Looking For A Friend

[Diablo]

(January 23rd. Set a couple days after the battle & rescue thread. Open to Maleficent & patch for the first page. Then anyone else can join in.)

Diablo flew nervously around the strange neighborhood. It looked nothing like King Stephan's kingdom or Maleficent's kingdom. The last thing he remembered was that fairy turning him to stone. He hoped Maleficent was alright. He got tired of flying and flew in through an open window of a house landing on the couch to rest. He let out a caw out of habit. The inside looked just as strange to him as the outside. Maybe he'd died and gone to the afterlife and that's why he couldn't find Maleficent and everything looked so strange.

[Patch]

Patch was sleeping on a couch when he heard a cawing sound. Patch's instinct caused him to want to bark at it, but something about his capture made him miss it as well as feel uncomfortable of barking so he patted the window. He then realized something

Wait. Maleficent has a raven!

Maybe this was that raven. Quickly he tried to find her and the only way to get her was through a bark. Ready for her arrival, patch barked and pointed to the window

[Deleted]

From the kitchen, there came a series of coughs, followed by a small groan and the sound of a clanking mug.

Maleficent was curled up in a chair, drinking tea and watching the activity outside. All was peaceful beyond the window, and the same could be said for within the Nostalgia Residence. Since the Nostalgia Chick, Morpheus, and Patch had been successfully recovered from the House of Doom, there hadn’t been any trouble. She inclined her head slightly and was able to see that the little Dalmatian puppy was still curled up on the couch, fast asleep. Smiling faintly to herself, satisfied that all was still well, she returned her attention to the tea and the window. The crisp January day reminded her of her childhood winters, most of which had been spent playing in the snow with Diablo.

Maleficent’s smile faded at the thought, and she looked down into her mug, a glimmer of sorrow filling her eyes. She didn’t know exactly how long it had been since she had seen her pet, but it felt as though it had been a lifetime.

The silence and her musings were broken by a single sound. A sound that was so very familiar to the dark fairy. She froze mid-sip, gold eyes wide.

No. She shook her head, trying to dispel the crazy notion. She was hearing things, that was all. It made sense; Diablo was always on her mind, after all, even if she wasn’t entirely conscious of it. Sometimes at night, she could swear she could hear him – once she’d even convinced herself that she’d seen him, though that had turned out to be an ordinary blackbird.

Now there was a high-pitched puppy bark, and Maleficent couldn’t ignore that. Rising from the chair, she started towards the living room. Nothing out of the ordinary, just Patch barking at Diablo on the couch –

The thoughts connected, and the mug fell from her hands with a crash, spilling its hot cargo everywhere. Maleficent barely noticed.

“Diablo?”

Her voice came out tentative and unsure, but the dark fairy couldn’t have cared less. Her first friend – in many ways her only friend – was standing right in front of her, and she had taken him for dead.

[Diablo]

Diablo turned glancing at the barking puppy. His first instinct was to fly away but his attention was distracted as he saw Maleficent walk into the room.

"Maleficent is that really you? I've looked everywhere for you. I've missed you." thought Diablo speaking to her through his thoughts.

He flew over to her landing on her shoulder glad to see her again and forgetting the dog for the moment.

[Deleted]

“Yes, it’s me.”

The confusion in Maleficent’s voice had vanished, replaced by euphoria as Diablo’s words echoed around in her mind. This wasn’t a hallucination created by her desperate mind – Diablo was right there, perched on her shoulder as though they were still in the Forbidden Mountain and nothing had ever changed. A wide, genuine smile crossed her face, and she ran her fingers along the soft black feathers of the raven’s spine.

“I’ve missed you too, my pet.” The dark fairy held her hand out, an invitation for Diablo to shift to it. “I thought I wouldn’t see you again after what that fairy did.”

Gold eyes drifted down to Patch, still on the ground and probably wondering what was going on.

“Well, it seems that an introduction is in order. Diablo, this is Patch.” She gestured to the Dalmatian puppy. “Patch, this is Diablo – my oldest friend.”

[Patch]

Patch wagged his tail, it was indeed the same bird maleficent claimed to have in the past. Patch trotted over and wagged his tail even faster as he got closer to the two. He was excited, this was the pet Maleficent had before him. He gave a yip in greeting then replied "hi diablo! Maleficent told me about you!"

[Diablo]

Diablo smiled and flew to her hand perching on it. He had missed her. He nodded frowning at the mention of the fairies.

"I assembled the army to stop them. But they were escaping. I went to warn you and she came after me. The last thing I remember is her blasting me." thought Diablo.

He then shuddered at the image of being turned to stone. He remembered and had been stuck like that. He hadn't believed one of the good fairies had that power or malice to turn him into stone. He'd been proven wrong that day.

Diablo turned glancing at Patch curiously before he spoke. If Maleficent was introducing Patch to him he must be a good friend.

"Hello Patch." thought Diablo.

[Patch]

Patch had a strange feeling that diablo greeted him back with the glance. Patch repeated "Hi diablo! Good to meet you" Patch wagged his tail to maleficent "Can you believe it Maleficent? Your pet's back!" Patch knew maleficent was excited and wanted to encourage his friend's happiness

[Deleted]

The familiar weight of Diablo on her hand was as much nostalgic as the sight of the raven himself. Maleficent continued her stroking as she listened to what her pet had to say, and her features hardened slightly.

“Yes, I heard the noise,” she remarked, almost to herself, settling onto the couch. At the time, Maleficent had been angry with the goblins for disrupting her sleep – the first real bit of peace she’d had since cursing Aurora – but once she had realized what had happened, it suddenly wasn’t as important. All that had mattered was making sure Phillip and the Good Fairies didn’t get away.

“Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.”

The words left a bitter taste in her mouth, and the dark fairy busied herself watching the interactions between Diablo and Patch to distract herself. She nodded to herself, pleased that they seemed to be getting along, before noticing that Patch didn’t seem to be able to understand Diablo when he spoke.

“Diablo is telepathic, Patch,” Maleficent explained. “He communicates with his thoughts.”

[Diablo]

Diablo nodded but was grateful Maleficent was still alive.

"I'm just glad you're safe. That no one hurt you." thought Diablo.

Diablo turned looking at Patch and nodded as Maleficent spoke. He wondered if Patch could hear him. Only Maleficent had before.

[Patch]

"Oh. Sorry. Is there any way I can hear him or something?" Patch responded back. He turned to diablo, still wagging his tail excitedly at the raven. He felt admittedly glad for maleficent getting his pet back. He turned back to maleficent for the answer

[Deleted]

Well. This was quite an inconvenience.

Maleficent’s gold eyes darted from Diablo to Patch and back again. Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to her that the raven wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone here save her. She had grown accustomed to this, and besides, it had never been an issue before. Being more than a little animalistic themselves, the goblins had always been able to decipher Diablo’s squawks and body language – it was one of the few qualities they possessed that didn’t make Maleficent want to beat her head against a stone wall. Or better yet, theirs.

“I had a spell for that in a book back at the Forbidden Mountain,” she remembered. “Though that doesn’t do us much good here.”

Maleficent was certain that she could get the spell right from memory, but at the same time, she didn’t want to take the chance that something would go wrong and possibly hurt Diablo.

Her gold eyes suddenly brightened.

“Perhaps Grimhilde has the spell.”

Maleficent doubted the queen had a spell book with her, but all she needed was conformation that her memory of the incantation was correct.

“What do you think, Diablo? Do you want to try it?”

[Diablo]

Diablo glanced at Patch and then at Maleficent waiting her answer. When Maleficent mentioned Grimhilde, and a spell before asking his opinion he noddded.

"It would be easier for me to talk to everyone. Is Grimhilde another friend of yours?" asked Diablo.

[Patch]

"Yeah. Maybe Grimhilde has the answer. I'm up for it" Patch responded, still unsure if Diablo responded or not. Admittedly this was a problem, not to mention a annoyance. How was Patch supposed to talk to diablo if he didn't know if diablo heard what he said or not? Patch turned to maleficent waiting for her to translate or at least lead Patch into what was diablo saying

[Deleted]

“It’s settled, then,” Maleficent replied smoothly. She didn’t translate Diablo’s telepathy – she found it annoying and besides, her previous comment had made it obvious what the raven had said. “We’ll go see Grimhilde.”

She moved her occupied hand back to her shoulder, allowing Diablo to settle back there if he so desired, and gestured to Patch with her free one.

“Come.”

With a swish of her long black dress, the dark fairy started up the stairs, expecting Patch to follow. She reached Grimhilde’s room and raised her slender hand to knock on the door.

“Grimhilde? Are you busy?”