Haunted by the Past

Bad turns worse

(Pov switch back to Maleficent)

Three days after I had left the weather turned. The clouds around the Nest grew darker and darker and eventually big storm started. It lasted for days and even if I had wanted to leave, I couldn't. So I just sat near one of the many entrances/exits, watching the storm. For all its strength, rage and power, watching a storm was quite calming. The sudden bursts of light as lightning struck, followed by the sound of thunder. The falling rain in between the flashes and the noise. There was a beauty about it that I couldn't explain. The wind however was quite harsh, so I tried my best to stay out of it's reach as I watched. Only someone who's insane would go out in this weather, let alone fly in it. Or at least so I thought.

To be fair, I wasn't completely proven wrong when Borra came out of nowhere and crash-landed right in front of my feet. I was very, very surprised, but not completely proven wrong. "Borra?" I asked him, "What are you doing here? Why would you be crazy enough to fly through a storm like this?" "No... time... talk... Danger." Then he passed out. "Well, that's awfully inconvenient." I dragged Borra inside to a bed and left him there to rest. I left some apples with him and some tea that I had managed to brew. I didn't know what else to do. After that I went back to watching the storm, waiting for him to wake up, wondering what he had meant with "danger".

*

"Thank you for the tea," Borra said as he walked up behind me several hours later. The storm was still raging outside. "Well, you looked like you could use a drink. Now, tell me, what has gotten into you that you came to visit me in this weather?" Borra looked up at the clouds, a dark look on his face and sighed, "I'm not sure if we have time for that. I already lost several days coming here to tell you... but... well, if it takes as long to go back we might be too late anyway." I turned to look up at him, "What do you mean?" He sat down next to me, "You remember Henry?" "Sadly, I do." "He has been torturing and killing fairies." "He's trying to lure me out of hiding." "He is. and he has issued a statement. See... he has this... special prisoner and he has said that if you... wouldn't show up in three days he would kill that prisoner." "Well, seeing the storm that's raging on, I'm already too late. Now, who is this special prisoner?" "It's your friend, Diaval."

"What?" "Yes, he's caught Diaval. It seems he has... noticed how much you care about him and now he's threatened to kill him." "Then why are we sitting here doing nothing?" I said as I shot up, "We should... we should..." Then it hit me again. It had taken Borra two days to get through this storm, we were too late already. "We can't fly through this... Well, we can, but we won't be on time, there's no way." I looked out at the storm, "Maybe that's true for you," I said. "But right ow I am very determined to get there on time. And it's almost impossible to stop me when I'm determined." I tried to fly off but Borra grabbed my arm, "Are you crazy? This storm is only going to get worse, it's suicide!" "I can't let him kill Diaval!" "I know," he sighed, "I know." "Then what do you suggest I do?" He looked out over the sea, "We need to fly low enough to not be bothered by the wind too much but high enough to not be swept up by the waves." "Nicely said, but I'm fairly certain that's impossible... and very obvious. And who said anything about we?" "I'm not going to let you go alone, you might need support." "Support from a man who crash-landed at my feet several hours ago?" "I'm feeling a lot better now." "I hope so for you, if you really want to come along."

Even taking off was hard in this weather, but we managed. We were almost immediately blown backwards, but after bracing ourselves properly we managed to fight the wind and we made some slow but steady progress towards the mainland. Although Borra was clearly struggling to keep up with me. I tried to fly a little slower, since I couldn't leave him behind, but he shook his head, "Go, just go!" He yelled, struggling to make his voice be heard over the sound of the howling wind. I nodded, trying to fly faster, but I was immediately blown back by a strong gust of wind and thrown right into Borra. We almost dropped into the wildly swirling sea, but we managed to catch ourselves just in time. "That was close," Borra yelled. I nodded at him and tried to gain more height, but then I was swept away by a wave.