𝐿𝑜𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝑒𝒶

Chapter Twelve: An Ill Fall

Author's note:

I honestly felt a bit hesitant to publish this chapter due to the fact that I might've put Maleficent a bit out of character. So, hope this is alright!

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Diaval's POV

When I awoke, all the pain that my body once harbored was gone.

So much so, that the pain felt as if it were only from a dream.

I blinked a few times in disbelief.

I felt like a plant after a good day of rain; refreshed and replenished.

That was only thanks to the aid of my Mistress.

"Good evening my Raven."

As she spoke her eyes had softened the moment they laid upon me.

"G-good evening Mistress."

She caught me off guard by her intimacy in speech.

It was irrefutable...I wasn't familiar with such articulated words from her.

She was never one to say anything quite like what she had said.

Her words...they were so enchanting to my ears.

She may have said these words before, but there was, now, a deep and unmistakably different meaning behind them.

Her words were sincere and ardent.

"Well, can you stand?" She had noticed I had looked at her too long and was now averting her eyes from mine, bypassing my surprised gaze.

A red tint visibly shown on her usual pale face.

I acted as if I didn't realize, not wanting to make her feel uneasy, as I attempting to stand.

I stood with ease.

"Yes, quite surprisingly actually." I turned my hands back to front as though I couldn't believe what I had just done.

"Are you alright?" She seemed to want to go to my side but she held herself back, standing by the entrance of the nest instead.

"Fine! Just fine. I'm oddly surprised is all."

She looked at me with a raised brow, positioning her arms to be crossed in front of her.

I could tell she wasn't believing my words so easily as I had thought.

I felt nervous for some reason. But I didn't wish for her to doubt my well-being, so I continued.

"After going through all that horrible pain from my wounds...and to feel nothing now is immensely extraordinary. Thank you. Really."

"It's thanks to 'rest' that you're even standing now. Don't give me all the credit, I only aided." She took a few steps toward me, uncrossing her arms.

And I noticed she was without her staff.

An object that helped her in troubling steps was unaccompanied by her, left behind somewhere.

As she took those steps toward me, with her face tiring, her knees became weak and collapsed underneath her.

I grabbed her as soon as I realized, saving her from an ugly fall.

"Look at you. Worrying so much for me that you're forsaking your own health."

She gripped my dark shirt as I laid her down where I had once laid.