Oh boy . . . where to begin . . .

This idea I came up with when I wondered how Maleficent and Hades became a couple. Then I wondered how the movies would have been if everyone on the Isle knew Hades was Mal's father but no one in Auradon knew. Then I wondered how much different Mal would be if Hades's helped to raise her.

Essentially, this story was created with the events of the movie 'Maleficent' swirling in my head.

I know with the title, some of you were expecting it to be a sequel to one of my other stories. Sorry to get your hopes up, but that is not the case with this story, but I hope you like it anyways.

I have an idea for a far later chapter that puts a darker twist to Audrey's spell on Mal in 'Descendants 3'. I have always hated that Mal was turned into an old hag because I can't stand to watch those scenes. Then an idea emerged to change the spell into something far more dangerous and life-threatening.

So, if this first chapter is well-liked, you may see the idea sooner than expected.

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie 'Descendants' or 'Maleficent'.

Enjoy.

Beautiful.

The first word Hades, the infamous god of the Underworld, thought of to describe the injured wom—fairy, who laid on her stomach in the comforts of her new spacious home.

You see, Beast finally married his Belle and—instead of a honeymoon—decided to unite all of the kingdoms, becoming elected as the new 'King of the United States of Auradon'. His first official royal decree was to create an island, where all of the villains of every kingdom and story would live with an enchanted dome surrounding them. This barrier prevented them from using any magic, which was a punishment worse than death.

Speaking of 'death', those who were killed were brought back to life to suffer with the rest. Every day, new villains joined the prison until no one remained free. Although everyone seemed to be accounted for, one still appeared to be missing.

Maleficent.

Word got around about the lack of the most dangerous villain of them all. Eventually, an anonymous felon revealed she had been the first to arrive on the desolate island—as he had been the second—and had seen her once through the upper windows of the largest building in the center of the Isle.

Days passed without hearing a word from the Mistress of Evil. Some attempted to catch a glimpse of her through the window that was previously described. Some could view into the building, but none could see the absent villain.

Another week went by with a few becoming more worried with each passing day. None dared to enter her home for fear of her vicious wrath. Rolling his eyes at their cowardliness, Hades volunteered to check on her. What could a puny fairy like her do to a mighty god like him?

The answer?

Force him to catch his breath, after losing it from seeing her magnificent beauty.

Now, Hades heard quite a few tales about the malevolent Maleficent. Some say she transformed into an enormous dragon to fight a prince. Others gossiped that she only cursed a princess because she was not invited to the christening.

None told the god she would be the most beautiful creature he ever laid eyes upon. While he lived in Olympus, Hades had met the goddess of beauty multiple times, but the goddess was nothing compared to this fairy. Although Hades found himself completely infatuated with the fairy in the matter of seconds, he wasn't sure what about her made him feel so awestruck.

Maleficent laid on her stomach on a makeshift cot in the center of her new living room. She simply wore a pair of black cotton shorts and a black spaghetti strapped tank-top, though the back of her shirt had two large tears, which had small nubs poking through both opening. It took Hades a moment to realize those 'nubs' were actually where her wings would have been, but no one said she had any.

Maleficent had her arms crossed in front of her, using them as a pillow to rest her head. Spilling from her head—besides her large horns—was a gorgeous brown mane of hair that tumbled over her shoulders, hanging until there was barely an inch of space between it and the ground.

Another thing Hades noticed were the burn-like scratches all along her body. Some barely grazed the skin while others cut deeper into her flesh. A select few appeared to have been scars from a long time ago that reopened to only cause her grief.

Maleficent turned her head slightly as she slowly opened her eyes. Hades's breath caught in his throat once again. He has never seen such vibrant green hues like hers. . .

"Why are you here?" Maleficent questioned with a slight rasp in her tone.

Hades couldn't believe he actually swooned at hearing her soft accent. Taking a moment to regain his composure, he cleared his throat before insisting, "The other villains were worried about you. Nobody has heard or seen from you since we arrived. Some believed you had died within your first couple days of being here."

The fairy scoffed at the ridiculous claim. "Why would anyone worry about me?" She snapped bitterly. "Have you not heard? I am a villain. I do not need the pity of some pathetic human."

Choosing to let the insult slide, Hades decided to get some answers. "So, what's your story?" He interrogated nonchalantly. "How did you get those injuries and did you actually have wings?"

Maleficent snarled her nose at his abruptness. "I will not say," she determined stubbornly. "I trusted a human once, and it costed me everything. I will not trust another human again."

"Good thing I'm not a human," Hades retorted with the same fiery attitude. "I am a god; an immortal, so to speak. Some know me as the 'King of the Underworld'. What are you known as?"

Maleficent sighed in slight defeat as she adverted her gaze to the floor. "Something that I am truly not."

Taking a leap of faith, Hades sat next to the cot with his knees up to his chest to appear less foreboding and threatening. "You can tell me and I won't say a word to anyone," he promised sincerely, hoping to use it as a chance to get to know her better. "If your story is long, it doesn't matter. We have all the time in the world since we now live on the Isle of the Lost."

Maleficent held his gaze for a moment or two; most likely peering into his soul if he spoke the truth. "My story," she started after a second of silence, "began like this . . ."

Turns out, the stories that the villains told Hades about the fairy only had a small ounce of truth.

Long ago, Maleficent befriended a human peasant named Stefan, who always wanted to live in the castle as the king. As they grew older, they drifted farther apart from the friends that they were, but Maleficent always found herself infatuated with the human.

One day—after many years of not seeing one another—Stefan suddenly appeared at her home in the guise that he wanted to talk with Maleficent, like they did when they were younger. Without knowing it, the servant of the king had drugged her drink so she would fall asleep and not wake for some time, no matter what he did. When Maleficent awoke the next morning, her enormous wings were gone along with the human that she foolishly trusted. Maleficent learned from her friend Diaval—a crow that she saved and would sometimes turn into a human—that Stefan betrayed her so he could be king. He went so far as to set her wings on fire in front of the kingdom to prove his allegiance to them, and prevent her from ever using them again.

It was true that Maleficent had cursed the princess—Stefan's daughter—at her christening, but it was revenge for what her father did to her. Maleficent added the term that Princess Aurora could be awaken by 'True Love's Kiss' because neither she nor Stefan believed such a thing existed.

As the princess grew older, Maleficent found herself spending more time with the young teen while she was away from her three fairy godmothers—though Aurora believed them to be her aunts. Once Aurora learned about the curse, she returned home to the castle while Maleficent searched for the prince the princess had met earlier in that day, hoping that he could be the one to break the curse. After Aurora fell victim to the spell and the prince's kiss didn't work, Maleficent emerged from the shadows as everyone left the room and kissed the sleeping beauty's forehead to show how apologetic she was for doing such a horrible thing.

Turns out, Maleficent's kiss was what was needed to awake the princess because it was the kiss of a mother's love, which was true love. Maleficent was forced to flee as the princess stirred for the three fairies had returned to her room. As the wingless fairy arrived at the castle entrance, she was immediately surrounded by knights in iron armor—as the 'king' knew iron was her weakness. When Maleficent became trapped in an iron net, she used the last of her magic to turn Diaval into a mighty and vicious dragon. Sadly, he quickly became over-powered. The last thing Maleficent saw before she faded away was Stefan striking Dragon Diaval in the chest with an iron sword.

Hades finally understood why Maleficent exiled herself from the Isle and the villagers for so long.

She was grieving.

For the loss of her closest friend—

And the loss of a daughter.

Though, Maleficent had another excuse for not leaving her new home. She had become so accustomed to carrying her heavy wings that she could no longer walk properly without them. Without her scepter—which had originally been created to be a walking stick—Maleficent could not take a single step without stumbling or faltering in her stride.

"I can help you travel around the island," Hades volunteered with a careless shrug. "Use me as a support until you can find something to replace your scepter. Until then, we'll say I'm showing you around the Isle, since you've been absent for so long."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow in slight amusement. "Why do I have a feeling you will use this as an excuse to become closer to me?"

"Maybe I will," he mused with a small innocent smile. "I do want to get to know you better—romantically, but I will gladly wait until you trust me enough to consider it."

For some reason, the comment made the fairy's heart skip a beat. Still having an emotionless expression, she retorted, "That may not be for quite some time."

"I know," Hades insisted as his smile turned into a smirk. "Good thing I'm a god. I can wait for how ever long is needed, even if it's forever."

With her heart skipping another beat, Maleficent rolled her eyes stubbornly. "Since you are a god, you are naturally impatient. You will cave before I make up my mind."

If only she knew . . .

Hades would be the one to make her love again.