[178] All or Nothing

[obabscribbler.livejournal.com]

Challenge: [178] Passion
Title: All or Nothing
Word Count: 554
Anything Else: First challenge in a while. Getting in before the pips ...

 

 

Maleficent’s never been one for doing things by halves. She’s an all-or-nothing girl; a real throw-the-whole-of-yourself-into-it, what’s-the-point-of-holding-back? sort.

 

“You’ll come a cropper if you’re not more circumspect,” Ansem says.

 

“Circumspect? You expect me to sit around all day just reading when I should be using my powers?” She’s always shouting while he just sits, saying nothing and being infuriating.

 

In time she’ll learn the power of not raising your voice, not lashing out, and not prematurely showing your hand, but at sixteen she can no more stop her personality bubbling over than stop breathing.

 

“Even fairies must learn the basics.”

 

She grows tired of his dusty library and her mapped-out future. Let him teach someone else, she thinks. He may be 'wise', but she’s the first of her kind born here in centuries. Ansem and Radiant Garden crowd her like vines trying to choke a single rare rose. She has lofty ideas of her own capabilities, and they don’t involve servitude while waiting for the Faerie Dell to vomit up someone better suited to Court Fairy.

 

Even at sixteen, a stone’s throw from her beginnings, Maleficent won’t bow to others.

 

“I won’t follow,” she snarls, casting aside her leaf-dress and pixie-dust. They’re feather-light and shackle-heavy. “Nobody can tell me what to do.”

 

She’s always broken rules. Now she smashes them, and the gummi shield around Radiant Garden. She finds another world where she’s valued and people respect her – until they don’t. Somewhere a fairy who wants to be more can make a name – until that name becomes ‘witch’. Her teenage temper tantrums are allowed to continue unchecked. Nobody has courage to make her grow up – not even the three biddies, who try to make her wear yellow to match them. They don’t understand, and eventually use what they’ve learned to raise a princess as a gentle pauper even though she’s also sixteen and special.

 

Maleficent twists her magic to change her shape and size, employs other fairies to steal artefacts that channel her powers in darker ways, and carries nothing but her green skin from her past.

 

Initially she enjoys the fear. She’s powerful. Even the royals fear her. Like many before, she confuses fear with respect, but eventually realises her talents isolate her. Her powers become bars and her reputation’s a prison. She watches from her tower and sees that even though she’s a woman, a leader, an idol, she’s still following. She is what others say – witch-witch-witch – black robes containing her as chokingly as her leaf-dress.

 

She descends on the new princess’s christening with fiery punishment in her heart.

 

Sixteen years later, her bound wings flutter uselessly while she completes this punishment. She surveys the sleeping princess, smouldering remains of castle and prince around them. At the end, straining against the spinning-wheel, the girl couldn’t understand why Maleficent hates her so; but then she’s always been so content. Briar-Rose-or-Aurora’s always let the world manipulate her without taking a stand – an everything-will-turn-out-okay-in-the-wash, once-upon-a-dream girl who’s never had a tantrum before.

 

Yellow eyes crawl from beneath the noble steed’s ribcage and the sword that would’ve defeated Maleficent if she hadn’t cast those stupid godmothers through the gummi shield.

 

Another new beginning unfolds in her mind.

 

She’s all-or-nothing person, after all – which means she takes it all and leaves nothing, whatever world she migrates to. 

 

Comments

[MOD]

[crimsoncookie.livejournal.com]

hello- someone has pointed out that this entry is actually over 700 words (which i've confirmed with two different word counters) and so will not be included in this week's contest entries.

please change your word count to reflect the actual word count of the entry (707/714) and be careful about your word count in the future. there's a link to a word counter in kh_drabble's userinfo.

if this was the wrong version mistakenly posted, please replace it and let me know. thank you!

Re: [MOD]

[obabscribbler.livejournal.com]

Yipes! I'm glad you're such an understanding mod! I habitually keep hold of my first version of any drabble and upload the full version onto FFN, but this time I messed up and put the full version here. It was a genuine mistake. I've never been so careless before and can only apologise. I've switched them around now, but I'll bow out of this week's challenge if my mistake has screwed up the timings.

Re: [MOD]

[crimsoncookie.livejournal.com]

i'll put you in - just doing the poll right now. :) thank you for checking in and switching it to your intended version!

Re: [MOD]

[obabscribbler.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[tabitha-dornoc.livejournal.com]

I am so weak for Maleficent done well, you have no idea. And she's just... hot here, and I love it. So many images and characterization and I really want to drink down this because your writing here is very very lovely. End line love and first line love. Mmm. This is quite quite gorgeous.

But but but. Wordcount, young lady!

[obabscribbler.livejournal.com]

That's because I mistakenly put the FFN version here and embarassed myself royally. That'll teach me to upload stuff at nearly midnight when I'm tired and should be in bed.

Somehow this is ... less than the triumphant return to drabble-writing than I imagined. Sooooo embaraaaaassed ...