Hi all! I'm rewriting the first few chapters of this story, as I could barely write in english when I started it 5 years ago ^^ I hope you all enjoyed Maleficent 2, and let's hope Sam Riley's wish to have some proper Maleval content in a third movie will happen!

Diaval, in his human form, was following Maleficent through the thick forest of the Moors. He raised an eyebrow as his mistress stumbled without any reason. He had only known her for a few months, but he had noticed how strange she'd been acting lately.

First, she changed him back into his beautiful raven self less and less often after his reports. Then, she was always wincing, which wasn't really extraordinary of her, but she at least used to smile when he was making a fool of himself or roll her eyes when he was trying to joke around. Now the only feature that crossed her face was this pain-contorted expression. He wondered if she was all right, but he quickly remembered she was the most powerful magical being of the Moors. What on earth would be able to break her, seriously?

He raised his head as she tripped over something again. Usually, he was the one who had the most trouble walking. He still didn't like that much those long and heavy legs. Why didn't she want to change him back into a raven, anyway? He sighed.

But before he could think of any reasons at all, he saw the fairy fall down before his very eyes. He rushed toward her and knelt by her side.

"Mistress? What's going on? Are you all right?" he asked urgently.

He started to panic when she didn't answer him. After looking her over for any sign of injuries he realised she was only unconscious. He took her, rather clumsily in his arms, and hurried to the heart of the forest, hoping to find help from the creatures of the Moors.

In the end, he was glad she didn't change him back into a raven, or he would have never been able to help.

The fairy remained unconscious for most of the day. When she woke up, she had to grit her teeth as stabbing pain came across her back. She was lying on her stomach, wrapped up in a wool blanket. It was dark around her, and as her eyes were getting used to the dim light, she recognized her lodge in the ancient ruins. She tried to move to the side, but the pain forced her to stay still.

"You shouldn't try to move," said a voice from the corner of the room.

It was Diaval. She recognized him at once. But his voice was unusually gloomy. He got closer and sat down on the chair by her side.

"What happened?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"You passed out. Which wasn't very surprising, considering the state of your scars," the raven-man replied bluntly.

Her scars? Her wings scars?! Maleficent thought, on the verge of panic. Did that mean he saw the stumps on her back? Her shame, her weakness. That thought sent chills down her spine, and her inability to move made it even more difficult to bear.

"Were you going to tell me? Or did you simply plan to have me watch you die?" he inquired coldly.

The raven turned man was well aware he was crossing a line by using such a rebellious tone in front of his mistress, but he was still too overwhelmed to keep himself together. She must have known for sure what was going to happen, and yet she chose to ignore it, risking her life and scaring him witless in the process. How could he not be mad at her?

Maleficent lowered her gaze and didn't say a word. In order to patch her wounds, she would have had to expose them to someone. Someone she could trust. But she had no one and would never trust anyone again, so obviously she blinded herself with denial. She was hoping her magic would fight the infection from the inside - and it worked at first - but it wasn't enough.

When she raised her eyes to meet his again, she noticed his distraught expression. He looked angry and quite shaken. So much that he didn't seem to be able to raise his voice at her without it breaking.

"I trusted you, Mistress. You've let me down," he snarled, getting up from his chair.

With that, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

The moment she heard the door close with a loud bang, Maleficent knew for a fact that she had lost her servant. It was a shame, because he had proven himself to be quite a diligent spy, and - surprisingly - had managed to help her kill the boredom more often than not.

Maleficent let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. He had been attending to her every needs for several months already, never once questioning her orders or actions as she grew more and more evil. No creature would be so loyal and dedicated without a good reason. He must have been expecting her protection in return. And how could she protect him if she was too weak to survive her own wounds?

In the end, it appeared he too had stayed with her only for selfish reasons. Just like Stefan did. It seemed her fate was to stay on her own until the end of time, she mused, wincing against the pain as she shifted to a better sleeping position.

Loneliness had been hard enough when she had wings. Now she was pretty sure she would die of boredom. Well, if the infection didn't kill her first…

As usual, many thanks to DancingKitKat for making sure the story is written in proper english xx