Author's Note:
Disclaimer: Maleficent and Lana Del Rey's song "Gods and Monsters" are not mine.

I'm thinking this story will be five chapters at most. Probably less, though. Short and sweet which is just the way I like it :)

"You be the prince, Phillip, and I'll be the princess."

Gods and Monsters

i. once upon a time.

[-]

She's seven and wears a crown of wildflowers upon her head. "You be the prince, Phillip, and I'll be the princess," she tells her best friend as they play in the cliff-side meadow by her cottage.

"All right," he agrees easily. He would do anything for Aurora. "Do you want me to slay some dragons for you?"

"Is that what princes do?"

Phillip nods with all the sincerity of an eight year old who wants to protect his princess from harm. He picks up a nearby stick and pretends it is his sword. "No harm will come to you, Princess Aurora," he vows and slashes the air as he vanquishes the imaginary dragons. "Not when you have me to protect you."

"Only the mean, evil dragons!" she amends her original request as she watches with wide eyes as he stabs and rakes the air. "Don't hurt them, Phillip."

"Not even to save you?"

She bites her lip indecisively. "Okay," she tells him. "But only if you absolutely have to." She dances around the meadow as she enjoys the late afternoon sunshine. "I'm not a damsel in distress," Aurora tells him matter-of-factly. "I can protect myself, too."

He smiles. "I know," he says, his brown eyes soft and reassuring. "You're brave and scary."

"Scary!" Aurora collapses into a fit of giggles upon hearing that adjective. "Me?"

Phillip indulges her. He makes an absurdly frightened face and pretends to cower in fear. "Eek!"

"You squeaked!" Aurora giggles harder. "I made you squeak!"

"So you did," he grins, relaxing his face into his typical easy-going smile.

Aurora rolls through the grass and wildflowers towards him. "Race you back to the cottage," she dares him with an impish gleam in her cerulean eyes.

"You're on," he replies. He scrambles to a standing position so that she does not have an unfair advantage over him.

"On you mark, get set – hey! Phillip, you're cheating! I didn't say 'go', yet!"

"It's not cheating unless you get caught!" he laughs, his voice already growing fainter as he puts more distance between Aurora and himself.

She shakes some of the grass blades out of her blonde ringlets and then chases after him. "Phillip!" Aurora yells. "Not fair!"

"You're just mad because you didn't do it first!"

She laughs because he's right and he knows it. Aurora dashes through the forest and the undergrowth, keeping his chestnut hair in sight at all times lest she became lost. The cottage isn't too far away, now.

Overhead, a midnight black crow squawks as he flies and keeps pace with the little girl who runs with the flowers streaming down her hair.

[-]