Once Upon a Second Chance

(10) - Enter the Dragons

Maleficent and Mal approached the Page residence as Mal walked wearily besides her alternate mother.

"...So who's Lily?" Mal asked, having remembered that Maleficent mentioned a person's name back at Granny's who apparently she would be living with as well.

"My daughter," Maleficent responded. "She's quite older than you but I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

Mal slowly nodded, not sure if that's entirely true.

"You give birth to her young?" Mal asked, noticing that this world's Mistress of Evil didn't look that old herself.

She noticed her face falter slightly, likely indicating that there was something painful about that experience.

"It's a long story," she sighed before walking up to a large mansion and putting a key in the door handle. "Fair warning... things can get a bit dark in this house."

"That's okay," Mal smirked, "I like the dark."

They walked inside and Maleficent opened the lights to a dimly lit living room.

"Make yourself at home," she smiled and took off her hat and coat and put them on the rack. "I'll find some pajamas you can wear for the night. I'm sure you must be exhausted from the dress you've been wearing all day."

It was then Mal looked down and realized that she and everybody else were still in their engagement party clothes and that she was right—they were rather uncomfortable considering the adventure she's been on today.

"I can get you some new clothes tomorrow."

Mal shook her head. "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that."

"I insist. I'm assuming you don't have any money and my understanding is that you will be staying for a while, yes?"

"I guess so," Mal sighed, wanting to get back to Auradon as soon as possible.

Suddenly Mal heard an unfamiliar female voice. "Mom, is that you?" A brown-haired, dark-eyed woman came down the staircase and froze upon seeing her mother and an unfamiliar purple-haired teenager in their living room. "...Who's this?" she asked questioningly.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Lily, this is your sister," Maleficent said, causing Lily's eyes to widen and jaw to drop.

"...From another realm," Mal added with an awkward smile, seeing the confusion on the woman's face. However, her comment likely only added to the confusion.

"I'm Mal. Maleficent Bertha."

"Maleficent?" Maleficent asked.

"Bertha?" Lily nearly laughed.

"Wow, you're mother must love you very much to have named you after herself," her alternate mother said.

"More like loved herself very much," Mal muttered bitterly at the thought of her real mother... who was a lizard. But without her in Auradon, who know how long she'll stay like that and what damage she could do if she ever escaped her reptile form while Mal's not there to protect it. Mal shook those dreadful thoughts from her head and turned back to Lily.

"I'm the daughter of another version of Maleficent from another world. And for reasons I can't entirely understand myself, I was dropped here and am supposed to stay with you and your mother," Mal decided to give her the simplest version of the story she could.

Lily raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced with the girl's story that appeared to have a few gaps. Another Maleficent? Reasons she can't explain? How could they have just heard about this now? No, she wasn't buying it. She didn't know what this stranger wanted, but one thing was for sure—she wasn't getting it without a fight.

Lily's eyes suddenly began to glow their bright lime-gold color like they do when she feels threatened. A nice little side effect of living in a place with magic and activating her dragon side.

This made Mal begin to feel threatened, causing her to glare with her iconic glowing emerald green eyes.

This caused Maleficent to give and exasperated scoff. "Oh, girls, put the eyes away. We're all family here. And we need to get along for the time being," Maleficent smiled.

Her words caused Lily and Mal to break out of their staring contest and look each other up and down before giving slight smirks of approval.

"Who's hungry?" Maleficent asked.

After the three women had eaten dinner in an awkward silence, it was rather late and decided to go to sleep.

Lily guided Mal to the guest room and lent her a pair of pajamas to sleep in for the night. As Lily handed Mal the clothes, the teenager's eyes caught something on the brunette's right wrist in the shape of a star.

"Weird scar," Mal commented, causing Lily to tug on her sleeve and cover it insecurely.

"...It's a birthmark," was all the brunette said before turning around and walking to her room.

(A/N): Hey readers! Sorry, I know—short chapter. But as you may have guessed, I'll be dedicating a chapter for each child moving in to their alternate parents' home. I hoped you liked the chapter. And I would like to ask if you liked the little edit I made for it at the top? If you did, you can be expecting more of them. 🙂