wanted to live.

But Briar Rose as well as Princess Aurora was dying tonight.

So what was the matter anyway?

Maleficent... She heard her own voice whispering in her head.

She coudn't handle it anymore.

She burst into tears as she bent her head on her dressing table, hiding her face in her folded arms.

She believed she heard some pleas coming from behind her back, but she didn't bother to listen. Her aunts must think she was sad because she would never be able to see the young man again. They always thought she was the naive one, but the truth is...they were. Unfortunately, those three old ladies had never understood a thing.

She didn't care about the boy, he was just a hobby, a hint of an ephemeral happiness in her worthless life, nothing more. She didn't want to see him again, actually she secretely hoped she would never see him again, because she felt he was not the man he pretended to be.

Visions are seldom all they seem...

She didn't care about the young man. He stole her song, he stole her words, he almost stole a kiss from her!

But the reason why she was now crying in front of that damned mirror had nothing to do with the boy. It rather had everything to do with a certain dark fairy...