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Her fingers close around cold, smooth metal and an electric shock runs through her body, from the tips of her fingers down to her toes, and she knows before she even moves that something has changed within her. She’s different now. Better. Special. The glow of the scepter beats in time with her heart, claiming her as its own, and it as hers. She smiles sharply, wickedly, and thinks Yes. Everyone will see what she can do - anything Mal can do, she can do better, even being a villain. Even using her mother’s powers. Mal never knew what she could have had, and now it’s Audrey’s. Everything Mal has will be Audrey’s.
Her mouth hurts. She’s felt a dull throbbing throughout her mouth all morning. She wants to rip out her own teeth to make it stop. Instead, when the ache gets too much and ripples through her entire head, pounding against her skull, she hurls a dish at Chad and then tells him to pick up the pieces when he dodges and it shatters. When he isn’t looking, she puts her fingers into her mouth and feels along her gums and teeth, pressing down, trying to find the source of the pain. Everywhere she touches aches and it makes her hiss. Is she not wielding Maleficent’s staff? Is she not the new Queen of Evil? Why is she susceptible to normal human things like pain?
The thought gives her pause. When did she decide she was no longer human?
A new thought snakes through her mind, reminding her she’s different now. Better. Better than all the rest. Better than human. She is the Queen. Her pain is nothing.
Of course. She runs her thumb lovingly across her scepter. Of course - this is just… her mortal human body adjusting to her new power. Growing pains, is all. With each curse she will adjust a little more until she feels nothing at all. Then she’ll be perfect, a true Queen. The kind Mal could never be.
She tastes blood and hisses at nothing, wondering when someone could have made her bleed. Then Chad - simple, stupid Chad who chose her and now trembles under her stare, why doesn’t Ben do this with Mal? - speaks up and, tentatively, quietly says her lip is bleeding.
She swipes a thumb across her lip and it comes away red. She runs her tongue over her teeth and tastes blood again, just before she registers a sharp prick she knows wasn’t there before.
She snaps out an order for Chad to bring her a mirror. He brings her a little compact and when she opens her mouth, she sees her canines have lengthened, sharpened. Fangs now, not just teeth.
Perfect, she thinks, though the voice in her head doesn’t sound like her own, for terrifying. For ripping apart those who oppose you.
Yes. Perfect.
The pain doesn’t go away even after her fangs come in. It moves north, a constant headache. It dulls a bit after she curses Ben and turns what’s left of the kingdom to stone, but it doesn’t go away. Hurling dishes at Chad doesn’t help, but an outlet for her pain, a display of her power over him does take her mind off of it for a moment. She knows it will go away, eventually, when she is stronger. She just has to keep going until all of Auradon is bowing to her.
Until then, her headache will linger and worsen. She must move fast and then she will truly begin her reign.
The floor of the cottage is covered in shattered glass and Chad, trying to clean it all up, by the time she casts her spell to bring the armor to life. As she watches the precious villain kids try to fight, she laughs - until her headache goes from hammering to splitting, her head ripping apart. She screams, not in anger but in agony, dropping to her knees and ignorant of the glass. She slaps her hand to her forehead, even now refusing to let go of the scepter, her hand a vice around it. She presses down hard, trying to cave her own skull in so the pain will stop, but it doesn’t work - the opposite is happening. Under her touch, she feels a point, feels her skin breaking and splitting to make room for something emerging.
It hurts - she can’t stop screaming, despite trying to tell herself all will be well, this is necessary for her growth. All she can feel is agony and she wants it to stop, stop , stop -
It stops, and with it, her mind returns. She is still on the floor, doubled over and face in her knees. She feels a hand on her shoulder and hears a voice - oh, Chad - asking her what’s happening. Is she okay?
She breathes into her knees for a moment before she reminds herself Queens do not show weakness. She forces herself upright, throwing off Chad’s hand and rising to her feet, scepter pressed to his back so he doesn’t stand. She is fine and he needs to remember his place - beneath her.
When he remembers to start trembling again, he also compliments her new look. He says it suits her. He’s clearly lying but she will take the compliment. She doesn’t know what he’s talking about, though she knows something has changed - her hair falls differently, she feels, like it has been messed with by the wind. When Chad isn’t looking, returning to cleaning the floor, she takes a moment to approach the mirror on the wall. She sees what has been causing her headaches and why they have now weakened to just a faint throbbing.
Growing from the sides of her head are horns, curved, scaly, glistening black horns. The points are sharp, tinged red - she knows with what.
For a moment she stares at herself, what she has become. What she is becoming. What is she becoming? This is not what she wanted, to be changed so, she only wanted-
Power. Revenge, she reminds herself. Both worth a few alterations. Her appearance has already changed so much. What is another difference?
She’s right, of course, she reasons. A little pain, a little change is nothing. Not compared to what she will gain. Besides, as Chad said, they suit her. - they make her look as dangerous as she is. As they continue to grow, and the faint throb that remains tells her they will, they will be a crown unlike any other.
Her crown, the Auradon crown, has tilted and must be adjusted to make room. She manages to make it fit. There. Perfect.
Almost perfect, she thinks. She feels a twinge of pain in her shoulder blades and wonders, trembling, what will come next?
She would use her scepter to balance if it didn’t make her look pathetic. At least Chad is gone now, locked in the closet for the others to find instead of her. She’s got more important things to do to solidify her reign. Especially now that Uma and Mal can fight her powers together.
No matter. She has the scepter. She’s the Queen. She’ll deal with them. And then she will be complete, her true self.
If only her back would stop hurting. She knows now the pain is all part of her growth, but does it have to make her look so pathetic?
No, no, it’s part of it, fighting the urge to cower and power through. She can do it. She must.
Night has fallen by the time it starts. She’s abandoned the cottage and gone to the school instead. It’s so fitting to start her reign at the place where she’d started to lose it. But no more. After tonight it will all be fixed.
It’s a feeling like when her horns first grew in, a feeling in her shoulder blades. The ache gets worse until it feels like a white hot blade ripping her skin open from the inside. She clutches her scepter and wills it to power her through. She will not scream and cower this time - this is necessary, she can do it, she can-
She grips the stone of the ramparts with her free hand until the stone shatters under her strength. Blood drips down her chin from how hard she’s biting her lip to hold back a scream, ignorant of how her fangs tear through her lip like it was nothing. It is nothing. She can take it, even as she feels bone growing where there was none before, growing out from under her cape. She feels her back growing warm, sticky and wet with her blood and focuses on that rather than the- no, she can take it, she can, she is not weak, she is Queen.
There is a rustle as her wings spread out behind her, the blood blending into the black feathers in the night. They’re not long now, they’ll keep g until they are as large and intimidating as she deserves. Then she will be perfect.
Her cheeks are wet, she realizes, and when she touches her face, her fingers come away with tears. She hisses at the sight of them. There’s nothing to be crying about. This is everything she ever wanted. So what if her entire being is shaking with agony and she can barely stand? It will be worth it once everyone sees her for what she is - perfect . Powerful. They will bow to her like they never would to Mal - they will bow to her like they did Maleficent. The kind of Queen Mal could never be.