Part 2

Disclaimer: I wish, but no, I don't own the characters/movie.

She landed softly, careful not to jar him, and Diaval was grateful for it.

The flight hadn't been long, but the shock and fight had left him, and all that remained was pain.

He could barely let out a chirp when she ran a finger across the top of his head, but she shushed him anyway.

"Be still," she said softly, "I will try do to this quickly."

Nothing prepared him for the sifting gold that weaved through his feathers and into shattered bone and sinew, fixing the broken and bloody. It felt like fire burning him from the inside, and only Maleficent's hands kept him from writhing in the agony. And when he thought he could take no more, the flames faded away, and he found calm.

But the calm faded away soon too, and Diaval woke to the world with human eyes.

Green leaves and strong branches shaded him from the sun, and it didn't take him long to realize where he was, the give of the hammock under his back only confirmed it.

A beautiful nest if there ever was one, he thought, feeling himself lulled back to sleep by the wind making the leaves dance.

But the wind also brought something else, or rather someone.

He heard her wings before he saw her, but remained where he was. Awareness had brought back pain, and while it was nowhere near what'd been before, he was in no hurry to move.

Through half-lidded eyes he watched her enter the nest, a cloth bag hanging from her shoulder.

"Bring me something?" he asked, smiling as she jumped in surprise before scowling at him.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever awake."

"I am stronger than I look, you know," he shrugged, but winced at the pain the movement caused.

She raised a brow at that, declaring her skepticism, but set down the bag all the same. From it she pulled out a water skin, and other things he couldn't recognize from his position.

The water she brought over, careful to not move the hammock too much as she sat next to him.

She offered him the skin, and he nearly spilled most of it all over himself trying to take a drink before she scoffed and grabbed it back.

"It's a wonder you survived by yourself for as long as you did," she shook her head, helping him lift his head to properly take a drink.

"Forgive me for not possessing the same strength as you," he rolled his eyes, but accepted the water nonetheless.

"I will, but I will not forgive you for nearly getting yourself killed," her eyes were hard, but her grip remained tender on his head, and Diaval frowned.

"Maleficent?"

She took the water back along with her hand, and took her time corking it, her gaze everywhere but on him.

"Hey," he tried, but still she ignored him. He could not ignore, however, the twitch in her wings that gave away tension in her shoulders.

"Hey," he tried again, this time touching her arm.

Diaval expected her to slap it away, turn him into a dog, anything but what she really did.

Because one touch and she turned to face him, and he saw what he had only witnessed once before in the nearly two decades of her company. He decided right then and there that twice was too many times to see Maleficent's tears.

He didn't say anything more, only tugged on her arm and watched with no small amount of amazement as she carefully folded her wings and tucked herself into his right side. His arm slid instinctively around her back and came to rest between her wings to provide more room.

Her tears escaped into his shirt, but he only held on tighter, and covered his hand with hers where it'd come to lay on his chest.

The action made him twinge, but he ignored it, trying to memorize the feel of her against him. Whatever was happening, he doubted he'd be able to experience it again once he was healed.

"If this is what I get for not being forgiven, I think I can live with it," he spoke after some time, and he heard her chuckle with a smile.

"Don't get used to it."

His smile remained, but the exhaustion he'd experienced upon waking slowly started tugging on his eyelids, and soon he was powerless to stop it. Diaval did, however, feel warm lips press against his cheek just before he succumbed, and hoped against hope this wouldn't be the last time he'd fall asleep with her next to him.