Time passed, and despite their wary first encounter, Maximilian and Maleficent found their paths crossing again and again. At first, their conversations were sharp, filled with veiled challenges and hidden meanings. Their words clashed like blades, each testing the other's resolve, seeking weakness, yet neither willing to yield. Maleficent's sharp wit met Maximilian's unshakable confidence, creating a dance of intellect and power that neither had encountered before. And yet, despite the barbed words and calculated exchanges, something unspoken tethered them to each other—a mutual understanding that few others could grasp.
They found themselves seeking each other's company more often, though neither would admit it. Maleficent would catch glimpses of Maximilian in the shadows of the Moors, watching, always near, never truly gone. And he, in turn, would sense her presence even before she spoke, a familiar energy brushing against his awareness like the whisper of a storm on the horizon. They were drawn together by something neither of them could name—something ancient, something inevitable.
Maximilian had proven himself more than just another powerful being. He had knowledge, instinct, and an aura of quiet strength that even Maleficent could not ignore. Slowly, distrust gave way to curiosity, curiosity to conversation, and conversation to something almost resembling camaraderie.
It was not an alliance built on convenience. It was something deeper. When storms lashed against the Moors, Maximilian would stand beside Maleficent at the highest peaks, watching over the lands as the lightning illuminated the dark skies. When the humans in the neighboring kingdom whispered of forces beyond their comprehension, it was Maximilian and Maleficent who silently ensured the balance remained. Their goals aligned more than either of them would have admitted at first.
It was not just their power that linked them but something more profound—their very existence. Both of them were Dark Fey, a rare and misunderstood race, bound to magic as much as they were bound to the sky. Their wings, though differing in shape, carried the same essence of the old world, of something untouched by time. When they moved, there was an unspoken symmetry, an understanding that no words could capture. They were kin in a way neither had ever known before.
As Aurora grew in secret, watched over by the fairies in the cottage hidden deep in the forest, Maximilian found himself drawn not just to Maleficent's power but to the person beneath the legend. He saw the way she lingered near the cottage, how her eyes softened when she thought no one was watching. She was not just the villain of this story. She was something more—someone more. She had convinced herself she was merely enacting justice, but he could see it was not hatred that made her return time and time again to watch over the girl. It was something far more complicated.
One evening, as they stood atop the cliffs overlooking the Moors, Maleficent glanced at him, her green eyes catching the fading light of the sunset. "Why do you stay? You could leave at any moment. Your power is great enough. So why remain in a world that does not belong to you?"
Maximilian folded his arms, watching the horizon. "Because Aurora does not belong to you either. And yet, you watch over her."
A shadow of emotion crossed her face, too fleeting to name. "She is… an unfortunate consequence of my past."
He smirked. "And yet you protect her as if she were your own."
Maleficent didn't respond immediately. She merely studied him, as if searching for something she could not place. Finally, she turned away. "Believe what you will."
Their interactions grew less combative, though neither of them would call it friendship. There were long moments of silence between them, comfortable in ways they had never expected. She had never known another being who could match her in presence, who did not flinch in the face of her power, nor bow to her legend. Maximilian, for his part, had never encountered someone who carried so much sorrow behind so much strength. They were mirrors, in a way, both carrying the weight of past battles, both unwilling to let themselves be seen as vulnerable.
There were nights when neither spoke, merely sitting side by side in the darkened Moors, listening to the sounds of the land around them. The soft hum of magic, the distant rustling of enchanted creatures, the stillness of a place untouched by time. It was in those moments that their bond solidified—not through words, but through understanding.
One night, as they watched the fireflies dance over the quiet waters of an enchanted lake, Maximilian finally broke the silence. "Do you ever wonder? If things had been different? If they had never wronged you? Would you still be here, watching over her?"
Maleficent's expression remained unreadable, but after a long pause, she murmured, "There is no use in wondering what cannot be changed."
Maximilian nodded but pressed no further. He had his answer.
But he had also seen something in her gaze, something unguarded for just a moment—a quiet longing, a ghost of what could have been. And he realized, perhaps for the first time, that she was as lost as he was, searching for something neither of them could name.
Over time, their connection deepened. It was in the way they moved through the Moors, his wings casting a lone shadow over the land while Maleficent walked beside him, her presence no less powerful despite the absence of her own. It was in the way they could read each other with just a glance, sensing thoughts before they were spoken. It was in the way Aurora, unknowing of their pasts, would smile at them both as if they were equals, guardians of the same world, protectors of the same fate.
They were not just allies of circumstance.
They were Dark Fey, kin of magic and shadow.
They were guardians of a girl who would one day change the fate of the kingdom.
And perhaps, of each other.