Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So, whaddya wanna know? Wanna know about the greatest adventure of my life? Loved it? Hated it? Glad I went on it? Well, I can’t just tell you one answer. There’s just so much to talk about, but how am I supposed to know you will believe me? I mean, traveling to Disney -and I’m not talking about Florida, California, Hong Kong, Tokyo, or France- I mean the actual Disney. Going through different worlds, meeting familiar characters, and even playing small roles in their stories? Sounds like I got a hold of the wrong stuff and dreamt it all, right?

Well, that is where’d you’d be wrong.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me introduce myself: Francesca Cole -just call me Frankie- Guardian of Disney. And I know what you’re thinking; what is a Guardian? Well, that’s kind of a long story. Then again, that’s probably why you’re here, right? To know my story, to know how exactly I became Guardian, to know how I went on the best adventure of my life and eventually did a complete 180.

Let me set the scene:

New York City: Busy, messy, sometimes rude, pretty at night, and nobody gets any sleep because of the traffic. Yep, that’s my home. Now, you’re probably thinking that I was some quote-unquote “normal girl” who tried to fit in even though nobody wanted her around or wanted to be famous in the big city. Well, wrong again! I was anything but normal. Middle child of three and a bit of a rambunctious troublemaker. But I was raised by the infamous rule of all troublemakers: You’re only in trouble if you get caught. Which is kind of how everything happened.

One particular night in August, my friends Alex, Pearl, and I decided to have some fun just before we head back to the soul-crushing, spirit-destroying Hellhole known as high school in two weeks. And our version of fun was as simple as it could get: Simple art. We jumped across rooftop to rooftop like a trio of ninjas until we came across our perfect canvas: An abandoned blank billboard.

“This is perfect.” I stated before turning to the only guy in our group. “Alex, you packing?”

Alex gave a smirk before digging into his backpack and pulling out two small cans of paint and a small tube. 

“Oils or acrylics?” he asked Pearl and I as he showed us the paint cans.

“Acrylics wash away.” Pearl stated. “Oil us up.”

Alex gave a nod before taking a pocket knife and cutting a slit into the oil paint can lid and jamming the tube into the hole. He quickly turned to Pearl for confirmation about a specific question. 

“You got the balloons, right?”

“Depends.” Pearl started as she dug into her pocket in her jacket and pulled out a pack of balloons while pointing a thumb at me. “Does her dad sell lamps from the 70’s?”

Alex smirked as Pearl threw him the packet of balloons and started filling them up with oil paint. It didn’t take long for half of the balloons to get filled up with paint and split evenly among the three of us. 

“Lady and gentleman,” I smirked as I aimed a balloon towards the blank billboard. “Let’s load ‘em up.”

We then proceeded to throw the balloons at the billboard, every burst onto the blank white canvas into an assortment of colors. We were making art in our simplest form: vandalism. It was the only thing we seemed to bond over. Well, that and Disney movies. We always made sure to try to incorporate that into our art in any way we could. Heck, one time, Pearl once painted a whole mural of Hades, the villain from my favorite Disney movie Hercules and who also happened to be her favorite villain, during one of our taggings. We were dedicated to our art and our love of our Disney movies, and that’s something to love, right?

Well, others didn’t really think that that was such a good thing. You see, we were still breaking the law and vandalizing city property. Unused city property, but city property. And if our nosy neighbor Mr. Charles Esme didn’t bust us for vandalizing, the cops would. And we had a particular cop that loved seeing us get into trouble.

“Hey, what’re doin’ up there!”

Speak of the devil.

The three of us stopped our paint-bombing when we saw a flashlight light up towards us, and a pencil-nosed, pencil-thin cop that wreaked of dead fish -who we call Officer Fishbreath for obvious reasons- was looking up at us angrily for our newest art piece to the city: a flying lantern that looked exactly liked the ones in Tangled. 

“Run for it!” Pearl shouted as she hurled Alex’s backpack at him.

We were completely and utterly screwed now. Alex threw me his backpack for some reason, and we bolted as fast as we could. The three of us ran to the opposite side of the roof to try to avoid getting arrested by Fishbreath. And sneaking down the fire escape proved useless when we saw the cop chasing after us. We booked it down an alley, but while Pearl and I managed to jump a fence, Alex got his left pants cuff caught on the top rail spikes. 

“Frankie, I’m stuck!” he called out to me.

I rushed back to the fence and tried my best to pull him free. “I gotcha, Al!” I told him. “You’re gonna be okay, I promise!”

I was determined to get him free out of the fence without him getting hurt, but my promise was broken when the taser hit Alex in the leg. I dropped him in shock, Pearl staring in horror at our situation. Fishbreath came out from behind a corner, his taser still on Alex -who was on the ground twitching from the shock- and aimed his gun at Pearl and me. He did realize that this was considered child endangerment, right? Regardless of what we did, we were just stupid kids doing stupid things.

“Hands where I can see ‘em!” Fishbreath barked at us.

Pearl and I slowly raised our hands, one of mine still holding Alex’s partially zipped backpack. 

“Wait, we’re just innocent kids!” I said as I tried to reason with the cop. 

And as if the universe just loved screwing with us, the paint cans comedically fell out of Alex’s backpack along with some of the balloons that we didn’t get to throw. The balloons burst open as soon as they hit the pavement, staining my old shoes with orange oil paint and purple acrylics. Fishbreath glanced at the shoes before looking back at Pearl and me. The two of us gulped, knowing that we were so massively screwed.

“Whoops.” we muttered.

One Hour Later

Well, it didn’t take long until the three of us were busted out of our holding cell in the local police department. Unfortunately for us, we were bailed out by the most unbelievable, high expectation having, person the entire city of New York has given within the span of 45 years:

My mother.

I should’ve known she’d bail us out the moment the cops unlocked their single cell in their department to let Alex, Pearl, and I go free after an hour-and-a-half of being locked up. And I know what you're thinking: I should be happy knowing that my mom cares about me so much that she would be there to bail my friends and I out of jail should the occasion call for it. And I would, if she didn’t say what happened next.

“Are you kids okay?” my mom asked the three of us as we were escorted outside.

“We’re fine, Mom.” I assured her as the cop left to go back inside the precinct.

Pearl nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we’re okay, Mrs. C.”

“Good.” my mom said calmly before turning into angry mom mode. “Then what were you three knuckleheads thinking?!”

“We just wanted to have some fun.” Alex said as he flinched in fear.

“Yeah, and Frankie was too scared to do it.” Pearl said.

I gave her an offended look. “No, I wasn’t!”

“Alex, Pearl, this doesn’t concern you, and you’re lucky I won’t tell your parents you were vandalizing city property again.” Mom said before angrily glaring at me. “Frankie, on the other hand, is in bigger trouble.”

Mom then dragged us into her car and angrily drove us off to take us home. After dropping off Alex and Pearl to their homes -an apartment building a block away from mine- Mom drove me back to our home, which rested on top of my dad’s shop. Dad made himself a living selling and repairing both used and old appliances. Mainly the ones from the 60s and 70s, but there were a few gems from the 40s too. And you’d be surprised to know how many people appreciated the older appliances, and that’s sort of why Dad bought the shop underneath our apartment building.

We all lived there with the soon-to-be college student Ty, my older brother and Mom’s favorite kid. But don’t let the good grades, perfect attendance record, or interest in dentistry fool you, Ty was literally the worst and quite the spoiled brat. Worst of all, he’d hide his true colors away from Mom so he could keep being the golden child. Yeah, the lady of the house always wanted me to be as “perfect” as he was.

Speaking of houses, once we were in the apartment, Mom furiously rushed me to our kitchen to find my dad hard at work fixing an old Hoover model vacuum. She was determined that Dad would give me a suitable punishment or a yell after what I had done.

“Hey, Frankie. How was your day?” Dad asked me as he looked up from the vacuum.

“I-”

“She and her little friends did it again.” Mom rudely interrupted me. “Throwing water balloons full of paint on a billboard!”

“Did you really?” Dad asked with an interested smile on his face. “What’d you paint this time?”

“Ed!” Mom shouted his name.

Dad stifled a small laugh as he rephrased himself. “I mean, that was very wrong, indeed, Frankie. Very wrong of you.”

I gave a small smirk knowing that he didn’t really mind that I was trying to have a bit of fun.

“Oh, honestly, you’re really going to give her that crap?” Mom told him in a very unamused way. “She vandalized city property!”

“Carol, we were like that when we were her age.” Dad tried to assure her. “Heck, my buddies and I used to rearrange letters on signs to make them say stupid things.”

“This isn’t about what you did, Ed. It’s about what Frankie did.”

“Mom, we just wanted to have some fun before school started up again.” I interrupted. “Besides, we were fine until Fishbreath showed up.”

“Stop calling that police officer Fishbreath.” Mom scolded me. “And if you wanted to do something fun, do what your brother did.”

“Which one? The baby or the prodigal son?” I gave a snarky remark. 

Yeah, Ty wasn’t my only brother. I had a baby brother named Leo, and like Ty, he was favored by my mother. But he’s barely a year old, so I guess he gets a pass.

“Don’t get smart with me, young lady!” Mom snapped at me furiously. “When Ty was your age, he never did anything to get into trouble with his friends. They all went to movies or had study nights together. They didn’t vandalize things!”

“Ty so did stupid stuff with his friends!” I snapped back. “And half the stuff he did, he blamed on me!”

Yeah, Ty wasn’t as perfect as my mom made him sound. In fact, take everything bad that I did and double the trouble with Ty. He used to sneak beer and drugs into the apartment when our parents weren’t home countless times. And if Mom saw what was left over, take a lucky guess who was blamed for it. That’s right… yours truly.

“Your brother would never do such a thing.” Mom said defensively.

“He knows, that’s why he blamed me.”

“You know what? I’ve just about had it with you.” she said, the final straw now being drawn. “Until school starts back up in a few weeks, you are grounded!”

I stared at her wide-eyed. “What?!”

“No tv, no sneaking out, no friends!” she began to list the things I couldn’t do now. “And I think it’s best that you stayed home alone when we move Ty into his college dorm. Maybe then you’ll learn some responsibility.”

I growled as I stormed off to my loft room, not caring about my punishment. “Fine with me so long as I don’t have to hear another unbearable comparison of me and him.”

“Francesca Cole!” Mom shouted in an offended tone.

“You know, if you didn’t want a screw up for a daughter, maybe you should’ve stayed on the pill!” I yelled the last word before slamming the door shut behind me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my family. I really do. But when you constantly have to live in the shadow of a supposed “perfect” older brother and a perfect baby brother, the feeling of being constantly upstaged will always be there. And Mom just makes things worse by the reminders of what Señor Perfecto Tyler does or has done compared to the things my friends and I like to do.

And speaking of friends, a few minutes after I cooled down from the argument, my old rotary phone that sat on my bedside table rang. My dad gave me one for my 16th birthday because he and I both had a love for old appliances. But don’t worry, I still had a cell phone. So, I’m not completely old-fashioned.

“Cole residence.” I answered the phone.

“Hey, girl.” Pearl’s voice called from the other line. “How’s it going?” 

“Grounded. Big time.” I told her.

“For how long?” she asked in an unsurprised way. 

“Until school starts.” I answered her. “I swear, it’s like she doesn't even care about me having fun or having a life if I’m not gonna end up like Ty.”

“You, my friend, are living a Cinderella life.” Pearl stated.

“Yeah, but instead of an evil stepmother, I’m stuck with an evil mother.” I sighed as I laid down on my bed. “Y’know, I actually wish my life was like a Disney movie. Maybe then I wouldn’t be treated like some third-rate child.”

“What about your dad?” Pearl asked. “What did he say?”

“Well, he stopped himself fixing up an old vacuum when I walked in,”

“As usual.”

“And he didn’t blow his top off or anything.” I finished. “I swear, he was previously married to someone else when I was born before he married my mom.”

“Yeah, your dad’s honestly the best.” Pearl said. "Unlike mine who doesn’t even know I exist.” 

Unlike the relationship I have with my dad, Pearl unfortunately lives with a work obsessed dad who hardly pays any attention to her. She still has her mom, but her dad somehow won Pearl over in their divorce. No one really knows why though. Her mom’s the better parent.

“At least Alex has his moms to look out for him.” I said with a shrug before asking about our other friend. “How’s he doing anyway?”

“It’ll take more than a taser shot to put him down.” Pearl answered.

“Good.”

I heard a door open on the other end of the phone. “Gotta blaze, the old man’s home.”

“If he notices you tell him I say hi.” I told her.

“Can do. Good luck with solitary confinement.” Pearl then bid me a farewell before hanging up the phone.

“Thanks.” I said to her. And with that, both phones were now hung up.

I decided to put pajamas on and get myself into bed after this crazy night and pulled out my sketchbook of the many drawings I’ve made of Disney heroes and princesses from my bedside table to try to get a new sketch or two in before I turned in for the night. But just when I was about to crawl under my blankets and start drawing, I heard someone knocking on my door.

I huffed when I assumed who was behind the door and put my sketchbook back on the side table. “Go away, Mom!”

“Not your mom.” my dad said as he opened my door a little.

My face slightly fell when I realized my mistake. “Hey, Dad.”

“So, what did your friends and you paint tonight?” 

“Floating lantern.”

“Putting the old telephone to good use I see.” he told me as he sat down on my bed.

You see, whenever my friends and I got busted for our painting projects, they’d always contact me through the rotary phone so my mom wouldn’t take away my cell phone if she ever found out. But the only other person who knew about my little trick was my dad, which you could obviously tell.

“Are you gonna tell Mom?” I asked sheepishly.

Dad gave me a smile and a wink. “I’m her husband, I don’t have to tell her anything about you that I don’t want to talk about.”

I gave a sigh of relief and a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Look, I know she’s hard on you, but she just wants to look out for you.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

“I know. Heck, your grandpa was the same way when I was your age.”

“But she’s been like this since the moment I opened my eyes.” I told him about my problem with Mom. “All it ever is with her is “Ty this, Ty that” or “Frankie, why can’t you be more like your brother Ty?” I’m sick of it!”

“Well, you don’t have to be like Ty.” Dad tried to assure me. “You can be someone better.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like who?”

“Well, like one of these.” he suggested as he handed me my sketchbook of the many drawings I’ve made of Disney heroes and princesses. “You know everything there is to know about these characters, so maybe if you start acting like one of them, maybe your mom might go easy on you.”

“I don’t know.”

Dad gave another small smile as he gently nudged a knuckle against my cheek. “Hey, you’ve just gotta give yourself some time…”

I rolled my eyes as a smile crept on my face to finish the quote from A Bug’s Life. ““I’m still a seed.”” 

Yup. You all can see why exactly I like to keep my painting and art projects strictly Disney. Other than old appliances and stuff, it was another thing my dad and I could bond over. Quoting, trivia, you name it. Disney was our thing, and I loved that about us.

“That’s my girl.” Dad said before giving me a kiss on the forehead and headed out of my room.

“I love you, Daddy.” I told him as I took off my glasses and tucked myself into bed.

“Love you too, sweetheart.” Dad said as he shut my door and turned off my light.

Chapter Text

“Tyler, do you have everything packed?” Mom asked out loud.

“Yeah, Mom.” Ty called from the other room. “I just finished packing up my socks.”

“Oh, terrific!”

Well, the day finally arrived. The day my older brother Tyler would be taken to college so he could become a dentist, and the day I’d be home alone for a whole week straight after that billboard/paint bomb incident. To be honest, I couldn’t tell which sounded better: the golden child finally leaving or that I had the whole place to myself. Either way, I’d be in Heaven if it meant Ty would be gone for an entire school year.

I, on the other hand, was keeping myself busy by doing some more sketches up in my room. That is, until the prodigal son showed up with a suitcase next to him. Most likely to brag about how I got into trouble for doing something bad and how he didn’t for the millionth time. I admit what my friends and I did was bad, but at least I didn’t blame them or lie and say that they made me vandalize the billboard. Heck, it was my idea in the first place.

“Pity you can’t come help.” Ty smirked as he leaned against my door. “I could’ve used your help with the mini fridge.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at my older brother, correct about my previous observations. “Yeah, I can practically see you leaping for joy at that thought.”

“Just don’t kill yourself while we’re gone.”

“Yes, I’d bet you’d hate that.”

Ty dropped the smirk and went straight to being the annoying older brother he was. “So long as you’re out of the way, I don’t care what happens to you.”

I rolled my eyes and went back to sketching. “Suck a truck and tell me something I don’t know.”

“Tyler, let’s go!” Mom’s voice called from the other room.

Ty looked back and pulled out an innocent voice. “Coming, Mom!”

Ty started to head out of my room before looking back to give me a half-hearted goodbye. “Bye, brat.”

“So long, chicken boy.” I replied.

Mom then came into my room to get Ty. “What is taking you so long?”

“Frankie was sulking, so I was trying to cheer her up.” Ty played innocent as he lied to Mom.

I rolled my eyes at his lie. How my mom ever believes that sneaky, no good, lying, S.O.B is way beyond me. But I guess since he’s the oldest and golden child, she’s completely oblivious to reality when he lies to her face. In fact, he’s less like the golden oldest child and more like a spoiled rotten toddler in that sense. He gets away with everything, while I get stuck with the blame. Y’know, if I were some kind of a villain, that’d be my quote-unquote “tragic backstory” and motivation, but I feel more like the hero who’s stuck with an annoying bully instead.

“That’s nice, dear.” Mom smiled at him, falling for his lie. “But she knew her punishment the moment she vandalized the billboard.”

“Alright.” Ty gave a shrug.

“Now, get in the car. We’re going to be late.” Mom told Ty.

My older brother nodded, grabbed his suitcase, and left my room. And not even two seconds later, Mom quickly dropped the sweetness when she turned to me to reset the ground rules of my punishment. 

“Okay, young lady, you know the rules: No friends.” she said.

“I’ll cancel the slumber party.” I cynically said.

“What?!” Mom shouted, thinking I was serious.

Dad quickly rushed in, holding my baby brother Leo in his arms, to prevent her from shouting. “Carol, she’s kidding.”

“You really need to understand sarcasm.” I casually interjected, much to my mom’s disappointment.

“Just think about what you did, and I might shorten your punishment.” was all Mom had to say to me before she left my room in a huff.

Dad shook his head at her and her actions before turning back to me. “You think you can handle it? Being on your own for a week?”

I gave him a confident nod as Leo giggled at me. I couldn’t help but smile at my baby brother. Sure, he was also praised by my mom, but I couldn’t be hateful to the sweetest and cutest little bean in the whole world. I’d be a monster if I hated my younger brother that hardly knew what praise was.

Dad noticed Leo trying to reach at me and smiled as he held him close. “Also, Leo’s coming with us, so you don’t have to worry about him.” 

“I figured.” I gave a simple casual shrug.

He came over and gave me a small hug and a kiss on the forehead. “See you in a week, Frankie.”

“Love you, Daddy.” I smiled.

“Love you too.” Dad said as he closed the door behind him. Signaling that he, my mom, and brothers were now gone off to take Ty to a dental college in upstate New Hampshire.

Things felt quiet in the loft for a while, and when it’s that quiet, it makes it perfect for turning on relaxing music (in my case calming piano music) and pulling out my sketchbook for some more drawings. I know I could’ve done more scandalous things like leave the loft and keep doing the paint bombing on another billboard or an abandoned building, but when you’re left home alone with those perfect conditions, who could resist?

I had just gotten into some comfy clothes -a sweatshirt and some blue-plaid pajama pants- and had gotten in the perfect position on the couch to start drawing when I was rudely interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone -told you I had one of those.

I grumbled as I put down my sketchbook and answered the phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

“It’s me. Are your folks gone?” Pearl’s voice answered from the other line.

“Yeah, why?”

I heard the sound of knocking on glass, and when I turned around, I hung up my cell phone when I saw Alex and Pearl standing eagerly outside the terrace of my loft. It didn’t surprise me that they were there to visit me, what surprised me was that they snuck over and didn’t get caught -by Fishbreath or by any other civilian- considering the fact that my building didn’t have a fire escape that was accessible via. ladders but via. ground exits. It’s unsafe, but it’s all the builders could afford when they built the building.

I put my phone in my pocket as I went over to open up the window to talk to my friends.

“Hullo there.” Alex greeted in an Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.

I gave both of my friends a surprised look. “You dorks. What are you doing here?”

“We bring you comfort during your solitary confinement.” Pearl briefly explained. Hinting that neither her father nor Alex’s mothers punished them for vandalizing the billboard the other night.

“You dorks are gonna get in trouble.” I smiled as I opened up the window to grant them access into my home. “Come in.”

Alex and Pearl grinned brightly as they snuck in through the window. Once in, I shut the window and they quickly made themselves at home. Which didn’t really bother me as much as it would other people. We were all comfortable with being in each other’s homes that each one practically felt like another home to us. Sure, my mom and Pearl’s dad aren’t the most welcoming or supportive parents when it comes to people just coming in uninvited, but my dad and Alex’s moms were super okay with it. All the more to make my friends and I closer, I suppose.

“So, got the whole place to yourself?” Alex asked as he started looking around my home as if it weren’t the eightieth time he came over.

“Yeah. And Dad’s got Endy looking after the shop for him. He did say that if he needed the help, Endy could just ask me, and I could come to work.” I explained to them.

Endy Thompson was my dad’s store manager and acted as head of the store whenever my dad was too busy to work. He’s a nice and funny guy and understood what it felt like to be in the shadow of an older sibling because he grew up with three older brothers. To me, Endy always felt like a cool and fun older uncle to me. Kind of like Genie from Aladdin, but obviously doesn’t match his humor because -and let’s face it- no one does.

“Noice.” Pearl said as she sat herself on the couch.

“So, whaddya wanna do first?” Alex decided to ask me.

I thought for a moment before I gave my answer. “Watch a movie?”

“Disney?” Alex and Pearl asked in unison.

“Obviously.”

Alex grinned at us two girls. “You two pick some, I’ll make the snacks.”

Alex then left for the pantry in the kitchen to get the food as Pearl and I went to dig through my family's old Disney VHS tapes to find our perfect movie marathon. I was eager to pick first as I placed my most favorite one in a pile next to me as Pearl gave it a small glance.

“Hercules?” she asked in an unsurprised way.

“It’s my favorite and you know it.” I said defensively before teasing her about her crush on the villain in the movie. “Besides, it’s funny to watch you swoon when you see Hades.”

Pearl’s face turned bright red as she repeatedly -yet playfully smacked my shoulder. “I do not swoon!”

“Yeah, ya do, Pearlie.” Alex butted in as he continued to look for snacks in the pantry.

Pearl smirked at me as she changed the subject. “Well, at least I don’t think a certain lizard monster is cute.”

“Leave Randall out of this!” I yelled as I felt my own face turn red. Yeah, so I may think Randall Boggs from Monsters Inc. is kind of attractive in a personality and understanding his character sort of way. Don’t ask me why, I don’t even know how I developed a crush on him with just those reasons. It just happened.

Pearl’s teasing shortly died off when she opened up a VHS tape holder. “Hey, what’s this?”

I arched a brow at her, thinking she found something regarding my Randall crush. “What’s what?”

“Found it in your copy of The Sword in the Stone.” she said as she handed me a small piece of old paper.

I took the note and opened a corner to see the last two sentences on the paper, one with the last word rhyming with the previous last word.

“Looks like some poem.” I summed it up.

“Whaddya mean?” Alex asked from the pantry.

“I dunno.” I shrugged. “Maybe my dad wrote it to my mom when they were first dating?”

“Read it!” Alex dared me as he entered back to the living room and chewed on some M&Ms he found in the pantry. “I love dorky love poems!”

“Okay.” I gave a casual shrug. “No harm ever came from reading a poem.”

I opened up the small piece of paper again and read the poem loud and clear:

“A kingdom of magic calls to you,

Where hopes and dreams all come true.

To the land of dragons to the realm of mermaids,

A friend shall come to your aid.

To whisk you away to a land of wonder,

Come, traveler, and seek these to wander.”

“That did not sound like a love poem.” Alex pointed out when I finished reading.

All of the sudden, a strange wind began to slowly blow. Which was odd considering that the A/C never blew that hard and there were no windows opened to have any air come in. And then, the room began to shake -but strangely enough, not so violent so that the breakables would fall and shatter to the floor. But the way my friends and I were practically hiding underneath sturdy places, it sure felt violent enough.

“Earthquake!” Pearl shouted in fear as she hid underneath the coffee table.

“In New York?” Alex questioned as he took shelter under one of the support beams in the apartment.

Unless the geography text books have been wrong in recent years, it was possible for an earthquake to happen where we lived, but they hardly ever happened. Just then, a swirling vortex of color appeared from the floor, causing things to fly and swirl in the air as if they were caught in a tornado. And If things couldn’t get any worse, I found myself getting dragged towards said vortex from my hiding place under the kitchen door frame.

“Uh, guys?” I started asking in a scared tone as I tried to pull away from the vortex. “What’s happening?”

Just then, my feet gave out, and I was being pulled much quicker into the vortex. Most of my body was already in before Alex and Pearl came to try to save me. Pearl grabbing my hand and Alex holding onto both Pearl and the support beam. All in an attempt to try to get me out of that kaleidoscope of color.

“Hang on!” Pearl grunted as she pulled.

“I can’t!” I shouted in panic.

And not even a second later, my hand slipped from Pearl’s grasp, and I fell into the vortex. The last thing I saw was Alex and Pearl’s horrified faces when they saw me fall in before the vortex closed.

Chapter Text

I screamed for what felt like hours as I kept falling into that vortex. I didn’t know what all this was or what was going on, but I did know that the poem I read was still in my hand. I tried reading it again to make the vortex stop, but that didn’t do anything. I was still stuck in a rainbow vortex falling to who-knows-where for who-knows-how-long. Unfortunately for me, when I did see an exit, I landed in it very hard on my back.

“Ow…” I groaned in pain.

I dragged myself up and tried to look for my fallen glasses. The ground I was using my hands to search on felt cold, almost like marble or granite floors, which amazed me because it didn’t seem to crack my head open like an egg and kill me on impact, but it meant bad news if my glasses fell on the floor. I don't think my parents have the money to fix shattered lenses.

“I beg your pardon, young lady, but are these yours?”

I jumped in fright at the sound of an older man’s voice. I squinted around to see if I could see anyone, and I was fortunate enough to see a man dressed in blue with a hand reaching out at me. With my glasses resting in his palm, completely unbroken.

“Thank you so much, sir.” I thanked the old man as I accepted the glasses. But the moment I put them back on my face, I gasped at who exactly was standing in front of me.

“My goodness, you’ve certainly had quite the rough landing, haven’t you, young lady.” Merlin, yes- Merlin the wizard from The Sword in the Stone, said to me as he helped me up.

I didn’t know what to believe. How was Merlin here? Where even was I to see an actual animated character from a Disney movie standing in front of me? This had to be all some dream or some hallucination. Ty’s leftover pot smoke must’ve hotboxed the whole loft and I was now hallucinating this, was I? There was no vortex, was there? I really hope this was all fake because this was way too good to be true.

“Please tell me I’m dreaming.” I finally said to Merlin. “This has to be a dream. You’re not real.”

“Young lady, I assure you, I am very much real.” Merlin stated. “And you are very much in our world.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Merlin pointed at the piece of paper that somehow miraculously never left my grasp when I was in the vortex. “That parchment you hold in your hand is the only spell in existence that can grant one access between two worlds: Yours and Disney.”

I looked down at the paper in my hand and read it again. The words on it were starting to make sense at the fact that it wasn’t a poem. I mean, land of dragons? The only movies I could think of that revolved around dragons were Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon. And the realm of mermaids? That was a no-brainer. It meant The Little Mermaid. And where was it hidden in all places? My copy of The Sword in the Stone: the story of a boy who befriends a wizard and learns about magic.

“Wait. You’re telling me that this dorky poem is a spell that magically transported me to another world in which Disney characters exist?” I asked.

“That’s correct, yes.” Merlin responded.

“And it was in my house?”

“It appears so.”

“Okay, this is awesome!” I said in utter elation. “I know most people would freak out about all of this, but this is amazing!”

Yeah, I know I should’ve been freaking out, but finding out that magic and a whole other world where Disney characters exist is less crazy and more exciting. This was like entering a movie where I was the main character, and I’d wouldn’t be the third-rate child. I’d get the chance to be someone better than how I was back home! This was the discovery of the century -no- the discovery of a lifetime!

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your experience so far.” Merlin said. “But I’m afraid your visit must come to an end.”

“Aw, what?” I asked in disbelief, now bummed that I wouldn’t be able to go on a magical Disney adventure. “Why?”

“So you can get back to your world.” Merlin explained to me. “Why, your family must be worried sick about you.”

“They’re too busy taking my older brother to college without me.” I rolled my eyes. “They don’t even know I’m here.”

“Maybe so,” Merlin said as he stroked his beard. “But time here works the same in your world. And if you’re still here when your family returns home, they’ll be worried sick about you.”

“I… guess you’re right.” I said in defeat, knowing the only people who’d really miss me when I’d be gone would be my dad and Leo.

“Wonderful! Now, if you’ll allow me to see the spell, I can recite it so I can send you back home.”

“Okay.” I said as I handed him the spell.

“Now let me see here.” Merlin said as he inspected the spell but stopped briefly when he noticed something. “Hmm.”

“What?”

“This is most unusual.” Merlin said, puzzled as he fixed his spectacles. “This spell was written long before I ever arrived in this world, myself.”

“But you were created- arrived in ‘63.” I stated. “You’re saying that this spell is older than that?”

“Much older.” Merlin confirmed. “This spell requires various amounts of magic to activate it, and my magic won’t be enough to do it.”

“But you’re the most powerful wizard in this world.” I said. “How can you not activate it?”

“My dear, sometimes even great wizards cannot create instant miracles,” he told me. “You’ll need another source of magic to activate the spell.”

“Where do I find it?” I asked.

“You’ll need to find someone with a vast amount of power at their disposal. A fairy, wizard, witch, sorcerer, or sorceress.”

“What about an immortal?” I suggested with a slight idea about who could help me. “Like, say, a god?”

“Oh, heavens, no!” Merlin disagreed with a shake of his head. “Gods and goddesses may be all powerful, but some of their magic cannot be used for activating the spell.”

“Why not?”

“All that power could tear apart the balance of the many worlds of Disney.” Merlin gave me a warning. “And if balance is destroyed, who knows what sort of chaos could ensue.”

I guess that made sense. If all balance was broken, the characters would end up in different worlds and getting mixed up in different stories that weren’t theirs to begin with. And that would be as bad, confusing, and as messy as Descendants, and that’s bad.

“Especially with all those villains.” I pointed out.

“Wait. That’s it!” Merlin said in gladdened realization. “A force of evil to balance out the spell!”

“What?” I asked in a confused way.

“My magic is used for good or for assisting those who need help the most,” Merlin explained to me as he gave me back the spell. “I sensed that sort of light magic in the spell already, but if you were to combine that with one who’s magic is used for wicked deeds, it could just be the thing needed to activate the spell!”

“Then, I find a villain, and try to persuade them into helping me.” I pieced together what I needed to do.

“Precisely!” Merlin agreed. “That shall be your quest!”

“A quest?” I repeated that sweet word as it caught my interest even further. “Like an adventure? Where I get to shine?”

“It appears so.”

“Thank God!” I cheered. 

Finally, a chance for me to not be a screw up, a vandal, or be forced to take the blame for someone else. I could be like the heroes and princesses I’ve always looked up to, just like what Dad said.

“But I must warn you,” Merlin spoke again. “No one can know about you, where you came from, or the worlds you traveled to. Even the slightest mention of another world could cause order and balance to fall apart.”

“What if I’m accompanied by someone from another world?” I asked.

“Should they be shapeshifters or small enough, no one should suspect a thing.”

“Alright.”

“And another thing: Don’t lose the spell or let it be destroyed.” Merlin warned. “It's by far your only chance at getting you back home.”

“I understand.” I nodded as I put the spell in my pocket.

“Good.” Merlin said as he continued. “And should you come across a portal somewhere on your journey, it should lead you to another part of Disney. Similar to how you arrived here.”

“Yeah, but uh, how exactly am I supposed to blend in with the worlds?” I asked him the million-dollar question.

“Pardon?” Merlin asked in a confused way.

“Well, if I ended up in a world where it’s a different time period than from what I’m from, won’t the people get suspicious?”

“That is an excellent point!” Merlin said as he clapped his hands together. “And one that will surely be fixed!”

He then pointed his wand right at me and said some words in -I think- Latin: “Transform et Compositum!”

And just like that, magic shot out from the wand and swirled itself around me. It felt a little weird and tingly, like I was covered in soda pop fizz, but overall, I felt pretty normal. That is, until Merlin made a mirror appear out of thin air and I got a good look at my reflection: I was completely animated. My skin looked so clear, my sapphire-blue eyes were bright even with my glasses on, and my black hair looked so soft. Not to mention the pajamas I was wearing looked even better animated. This was the perfect look for going undercover in this world.

“Wow!” I said in amazement as I continued to look at how vibrant and colorful I now was.

“With that spell, you’ll be able to enter any world without anyone suspecting your true time period.” Merlin told me. “Also, your animated form should change to fit as well.”

“Thanks!” I said as I kept beaming at my animated look. 

But then Merlin made the mirror disappear, and in its place was another rainbow portal. A new part of Disney was through that portal and just waiting for me to discover it and start my adventure.

“I hope our paths cross again, miss…” Merlin stopped himself when he realized something. “Oh, goodness. I apologize. I never got your name.”

“Francesca Cole. But most people just call me Frankie.” I introduced myself.

“Thank you.” he said before continuing his earlier sentence. “Good luck, Miss Cole, and be safe.”

“I will.” I nodded. “And thank you, Merlin!”

And with that, I entered the portal. Eager and ready to start my adventure.

Chapter Text

Well, the first world I thought would kickstart my adventure wasn’t quite how I pictured it would be. I thought I’d end up in a nice world that was home to a calm forest with a cool breeze flowing through as I was accompanied by some friendly characters. But instead, I found out that the portal Merlin opened up led me to a desert. I was in the middle of nowhere, sweating my heart out, and didn’t see a single person to help me.

“In the middle of a hot desert, in daylight,” I panted miserably as I practically dragged my feet in the burning sand before yelling up into the sky. “Merlin, this place is the worst!”

I stopped complaining to the cloudless sky above me and tried to press on. As I was walking, an interesting thought came to mind: If Merlin wanted me to find dark magic to try to power up the spell, he wouldn’t have just dropped me off right near a villain’s domain. It would’ve been too easy for me to finish the quest, and he saw how excited I was to be stuck in Disney, so him putting me in the middle of a desert was probably just a big test to see if I was worthy enough to get that source of dark magic to power up the spell. Y’know, kinda like how Hercules had to prove himself a true hero before he could regain his godhood, only this place had no monsters to fight or people to save. Just sand.

I walked on a little bit more before I spotted something in the distance. It looked like a small jungle with a small pool of water just sitting in the middle of the desert, an oasis. But, I thought they were super rare and super hard to find -I mean, how would I know? I’m a city girl.

“I swear, if my eyes are playing tricks on me, I will scream.” I said as I closed my eyes shut, thinking the oasis would be nothing more than a mirage, but when I opened my eyes, the oasis was still there.

It was real, and I couldn’t be more happy! I started running towards the oasis, my mouth watering at the pool in thirst and images of fruit hanging from the trees entered my hungry mind, but those thoughts quickly shut off when I accidentally tripped over a large dune and started rolling down. And if you thought hot sand was bad enough, rolling down hot sand hurt even more.

“Are you okay?” someone asked me in concern. I could tell by the sound of their voice that it was a boy speaking.

“Y-yeah…” I spat out some sand that was in my mouth. “You have no idea how far I walked to hope I’d find someone.”

I barely opened my eyes before I realized that my glasses had sand in them. “Or at least hope to find.”

“Here, let me get that for you.” a familiar friendly voice told me.

The next thing I knew, the sound of a vacuum cleaner was going off and I felt all the sand disappear from my body and my glasses. And when I finally opened my eyes, I could finally see who exactly I had literally bumped into. It was Aladdin, and with him was his monkey Abu, the magic carpet, and the one and only Genie -who was holding a vacuum cleaner before making it disappear in a puff of pink smoke.

I must’ve found the same oasis they went to after Genie busted them out of the caved-in Cave of Wonders. I guess this was the world Merlin had sent me to to find dark magic, which meant that the only person here who could help me was the one who trapped Aladdin in the Cave before he could get the lamp: Jafar.

“Thank you.” I told them as I got up onto my feet and took a good look at my outfit for this world. A tattered blue shirt with a white vest and tattered pants, and my shoes consisted of open toed sandals. I guess I was a street rat in this world.

“Is this the little lady you were talking about?” Genie asked Aladdin as he pinched my cheeks. “She is kinda cute, aren't ‘cha?”

Aladdin shook his head. “No, I’ve never seen her before.”

“Although, I will still accept that cute comment as a compliment.” I slightly interjected.

“But what are you doing out in the desert?” Aladdin asked me. “It’s dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going.”

“Well, that’s just the thing.” I tried my best to explain my situation without going deep into it, remembering Merlin’s warning. “I got lost trying to find someone. Long story.”

“Hey, you found us, and we were gonna head back to Agrabah.” he suggested. “You can come with us.”

“You sure?” I asked them. “I’d hate to impose.”

“Impose? HA!” Genie laughed before he turned himself into a blue version of Hondo Ohnaka from Star Wars. “We are travelers! We don’t even know what that means.”

“Besides, you won’t get very far out here on your own.” Aladdin pointed out.

“Well, thank you.” I smiled before I decided to introduce myself. “My name’s Frankie by the way.”

“I’m Aladdin.” Aladdin said as he shook my hand.

“Just call me Genie.” Genie introduced himself to me. “Good to meet you.”

“Likewise.” I smiled before switching the subject from an earlier comment. “So, this other girl you mentioned?”

“Yeah,” Genie agreed as he turned his attention back to Aladdin. “Why is she so out of reach for you?”

“She’s the princess. To even have a chance, I’d have to be-” Aladdin stopped himself when an idea came to mind and he turned to Genie. “Hey, can you make me a prince?”

Genie opened up a royal recipe book and started flipping through the pages. 

“Hmm. Let’s see. Chicken á la king?” he chuckled as he pulled out a chicken wearing a crown before tossing it away and made it disappear. “Nope.”

“Alaskan king crab?” he suggested before a crab pinched his finger. “Ow! I hate it when they do that.” Genie then flung the crab away, making it disappear as well.

“Caesar salad?” Genie suggested a third time before a hand bearing a dagger popped out from the book and getting a terrified scream from Genie. 

“Et tu, Brute?” Genie asked the hand before stuffing it back into the book.

“Aha!” Genie said with success when he found the right recipe. ““To make a prince”.”

“Seems easy enough.” I gave a small shrug.

“Now, is that an official wish?” Genie asked Aladdin before making the recipe book disappear. “Say the magic words.”

“Genie, I wish for you to make me a prince!” Aladdin made his first wish.

Genie gave an excited hoot before turning into a Hispanic fashion designer. 

“First, that fez-and-vest combo is much too 3rd century.” he said as he inspected Aladdin’s current look. “These patches, what are we trying to say? Beggar? No. Let’s work with me here.”

Genie worked his magic -no pun intended- and ended up giving Aladdin his white prince attire and matching turban. “Ooh, I like it! Muy macho.”

“Now, let’s see what we can do for you, pequeña señorita chica blanca.” Genie said as he brought me towards the mirror to design an outfit for me. “Again with the rags? Ugh, and those glasses clash with them.” 

Genie then took my glasses off my face and threw them to the side.

I tried squinting my eyes to try to see. “Of course, I can’t really see without them.”

Genie then gave me an outfit that made me look like I was royalty myself, or at least a royal vizier, and he even added two organza veils: one hanging on the back of my head and the other was much smaller and covered my nose and mouth. With this look, no one will be able to notice that I’m a white girl.

“Ooh, I like it. Muy bonita.” Genie stated when he handed me a new pair of glasses; ones that were now simple black framed and less bulky than my previous blue ones.

“Now, they still need something. What does it say to me?” Genie thought aloud. “It says mode of transportation!”

“Excuse me, monkey boy.” Genie tried to get Abu to come towards him. “Aquí. Over here.”

“Here he comes,” Genie said as he made himself look like a game show host and had Aladdin act as a winning contestant. “And what better way to make your grand entrance on the streets of Agrabah than riding your very own, brand new camel? Watch out, they spit.”

He then turned Abu into a spitting camel, but he didn’t look very fancy enough to carry a prince in that form.

“Hmm, not enough.” Genie said as he snapped his fingers and turned Abu into a horse. 

And when that wasn’t enough, Genie kept snapping his fingers -and turning Abu into an assortment of rideable animals plus a car- until he finally came to a decision about what Abu should be. 

“YES! Esalalumbo shimin Dumbo!” And with that, Genie turned Abu from a monkey into an elephant, the perfect mode of transportation for a prince.

“Talk about your trunk space. Check this action out.” Genie said as he admired his work.

But the moment Abu saw his reflection in the pool of water and saw that he was no longer a monkey, he trumpeted in fright and tried running up a tree. Only to have the tree sort of bend over at the added elephant weight.

“Abu, you look good.” Aladdin said.

“He’s got the outfit. He’s got the elephant.” Genie said as he rolled up his arms. “But we’re not through yet!”

“Hang onto your turbans, kids! We’re gonna make you stars!” Genie said as he started using his magic to create Aladdin’s entourage for his big debut as a prince. 

While he was busy doing that, Aladdin and I started to make small talk. I figured that if we were going to pull off this prince and vizier gig, we might as well get to know each other better.

“You really think this prince gig will get you a shot with the princess?” I asked him.

“I hope so.” he told me. “To be honest, I didn’t even know she was the princess when I first met her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Aladdin said before he told me about how he met Jasmine. “She disguised herself as a street rat to try to get out of getting married, and when we got to talking. It turns out that we have a bit in common.”

I gave him a reassuring smile from underneath my mouth veil. “Well, if you’re really that crazy about her, then I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thanks.” he smiled at me. “So, who exactly were you looking for?”

“Pardon?” I asked.

“You said that you were lost in the desert because you were trying to find someone.” he reminded me of what I had said earlier.

“Oh, that.” I remembered. “I heard that there was a man somewhere in this land that has access to dark magic. I need his help to activate this.” 

I pulled out the spell from my pocket, which surprised me that Genie didn’t accidentally get rid of it when he gave me my royal vizier look.

Aladdin looked at the piece of paper in confusion. “What is it?”

“Something that could help me get home.” I explained to him part of my sob story. “I got separated from my father, and I want to get back to him as soon as possible.”

“Maybe we’ll find the guy you’re looking for.” Aladdin suggested in assurance. “Agrabah is often called the City of Enchantment, so maybe this guy is somewhere in the city.”

“Thanks, Aladdin.” I told him. “That means a lot.”

“No problem.”

“So, you excited about pulling off this prince gig?” I asked him.

“I guess.” Aladdin shrugged. “I don’t really know the first thing about being a prince.”

“It’s easy. You stand up straight, have confidence, but the main thing is that you have to treat those around you as if they’re no different than you.” I gave him some encouraging advice. “Just be smart and have a good heart, and you’ll be fine.”

Later

Well, after a grand entrance fit for the now Prince Ali Ababwa -yeah, that fabulous musical number- we were finally at the royal palace of Agrabah. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about how Aladdin and I would pull of the prince and vizier routine, but thanks to a few encouraging words from our earlier conversation, Aladdin and I acted smooth, cool, and confident as we presented ourselves to the sultan, who was already impressed by our grand entrance.

“Your majesty,” Aladdin said as we hopped off Carpet and presented ourselves to the sultan. “I have come from afar to seek your daughter’s hand.”

Aladdin then held out an arm to introduce me. “My royal vizier, uh…”

“Fatima, your highness.” I interjected with a fake name and bowed to the sultan. “I was the one who heard that you were seeking suitors for your daughter, and I knew that this young bachelor would be a perfect match.”

“Of course, I’m delighted to meet you.” the sultan said happily before introducing his own vizier. “And this is my royal vizier, Jafar. He’s delighted too.”

“Ecstatic.” Jafar said with a deadpan expression. 

I gave a small gulp at the sight of the sorcerer -and his pet parrot, Iago, that perched on his shoulder, knowing that I had to figure out a way to convince him to give me dark magic to activate the spell so I could go home. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Jafar cleared his throat and approached Aladdin. “I’m afraid, Prince Abubu-”

“Ababwa.” Aladdin corrected.

“Whatever.” Jafar said. “You cannot just parade in here uninvited and expect to-”

“By Allah, this is quite a remarkable device.” the sultan said in curiosity at the sight of Carpet hovering next to me. “I don’t suppose I might?”

“Why, certainly, your majesty.” Aladdin said as he helped the sultan onto Carpet. “Allow me.”

“I advise that you be careful.” I told the sultan as I gave Carpet a gentle pat. “He likes to go fast.”

Jafar scowled and tried to stop the sultan from taking off on Carpet. “Sire, I must advise against this.”

“Oh, button up, Jafar.” the sultan told him. “Learn to have a little fun.” 

And with that, Carpet took off and flew the happy sultan all around the throne room in a very fast way.

“Just where did you two say you were from?” Jafar asked Aladdin and I while the sultan wasn’t paying attention, pointing his snake staff at us.

“Ababwa.” I reminded him. “A kingdom far, far away from here.”

“Yes.” Aladdin agreed. “Much farther than you’ve traveled, I’m sure.”

Jafar narrowed his eyes at us. “Try me.”

Just then, we all ducked at the sight of Carpet and the sultan coming in fast. The only one who wasn’t so lucky was Iago, who had to fly away to avoid getting run over -flown over?- by Carpet. But while the bird avoided that, he accidentally flew right into a pillar.

After that little thing, we readjusted ourselves and got back to our conversation, hoping Jafar would buy all the things we were saying.

“Our land is known for our, uh,” I tried my best to think of something. “Exquisite jams and jellies.”

“Yes.” Aladdin agreed with a nervous smile. “I’m sure the other lands you’ve traveled to aren’t known for those.”

Jafar arched an unamused brow at us, not believing what we were saying.

“Jams?” Aladdin whispered to me.

“Sorry, I panicked.” I whispered back.

“Out of the way. I’m coming to land!” the sultan called out. “Jafar, watch this!”

“Spectacular, your highness.” Jafar said as the sultan hopped off Carpet.

“That was lovely! Why, I do seem to have a knack for it.” the sultan gave delighted laugh as poor Carpet walked towards Abu in dizziness.

“I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it, your majesty.” I said to the sultan.

“Fatima, this is an impressive youth.” the sultan said as he pointed towards Aladdin. “And a prince besides.”

The sultan then pulled Jafar to the side to talk to him about Aladdin’s eventual -and hopeful- proposal to Jasmine, leaving Aladdin and I to exchange our excitement for what would happen next.

“This is gonna work.” I whispered excitedly to Aladdin.

“I hope so.” Aladdin said back.

“Jasmine will like this one.” we heard the sultan say.

“And I’m pretty sure I’ll like Princess Jasmine.” Aladdin said.

“Your highness, no!” Jafar said as he casually nudged Aladdin away. “I must intercede on Jasmine’s behalf. This boy is no different than the others.”

“Gentlemen, maybe it would be best if we let Jasmine decide for herself?” I suggested to break the tension. “She’s old enough to make her decisions when it comes to possible suitors, is she not?”

“Perhaps, but what makes him think he is worthy of the princess?” Jafar asked.

“Your majesty, I am Prince Ali Ababwa.” Aladdin said proudly. “Just let her meet me. I will win your daughter.”

“How dare you. All of you!”

Our heads turned to see Princess Jasmine standing furiously on the other side of the throne room, and our expressions dropped into nervous ones knowing that she had heard our conversation.

“Standing around deciding my future?” Jasmine yelled at us. “I am not a prize to be won!”

“That was embarrassing.” I stated as Jasmine stormed off.

“Oh, dear.” the sultan said in a worried tone before showing Aladdin and I to our chambers. “Don’t worry, Prince Ali. Just give Jasmine time to cool down.”

I just hoped that this plan would work in time, because the longer I stayed planning my next move, the quicker Jafar would piece it together that Aladdin wasn’t a prince. And that would make things difficult for us.

Chapter Text

“Okay, so, maybe saying that Princess Jasmine was a prize in her presence was not the direction to go in.” I suggested.

“I didn’t even know she was there!” Aladdin defensively said.

I gave a simple shrug. “Yes, but my point still stands.”

You see, after that embarrassing fiasco in the throne room, the guys and I all stayed outside of the palace to try to figure out how Aladdin was going to woo Jasmine. By the time it was nightfall, we all fell out of ideas. Heck, Genie and Carpet spent the time playing chess while Abu tried to eat some bananas with his big elephant feet. Aladdin and I were the ones trying to figure something out.

“What am I gonna do? Jasmine won’t even let me talk to her.” Aladdin said as he began pacing. “I should’ve known I couldn’t pull off this stupid prince wish.”

“You just need a little practice.” I said in an encouraging way. “And, hey, the worst thing she could say is no.”

“Maybe, but,” Aladdin sighed before bowing his head with a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know.”

Aladdin looked up towards Genie to see if he had any advice to give. “Genie, I need help.”

“All right, Sparky, here’s the deal,” Genie said as he did a Jack Nicholson impression. “If you wanna court the little lady, ya gotta be a straight shooter. Do ya got it?”

Aladdin blinked. “What?”

Genie then made a chalkboard appear and ditched the Nicholson look for a graduation cap and began to read off the chalkboard. “Tell. Her. The TRUTH!”

“No way!” Aladdin shut down that idea and fanned away the chalkboard as if it were made of air as he put his turban back on. “If Jasmine found out I was just a crummy street rat, she’d laugh at me.”

“Not if she knew it was you.” I pointed out the obvious. “Y’know, the street rat who understands her.”

“Besides, a woman appreciates a man who can make her laugh!” Genie, who disguised himself as a light bulb and lampshade on Aladdin’s head, pointed out. An unamused Al pulled on a sting, switching off the Genie-bulb.

Genie turned back to normal and held Aladdin’s real turban. “Al, all joking aside, you really ought to be yourself.”

“Hey, that’s the last thing I wanna be!” Aladdin snapped as he snatched the turban from Genie.

“Look, Genie’s right.” I stated. “And speaking from experience, sometimes the truth is the best option.”

“What do you mean?” Aladdin asked me.

“I mean that I am a street rat from another land.” I told him a half-truth, but still sounding like I was from this time period.

“Really?”

“Well, kinda. Instead of stealing, my friends and I vandalized stuff.” I admitted sheepishly before recovering from my main point. “But I know what it’s like.”

“Well, that’s encouraging.” Aladdin said cynically before looking up at Jasmine’s balcony. “I’m gonna go see her. I just gotta be smooth, cool, confident.”

Aladdin then turned to Genie and I to get our opinions about the way he looked. “How do I look?”

“Like a prince.” Genie and I sighed as Aladdin flew off on Carpet so he could talk to Jasmine.

I looked back towards the palace for a moment. If I was ever going to get Jafar to give me some dark magic for the spell, then standing around wasn’t going to do it for me. I had to talk to him, even if I had a bad feeling about it.

“I’ll be back.” I said to Genie as I made my way towards the palace.

“Where are you going?” he asked me.

“To talk to that vizier guy.” I gave him an abridged explanation. “There’s something important I gotta ask him.”

“Be careful, Frankie Stein,” Genie warned before turning himself into an ice version of himself and started shivering from the cold. “That guy gives me the ssshivers!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” I assured him before walking into the palace. “Just watch over our lover boy for me, okay?”

Genie turned back into his normal self and gave me a thumbs-up. “You got it, buddy!”

Later

“Now, let me think.” I muttered to myself as I wandered around the palace halls looking for the entrance to Jafar’s lair. “I know it has to be around here somewhere.”

I looked around to see if I could find Jafar’s lair on my own, knowing that no one else in the palace knew where it was. Well, aside from Iago, but the parrot never left Jafar’s shoulder. Continuing to keep pretending to be a mindless pet so no one got suspicious of him. So, I knew asking him for help finding the lair was off the list. So, I kept pressing onward until I stumbled upon a familiar red-tinted room. The entrance to Jafar’s lair. I walked in and prepared to open the secret entrance.

“There is no land of Ababwa.”

I gave a small shriek of fright as I quickly turned around, seeing Jafar standing a few feet behind me with a narrowed look on his face as he started to approach me. I stopped attempting to break into his lair and froze in place as I saw him.

“Nor does it have a prince or royal vizier.” he said before he rudely removed the veil covering my face, revealing my white skin. “Especially if that vizier is from another land.”

I gave a nervous smile. “To be fair, I didn’t think anyone would notice that I’m white.”

“What do they call you?” Jafar asked me. “The real you?”

“Francesca.” I told him.

“Francesca,” he began to say as he slowly circled around me like a vulture. “People like us must be realistic.”

“Us?” I repeated. “What are you talking about?”

“You see, I was once like you: A common street rat, only I thought bigger.” Jafar explained to me as he stopped circling. “Steal an apple, and you’re a thief. But steal a kingdom, and you’re a statesman.”

“I wasn’t a thief. I prefer street artist.” I corrected before getting to the point of me -albeit- criminal history. “But I did get-”

“Into trouble with the law?” he finished.

“I just wanted freedom from-”

“People forcing you to be something you never wanted to be?”

“Okay, could you stop with the finishing of the sentences?” Iago butted in, dropping the mindless pet routine. “It’s freaking me out.”

“Yeah, I agree with the bird.” I nodded.

“Well, my dear, you’ve stumbled upon an opportunity.” Jafar then said, ignoring Iago’s and I’s comments. He then held something up in his hand that truly got my eyes to widen.

“The spell.” I gasped.

I searched my pockets, wondering exactly how he could’ve stolen it without me noticing before remembering that he told me that he used to be a thief. I guess old habits don’t usually die so hard after all. I’ll have to keep that memo in mind should the occasion call for it.

“This spell allowed you to enter our world, did it not?” Jafar asked me as he inspected the spell.

I gulped nervously, wondering exactly how he found out that I wasn’t a vizier or from this world. I dropped that thought and focused my attention on the spell. There was no way I was letting him keep that thing.

“Yeah, but the funny thing is that I need dark magic to get it to work.” I explained as I tried to grab the spell from Jafar, but he held it away from me the moment I reached for it.

“And I can give you the magic you seek.” the sleazy sorcerer told me. “For a compromise.”

I arched a brow at him. “What sort of compromise?”

“Tell me, why exactly did you decide to become a street artist?” he asked me. “Was it just for freedom, or was it for something else?”

He paused for a moment before asking an all-too accurate question about my independence. “To escape from the constant criticism from your mother and father, perhaps?”

“My mother, she always compares my older brother and I.” I told him. “She thinks he’s the golden child while I’m the screw up.”

“I know what that feels like. I have a sister who thinks she’s the better sibling as well.” Jafar said with fake sympathy before he returned back to his long offer.

“But for you, I can make it so you’ll be ten times the person your brother is. I can make you powerful in a world without magic.” he stopped himself from continuing on further with his offer. Looking back at me as a snake-like grin grew on his face. “But nothing comes for free.”

“What do you want?” I heard myself ask.

“I’ll give you the dark magic you need for the spell and the power to make you into a true sorceress,” Jafar gave me his final offer. “If you take me to your world, and together, we shall rule all.”

I backed away from him slowly after hearing that last part. “If this is a marriage proposal, I should let you know that in my world, I’m still a minor.”

“I didn’t mean by marriage, I meant separate rulership. You’ll rule one side of the world, and the rest will be mine.” he explained before extending out the hand he held the spell with. “So, do we have a deal?”

He handed me back the spell and I thought about his offer: On one hand, I’d be a powerful sorceress capable of doing either great or terrible things with my magic and rule half of my world, and probably be a better ruler than most politicians. But on the other hand, I’d still be nothing more than a second-rate screw-up. Letting a villain rule the other half of my world because he sweet-talked me into letting him enter my world. I’d disappoint Merlin and quite possibly let a lot of people suffer because of my selfish actions.

But what Jafar didn’t know about me was that I was from New York. And we New Yorkers are cleverer than we seem. Whether they grew up on the streets or in the middle class, such as me.

“Y’know, we have a saying where I’m from.” I said to him.

“And what’s that?” Jafar asked me, thinking that I was going to agree to his offer.

I grasped the spell tightly in my hand as I glared at him. “Suck a lemon, ya owl-eyed creep, cause ya ain’t getting this spell!”

“Guards!” Jafar called out. “Seize her!”

And just like that, I ran away from the potential threat of the royal guards. Not something I was used to, running away from authority, but this authority wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if they caught me. They had swords, for crying out loud! 

If I had known trying to convince a villain to give me dark magic to activate the spell was going to be this much trouble, I would’ve asked Merlin to send me to a world with a villain that was easy to convince. I was stupid to try to convince one of the smarter villains to help me, especially if Jafar somehow found out about the real world and wanted to rule it.

I had nearly made it out of the palace and back to find Aladdin and warn him about what happened, when I felt someone snatch the spell right out of my hand.

“I’ll be taking this.” Iago said as he tried flying back to his master with the spell in his talons. There was no way I was losing to a bird.

“Beat it, ya stupid bird!” I yelled as I pulled onto the spell to try to pry it from Iago’s talons. When that wasn’t working, I used a free hand and slapped him hard on the beak. That made him lose focus on the spell, and he let it go.

"Hey!" he yelled.

I held onto the spell tightly as I raced back outside, only to see that I was too late. Aladdin was gagged and chained up by the guards, Abu was tied up, and poor Carpet was tied to a tree. Thankfully, none of the guards bothered to find Genie’s lamp in Aladdin’s turban, because if one of them found the lamp and gave it to Jafar, that would’ve been bad.

“No!” I gasped in horror at the sight of my friends being held captive. 

I grabbed a nearby torch to defend myself in case the guards tried to chain me up as well. Which was stupid, but I had to do what I could while I tried to plan how to free Aladdin.

“I'll release him and let both of you live.” Jafar said as he approached me with Iago perched on his shoulder. “Just give me the spell.”

The spell. Of course! That paper would only cause more trouble if I carried it around and looked for a user of dark magic to activate it. If another villain found out about the spell, they’d try to pull the same card Jafar tried to pull on me; they’d see it as an opportunity to rule a world with already too many problems with it. And if getting rid of the spell meant keeping my world safer from any more evil, so be it.

“Forget it, Jafar! If you won’t help me, then I won’t help you!” I snapped. And without a second thought, I brought the spell to the torch, and burned it.

“NO!” Jafar yelled as he tried to stop me, but it was too late.

The moment the flames touched the parchment, purple sparks flew out around Jafar, Iago, and I before I dropped the burning paper onto the ground. The light magic escaped as the spell burned as my only ticket back home was being destroyed. But that wasn’t the least of my concern. I had just destroyed an all-powerful relic that had been around since Disney first came to be, and I knew someone wasn’t gonna be happy when he found out.

“Merlin’s gonna kill me.” I muttered as I stomped out the flames, watching as the embers died out into ash.

“You just made a grievous error, impudent child!” Jafar growled. 

He turned to the guards and had them chain and gag me as well. Throwing me on the ground next to Aladdin. I gave my friend a muffled apology, but he seemed to understand why I did it. Al then glared up at Jafar as the sorcerer looked down on us with that wicked grin on his face.

“I’m afraid you two have worn out your visit.” he said with a sneer before ordering his guards as he walked back towards the palace. “Make sure these two are never found.”

Once Jafar had left, the captain of the guard raised up a baton -y’know, like the ones cops usually carry around, and was prepared to knock me out cold with it, but Aladdin pushed me to the side and took the blow. Getting knocked out instantly but did it to protect me. I tried to wriggle myself free as the guards took us to a cliff overlooking the ocean, but just as I managed to sneakily free my hands and snag the key off one of the guards, Aladdin and I were thrown into the ocean.

I managed to unlock the chain from my ankles and swam down as fast as I could to do the same for Aladdin, who tried his best to reach for the lamp to wish us out of this mess. But just as I had gotten down near him, he fell unconscious. I knew I had to act fast. So, I quickly unlocked the chain from his ankles and freed him, just in time for Genie to show up.

“Never fails. You get in the bath, and there’s a rub on the lamp.” Genie muttered before seeing what Aladdin had summoned him for, but the moment he saw Aladdin unconscious and me struggling to swim him up to the surface, Genie quickly became worried for his friend.

“Al! Kid, snap out of it!” Genie said frantically as he tried to wake Aladdin up so he could use his second wish to save him.

I did my best to try to swim Aladdin up to the water’s surface to save him for Genie, but I felt myself get caught up in something. I looked down and saw that another portal had popped up out of nowhere, and the more it pulled me down, the more I knew there was no time to swim Aladdin to the surface without dragging him with me to a world he wasn’t supposed to go into. So, I acted fast and quickly handed him to Genie.

“Hang on Frankie!” Genie said as he reached out a hand for me to grab, but I couldn’t accept it.

I couldn’t risk both him and Aladdin getting sucked down with me. Not when Jafar was planning on convincing the Sultan to wed Jasmine off to him. That sleazy sorcerer needed to be stopped, and Aladdin and Genie were the only ones who could stop him. So, when I got to the portal, I removed the gag from my mouth just in time to say something to Genie before I got whisked off to another world.

“Keep Aladdin safe!” I shouted to him as I got swept up into the portal.

Chapter Text

The portal seemed to go on and on forever. Swirling and throwing me around like a rag doll, and jerking me around so much, I was starting to get a migraine. I almost didn’t even want to know how long I was stuck in that thing, but I only hoped that Aladdin and Genie were alright. Until finally, it stopped and dumped me and I hit my head on something. Knocking me out immediately and leaving me wherever I was.

I didn’t even want to know how long I was out, but when I finally woke up, I found myself in what looked like a horse stable. My head hurt, but other than that, I was okay. My only concern was that I didn’t know where I was, and that wouldn’t serve me any good if I was just going to sit in the stable and do nothing. I had to get out of there to A: Find out where I was and B: Figure out another way to get home without the spell.

But just as I was about to leave, I heard a very loud horse whinny from inside the stable. I whipped my head around and saw the most amazing animal I’ve ever seen. A white stallion with a blue mane and tail tied up in ropes, but that wasn’t what amazed me. This horse had wings like an eagle, and I knew exactly who he was and what world I was in.

“Pegasus?” I questioned.

Well, this sight was a dream come true for me. I was now in my favorite Disney movie, Hercules. And I must’ve fallen into the same stable that Pain and Panic led Pegasus into to trap him so he couldn’t help Hercules. Which meant that Hades’ takeover on Olympus was already happening.

The winged horse turned his head my way and snorted when he heard me say his name. He then pinned his ears back and tried to rear up on his tied up hind legs in an angry manner. I guess he must’ve thought I was one of the imps in disguise or that I also worked for Hades and wasn’t too keen on trusting me. In any case, I had to be careful. A tied up and angry horse could be as dangerous as a spooked horse.

“Easy, boy.” I said as I calmly held up my hands in defense and carefully walked in front of him, showing him that I wasn’t a threat. “I won’t hurt you.”

Pegasus stomped his front hooves to the ground, and the moment he saw me show defense and that I meant no harm, his ears pointed upward, and he seemed to calm down. I held a hand out for him to smell, hoping he wouldn’t see that I was a threat. The horse smelled my hand and then started smelling my face. And before I knew it, Pegasus bowed his head towards me and allowed me to pet him. I’ve now earned his trust.

“There, that’s it.” I told him as I petted him on the head. “Good horse.”

Just then, the stable door swung open, and when Pegasus and I turned to see who had entered -well, I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Meg carefully walked in as Pegasus reared up again in an angry manner. Yeah, safe to say that he did not trust Meg as much as he trusted me.

“Easy, horse feathers.” Meg tried to calm the horse down, only to have him nearly kick her in the face. 

I jumped in front of Meg in case Pegasus decided to hurt her for -well- everything she did while she worked for Hades.

“Take it easy, buddy.” I calmed him down with my hands raised in defense. 

When the horse realized that I was in his kicking zone, he stopped and put his hooves back to the ground. I sighed a breath of relief and looked over my shoulder at Meg.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Who are you?” Meg asked me. Well, that interaction didn’t go as I planned.

“Call me Frankie.” I told her as I started untying Pegasus’ restraints around his wings and side. “C’mon, help me get him out of here.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Meg said as she untied Pegasus’ front legs. “How did you get here?”

“I hit my head, and the next thing I knew, I’m in a stable with a horse.” I gave her the abridged/cover version.

Meg rolled her eyes before her expression dropped into a worried one. “Look, normally I wouldn’t ask this, but since you’re the only other person here, I think I might need your help.”

“Lay it on me.” I told her as I moved on to untie Pegasus’ hind legs. “Whatever you need, I’ll help.”

“Listen,” she went on as she untied the rope from the horse’s neck. “Hercules is in trouble!”

My eyes widened as Pegasus gave a worried whinny. Let me think: Tied up horse and Meg goes to free him. Yep, the cyclops was already causing havoc in Thebes, and now that Hercules didn’t have his strength anymore after making that deal with Hades to keep Meg safe, it meant that if we didn’t act fast, Hercules could be killed in that fight.

“What do we have to do?” I asked her, determined to help save the hero.

“We gotta find Phil, he’s the only one who can talk some sense into him.” Meg explained as she removed the rope from Pegasus’ snout.

“All right,” I said as I hopped onto Pegasus’ back. “Then let’s go find him.”

Meg nodded and sat in front of me, but I could tell that she was looking a little uneasy when Pegasus was getting ready to take off.

“You good?” I asked her.

“Not really.” she admitted just as Pegasus took off flying. “I’m scared of HEIGHTS!”

Later

We flew around on Pegasus for a bit before he flew us to the docks, where we saw a ship getting ready to set sail on the wild waters. I squinted around trying to find Phil somewhere on the stairs leading to the docks, but my glasses kept getting misty from the mix of the wind and crashing waves. So, it was pointless for me trying to look for him without cleaning the lenses every five seconds.

“Over there!” Meg pointed towards the top of the stairs. I cleaned my glasses off and looked over to where she was pointing, and I was able to see Phil storm down the stairs.

“Phil!” Meg called out to him as we flew closer. “Phil, Hercules needs your help!”

Phil gave Meg a mean look. “What does he need me for? He’s got friends like you!”

“He won’t listen to me!”

“Good!” Phil shouted. “He’s finally learned somethin’.”

I decided to try to convince him. “Please, you’re the only one who can help him!”

Phil did a double take when he saw me with Meg and Pegasus. “Who’re you?”

Okay, yeah, I really needed to get better at showing up to places, but that I blame those stupid portals on. I decided to push that fact aside to try to focus on the main situation at hand. “I’ll explain later, but right now, we have to help Hercules!”

“She one of your little coworkers from Hades?” Phil accused before storming off. “Forget it!”

Phil started to head down to the dock again but stopped in his tracks when Pegasus flew next to him and angrily snorted at him.

“Look, I know what I did was wrong, but this isn’t about me, it’s about him.” Meg pleaded. “And if you don’t help him now, Phil, he’ll die.”

Phil stopped in his tracks when he heard that. I could practically see him realize that his last hope of achieving his dream would die if he didn’t come with us to help him. The old satyr turned to us, and I could tell that he wanted to help Hercules.

“Where is he?” Phil asked.

“Fighting a cyclops in Thebes.” I told him as I pulled him up on Pegasus. “I’ll explain on the way!”

Meg gave me a suspicious look. “You know what happened?”

“Another long story.” I briefly explained as Pegasus took off to find Hercules.

Later

“Do you see him?” Phil asked.

We flew around the nearly destroyed city of Thebes, right in the path where the cyclops had gone through, to try to find Hercules. But the moment I saw the ugly one-eyed monster laughing a deep laughter, I knew we were close. I looked down towards the ground and saw Hercules laying against large chunks of debris. Weaken, beaten, but still alive.

My eyes widened and I gave a gasp. “Yes!”

“Hercules!” Phil called out as Pegasus dove down towards him.

Hercules lifted his head weakly as he saw us land. A bleeding smile of relief was on Herc’s face when he saw that his coach came back for him. “Phil…”

“C’mon, kid, you gotta fight back! You can take this bum.” Phil told him as he tended to Herc’s injuries. “This guy’s a pushover, look at ‘im!”

“You were right all along, Phil,” Hercules said weakly as he glared at Meg. “Dreams are for rookies.”

“No, kid. Givin’ up is for rookies. I came back ‘cause I’m not quittin’ on ya.” Phil told him. “I’m willin’ to go the distance. How ‘bout you?”

Just then, the ground shook as the cyclops started stomping towards us. Phil hid, Pegasus backed up, and Meg managed to pull me away right as the cyclops came and grabbed Hercules, pulling him up towards his ugly face.

“Me bite off head!” the cyclops laughed as he prepared to kill Hercules. But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Hey, depth perception! Let him go!” I shouted up at the cyclops.

I took a broken wooden beam I found on the ground and stabbed it into the cyclops’ foot to try to draw his attention away from Hercules, but that did nothing. The cyclops still had a hold of the hero and wasn’t planning on releasing him. But just then, Hercules grabbed a burning piece of wood from a destroyed building and shoved it right into the monster’s eye. The cyclops yelled out in pain and dropped Hercules into a wagon.

I rushed over to help him up, but as soon as I saw the rope in the wagon, I got an idea -well, more or less how to help Hercules defeat the cyclops. I grabbed one end of some rope and handed the other end to him. Hercules understood what I was doing, and the two of us ran up to the blinded cyclops and started running the rope around the monster’s feet.

“You’re a tough kid, aren’t you?” Hercules asked me. “Handling a cyclops.”

“You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through within the past day.” I strained as I pulled on the rope.

And with the two of us working together and tugging on the rope around the cyclops’ feet, we rolled out of the way and watched as the beast yelled and fell off the cliff and to his death. I stared in awe at the fact that I just Empire Strikes Back a cyclops with one of the most famous heroes of all time. But before Hercules and I could ensure that we were both alright after fighting the monster, I heard something cracking behind us. Something that sounded like it was about to fall on us.

“Frankie! Hercules!” Meg shouted as she pushed us out of the way. “Look out!”

“Meg!” Hercules shouted in horror and dismay. “NO!”

I stared at the scene in horror. The woman I had only just made good acquaintances with was laying underneath a pillar. She sacrificed herself to save Hercules and I, to redeem herself for all the bad stuff she did while working for Hades, but it was even more horrific knowing that I was losing another friend. This was worse than when Aladdin and I nearly drowned. Much worse.

Hercules quickly rushed over to try to lift the pillar off her, but he was still without his godly strength. I went over to help him lift the heavy pillar to try to save Meg, but it wasn’t enough. We were just two mortals trying to lift the impossible. But just when all seemed lost, I saw a small glow emit from Herc’s chest. And just like that, he lifted up the pillar over his head. He got his strength back.

“What’s happening?” Hercules asked in disbelief.

“H-Hades deal is broken.” Meg winced from the pain of her injuries. “He promised I wouldn’t get hurt.”

Hercules tossed the pillar where the Cyclops had fallen and went over to his injured girlfriend. “Meg, why did you… You didn’t have to-”

Meg winced as a gentle smile grew on her face as she looked at the man she loved. “People always do crazy things when they’re in love.”

“Oh, Meg…” Hercules tried to speak. “Meg, I…”

“Are you always this articulate?” she joked, using a line she said to him when they first met at the river.

Hercules gave a small chuckle, but I could still see the worry in his eyes. I knew that he was going up to Olympus to face Hades and the Titans, but I wasn’t going to let him do it alone. Forget asking him to help me get home, if Hercules was going to face evil, then he’d need the backup. I wasn’t going to lose any more friends tonight, and I was going to make sure of it.

“You haven’t got much time.” Meg told him. “You can still stop Hades.”

“I’ll watch over her kid.” Phil assured him as he went over to comfort Meg.

“You’re gonna be alright, I promise.” Hercules told Meg.

But just before he left on Pegasus, I grabbed Herc’s arm and gave him a determined look. “I’m going with you.”

Hercules gave me a concerned look and shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t care.” I told him. “I’m not losing anyone else today.”

I didn’t know if it was because of the short time we had to stop his crazy uncle or if he understood that I wasn’t letting him fight the Titans alone. But either way, Hercules understood what I had meant and nodded. Giving me the okay for me to help him once again.

“Okay, let’s go.” he said as he helped me hop on Pegasus’ back.

“By the way, the name’s Frankie.” I introduced myself.

Herc then gave me a small smile. “I’m Hercules. Good to meet you.”

And with that, we took off on Pegasus and headed straight for Olympus. If I had known this adventure would lead me into a fight with Titans and gods, I would’ve planned ahead and brought a weapon. But that wasn’t the case right now. If I was going to help Hercules win the battle and save Meg, I had to rely on my skills as a street rat -I mean, rely on my street-smart skills and memory to help save the day.

Later

“I can’t see Hades anywhere.” Hercules said as we flew over Olympus.

It didn’t take us long to reach Olympus, but by the time we got there, the once beautiful and bright domain of the immortal Greek gods was now dark and stormy. The gods and goddesses were now chained up and walking towards -what I always thought- their soon-to-be prison. Hercules and I kept our eyes peeled for any sign of Hades, but then I remembered one particular detail about the god’s takeover from the movie.

“Something tells me those two weren’t there before.” I told him as I pointed towards what I thought was Zeus’ throne room, where the lava and ice were already trapping Zeus in a magma prison.

“I swear to you Hades,” we heard Zeus threaten. “When I get out of h-”

“I’m the one giving orders now, bolt boy.” Hades smugly said as he made himself a throne and a celebratory martini. “And I think I’m gonna like it here.”

“Don’t get too comfortable, Hades!” Hercules called out.

Hades spat out his drink and looked at the oncoming hero in anger, immediately sending the Titans after Hercules to try to defeat him from completing his takeover. Upon seeing the four Titans preparing to attack us, Hercules handed me his sword. I looked at the weapon in utter confusion before looking back at Herc.

“You free the gods. I’ll take care of the Titans.” he explained to me. I gave him an understanding nod and readied myself to do something either really cool or really painful.

“This ought to even the odds!” I then jumped off Pegasus and landed on a patch of cloud.

I raised the sword and with one powerful strike, I managed to cut the chain in half. Watching it disappearing from the hands and necks around every single god and goddess and freeing them. I was right, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever done, but this was no time to brag, I had to get the gods and goddesses to help out.

“C'mon, we gotta help Hercules!” I told them all.

The gods and goddesses nodded and split up into two groups: One group readied themselves to help battle the Titans and one group went off to try to prepare weapons and defenses in case things got rough. I was about to run in and join the gods who were going to help fight, but I felt my wrists pull back and Hercules’ sword dropped from my grasp.

“Not so fast, mortal!”

I whipped my head around and saw that Pain and Panic were now holding me captive. Now, if I was a noob who first interacted with her favorite Disney characters, I’d probably would’ve made a complete idiot out of myself when I first saw the imps. But now was not the time to be stupid, now was the time to try to break free from their tiny-handed grasps.

“Hey, let me go!” I grunted as I struggled to break free. For being such little guys, they had a surprisingly good grip on my wrists.

“Uh, Pain,” Panic started speaking as he inspected me. “Doesn’t she look kinda familiar to you?”

Pain did a double take and looked at me closer before coming to a realization. “She’s the kid we found in the stables!”

Oh, shoot. They must’ve found me in the stables while I was still unconscious. But what I found strange was that they didn’t tell Hades about me earlier. Maybe they thought I was sleeping or something?

The two imps gave each other matching mischievous grins. “Oh, Hades is gonna love this.” Pain said as his smile grew wide.

I gulped. I did not want to deal with another villain after barely escaping one not even a few hours ago. And Hades was not one to deal with, especially when he would be very angry about his defeat and knowing that I helped Hercules defeat him.

“Look, fellas, please, be reasonable.” I tried my best to reason with the imps, but it was pointless. They ended up dragging me towards Hades’ chariot, just as their boss was getting ready to make a leave towards the Underworld.

“Hey, boss!” Panic called out.

Hades turned his head and saw that the imps were dragging me towards him. He looked at me with an arched brow before addressing the imps. “Who is this?”

“Some mortal caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Panic said as he tapped the lenses if my glasses.

“And she was helping Jerkules.” Pain added.

Hades looked at me again. I tried my best to be brave and not let him intimidate me, but I guess he could see that I was still fearful of what he would do to me now that he knew I helped Hercules defeat him. He flashed a mean smirk before turning his attention back towards the imps.

“Load her in the chariot boys.” he ordered.

“Wait! No, please!” I begged, but it was no use. 

The imps threw me into the chariot and Hades summoned forth smoke chains that wrapped themselves around me. I struggled to break free from the smoke chains, but I couldn’t break free. This was not good. I looked around for my friend, and I spotted him with Zeus; Hercules had just freed his father and defeated the Titans. Saving Olympus.

“Hercules!” I called out to my friend frantically.

I saw Hercules turn my way, and his expression dropped into a worried one when he saw Hades’ chariot take off with me in it. 

“Frankie!” he shouted as he hopped onto Pegasus to try to save me.

“Thanks a ton, Wonderboy! But I’ve still got two swell consolation prizes!” Hades snapped at him as the chariot flew towards the Underworld. “Friends of yours: One here and one dying to see me!”

“Two?” I repeated that earlier word. 

I knew that Hades was holding me captive, but who was the second one? It then hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized who would be joining me in the Underworld very, very shortly and leave her swimming in the River Styx, literally.

“Meg!” I breathed in horrid realization.

Chapter Text

By the time Hades took me to the Underworld, I knew it was too late for Meg. She was dead by now because of her injuries from saving Hercules. I could hardly believe it. That three times now I’ve let one of my friends down because of something I was involved in. First, Alex got tased when we got busted for paint bombing, then Aladdin was knocked unconscious and nearly drowned after I rejected Jafar’s offer, and now Meg was dead because I wanted to help her boyfriend defeat a monster.

So much for me wanting to be a hero I was never meant to be.

But now, my problems were getting worse by the minute. I had no way to get back home, I was in the throne room of the Underworld, and I now had to deal with Hades. Who, friendly reminder, was definitely not happy about being defeated and losing Olympus. Especially since he now had someone who helped his nephew defeat him.

“We were so CLOSE!” Hades yelled furiously, sending fire all across his throne room and forcing me to take cover while the imps weren’t so lucky -Pain’s hair was burnt off and so were Panic’s horns. “So close, we tripped at the finish line. Why? Because our little Nutmeg had to go all noble!”

“Is it really her fault?” I asked him in a snarky tone. “You could’ve avoided all this, but no. You just had to sweet-talk the Fates into telling you the prophecy!”

Hades’ flames cooled down as he looked at me after I realized my mistake. “How do you know about the prophecy?”

Shoot. Tell a lie. Tell a lie.

“Uh, well, you just seem like the typical villain who meets his fate on the road he takes to avoid it!” I tried to recover. “Quite the pitiful cliché, really.”

“Look, kid, I don’t know what you think you’re doing.” Hades said with an arched brow. “Did you forget who you’re talking to? I am the Lord of the Dead.”

“And believe me, you’d be surprised how many people want to die.” I said with a nervous smile.

But I could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t buy my kiss-up. He then started to approach me menacingly, his flames flickered between blue and orange.

“Look, here’s how my gig works, kid;” he went on to explain his whole villain-gig. “I judge souls, ‘kay? I can tell if they’re lying or not. And you, my little raven, are lying.”

“So, let’s try this again;” Hades threatened as his flames grew brighter. “Tell me the truth, or you’ll be swimming with a new crowd, and not a very live one at that.”

“I can’t!” I blurted out. “I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone!”

I immediately slammed a hand over my mouth when I said that. I can’t believe that I almost spilt the beans to Hades. I only hoped that it wouldn’t get worse if Hades should push me for more information.

“Look, kid, the more stubborn you are, the less patient I get.” Hades told me as he sat on his throne. “And I’m, not a very patient god.”

I bowed my head in defeat before telling him a sliver of my story. “Look, I only helped Hercules because I thought he could help me get back home.”

Hades scoffed. “Why? You think mommy and daddy will worry.”

“My mom hates me.” I snapped. “It’s my dad I’m worried about.”

“How about this: Since you seem to know so much, my little oracle, how about I make you a little deal.” he offered me.

“Excuse me?” I asked with an arched brow.

“Look, if you’re that desperate to get back home to daddy-dearest, I’m willing to make that happen, for a price.” Hades said.

“I’m not interested in making deals with anyone!” I yelled at him. “The last time someone tried sweet-talking me into a deal, he tried to kill my friend and I when I refused his offer!”

“Well, maybe he didn’t offer you something worthwhile.” he said as he approached me and offering a deal. “Here’s the deal I’m gonna offer you, I’ll get you home in exchange for you telling me everything you know about this world. You play nice, and hey, it’ll be the last you ever see me. Whaddya say?”

What other option did I have? The spell was destroyed, and there was no other way to get me back home. So Hades’ offer was my only way out. But I’d risk breaking world order, and Merlin made it very clear about not saying anything about what will happen in a world to anyone, especially a villain. I learned my lesson after what happened with Jafar. But here, I had no other choice, I had to make the deal.

However, I realized that Hercules hadn’t shown up yet to retrieve Meg’s soul from the River Styx -or that weird Vortex of Soul thing. I could never figure out which was which, but you should know what I’m talking about. That could buy me some more time, especially since Hades would be defeated shortly after. So, I’d still get help from Hercules after all. I just hoped I was clever enough to pull off a new plan.

“All right.” I finally said. “We have a deal.”

“Shake on it?” Hades asked with a smirk as he held out his hand.

I hesitated and eyed around the room. No sign of Hercules yet, and I was dangling on a very short end of a rope with this deal of Hades. This was bad. Now I really had no choice to but to make the deal.

“C’mon, kid, won’t you shake a poor god’s hand?” Hades asked me.

I shakingly held out a hand, but the very moment before I touched Hades’ fingers, the room started to shake. All heads turned towards the throne room entrance as the sound of something big stomped towards the throne room. I took this as a sign to take cover, so I bolted and hid underneath the war table where Pain and Panic had been hiding this whole time just in time to see Cerberus barge into the room, with Hercules standing on top of the middle head with the dog’s ears in his hands.

“Where are they?” Hercules demanded.

“Look, who’s here.” Hades scoffed, apparently unoffended by the fact that his nephew interrupted a deal. “Wonderboy, you are too much.”

“Herc!” I exclaimed happily as I came out from under the war table and ran towards him. Cerberus let Hercules down to the ground and the hero welcomed me with a hug. 

“Are you okay?” he asked me as he searched for any injuries on my person.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Meg’s soul,” he began to ask hopefully. “Did you see it?”

“No, it must’ve passed through before I got here.” I sadly shook my head forcing tears to not fall when I remembered that my friend was dead. “I’m so sorry.”

Hercules turned away and marched towards Hades, grabbing his uncle by the shirt collar in anger. 

“Let. Her. Go!” Hercules demanded through gritted teeth.

“Get a grip.” Hades told him as he nudged Hercules off his person. “C’mon, lemme show ya around.”

Hades then took Hercules by the should and led him down a flight of stairs in the throne room. I followed them to see where there were going, and I instantly didn’t like it. Hades led us directly to the room where the Vortex of Souls was. And just looking at that swirling green river full of the souls of the dead sent shivers down my spine, and I thought it was creepy in the movie. Now it was creepier seeing it in person.

“Well, well. It’s a small Underworld after all, huh?” Hades joked as we watched the souls swirl down deeper into the vortex.

Hercules and I looked around on the surface of the water, trying to find Meg’s soul. I managed to spot it just coming in, entering through a small hole and flowing down a waterfall that led into the vortex.

“There!” I pointed out.

“Meg!” Hercules gasped as he reached into the water and tried pulling her soul free, only to pull his hands back out the moment he saw them age rapidly. We both started at his hands in horror as they reverted back to normal.

“Aha-ah-ah. No, no, no. Mustn’t touch.” Hades warned before talking about Meg’s current situation. “Y’see, Meg’s moving around a new crowd these days, and not a very lively one at that.”

Translation for those who don’t get it: The further Meg went down the vortex, the higher the chance of losing her soul to the Styx forever. And if a mortal should swim in after her to save her, it wouldn’t take long for someone to join her among the dead. What with the effects of the river slowly stealing away your lifeforce and turning you into a shriveled up, decaying corpse like the Deadites from the Evil Dead.

“You like making deals.” Hercules told Hades. “Take me in Meg’s place.”

“Herc, you can’t!” I tried to reason with him. “There has to be another way!”

“I have to do this.” he turned back towards me. “Meg’s running out of time.”

I bowed my head in defeat. He was right. If Meg was ever gonna live again, Hercules had to be the one to save her soul. Since he’s half god, his strength should hold keep him going much longer than if I were the one going in. I only hoped Hercules could manage to make it in time.

“Hmm. the son of my hated rival trapped forever in a river of death?” Hades thought about Hercules’ offer.

“Going once!” Hercules shouted, sort of mocking how Hades makes deals.

“Is there a downside to this?” I heard Hades ask himself.

“Going twice!”

“Alright, alright! Okay:” Hades gave into Herc’s offer. “You get her out. She goes, you stay.”

“Good luck.” I told Hercules. “And be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Hercules gave me a confident nod and a smile. He then turned towards the edge and dove right into the vortex, risking his own life to save the one he loved.

“Oh, y’know what slipped my mind? You’ll be dead before you get to her.” Hades called down to Hercules. “That’s not a problem, is it?”

I watched as Hercules swam deeper into the vortex, practically seeing him aging by the minute as he was getting closer to Meg. But the water’s effects were still doing a number on him, if it keeps up, he’ll die.

“To think, he dies in that, I just might have to help you out after all.” a sentence from Hades broke the tension.

But those words hit me in my core. Did he lie about a deal he wanted to make? I looked back at him with a shocked expression. “Excuse me?”

Hades started taking again. “Well, I mean, I’m not one to help mortals unless their desperate-”

“You lied about helping me?” I finished for him as my expression dropped into a furious one. 

I knew it, I knew he wouldn’t help me. Hades was just going to use me like Jafar wanted to. Okay, memo to me: Stop asking villains for help! You’ll just end up with the same outcome.

“Not lie, necessarily, just bend the deal to help my needs before yours.” Hades gave a brief shrug to ignore the problem.

That was supposed to make me feel better? I kept my glare at him knowing that I was not happy with his lie.

“C’mon, kid, are you really that surprised?” Hades sarcastically asked me as that stupid grin was still planted on his face. “Didn’t daddy ever teach you not to talk to evil gods?”

Well, it’s a good thing I never shook his hand earlier to seal our deal, otherwise I’d be really pissed off at Hades’ deceit -or at the very least more pissed off than I already was. Then again, it was now more interesting to know that he was just gonna use me, because now he’s not going to get one teensy, weensy, but ever so crucial, little, tiny detail.

“Well, if that’s the case, then forget me helping you.” I turned away to hide a sly smirk. “Which is unfortunate, really.”

“Why?”

“Because if you were honest, I would’ve told you what exactly happened after Hercules jumped in the river.” 

I looked down into the vortex, smiling as I saw something glowing like the sun swim up towards the ledge. I backed slowly as I saw Hercules grab the edge with Meg’s soul in his arm, but there was something very particularly different about him.

“This… this is impossible!” Hades stammered in horror. “Y-you can’t be alive! You’d have to be a-”

“A god?” Pain and Panic finished in a nervous unison.

That’s right. Hercules had become a god, or regained his godhood in this case, when he was willing to sacrifice himself to free Meg. And I was just staring with the biggest smile on my face as my friend started walking out of the vortex’s room. Especially since Hades was not happy with both Hercules surviving and regaining immortality and knowing that he could’ve avoided this if we made that earlier deal. Well, it serves him right.

Hades tried to stop Hercules from leaving. “Hercules! Stop! You can’t do this to me! You can’t-”

Hercules shut him up with a simple punch in the face, which nearly caused me to burst out laughing.

“Fine, okay, I deserved that.” Hades admitted before he tried to reason with Hercules about their now broken deal. “Herc, Herc, Herc. Can we talk? Your dad, he’s a fun guy right? So maybe you could put in a word with him and kinda blow this whole thing off, y’know?”

Hades then tried to use Meg’s soul to convince Hercules to reconsider, but that was a terrible idea to make. Because the moment Hades started pushing Meg’s face up towards Hercules, Herc punched Hades again. Only this time, he sent the god flying into the air and right into the slimy waters of the Vortex of Souls. I rushed over towards the ledge as Pain, Panic, and I watched Hades getting dead souls climbing all over him.

“Get away from me! Don’t touch me!” Hades yelled at the souls in disgust as he tried pushing them off him. “Get your slimy souls off me!”

“See you later, sucker!” I waved down at Hades with a smirk on my face before I started to follow Hercules. Serves Hades right for all the crap he pulled off in the last couple of hours. But just before I left, I heard somebody scream.

“No! No, please!”

I whipped my head around and saw Pain and Panic being dragged into the vortex by Hades, who turned his hand into smoke and was determined to pull his minions down into the center of the vortex so they could suffer for who-knows-how-long with him. The imps needed help, but I hesitated.

On one hand, they both did help their boss kidnap me and hid me in the Underworld against my will as well as try to kill his nephew -my friend, but on the other hand, they were my favorite characters from literally anything. And the looks of their terrified faces as they were being pulled down just sold it. I knew that deep down; I couldn’t let them suffer like their boss. So, without having a second thought, I ran back to that ledge and gabbed Pain by the wrist. I looked down and saw Panic holding onto Pain’s tail for dear life as Hades was dragging the teal imp by his own tail.

I pulled Pain up, and once he was on hard ground and held onto a rock, I went back and grabbed Panic’s wrists and tried pulling him up. But Hades’ smoke hand was tugging harder on Panic’s tail, attempting to drag the imp down with him, and I was not going to let that happen.

“Get your filthy hand off him!” I shouted. I then used my foot and kicked the smoke hand away, freeing Panic, and watched as Hades was being dragged down into the Vortex of Souls alone.

“Did… did you just save us?” Pain broke the silence when he asked me that.

“Yeah.” I breathed as I stood up. I looked back down at the imps. “Are you two okay?”

Panic looked at Pain and then back up at me with a confused look. “Y-yeah?”

“Good.” I said. I then noticed that Hercules was nowhere to be seen -well, other than his aura glowing up towards the stairs leading back to the throne room.

“Hey, Herc! Wait up!” I called out as I ran after him, leaving the imps behind with dumbfounded expressions.

Later

Well, you pretty much knew what happened after Hercules got Meg’s soul and his godhood restored; Meg became alive again, Hercules was offered to return to his home on Olympus to live with his real family, he gives it all up to live a mortal life with Meg, Phil gets his dream of one of his heroes becoming a constellation, everyone’s happy. And well, I admit, I was pretty happy too, heck, even a few of the gods and goddesses thanked me for helping Hercules during the Titan raid on Olympus, which admittedly felt like a huge honor, but there was nothing much else I could do in Greece now. I needed a way home, but I knew I wouldn’t get it here.

“Frankie?”

I snapped out of whatever trance I was in and turned my head to see Hercules, Meg, Phil and Pegasus standing behind me. We had just gotten back from Olympus and were celebrating Herc’s victories, and I guess I just got so lost in thought about what I should do next, that I almost didn’t hear Hercules calling my name.

“Oh, sorry.” I apologized. “What’s up?”

“We just wanted thank you for your help.” Hercules told me with a warm smile. “You took it upon yourself to help Meg and I when we needed it the most.”

“To be honest. I did it for two reasons.” I admitted with a sadden -yet guilty- expression. “One, because I meant what I said about not letting anyone else get hurt. And two, I needed your help.”

I knew this was gonna hurt them more than it was gonna hurt me, a lot more. They trusted me when the time came for me to step up and help them, but now that I had to tell them the truth, I was mentally preparing myself for a shouting match to ensue about my dishonesty and disloyalty.

“I should’ve explained earlier, but everything got so crazy with the cyclops and Olympus-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Meg interrupted me with a sincere look. “We were all pretty caught up in that chaos.”

Huh. Wasn’t expecting that answer. I guess all those times Mom yelled at me for lying and doing -admittedly- illegal things sort of traumatized me, but not in a way that made me a sensitive person. In a way that sort of made me -I dunno- nonchalant and annoyed. So, hearing that they all understood why I did what I did was an interesting change of things.

“Tell us what happened.” Hercules said.

“The truth is I got separated from my family.” I explained to all of them. “I had a way to get back to them, but it was destroyed, and now I don’t know if I’m able to get back to them.”

“That’s it?” Phil asked as if he expected more.

“When I started my journey home, I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone else about where I have or will travel to.” I sadly said. “I wish I could say more, but…”

“I understand, Frankie, I really do,” Hercules told me, but with that regretful look on his face, I could tell that there was going to be a “but” in his sentence. “But without knowing where you have to go to be back with your family, I don’t know if I’ll be able to help you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I gave him a kind smile. “But it's nice to know that you wanted to help.”

“Y’know, I heard about a land not far from here with people that know more about navigatin’.” Phil spoke up. “You find that place, you’ll be home free.”

I felt my eyes pop at the sound of Phil’s suggestion. “Where do I go?” I asked him.

“Follow the sun an’ head up Northeast.” he told me. “It shouldn’t be far.”

This was perfect! If I could find a portal or anything that could get me Northwest, I could find these navigators, and they could help me get back home! This was the second-best piece of news I’ve ever gotten -first obviously was when I found out that I was stuck in Disney and basically on an adventure where I was the one who would shine and not my stupid brother. But in any case, I was ecstatic about this information.

“Thank you!” I hugged Phil and the others before making an excited run Northeast. “Thank you all!”

“Wait!” Hercules stopped me. “Wouldn’t you like a ride?”

I looked at Pegasus, who looked more than happy to give me a ride, but I realized that Hercules needed his horse more than I did. And as much as I would’ve loved to fly Pegasus once again, I knew I couldn’t accept the offer. It was my adventure after all, I had to find the navigators myself.

“If you’d ask me that a couple of hours ago, I would’ve said yes with a blink of an eye,” I told Herc as I gave Pegasus one last pet on the head. “But this is something I have to do on my own. But thanks for the offer.”

Hercules nodded in understanding and gave me one last hug. “Stay safe out there, Frankie.”

“If you’re ever in Thebes again, look us up.” Meg added as she hugged me a last hug too.

“I will!” I assured them as I began to leave once again. “Goodbye!”

“Goodbye!” Hercules said as he and the others waved me goodbye as well. “And thanks again!”

“No problem!” I shouted before heading Northeast to find the navigators who could help me get finally back home.

Later

I followed the rising sun Northeast just as Phil told me. As much as I would’ve loved staying in the world of my favorite Disney movie, I knew I couldn’t stay. I had to get back home, but who knows? Maybe I could rewrite the spell I burned and come back to visit them all. It was the least I could do for just up and leaving them all like a total jerk, and maybe I could bring Alex and Pearl with me. They’d be so pumped to visit, and Pearl would have a cow if she found out I witnessed Hades -her villainous crush- getting punched into the vortex of souls.

Anyway, while I was walking down a forest path, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being followed by someone. I turned around, but nobody was behind me. However, when you grow up in a shady city like I have, thinking you’re being followed means that you have to defend yourself even if nobody’s there -I should know, the first time Alex, Pearl and I went paint bombing, Alex nearly shanked a mugger that followed us even though we thought we were not being followed. So, when I found a rather large boulder, I hid behind it and grabbed a fallen tree branch and held it like a baseball bat, ready to smack whoever was following me.

I heard footsteps approaching my hiding place, proving my suspicions that I was in fact being followed, and just before the person could spot me hiding from them, I jumped out from behind the boulder with a yell and prepared to smack someone in the head. But everything changed when I saw that the persons following me were a pair of two very familiar imps screaming bloody murder.

“You two?” I asked Pain and Panic in disbelief as I lowered the branch. “What are you doing following me around?”

“What are you doing jumping out and scaring us like that?” Pain snapped back at me.

“In my defense, I thought you were highway perverts.” I told them as I tossed the branch to the side. “Now, could you please answer my question?”

Panic swallowed before he started speaking. “Well, um, we never really thanked you. Y’know, from when you saved us from almost getting dragged to the Styx?”

“And it’s not just that.” Pain added. “Why did you save us?”

“I couldn’t just let Hades drag you two down with him.” I told them both my reasoning for saving them. “Neither of you deserved it.”

“Really?” Panic asked in confusion. “Nobody’s ever cared about us like that before.”

“But don’t think we’re in good graces with ya, sister!” Pain snapped. “We’re still mad at you for whatcha did back in the Underworld.”

“You mean when I found out that Hades lied to me?” I cynically asked him. “Well, where I’m from, we see lies as an offense, so I had to do what I did.”

“Sh’yeah, right.” the magenta imp scoffed.

“Look, if you’d rather stay behind and suffer Hades’ wrath if or when he gets out of the vortex, then you can.” I said. “But if you come with me, I promise that I will keep you both safe.”

Pain arched a brow at me in an untrusting way. “How are we supposed to trust you?”

“Yeah, you kinda didn’t tell Hades about Hercules getting out of the river alive.” Panic pointed out.

Okay, was there a broken record playing or did we already just talk about this?

“Again, he lied about helping me get back home.” I reminded them before I got to the point of my offer. “But if you help me get out of this world, I promise I’ll find you guys a place to lay low for a while.”

“You mean it?” Panic asked.

I briefly nodded as I stood firm with my offer. “Yeah, but you gotta promise no tricks, no mean pranks, no bad things in general, or I’m dumping both of you on the next rock I see and leave you there.”

Both imps thought about my offer for a moment before they turned to each other.

“What do we have to lose?” Pain asked Panic.

“I’d say our dignity, but we lost that ages ago.” Panic said.

Pain gave a brief shrug before turning back towards me. “Okay, mortal, you got yourself a deal.”

“My name’s not Mortal.” I corrected him. “It’s Frankie.”

Both of them snickered at the sound of my masculine nickname -as if neither of them knew it was a perfectly normal gender neutral nickname.

“Frankie? What’s it short for? Frank?” Pain asked as he laughed mockingly.

I felt my cheeks turn red in embarrassment. “It’s short for Francesca, but never call me that, got it?”

“Whatever you say, Frank.” Panic snickered.

“Don’t call me that either. It’s just Frankie.” I told him as the three of us walked towards another portal that popped up randomly.

Now that I was stuck with the imps, at least this adventure won’t seem very lonely, but the only downside is that the imps would probably go out of their way to make me miserable. I love them and all, but they can be mischievous little jerks sometimes. And as we entered the portal, I only knew that this adventure was just getting much more interesting.

Chapter Text

Much like how it did the first time, the portal flung the imps and I like ragdolls for what seemed like an eternity. Which to me, I was used to after going into about three by now, but I could really do it without the imps screaming as we were being tossed around in the portal, especially Panic. Until finally, the portal stopped and dumped us in what felt like water. The imps and I swam up to the surface to breathe, but when we finally caught our breath, I realized two things: One, I knew that we were no longer in Greece. And two:

“We’re in the middle of the freakin’ ocean?!” Pain yelled out loud. 

There was no land for miles, let alone no sign of any ships or planes or anything or anyone that could provide us any sort of assistance. Well, this was no time to sit still and look pretty for help to arrive. If we didn’t find shore soon, we’d tire ourselves from swimming and end up drowning -or at least I would, the imps could shapeshift themselves into fish or birds and swim or fly away without a problem. But Frankie Cole doesn’t give up like that. So, I knew what I had to do: 

“Well, boys, looks like it’s a sink or swim option,” I told the imps. “And I’m gonna swim for it.”

“As if we had any other choice.” Panic cynically said as he and Pain flew out of the water and over my head. Geez, the sass in that little scaredy-imp was strong.

But when we started swimming Northeast like we originally would’ve, something felt off. It was as if my legs were tied together or something. I knew that would just slow me down, but when I went to see what was wrong, I found that my legs were no longer there. Instead, I had a shimmering fuchsia mermaid tail with strawberry fins at the ends where my feet would’ve been. And my top had been replaced with a pair of cyan seashells covering my chests. It didn’t take a genius to realize what had happened. I was near Atlantica, the home of Princess Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

“Holy crap!” I exclaimed excitedly as I rose back to the surface. “You guys gotta see this!”

The imps gave me confused looks before I showed them my new tail.

“You’re a mermaid?” Pain asked in confusion.

“Not exactly.” I admitted.

I decided to take a chance and tried to breathe underwater, and it actually felt the same as breathing air, but fresher. Even the salt in the water didn’t feel foul as I breathed, it felt natural. Even my glasses worked underwater, which I found pretty cool. I guess when Merlin cast that spell on me to blend into every world I traveled to, he also made it so my body would adapt to having new forms as well. And in this case, my body felt like it’s always been a mermaid. And when I started to swim with my tail, it felt strong, agile, and quick. Like I was flying underwater.

“This is so cool!” I cheered as I practically danced my way under water. I felt like all my childhood fantasies about being an actual mermaid finally came true.

“But, how did this happen? You had legs just a minute ago!” Panic asked. “What are you?”

“Well, since we just entered a portal from Ancient Greece to -I think- 1800’s Denmark, I think it’s safe to let you two in on my secret.” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, hold that thought!” Pain stopped me when he spotted something. “There’s a boat up ahead!”

I looked, and sure enough, there was a boat. A man dressed in a sailor suit appeared to be looking at a map in confusion, as if he were lost too. But when the imps and I approached the man to see how far off from shore we were, I noticed something very familiar about the sailor. He was well-built and his skin was blue.

“Genie?” I asked.

Genie turned around and his face lit up like a candle the moment he saw me in the water.

“Frankie! You’re alright!” he exclaimed happily as he picked me up for a big hug.

“It’s good to see you too, big guy!” I told him as we broke off the hug. “What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Agrabah with Aladdin.”

“Was. Check it out, Frankie Stein.” Genie corrected me as he showed me his wrists, which were now free of his golden cuffs. “I’m a free genie now!”

I guess while I was gone in Greece, the rest of Aladdin’s story happened without me. And with that, Aladdin -who was thankfully alive after what happened that night we were nearly drowned after we were captured- used his third wish to set Genie free from his 10,000-year servitude. Just as Genie always longed for and as Al promised.

“Congratulations!” I told him.

“Yeah, and bumping into you after that portal took you two days ago just makes it better!” Genie added.

I’ve been stuck in Disney for two days? I must’ve lost track of time, because it only felt like hours since I’ve been here. But I then remembered that Merlin did say that time in Disney moves the same way as it does back in my world, and if that was the case, this wasn’t good.

“This is bad.” I finally said.

“Bad?” Genie repeated.

“Genie, I was supposed to be home days ago.” I told him. “But I couldn’t get dark magic to activate that stupid spell.”

“Wait a minute! You had a travel spell on you this whole time?” he asked me.

“It was supposed to need some dark magic to help activate it so I could go home.” I explained.

“I understand.”

I blinked. “You do?”

Genie nodded before summing up the truth with a grin. “You're a Live Actioner!”

Well, I guess things weren’t really screwed now since I didn’t technically tell Genie where I came from. He figured it out on his own, and balance was probably not going to be undone. But I did find it funny that instead of calling me real life, he referred to me as the live action remakes to the classic stories -which, by the way, I don’t mind them making. At least most of them.

“She’s a what?” Pain asked in confusion.

Whoops. I almost forgot that the imps were with me. But before I could introduce them to Genie, Genie gave a gasp and made the boat disappear and turned back to his normal self. He then transported us underwater next to a reef. 

“You’re consorting with imps?!” he pointed an accusing finger at the imps -who were holding their breath until the realized they could turn into something with gills.

“I saved them from being dragged into a vortex of souls.” I briefly explained.

“Oh, but imps are bad news, Frankie. I’ve seen them strip flesh off a cow in less than 15 seconds.” Genie said -briefly giving himself fifteen fingers before reverting back to his normal four-before rethinking about his statement. “Or was that piranhas?”

“We resent that!” Panic said offendedly as he turned himself into a swordfish. “We never stripped any flesh from anything.”

“But I am a piranha.” Pain stated dumbly as he -in fact- turned into a piranha to prove a point.

Panic rolled his eyes and slapped Pain upside his head. “Not helping.”

Genie turned his attention back to me. “In any case, are you sure you can trust them?”

“I made them promise no tricks if they came with me.” I assured him.

Genie gave a shrug. “Well, here’s hoping that stays.”

“Hey, uh, what was that thing about her being a Live Actioner or whatever you called it?” Pain asked.

“Y’know, from the real world. No magic, no adventure.” Genie told him. “Everything in our world that doesn’t exist in yours.”

“What surprises me is that you call it Live Action.” I said.

“Don’t get me wrong, the movies you Live Actioners do aren’t that bad.” Genie explained. “It’s not really what the king really likes, but they just tell him it has to be done.”

“The king?” I repeated. 

“Yeah. The Live Actioners are the ones that tell him what should be done with our world.” he said. Just then, a small storm cloud formed around Genie’s head, and after a lightning flash, it disappeared and Genie had an excited look on his face.

“I just had a brainstorm!”

“Underwater no less.” Panic muttered sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes at his comment before turning back towards Genie. “What does it have to do with this king?”

“The king is the only other character in this world with connections to the Live Action world!” Genie told me. “If anyone could get you home, it’s him!”

“Where do we find this guy?” Pain asked.

“I don’t know.” Genie shrugged before turning himself into a pirate and started speaking like one. “There’s many a’ uncharted lands in this here very world. Not one knows which leads to the king.”

“Then, we keep going to other worlds until we find one that leads us to the king.” I summarized what the next course of action was. “All we have to do is find a portal and travel to the next world.”

“Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll find a Border.” Genie suggested as he turned back to normal.

“A Border?” Panic asked. “What’s that?”

Genie then snapped his fingers, and three desks appeared. The imps and I all shrugged and sat down at each desk as Genie gave himself a laboratory coat, a turtleneck and big glasses as he took a pointer stick on a presentation with pictures depicting what these Borders were.

“Class, today’s lesson is on world borders: With every magical world one visits, you can travel to them through hidden portals that can be found throughout each world,” Genie spoke out like a Poindexter version of any high school teacher I’ve ever had. “But, there are also these special barriers known as “Borders”. These invisible force fields protect a specific character from entering a world they're not supposed to be in.”

I casually raised my hand to ask a question.

“Yes, you in the back.” Genie pointed at me.

“Where can we find these borders?” I asked.

“Good question,” Genie said before making everything disappear and turning back to normal yet again. “And I really wished I had an answer, but I’ve never seen a Border before. So, I can’t exactly help you there.”

“Well, finding a Border might be better than looking for some random portal.” Pain pointed out. “Maybe we can find someone who might know about Borders and ask them?”

“Did that lecture really make you that smart?” Panic asked him jokingly before Pain offendedly slapped him with a fin.

“Actually, Pain may be onto something. Finding a portal could take days, a Border’s our best option.” I thought out loud. “There’s two seafolk in this world that I’m pretty sure can help us out: One’s a king and the other is a sea witch. They must be the navigators Phil was talking about.”

“I take it that the sea witch is not a nice lady?” Genie asked.

“She’s more like the cliché “deal with the devil” types of witches.” I explained. “She’ll help us for a price. But we have to be clever about said price.”

“Eh, we’ve seen Hades do worse deals.” Pain said as he brushed off my warning about Ursula.

“So, what do we do?” Panic asked me.

“We find the king. He’s our best bet in finding a border.” I made the final decision before swimming Northeast to find Atlantica. Genie disguised himself as a merman with a blue tail -obviously- so no one would be confused at the sight of a genie while imps stayed in their fish disguises. With all that figured out, the four of us continued on our journey.

“By the way, what happened to that spell thing?” Genie asked me as we swam.

“I burned it.” I said.

“What?” he gave me a shocked expression.

“There was nothing I could do!” I told him. “Jafar was gonna use it to take over my world, and he tried sweet-talking me to join him.”

“So, you torched the spell?” Genie reiterated what I did.

“Well, at least you mentioned the king, otherwise I’d be stuck here for a long time.” I pointed out.

Before he could argue back, Genie thought about that statement. “Good point.”

It took a while, but we finally managed to reach Atlantica. And I have to tell you, Agrabah and Olympus were amazing as they were, but Atlantica. Oh, it was even more beautiful in person -or mer-person as the case may be. The kingdom shimmered underwater as the sun's rays danced from building to building and every mer-person and sea creature we passed by greeted us kindly. But there was one little thing wrong with it, something too big to go unnoticed.

“Something’s wrong.” I said as I looked around the underwater kingdom.

“Whaddya mean?” Pain asked.

“Listen.” I told him. We were all quiet for a moment, trying to hear what we should’ve been hearing the moment we first got here.

“I don’t hear anything.” Panic stated.

“Exactly.” I told him. “Atlantica’s supposed to be known for being one of the more musical kingdoms in the worlds. But I don’t hear a single note or song.”

“Oh, music is forbidden in the kingdom.” a voice told us.

“Forbidden?” Genie repeated as we saw an elderly mermaid, who overheard our conversation, tending to some flowers outside her house.

“Yes, for about ten years now.” the mermaid said before she continued to tend to her flowers. “Ever since our dear Queen Athena died.”

Queen Athena? That name sounded familiar, but how did her death result into music being banned in the whole kingdom? Something was wrong. And as much as I would’ve loved to just forget about it and leave it to someone else so I could get back home, there was something inside of me saying that I had to help. Something hard to describe, but it still said to help the mer-people.

“Okay, new plan:” I whispered to the guys. “Before we find help with our problem, we need to help them with theirs: We need figure out why music’s banned.”

“This is stupid.” Pain said. “This isn’t our problem. Besides, that mermaid said it was banned after the queen died.”

“Yeah, well, the least we can do is try to help.” I snapped at him. “There has to be more to it than just the queen’s death.”

“Hey, maybe she knows why music was banned.” Genie suggested as he pointed at someone. We turned around and saw a mermaid swimming towards something underneath the castle. Her bright red hair and shimmering emerald tail indicated one thing: She was Princess Ariel.

“Where’s she going?” Panic asked.

“Dunno,” I answered. “But we’re gonna find out.”

The four of us swam after Ariel silently, which was probably for the best. Every time she looked behind her, the four of us would hide away. I could just tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to be followed. But in any case, we saw her enter what looked like the palace dungeons. I didn’t know what she was up to, but I had this weird feeling that it had to involve the whole no-music thing.

When Genie, the imps, and I followed after her, we hid ourselves behind a wall just in time to see Ariel use a rock and smash open a jail cell. Although, that wasn’t what surprised me -Ariel’s tougher than she lets on, believe me. What surprised me that the one she was busting out of prison was Sebastian! I had no idea how or what he did to get locked up, but whatever it was, I only got to hear the final part of their conversation regarding something interesting: Ariel wanting to run away from Atlantica and wanting to take Sebastian with her.

“Look, Sebastian, without music, this place just isn’t home.” Ariel said.

“Without music, this place just isn’t home,” Sebastian thought for a moment before opening the jail cell one more time, as if he had an idea in the making. “I know where to go!”

“Freedom!”

Just then, Flounder, a manta ray, a sea turtle, a pufferfish, and an octopus all swam out of the jail cell. Judging by the way they were all locked up, I assumed that four of the sea creatures were musicians and band mates and got busted for playing music secretly. Flounder probably got thrown in with them by accident or something. And when the sea creatures swam past us, they moved so fast that they scared Panic enough to accidentally swim and poke Pain with his swordfish nose.

“Ow!” Pain screamed in -well- pain before growling angrily. “Watch it, Panic!”

“I’m sorry!” Panic quickly apologized.

“What are you doing down here!”

The four of us jumped and turned our heads to see that we had been spotted. Ariel looked at us curiously while Sebastian was more than suspicious about us. Most likely thinking that we would tell Ariel’s father about the break-out and get them in even more trouble than they already were in.

“It’s okay!” I said as I raised my hands in defense. “We’re not gonna tell! Right, boys?”

The guys nodded in unison. “Yep!

“We just wanted to know something.” I swam towards the princess and the crab. “Why is there no music?”

“I’ll explain on the way.” Ariel said before turning towards Sebastian. “Which is the way, Sebastian?”

“Oh no!” Sebastian shook his head as he pointed a claw at us. “We cannot take these four with us!”

“But they don’t seem so bad, besides, they like music too.” Ariel assured him before turning towards us again. “You do, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah.” I said. “I used to sing for my school’s choir.”

“We can’t sing,” Pain spoke for both Panic and himself. “But we like music.”

“And I’m quite the musical performer, myself.” Genie boldly declared, but just before he could turn himself into a one-man-band, I stopped him. I didn’t want the others to know that he was magical and actually break balance that way.

“Not the time nor place.” I whispered to him.

Genie gave a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.”

“See?” Ariel smiled brightly at Sebastian. “We can trust them to come with us.”

Sebastian was stern with his decision at first, but as Ariel swam up to me and held my hand and smiled at him, the crabby crab gave in.

“Oh, fine!” Sebastian huffed in defeat. “But you gotta keep close.”

“Can do!” I told him as Ariel let go of my hand. And with that, the guys and I followed the sea creatures and the mermaid out of the prison and followed Sebastian out of Atlantica.

“By the way, I’m Frankie.” I introduced myself to the cherry-haired princess as she swam beside me.

Ariel gave me a small as we swam along. “Ariel.” she introduced herself.

Later

Well, night three had passed while I was here in Disney. After we helped Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, and the others escape -and after we humored ourselves with some acapella (turns out the imps are actually good at that) when we were in the clear, Sebastian led us to an area far away from Atlantica. Somewhere where his band mates could play music without Triton’s law. It was empty, sandy, but the acoustics were pretty cool. Alex would’ve liked it; he can be a bit of a music geek.

During our trip, I also learned from Ariel what I had already heard about the whole music situation: It was immediately banned after her mother died. But Ariel didn’t know exactly why it was banned because, at the time, she was only six years old when her father banned it. She wanted answers just as much as I did.

Anyway, I woke up early the next morning to the sound of something echoing through the ocean, something that sounded like soft music playing. I didn’t want to wake up Genie or the imps, but I knew someone else would want to know about it. However, when I went to wake up Ariel, she had already left. And was making her way towards a trench. I swam up to her to join her.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“I don’t know.” she told me “But I’ve heard that melody before.”

We swam closer to the trench, and behind a wall of kelp, we found a beautiful wall of shining rock. Walls of sea glass, I think, as reflective as mirrors. And while I took the time to fix up my hair and clean some sand off my glasses, I noticed Ariel’s attention was focused on something else. I found that she was holding a small blue and gold music box in her hands, and was looking at it somberly.

“It’s beautiful.” I said as I swam up to her and listened to the song it was playing.

“It was my mom’s.” Ariel told me softly.

My eyes widened in hurt as Ariel slumped down against one of the sea glass rocks, cradling the music box as she sadly watched the small figures of a merman and a mermaid dance. But what caught my eye especially was that the tiny mermaid dancer looked a little bit like Ariel. And then it hit me, those two dancers were Ariel’s parents: Her father King Triton, and her mother Queen Athena. I now remembered everything I’ve seen so far: This was part of Ariel’s backstory, before she wanted to be human and before she met Eric. And now, thanks to everything I had both learned and remembered, the music box and the no music law in Atlantica had one thing in common: Athena loved music.

“It was an anniversary present.”

Ariel and I looked and saw that Sebastian had followed us, but he didn’t seem to look mad at us for swimming off without telling anyone. He looked almost sad as he saw the music box in Ariel’s hands.

Sebastian then climbed up onto a rock to reach up to Ariel. “Your father had the music box made for your mother.”

“He did?” she asked.

“Athena was more than his queen, you know.” Sebastian sadly nodded. “She was his best friend.”

“The family together, the music playing all the time.” Ariel started reminiscing about the past.

“The palace always echoing with laughter.” Sebastian added before he softly closed the music box. “When your mother died, the whole kingdom was heartbroken.”

“And that heart that never healed was her father’s.” I summed up the main point sadly. That’s why music was banned, Triton loved Athena so much, that music reminded him too much of both her and her death, and he couldn’t bear to hear it without thinking of her.

“It’s so sad.” Ariel said. “He’s forgotten what it feels like to be happy.”

“Grief can make people do terrible things,” I said. “But the worst things are done to somebody who’s heart is too broken to fully heal.”

Ariel looked back at the music box in her hands, I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was going to try to do something to help her father and her kingdom finally heal from her mother’s death.

“I have to bring this back to him.” Ariel finally said as she looked back at Sebastian. “That’s why we came here, isn’t it?”

Sebastian gave a nod. So, he purposefully led us all to this empty space in the middle of the ocean because he knew Ariel’s curiosity would lead her to find her mother’s music box? Well, I give it to the old crab for creativity and secrecy.

Ariel pulled herself up and looked at me with curiosity. “Why did you want to come here?”

“I wanted answers to try to help. But now, I know what has to be done.” I told her with a determined smile. “Let’s get music back into your kingdom and heal your father’s heart.”

Later

Our plan was easy: Go back to Atlantica, give King Triton the music box, and pray that it’ll help him heal over Athena’s loss and convince him to bring music back to the kingdom. While seven of us were all in for the plan, Sebastian’s band mates weren’t so convinced that it’ll work. The ray thought it would be better for him and the others to stay behind, doubting that Ariel’s plan would work. So, the seven of us reluctantly left the four of them behind.

As we were returning back to Atlantica, we traveled through a kelp bed we passed through the day before, but something felt different this time. The kelp seemed to have grown overnight and was thicker in some parts of the bed. I may not know much about kelp, or much about plant biology for that matter, but I’m 95% sure that kelp doesn’t grow overnight. Especially so thick.

“This place gives me the creeps.” Panic stated as we all traveled through the kelp bed.

“Panic, everything gives you the creeps.” I told him.

“I’m with him on this one, Frankie.” Genie said with a shudder. “This place screams terror.”

“What’s weird about this place is that it feels different.” Pain stated.

Sebastian nodded in agreement. “Yes, I don’t remember there being this much kelp when we came here last night.”

“Kelp, schmelp. I ain’t afraid of these overgrown weeds.” Flounder said as he started smacking away some of the kelp. The little fish went on for a while until he couldn’t break through one strong looking piece of kelp. I inspected the kelp closer to see that it was dull purple in color and had fins.

“That ain’t kelp!” Sebastian gulped.

He was right when that piece of kelp and five others swam down in front of the seven of us, showing exactly what they were. God’s ugliest creatures that tied with the frog family of creepiest animal ever created: Eels. But these weren’t regular eels, or like Ursula’s pet eels. These were electric eels, far more dangerous than morays, and just as deadly. Only question was, where did they come from?

“Surprise!”

We looked as we saw another mermaid show up. She looked about a year or two older than my mom, had purple hair tucked underneath a helmet, wore way too much makeup, was wearing a one-piece outfit that was camouflaged patterned -only it was purple to match her hair, and had a long sash with sharp knives hung off her shoulders. The only thing that put me off about her was the fact that she was petting the eels as if they were her pets.

“Marina?” Sebastian called out to the mermaid.

“Uh, who’s she?” I asked Ariel.

“The governess of Atlantica.” Ariel told me.

“Former governess,” Marina corrected her. “Now Chief of Staff at the palace of Atlantica.”

“And she does her job looking like that?” I heard Panic cynically point out.

Yeah, had to admit he had a point. This Marina lady did go a little overboard with the makeup, and her purple camouflage and knife sash wasn’t too great of a fashion statement. Wait. Camo, a sash of sharp knives, and ugly electric eels with mouths full of sharp fangs? That can't be good.

“What are you wearing?” Sebastian asked her the million sand-dollar question.

“I’d thought I’d dress for the occasion.” Marina said as she petted one of her eels.

“What’s the occasion?” he asked.

“Uh, camo pattern and blood-thirsty eels.” Genie pointed out my thoughts in a gulp. “I’d say, it’s a hunting occasion.”

“Oh, looks like you’ve found some new friends.” Marina said when she noticed Genie, the imps, and I. She tsked before smiling like a crazy lady. “Well, we can’t have them tattling either, now can we?”

Ariel started to swim back in fear with Flounder hiding behind her. And seeing as how the eels were slowly swimming towards us, they were right to be scared.

“Go! Go! Go!” Sebastian yelled at us.

He didn’t have to tell me twice, because the moment the seven of us made a run for it, the eels made chase. I looked back only once and came to a sudden realization: Marina was only expecting to hunt Sebastian and -quite possibly- Ariel. Which meant that if the others and I were running away with them, we’d only put them in more danger. And I was done having my friends get nearly killed because of me.

I whistled at Genie and the imps, signaling to come over to help me. Genie was the first to get the idea that we had to draw Marina and the eels away, it did take a minute for the imps to get it. Ariel frantically looked back to see the four of us facing the psycho.

“Keep going!” I told Ariel. “We’ll distract them!”

Ariel stood there worried about us. “But, Frankie-”

“Just go!” I stopped her. “Get the music box to your father!”

Ariel hesitated at first, but when she saw how sincere I was about protecting her and her friends, she nodded and swam after Sebastian and Flounder. Just in time too. Because the moment she and the others left, Marina had just shown up looking pissed with her eels by her side.

“You lay on hand on the princess and her friends, and I’ll make you wish you wore black for the occasion.” I threatened her.

“Kinda wordy there, Frankie Stein.” Genie told me.

“Give me some credit, I’m not used to making threats.” I said to him.

“And just what are you going to do about it?” Marina scoffed.

“Pain, Panic,” I turned to the imps. “Show ‘em what you’ve got.”

The imps nodded and turned themselves from a piranha and a swordfish into a pair of angry and protective tiger sharks. They bared their teeth at the eels as Marina stood there dumbfounded of what she had just seen.

“How in the-?” she stammered.

But before she could finish, Panic swam right towards her, forcing Marina to freak out and swim away. Pain chased the eels as Genie and I went to go after Marina. Genie did complement me for coming up with this plan on such short notice, but I didn’t really have the heart to tell him that I’m just planning as we were going along.

Panic led Marina right towards us, and with that, Genie worked his magic -pun intended- to stall her.

“Oh, honey, that color is so not you, maybe try something in pink!” Genie told her.

And with that, he snapped his fingers and gave Marina a pink facial. She was disgusted about the color clash and tried to wipe away the facial, but it didn’t work, and she started pulling it off her. It bought us some time, and as we swam away, Pain swam back to us after chasing away the eels looking a little fried after his encounter.

“You good, buddy?” Panic asked him.

“Get zapped by electric eels then ask me.” Pain snapped back before wincing at his injuries. “Now I know what it feels like to be used as Zeus’ target.”

“You’ll be okay though, right?” I asked.

“I should be in a while.” he assured me.

“C’mon, let’s go!” Genie broke off our little chat.

He was right, the others needed our help. So, we swam for a trench I saw Ariel and Flounder swim in with the eels in hot pursuit of them, knowing that we needed to help them. The imps went after the eels again, after trying to convince Pain to round up the eels again, so Genie and I could help Sebastian get rid of the eels after we saw him trying to push a rock onto them.

“Need some help?” Genie asked the crab as the three of us pushed the rock together. And once I shouted at the imps to get out of the way, the three of us knocked the rock off and watched it fall near the eels and scaring them off.

“Thank you.” Sebastian told us. Just then, he screamed as Marina snatched him up. But she realized the mistake she made the moment Sebastian used a claw and pinched her nose.

“Ow!” Marina growled as she threw Sebastian to the side. “That hurt!”

But before she could throw one of her knives at Sebastian, I pushed her away, and the knife dropped from her hand. Marina then grabbed another knife and was ready to throw it right at me. Determined to kill me so she could kill Sebastian.

“Hey, Marina!” Pain called out, shapeshifting himself to look like me. “Over here!”

Marina, confused, looked at my duplicate and back at me before throwing the knife at Pain, in which he thankfully avoided.

“No, I’m over here!” Panic said as he shapeshifted into me as well. Marina threw another knife at him, only to have him dodge the knife too.

“Wow, you’re really bad at your aim, aren’t you?” Genie asked her as he, too, shapeshifted into me.

I then pieced it together that my companions were purposefully shapeshifted into me to protect me so I could save Sebastian. Okay, travelling with three shapeshifters was the best thing that ever happened on this trip. As Genie and the imps kept taunting and distracting Marina, she then finally noticed me swimming away from her. I winked at the guys to signal them to go help the others, and the moment the three of them turned back into their underwater disguises and left, Marina readied herself to take the next shot.

“What? Can’t keep track of your target?” I asked her. Marina then threw her last knife at me, but I dodged it before it cut the skin. I then swam over to Sebastian and grabbed him. Determined to get him far away from Marina as I possibly could.

“Who exactly are you and your friends?” the crab asked me.

“Just some you ain’t ever had before.” I told him as I swam for some tall rocks just above the trench but was stopped not even halfway by a really pissed off Marina. And she had her sights dead on crushing Sebastian, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I tasted power, Sebastian,” Marina said as she circled us like a shark. “And I’m never letting go.”

“All this for a gig as Chief of Staff?” I asked her. “Seems kinda ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you had to be governess for seven bratty princesses for over ten years!” she growled at me. “Oh, when I’m through with him and that princess, I’m going after you!”

Sebastian then crawled up on top of my head and readied his claws for a fight. “Bring it on!”

Marina charged at us, but when Sebastian jumped off my head, I ducked down and used my tail to kick her in the gut. Marina clutched her stomach right as Sebastian started throwing starfish at her, getting her completely covered in them. But much like Genie’s facial glue from earlier, Marina started to pull the starfish off of her and stared daggers at me when she got the last one off her. I stood my ground -so to speak- to show her that I wasn’t going to back down from the fight. But, just then, I had an idea in mind as I looked at what was around me on the ocean floor just as Marina made a beeline right towards me.

“Pocket sand!” I called out as I blew a fistful of sand right into Marina’s eyes.

The mermaid screamed as she rubbed her eyes, miraculously not smearing any of her makeup, and Sebastian and I decided to make a break for it towards some large dead tube coral, just big enough to trap an enraged mermaid. And just when Marina was done getting the sand out from her eyes, I whistled towards her to get her attention.

“Come on, try and get us!” Sebastian taunted her.

Marina swam right for us, but it was just like we planned it. Because the moment she chased Sebastian into one of those tube corals, I pulled him out of the way and Marina got stuck in the tube coral.

“Haha!” I laughed. “Look, a Marina-Roll!”

Sebastian gave a chuckle as the tube coral broke off. “Tight fit?”

“You stink.” Marina told the crab as she started floating away.

As she floated away from us, Sebastian then turned to me. “Come, we have to find the others.”

But just before we could find them, somebody screamed in horror and headed our way.

“Flounder!” Sebastian cried out as the little fish was frantically swimming away from one of Marina’s eels.

“Sebastian! Frankie! Help!” Flounder screamed as the eel snapped his jaws at him.

We chased after the eel to try to get it away from Flounder, but before Sebastian and I could reach him, Genie and the imps rammed themselves into the eel. Knocking it away from Flounder and saving him.

“Nice shot, guys!” I smiled at them.

But before the three of them could thank me, the eel shook its head in dizziness and glared at the six of us as it bared it’s sharp teeth. Yeah, did I mention I hate eels and how creepy are? I’m pretty sure I may have said it.

“Okay, never mind. That didn’t work!” Pain yelled frantically as we all started swimming away from the eel again. I turned back to see Sebastian grab the eel’s tail with one of his claws to try to slow it down.

We swam back towards the trench, where we saw Ariel and Sebastian’s band mates -who probably changed their minds to come help us- cornered by the rest of Marina’s eels. And when we swam towards them, Flounder got an idea after Ariel suggested he do a maneuver called the corkscrew, and the little fish lured the eel to tangle it and it’s fellow eels into one big, knotted mess. Saving everyone from being eaten by the eels.

I don’t know if it was because of the adrenaline of the situation or because we managed to survive through that mess, but Panic started to laugh. Which was followed by pretty much everyone else, myself included.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked through my laughter.

“Super-duper, Frankie.” Ariel giggled.

Flounder nodded as he continued to laugh. “Let’s do that again.”

“C’mon, let’s go.” Panic stifled a laugh as he gestured towards the top of the trench.

Everyone then started to exit the trench so we could get back to our original plan. Just then, Ariel and I heard something rumbling down towards us. We looked behind us and saw Marina -still stuck in the stube coral- rolling down a hill and headed straight towards Sebastian. Determined to crush him.

“Sebastian! Look out!” Ariel yelled as she went to save Sebastian.

“Ariel, no!” I gasped, not wanting another friend to get hurt or worse -killed- on my watch. And without thinking, I swam quickly towards Ariel just as she pushed Sebastian out of the way. I hit my head on the tube coral to protect Ariel from getting hit by Marina, and the two of us fell down to the ocean floor.

I grunted as I pulled myself up. My glasses had fallen off again, but that wasn’t what I was worried about. While I had a now massive headache from taking the blow from that Marina-roll, I squinted over to where Ariel was lying next to me, and she wasn’t moving. I quickly put my glasses back on and saw that while I managed to take most of the blow, Ariel hit her head when we crash landed and was now unconscious.

“Ariel!” I cried out as I held her close. “Ariel, wake up. Please, wake up!”

But she didn’t respond, and I felt tears sting my eyes. It happened again: another friend of mine got hurt because of me. I gently laid Ariel back down to the ocean floor, and just sat there sobbing at what I had done. Was this punishment for everything I did before I got to Disney? Punishment for me being selfish and wanting to be someone better? All I wanted was to go on a stupid adventure and make sure nobody got hurt! Well, I hope whoever was watching me was happy, because I couldn’t imagine what would happen next if Ariel never woke up.

I wiped away my tears, but the moment I looked up, I sat there in fear. King Triton, as well as the others, had found Ariel and I down on the seafloor. The king swam down, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Ariel lying on the seafloor unconscious.

“I-I'm so sorry.” I apologized as tears kept streaming down my face. “I tried to protect her, but-”

“What have I done?”

I gave a small gasp about what I had just heard. He wasn’t mad at me? I thought he’d be furious about what happened, but he blamed himself for the accident. I assumed that he probably got into a fight with Ariel the day she ran away, and now blamed himself for what had happened because he never got to apologize for what he had said. I couldn’t blame him, even if some of the fault was also mine. After all, he was just a single father trying to protect his daughter in fear of losing her like how he lost Athena.

As Triton lifted his youngest daughter in his arms, the music box fell out of Ariel’s hands and started playing it’s melody. I saw something in the king’s eyes, a memory of the past or Athena perhaps? I don’t know what it was, but he gently sang along with the music as he held Ariel close to him.

“Daddy?”

Triton and I looked up, to see that Ariel had finally woken up. She looked up at her father with confusion, but I could see a hint of elation in her eyes.

King Triton gave a sigh of relief before he started apologizing to her. “I- I’m so sorry I didn’t listen-”

Ariel stopped him with a hug, forgiving him about banning music for all those years now that she understood why he did it.

As I watched the father and daughter have their sweet moment, I found myself being caught up in a tight hug as well. Genie and the imps gave me a hug in relief that I was okay. I was especially surprised to see the imps give me relieved looks despite hating me just the day before. I knew that those two were secretly big softies underneath all that evil henchmen shtick. I felt nice being in the embrace of my new friends, just as much as Ariel felt happy knowing that she helped heal her father’s broken heart.

“You.” King Triton then addressed me. “You saved my daughter.”

“Of course I did.” I told him as I gave a smile at Ariel. “She’s my friend.”

“You and your friends risked your lives to save my daughter and my second-in-command, and for that I am truly grateful.” King Triton told me with a thankful smile. “Whatever you want, you shall have it. A reward for your act of bravery.”

“Well, there is something thing we need.” I finally said.

Chapter Text

Well, after what all had happened, and after Marina was sent to prison for her attempt to feed everyone to her eels, we got back to Atlantica. And King Triton decreed that music would once again ring through the kingdom, for his daughters and for himself, and made Sebastian the official Court Composer. Everyone rejoiced and a huge celebration happened. Even Sebastian's bandmates got to play their music -which I definitely enjoyed, same with Genie and the imps. And as for my request, well, here's how it went for us all:

It had to have been an hour or so after the celebration, and King Triton had Genie, the imps, and I go with him into his study. Where we saw that all that navigating stuff Phil had told me about the day before, was in fact right here in Atlantica. And the thing about the Borders was a good call to make because it turns out that King Triton did know what Borders were and were we could find one that would take long to find.

"The Border of our world lies an hour or so north from the kingdom." Triton explained as he showed us the location on a map. "Only those who are not of this world can enter and exit through it."

"And this will get me home?" I recapped as I examined the map.

"It should, but I must warn you," the king went on. "The Border lies directly next to Ursula's lair."

"Who's Ursula?" Pain asked.

"A sea witch, one of the most powerful users of dark magic there ever was." I explained to him.

"And my older half-sister." Triton interjected. "Her lust for dark magic corrupted her and turned her into the monster she is today."

"Eesh, must be bad for family gatherings." Genie winced at that sudden news.

"Don't worry," I assured Triton as I took the map to use later. "We can handle Ursula should she start trouble."

"I wish you all the best of luck on your journey," King Triton told us. "And that Francesca returns to her family safely."

"Thank you, your majesty." I bowed.

Five Minutes Later

"I'm gonna miss you guys!" Ariel told me as she gave me a goodbye hug.

"I'll miss you too." I told her as we broke off the hug.

"And thank you again, for saving my life." she told me.

I nodded at her. "You're welcome."

"Frankie, let's go!" Panic called out to me.

"Coming!" I called back to him before turning back to Ariel and her friends. "I have to go."

"Goodbye, Frankie!" Ariel waved at me.

"Goodbye!" I waved back as I went to join the others.

Suddenly, just as I caught up with the guys, the entire kingdom cheered and applauded for us. Wishing us good luck on our journey and for thanking us for what we did to help them. It honestly felt good being claimed as a bit of a hero. I guess the more deeds I do on this adventure, the more likely I become the person I wanted to be. And maybe then, just maybe, I could be the girl my parents, mainly my mother, would be proud of.

As we swam off to find the Border, I saw a small smile creep onto Pain's face after we were cheered on by Atlantica. "So, that's what it feels like to be treated as a hero, huh?" he thought out loud.

"It's kinda fun." Panic stated. "Weird, but fun."

"Hey, we keep doing this, maybe you two could end up becoming good." Genie suggested.

"Doubt that." Panic gave a slight scoff. "But I guess it's okay to think that."

As much as I wanted to state my opinion and agree with Genie, we didn't have time to talk about all this. The more time we spend in Disney, the more time that passes. And that wasn't going to happen. So, as of right then and there, we couldn't afford anymore distractions.

"C'mon, boys," I broke off the conversation. "We've got a Border to get to."

The guys nodded at me, and we were finally on our way. If only I had listened to my own advice while we were on our mission to find that Border.

Later

"This is it?" Pain asked me.

Just like King Triton had told us earlier, we swam for about an hour up north to find the Border. And once we did, we found ourselves right in front of the large sea dragon skeleton that served as the lair of Ursula the Sea Witch. It was just as creepy and -well, purple- as I remembered it to be.

"Triton did say that the Border was next to Ursula's lair," I finally spoke up. "And that is her lair."

"Creepy." Panic shuddered.

"Yeah, I know." I agreed with him on that.

Genie summoned up a telescope and searched the area for any sign of Ursula. "It doesn't look like anybody's home." he said as he magicked away the telescope.

"I wouldn't bet on those odds." I told him as I examined the area. "It's way too quiet out here."

When I saw that we were really in the clear, I swam forward towards the Border with the guys close behind me. I kept my guard up, knowing that this was all feeling too easy for us. And just as we saw the Border, an invisible wall in the ocean that you could barely make out the world hiding away behind it, a world that thankfully was on land rather than sea -okay, so I missed my legs.

"Well, well…" a dry voice spoke up in a slow chuckle.

"What have we here?" a second voice finished for the first.

I turned around and gave a loud gasp at the sight of two dull blue moray eels with matching yellow and blind eyes: Flotsam and Jetsam. Yeah, I guess since we were so worried about Ursula finding us, none of us bothered to look out for guards, or in this case Ursula's pets. Genie put an arm in front of me to protect me while Pain and Panic tried their best to look intimidating, but neither one of the eels were frightened in the slightest.

"Eels." I shuddered in disgust as I remembered our encounter with Marina's electric eels that morning. "Why did it have to be eels?"

Genie was the first to speak. "Look, fellas, we don't want any trouble-"

"Trouble?" one of the eels, Flotsam I think, gave a sly smirk. "No, no..."

"No trouble yet." the other one, Jetsam, finished for his twin.

I swallowed my fear and decided to do the talking. "Just let us pass through, and we'll be out of your fins."

"I don't think you four will be leaving quite so soon." a menacing voice purred.

The eels looked behind them before bowing at someone and swimming to the side. Making room for their cecaelia mistress Ursula, who looked interested in the little group her pets had caught for her. Just as I had feared: We now had to dodge another villain. That's two in one day and in the same world. I'd say it's a new record for me, but this is only the third place I've been to so far.

"Two mer-people, a piranha, and a swordfish?" Ursula question as she pointed a tentacle at us. "My, aren't you four the odd batch?"

"That's Ursula?" Genie whispered to me.

"Yep." I said. I then swam forward to show that I was the so-called leader of the group. "Look, we were just passing through. We didn't mean to trespass."

"Oh, and for that I could forgive," she told me before she lifted my chin up with her finger. "But, I can tell that you, angelfish, want something else."

Okay, was the fact that I was trying to get back home that noticeable for these types of villains? Because up to this point, this was starting to get annoying. Especially since I could tell that Ursula was planning on making a deal with me right then and there.

"Frankie," I heard Pain warn me in a whisper. "Don't do it."

"I won't." I whispered back to him as best as I could.

"You're not from these waters, none of you are," Ursula told all of us as if she saw through our disguises. "So, the answer to my question is simple: You all want to find a way back to where you came from."

"O-only Frankie, ma'am!" Panic blurted out nervously as he pointed a fin at me. "We're all set!"

"Panic!" I yelled at him offendedly. After all we've been through together, he'd sell me out just like that? He's lucky that we were in a bad situation, otherwise that deal I made with him and Pain would be off right then and there.

"Well, perhaps I could of some assistance?" Ursula offered.

I tried to speak. "Th-that's very kind of you, but-"

"I insist." she stopped me as she wrapped an arm around my arm before turning her attention to the eels. "Boys, keep the others occupied."

The eels nodded and Ursula took me to her lair. And if you thought it was creepy on the outside, well, you can double it when you go inside. While pink seaweed hung up to make it look somewhat comforting, it didn't help that inside Ursula's lair, there were thousands of polyps were screeching and trying to cling onto me. I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I eyed the garden of polyps, which friendly reminder, used to be innocent mer-folk who couldn't pay up for an offer from Ursula. Her collection of poor unfortunate trophies, and there was nothing I could do to help them.

However, on a somewhat lighter note, I then noticed a picture hanging up on the wall. It looked like a teenaged Ursula -who was holding her iconic shell necklace in excitement- with her unhappy-looking sister Morgana. Seeing her sister look so jealous in the picture almost reminded me of myself. Much like my brother, Ursula was her mother's favorite, and just like me, Morgana was always criticized or compared to her sibling.

"My sister and I had to have been about your age when that picture was taken."

I gave a small jump when I saw that Ursula noticed me looking at the picture. She was sitting by a mirror and fixing up her hair to make herself look more presentable, but still saw what I was doing through the reflection. I was a little curious about why she had the picture if her and her sister never seemed to get along. A sign of gloating maybe? But that wasn't what my main focus of Ursula's statement was.

"This was taken when you were my age?" I asked her.

"Of course," she said with a proud smile on her face. "A sea witch, such as myself, gets her powers when she turns sixteen. It was truly an exciting occasion."

I looked back at the picture and pointed out Morgana. "What about your sister?"

"She was a late bloomer, which was a pity really." she said as she finished up with her hair and changed the subject. "So, tell me, where do you come from?"

"A land very, very far away from here." I told her as I kept myself from her.

"And you're travelling all over the waters just to get back?" Ursula recapped what my plan was.

"It seems more practical that way." I said.

Ursula's smile started to fade when she noticed what I was still holding in my hand. "That map in your hand, it's from him, innit?"

I looked down at the map in my hands, and just the venom in her voice when she referred to King Triton just spelt trouble for me. Especially since that most likely after she got power hungry, Triton was the one who banished her and her sister from Atlantica. So, yeah, she was definitely salty -no pun intended- when she knew that I sought out Triton for help in getting me home.

"The king let my friends and I borrow it to, um," I swallowed to find the explanation. "Get around your lair so we wouldn't bother you."

"And fat lotta good that gotcha through, my little mermaid." she snapped at me before regaining her -somewhat- sweeter composure. "Fortunately for you, I'm in a good mood today, so I want to help you and your friends."

Yep. I knew just where this conversation was going.

"Here's what I'm going to offer you: I'll give you a potion that will transport you back to your home, and you can take your friends along with you." Ursula gave me her offer, but I could tell that there was more to it than just that.

"What's the catch?" I asked her as I folded my arms.

Ursula arched a brow, but her smile stayed on her face like she was playing coy. "Catch? My dear, sweet child, whatever do you mean?"

"Lady, I've been sweet-talked into deals for the past two days." I told her as my tone grew more annoyed at the conversation. "One of them told me what he wanted right off the bat and the other didn't even say what he wanted until I found out he lied about helping me."

I knew how Ursula worked. She was just like Jafar and Hades, and I wasn't falling for any more deals. But that didn't mean that I didn't want to her what her offer was and how I was going to reject it because I literally had nothing to lose. The spell was destroyed, and the only person who can help me get home is some king from another world, there was nothing Ursula could use against me.

"So," I repeated myself. "What's in it for you?"

"These two offers you've encountered were either smart or foolish to lie to you." Ursula told me. "But since you've asked…"

She went over to her spiked cauldron and started summoning forth images of Atlantica and silhouettes of mermaids and mermen. One of the latter looked just like King Triton, trident in hand and everything.

"Triton has left his kingdom highly guarded ever since his beloved Athena was killed by humans. And now word's gotten out that he's back to keeping things easy to infiltrate." she went on to explain her diabolical catch for the deal she offered me. "Tell me the least guarded ways to enter the kingdom so I could take over, and we've got-"

"No."

Ursula turned my way and the surprised look on her face said it all. "What did you say?"

"I said "no"." I told her as my brows furrowed at her while I slowly started to swim backwards towards the exit. "I don't want the easy way back home, I don't want any more deals, and I'm not gonna help you take over Atlantica just to get back home!"

Well, I finally did it. I took some of my own advice and actually stood by it. I was done with deals, done with easy ways out, done with anything a villain had to offer me. My only problem with that was that it took me so long to grow a spine and decline an offer. And this off came from one clearly furious cecaelia. Is this turning into, maybe, a near death experience? Possibly. Does this add to the adventure? Absolutely.

"Like I said before: My friends and I don't want any trouble, we just want to pass through." I said what I thought was the final word. But before I swam out of the lair, Ursula grabbed my wrist.

"Well, you and your friends aren't leaving my domain alive." she growled as her grip grew tighter. "Nobody rejects an offer from Ursula!"

"I believe I just did!" I yelled as I pulled my arm free from her and pushed her away. Knowing that that was a stupid thing to do, I swam as fast as my fins could go out to the exit and right to where Genie and the imps were, with an angry Ursula in hot pursuit.

"Guys, get to the Border!" I shouted at Genie and the imps.

Once they saw me swimming my tail off, they got wind of the fact that we were leaving the world right then and there and started swimming for the Border, much to the bewilderment and confusion of Flotsam and Jetsam, who were then ordered by their mistress to chase after us to prevent us from escaping.

"What happened?" Panic asked me.

"I pissed her off!" I gave him the abridged version of what happened as I kept swimming.

Genie looked back to see how far Ursula was from us but given to the fact that his eyes literally popped out of his skull for a moment, I could tell that she was pretty darn close to us. She had the advantage though, what with the octopus tentacles and all.

"Hold this." Genie said as he handed me his lamp, which I had no idea he even had on him. Genie then went into the lamp to make it easier for us not to get captured as we swam closer and closer to the Border.

Pain, who saw the whole thing, just looked very confused. "Why couldn't he do that this whole time?"

"Just keep swimming for the Border, Pain!" Panic shouted as he swam right through the border, turning back to his normal self once he got to the other side.

As soon as Panic was out of this world, Pain joined him. Leaving me and Genie the only ones left. I felt my heart beating so fast I could hear it in my head as I swam closer to the Border. I almost felt like I wasn't going to make it as Ursula was inches away from grabbing my fins, but I then closed my eyes, flipped my fins as hard as I could as I swam straight for the border and clutched Genie's lamp close to my chest…

I landed on the soft grass with a hard THUD, Genie's lamp rolled onto the ground unharmed, and the oxygen sort of hurt as I breathed it into my lungs. It worked! It actually worked! We all made it through the Border and were in another world, and one where I was finally human again and wearing clothes right out of a late 80's sitcom and the imps actually being imps again. But before celebrations and continuing on with our journey was to happen, a loud banging sound was heard.

While the imps, Genie, and I made it through to the other world, Ursula was still stuck in her own and was slamming her fist onto the Border. I stood there dumbfounded as I remembered King Triton's words from earlier: Only those who are not of this world can enter and exit through it. This must've been what he meant. Even if she wanted to, there was no way for Ursula to exit her world through the Border. Which was good for us, because if she found a portal, we'd be in bigger trouble.

"You think you've won?" Ursula cackled through her side of the Border. "You've just made an enemy for life!"

"Take a number, sister, I've got a list of enemies." I breathed as I stood up -feeling like I had the worst leg cramps when I did but toughed it out.

And with that, the imps and I turned around and walked away to find the next Border or portal. Here's hoping this next world the guys and I were in was one with no deal-making, sleazy, megalomaniacs in them because I was starting to get tired from all those encounters. Little did I suspect that this next world was nothing like any one of us would ever imagine.

Chapter Text

Well, if almost being murdered by a psycho sorcerer, outsmarting a Greek god, and escaping a sea witch had done anything for me, it was to remind me that my journey wasn’t getting much easier. Lucky for us, things were about to get a little less chaotic for a while. Because, after escaping Ursula and finding the border King Triton had told us about, Genie, the imps, and I ended up in another part of Disney, but one I didn’t really recognize. This part was surrounded by a forest of -I think- redwoods and open valleys, so somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. I managed to find a road and started to follow it, hoping to find someone to help. Unfortunately, it was almost nightfall, signaling my fourth night in Disney was coming and I was running out of time.

We had spent nearly four hours walking down this road. Well, the imps and I had. Genie had spent his time hiding away in his lamp, which I didn’t know he still had until we escaped from Ursula. But he said that since he was free, he just uses it for a traveling travel-sized home kind of like a mini camper. And while he did offer to just teleport us to the next border, I had to decline the offer. I didn’t want to abuse his power, especially if he was now a free genie.

“Stuck in the middle of nowhere, and not even close to finding the king or the next Border.” Pain complained as we walked down the road.

“Hey, look on the positive side,” Panic tried to encourage him. “At least things can’t get any-”

And with that last statement, and with either comedic timing or plain bad luck, it started pouring down rain. Soaking us all to the bone more than we were back in the waters of Atlantica.

“Were you gonna say worse?” I asked him in an irritated way.

Panic’s eyes darted back and forth before he answered me. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“…Yes.”

“Hey, maybe we talk less and find some shelter?” Pain asked us as he tried to protect his hair from the rain.

We nodded at his statement and the three of us started running down the road. I hoped to find a pair of headlights up ahead to see us, pull over, and take us to wherever this king was or at least someplace dry. Well, we may not have found a car, but luck was on our side when I spotted an abandoned summer cottage on a hill. Maybe there was someone there who could help us, or at the very least let us stay the night until this crazy rain stopped falling. 

I quickly turned towards the direction of the cottage with the imps close behind me and kept my hopes up when we managed to get some brief shelter on the covered front porch of the cottage. The imps shook themselves off like dogs to dry off while I dried off Genie’s lamp using my sleeveless jacket I was now wearing. I placed the lamp in the pocket of the jacket to knock on the door, but when I did, the door slowly opened. Where we saw that there was nobody inside who answered it.

“That’s not creepy or anything.” I pointed out as I wrung my hair out to not have it be so drippy.

Pain looked in for a moment before getting a smile on his face. “Let’s go in.”

I grabbed his hand and pulled him back. “We are not breaking into someone’s house.”

“But there’s nobody here.” Panic stated. “We’re not gonna get in trouble.”

“Yeah, if you wanna stay out here, you can.” Pain told me. “But Panic and I plan on going in to stay for the night.”

I looked at the cottage and then back out in the pouring rain. Again, I was trying to be less of a criminal and not break into people’s houses or do any other sort of criminal stuff during this journey -I excuse vandalism, but draw the line at breaking an entry, and as much as I hated to admit it, Pain was right. There was nobody for miles, and if this cottage was the only sign of shelter we had, we really had no choice but to bunker here for the night.

“Okay, fine.” I gave in before setting some ground rules for the imps. “But if I catch either of you stealing from this place-”

“We know: You’ll leave us, and we can forget about having a safe place to lay low if or when Hades gets free.” Pain sassily recapped for me about our earlier agreement.

When we walked inside, we found a cozy little setting inside the cottage. There was hardly a speck of dust on the floor or carpet and there wasn’t a single cobweb in sight, even the walls looked like they had been recently cleaned off -although whoever cleaned them was obviously not a tall person for there were a few wavy spots where whoever cleaned the walls could reach. For looking abandoned, the place sure looked nice and tidy, as if someone had cleaned it recently. 

I took off my shoes so I wouldn’t track mud into the house, shut the door behind me, and the imps and I started to look around. It was kind of cute seeing the imps so curious about something not from the Ancient Greek era, even if the era we went to was the era of crazy hairstyles and wacky yet iconic movies. What especially caught our attention, specifically mine, was the odd assortment of appliances that were left in the house.

On a side table next to a cozy looking couch was a bronzy-orange gooseneck desk lamp that looked like it was made in the mid to late 70s, next to it was a red alarm radio that looked like a Bakelite model from the 40s, and resting on one of the couch arms was a small yellow electric blanket. If my dad were here, man, he’d have a field day talking about these little guys. They looked just like the ones he had in his shop.

“What’s this thing?” Panic asked as he picked up the radio curiously.

“A radio. Here, I’ll show you how it works.” I told him as I took the radio to demonstrate it.

Thankfully it was one that had backup batteries despite running on a simple radio tube, which was interesting despite it being an older model. I hit the button on top of it, and the radio started playing the song Great Balls of Fire. Which scared the imps so much they hid behind the couch, while I started laughing at their reaction. They both peered their heads from behind the couch as I started swaying to the music with the radio as my dance partner.

“It’s alive!” Panic shouted over the music as he pointed at the radio in my hands.

“And it’s noisy!” Pain added as he slammed his hands over where his nonexistent ears were. Blocking out a clearly good bop.

“It’s not alive.” I assured them with a small laugh. “It’s just a recording of music.”

“We may not know what a recording is,” Panic said as he started pointed at the radio. “But we know what music is, and that -that is not music!”

“Hey, Golden Oldies are a classic genre of music.” I told the little critics as I shut off the radio. “Don’t be a couple of Jay Shermans.”

“Who’s-”

“Not important.” I stopped him as I put the radio back in its spot.

I turned my attention to the desk lamp next, and I noticed something very interesting. It was still plugged in. I assumed that the lights were off due to the storm, but when I saw that one of the main light fixtures had some busted up light bulbs, I knew that that was the main reason. Not the storm. I decided to test my theory by turning on the lamp see if this place still had power. And when I turned the little switch on the top of the lamp’s shade, the light bulb had lit up.

“Well, you seem to work just fine.” I muttered to the lamp before switching it back off and placing Genie’s lamp right next to it. If the power still worked and if the cottage was clean on the inside, maybe just maybe there was someone living here after all. 

“Is anyone here?” I called out, hoping for an answer.

“They must’ve gotten lost in the woods.” I heard a voice whisper.

“Keep quiet. Maybe they’ll go away.” a deeper voice whispered to the first.

I rolled my eyes, knowing that it was just the imps playing a prank on me just to creep me out. “Boys, cut that out. It’s not funny.” I told them.

“We didn’t say anything.” Pain said in a confused way. My eyes widened the moment he said that. Okay, now things have gotten a lot creepier.

“Hey, check this out.” Panic said as he found a picture on another side table -one next to where the electric blanket was. “Someone does live here.”

He showed me the picture of the last person who must’ve lived in the house: An eight or nine-year-old redheaded boy with large glasses. I took the picture and inspected it for a date; 1977. Around the same time when the lamp might’ve been first built. But that wasn’t what I found weird. What was weird was that the little boy in the picture looked oddly familiar. Come to think of it, there was something oddly familiar about the whole cottage and the appliances downstairs, especially that little radio. I just knew I’ve seen that particular red radio somewhere before, but I couldn’t remember when or where.

“I think I’ve seen this place before.” I said as I put the photo back on the side table and looked around the cottage once again.

“Friend of yours’ house?” Pain asked me.

“No. We’re in another world of Disney.” I shook my head as I tried to remember where I'd seen this cottage. “But I can’t remember where.”

Just then, the three of us heard tapping noises followed by something hopping. I squinted into the darkness. The moment I did, a lightning flash from outside showed me that the desk lamp, radio, and blanket were all missing from their spots. Something or someone had moved them, and they were still in this cottage.

“What’s going on?” Pain asked nervously.

“I don’t know.” I said as I grabbed Genie’s lamp and held it close to me. Something, or someone, was in here, and we were going to find out what. I looked around the room, knowing that whoever was hiding wasn’t going to show their face if the imps and I were still here. And that’s when I got an idea.

“It’s a ghost! It’s a ghost!” Panic hyperventilated at the idea of this place being haunted.

“Shut up. It’s not a ghost.” I told him as I sat down quietly behind the couch. As much as I agreed with him that this place could be haunted, this was not the time to throw out irrational ideas.

“If it’s not a ghost, then what is it?” Pain asked, equally as skittish as Panic at the moment.

“We’re about to find out.” I whispered to them quietly as I told them my plan. “Walk to the door, and when you shut it, come back as quietly as you can.”

The imps looked at each other for a moment before going along with my idea. They fused themselves together as they shapeshifted into me to give the imagery that I was leaving the cottage. And once they reached the door, they pulled it shut, quickly shapeshifted back to their normal selves, and flew back to our hiding place. This plan to trick the cottage’s inhabitants was definitely going to work.

“They’re gone.” a voice stated. And just like that, sighs and groans of relief were heard from the living room. Someone was here, and they still were.

“I’m glad we don’t have to do that sort of thing every night.” a softer male voice sighed in relief as hopping sounds were heard on the floor before jumping onto something.

“I still think we should’ve let them stay, Kirby.” a feminine voice addressed someone. “That girl seemed nice enough.”

“And I thought she was pretty, and her friends were kinda cute.” a second voice agreed, this one sounding like a little boy speaking.

“Keep your voice down, you little rag. We don’t know if they all left yet.” a third voice -the deeper male voice- snapped, I’m assuming it belonged to the one named Kirby. “And besides, you all know that we’re not supposed to talk or reveal ourselves to a human.” 

They couldn’t reveal themselves to a human? What was he talking about? Who were these guys?

“A little too late for that, dontcha think?” a fourth voice pointed out, his voice reminding me of one of those old-timey radio hosts from the 30s and 40s. “That skinny blue fella was already too spooked by just hearing us.”

Panic gave an offended look. “I’m teal, ya ghosts!”

Pain and I face-palmed the moment Panic realized his mistake. That’s twice he blew our cover when we were supposed to be laying low.

“They’re still here!” one of the voices gasped. I heard the sounds of something rolling and tapping across the floor, signaling that these inhabitants were leaving or scattering about.

“Wait!” I tried to stop whoever they all were from hiding away again as I scrambled out of my hiding spot. “We’re not gonna hurt you!”

Pain then gave a small scream as he clutched onto my leg for protection. “F-Frankie, something moved!”

“Where?” 

“Right there!” he pointed at the recliner just across from the couch.

Panic, too, hid himself behind me in fear of who was in the house with us. “Are they really ghosts?”

“Stop it with the ghost thing!” I told him. You’d think someone who actually worked and handled ghosts wouldn’t be so spooked out by them, but I guess since he and Pain were no longer in the Underworld, ghosts and souls were a lot more different at handling now.

I looked over to where Pain was pointing at and did see something dive behind the chair. I put Genie’s lamp back on the side table and went over to inspect whatever was hiding behind the chair. Unfortunately, whatever was hiding wasn’t doing a very good job at it. So, when I expected to see someone hiding, I got a large surprise when I saw that the desk lamp peeked out from the side and lowered itself as it looked up at me with its frightened yellow eyes. Yeah, you heard me. The lamp had a face.

“Wow…” I stood there bewildered, but amazed.

This cottage wasn’t haunted by ghosts, it was just home to a couple of sentient appliances. Although, to tell you the truth, sentient appliances were probably not even remotely close to the strangest things I’ve seen while in Disney.

“C’mon. Come on out. We’re not gonna hurt you.” I did my best to try to calm the lamp to convince it that the imps and I meant no harm.

The lamp looked at me unsurely and tilted its shade as if he saw something about me. I don’t know what it saw that changed its mind, but the lamp gave me a little smile and started hopping out of its hiding place.

“What are you doing?” that little boy's voice asked the lamp. I looked around for that kid, but still couldn’t see anyone else in the cottage aside from the imps, the lamp, and I. And Genie’s lamp was still sitting on the side table unmoved and untouched.

“Well, you were right.” the lamp said in that softer male voice as he turned his shade to talk to somebody behind him. “She is nice.”

And after he said that, the little red radio scurried up next to the lamp, followed by the electric blanket -its face being a small dial, an old vacuum cleaner -either a Hoover model or a Kirby one, I couldn’t tell which, and an old Sunbeam modeled toaster. Meanwhile, the imps peeked out from behind me to see who these “ghosts” actually were, and once they saw the appliances, confused looks were given all around.

“Uh, this is weird.” Pain broke the confused silence.

“This is incredible!” I stated.

I was grinning like a big idiot at this amazing and crazy discovery. I went to try to inspect the appliances closer, but I was stopped when the radio jumped in front of me. Whipping out its antennae at me as if it were one of those -well- whips you’d use for horses in a threatening manner. 

“Hold it right there, Miss Bluebelle!” he said to me as he pointed his antenna at my glasses, making me realize that the radio host's voice from before obviously belonged to him. “How exactly are we supposed to know that you won’t sell us to the highest bidder after finding out about our little secret?” 

Well, that probably explains why they were so reluctant to show themselves when the imps and I first walked into the cottage. My guess that these little guys followed the old Toy Story rule: Never letting a human know that they’re really alive.

“Nobody is selling anybody, that I can-” I stopped myself from speaking when I felt a sneeze coming. I turned away briefly as I let myself sneeze. After that, I gave a small sniff and turned back to the little appliances. 

“God bless you.” the blanket said in that child-like voice from earlier. 

“Thanks.” I said weakly. 

“Oh, you’re soaked to the bone, miss.” the toaster pointed out that feminine voice as she gently placed one of her levers on my hand. “And your skin is like ice.”

Pain decided to check for himself, and saw that the toaster was right the moment he touched my hand too. “She’s right. You’re colder than the stiffs back home.”

“All that from the rain outside?” Panic questioned out loud.

“It’s fine.” I assured them weakly. 

“But you could get sick.” the blanket said worriedly. He then scooted out from behind the toaster and wrapped himself around me. I had to admit, feeling the warmth from the blanket did make me feel a bit better.

“Thank you.” I gave a relieved sigh as I got up and sat down on the couch with the imps and the other appliances following me.

“We’re sorry if we scared you and your friends, miss.” the toaster apologized.

“Hey, at least you’re not actually ghosts.” Pain told her. 

“Besides, we’ve been through a lot in the last couple of days.” I added as I held the blanket close to me

Panic eyed the appliances in confusion. “How are you… things alive, anyway?”

“The same as you, I guess.” the toaster said with an unsure shrug. “All appliances can come to life, but some of them usually never wake up after they’re first built.”

“Kinda like how back home, some monsters were either smart enough to talk or too dumb to talk.” Pain seemed to understand what she was trying to say as he explained it to Panic. 

“Oh, I get it!” Panic said when he pieced the example together.

“So, uh, if you don’t mind me asking,” the lamp addressed me. “What exactly are you all doing in our Master’s house, exactly?” I found it a little strange to hear the lamp repeat a word, but I decided to just let it be. If that was the way he talked, then it was alright by me.

“We were trying to find someone who can help us.” I explained. “We ran away from some nasty people and were hoping to find a safe place to stay for the night.”

“So, you all needed some shelter?” the radio interpreted. “Why that’s understandable! My sincere apologies for acting so harsh towards you and your friends, miss.” Well, at least it sounded like they were somewhat okay with us staying for the night.

“Well, at first, I was against breaking into someone else's house unlike some people,” I said as I gave the imps a mean glare before turning back towards the appliances. “But when I tried knocking on the door, it just opened on its own.”

The vacuum then looked over at the lamp and radio with an angry expression. “Which one of you forgot to lock the door?” he asked them -his voice belonging to the one called Kirby.

“Why, it was the lamp, I tell ya.” the radio pointed his antenna at the lamp to blame him.

“Oh, yeah?” the lamp argued back with an offended expression. “Who’s supposed to be the big-shot protector around here, Mr. Loudmouth?! Mr. Big Loudmouth!”

I couldn’t help but giggle at their banter. Those two almost reminded me a bit of the imps.

“Who were you looking for before you got lost?” the blanket asked, ignoring the little argument between the lamp and the radio.

“Someone who can help me get home.” I told him.

The toaster looked at me in confusion. “Whaddya mean?”

“It’s a really long story.” Panic answered for me. “And Frankie doesn’t really have a lot of time to tell it.”

That probably was the nicest thing he ever did on this trip. Even it was responded with an annoyed eye roll from Pain. I guess Genie was right about them becoming good by the end of this crazy adventure. Although, this calm atmosphere probably helped ease the tension we had from the past couple of hours.

“Thanks.” I told him before I gave a big yawn and felt my eyes getting heavy.

“Are you sleepy?” the blanket asked. I gave him a little nod.

“You all better get some sleep. It’s pretty late.” the toaster pointed out. She then pointed one of her levers to an opened room upstairs. “You can use the Master’s bed if you want.”

I looked up at the door of the room with an unsure look and then turned back to the five. “Are you guys sure? I mean, it’s your owner’s bed.”

The appliances’ expressions dropped into sad ones, even the radio -who’s only sign of expressionism was his large dial- gave a somewhat similar look. I knew I must’ve said something to upset them, but for a moment I didn’t know what. I then remembered the picture Panic showed me and remembered the date on the back. If that photo was taken in ‘77, the house looked abandoned on the outside, and all that was here were the appliances, then that would mean…

I gave a soft gasp of regret upon my realization. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s alright.” the lamp told me, his expression still a sad one.

“How long has it been?” I asked as I gave an apologetic look to the little appliances. 

“Almost a decade now.” the radio answered.

“What are they talking about?” Pain asked in a confused way.

I gave an annoyed sigh before whispering to him and Panic that the appliances’ owners abandoned them in the cottage and haven’t come back for them. The imps’ faces dropped into apologetic ones as I looked back at the appliances.

“We try to be optimistic about the master coming back someday.” the toaster added.

“That’s a good thing.” I told her. “Optimism works like luck. Once you have it, it’s sure to turn things your way.”

“You really think so?” the blanket asked hopefully.

I responded with a soft nod. I then tiredly laid my head down on one of the pillows on the couch. The imps each yawned too and laid down on the recliner before they both fell asleep. I couldn’t blame them though; we’ve had quite the rough day and deserved a good night’s sleep. Especially since we needed it for another long journey tomorrow.

“What’s your name, anyway?” Kirby asked me gruffly.

“My name’s Francesca.” I introduced myself. “Friends call me Frankie.

“That’s a pretty name.” the blanket said.

“Thank you. My mom picked it.” I smiled. 

“And your pals?” the radio asked me as he pointed his antennae at the sleeping imps.

“Pain and Panic.” I told them before whispering. “Don’t tell them I said this, but they’re much nicer than their names let on.”

The toaster gave a small giggle. “We won’t.”

“And who’s this?” the lamp asked. I looked and saw him pointing his plug at Genie’s lamp on the side table.

“Genie, and he’ll be excited to meet you all.” I told him.

“Well, we can’t wait to meet him too.” the toaster said.

“Do you all have names?” I asked them.

They all nodded as the toaster was the first to introduce herself. “Just call me Toaster.”

“My name’s Blanky.” the blanket said.

“Roscoe “The Radio” Ratuno!” the radio said proudly.

The lamp gave him a mean look before the radio spoke up again in defeat. “Fine! The name’s Radio. Plain ol’ Radio.”

I gave a small chuckle at Radio’s little introduction and stage name before turning my attention towards Kirby, who was still looking at me with a gruff expression.

“You must be Kirby.” I told him. The vacuum gave me a confused look before I explained how I knew his name. “I may have heard Toaster mention your name earlier.”

I then turned to the last appliance who had yet to give me his name: the lamp. “And what about you, li’l fella? What’s your name?”

“I’m Lampy.” the lamp introduced himself.

“It’s very nice to meet you all.” I told the little appliances. And the next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.

Chapter Text

It was probably the most peaceful sleep I had gotten since I've been stuck in Disney. Who'd thought a bunch of appliances would be the thing I needed for a moment's peace? Well, it certainly beat running away from certain death at the hands -and tentacles- of a bunch of villains. Heck, I think Genie and the imps were pretty glad we had some quiet and not in immediate danger. Although, the former of the three was still snug away in his lamp when I fell asleep on the couch and the imps were snoozing on the recliner.

Speaking of which…

"Good morning. Good morning. Good morning!" Radio yelled out as he gave out a morning broadcast, waking me up from my sleep on my fifth day in Disney. "That was a wonderful tune to start off another lovely day after that whammy of a storm that passed last night. On the top news this morning, a lost girl and strange figures sought out shelter from that wild storm last night, and has met some-"

"Could ya knock it off?" Lampy asked him in an annoyed yawn. "Some of us are attempting to get some sleep!"

Radio stopped to snap back at Lampy. "Look, buddy, I'm in the middle of a broadcast. Do ya mind?"

"Radio, please keep it down. It's too early." I groaned as I stretched my arms once I had finally woken up. Not the best wake-up call I've had, but at least it got me up.

"Oh! This just in: said lost girl wakes up in a peaceful mountain cottage! We'll keep you post-" Radio was turned off when Lampy slammed his shade on top of the snooze button. Silencing Radio for a moment.

"I take it this is just a normal thing for him?" I cynically asked.

"Every morning at 6." Lampy nodded. "He does it every morning."

"Usually, the two of you fight when he does it." Kirby yawned as he woke up, rolling out of a closet under the stairs. "And it gets old pretty fast."

"Well, I probably deserved his wakeup call." I said as I sat myself up. "My friends and I need to get a move on if I'm gonna get home."

Blanky sadly slid off my shoulders and landed in my lap. "You mean you're leaving already?"

"Well, not right now." I tried to explain as I sat up and placed him back down on the couch. "I need to make sure I still have everything."

I then went over to wake the imps up. Why neither one of them opened an eye when Radio gave out his morning broadcast is beyond me. But in any case, I gently shook them awake, however no response came from either sleeping imp. I knew that waking them up wasn't going to be easy, but one glance over at Kirby, and I had an idea.

"Hey, Kirby, could you give me some help over here?" I asked him. "I think these two need a better wake up call."

Kirby eyed the imps. "Why me?"

"I'd ask Radio, but it's obvious his didn't work." I explained, followed by a small, offended huff from Radio.

Kirby seemed to like the idea of scaring the imps awake, so he rolled over to the recliner, and the minute he turned on, the imps woke up screaming and falling off the recliner. Panic landed on the hardwood floor horns-first and got himself stuck while Pain nearly tore the fabric off the chair with his claws as he held onto it. I couldn't help myself but to laugh at what I had just saw, I even heard a few chuckles from the other appliances -including a slight smirk from Kirby.

Pain glared up at me for the rude wake up call as he got himself off the chair. "That wasn't funny!"

"Oh, come on, guys." I said as I pulled Panic free from the floor. "Your eyes' nearly popped out of your heads! It was hilarious!"

"And here I thought you two getting the heebie-jeebies at my tunes last night were humorous!" Radio laughed.

"Good morning, everyone." Toaster's voice greeted as she entered the room.

"Morning." I greeted.

"Good morning, Toaster." Blanket followed my lead and greeted her as well.

"Heya, Slots." Radio said.

"Salutations." Lampy said.

Toaster smiled at her companions before turning her attention towards me. "Did you and your friends sleep well, Frankie?"

"Yeah." I answered. "It was probably the best sleep I had since we started traveling."

"Speak for yourself." Panic grumbled.

"That reminds me," Toaster spoke up again. "Before you go, if it's not too much to ask, could you help us with something?"

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Don't say it." Kirby muttered at Toaster

"Well, if it's no bother to you, could you please help us with some chores?" Toaster asked.

Kirby rolled his eyes in defeat. "She said it."

Judging by Kirby's reaction, I could tell that the appliances usually spend their mornings cleaning up the cottage to make it presentable if their master should return. It was a strange request but seeing how Toaster and the others kindly took my friends and I in for the night, I supposed a little cleaning to repay our debt to them wouldn't do any harm. I suppose the others and I could head out after helping the appliances clean.

"Sure, we'll help." I finally answered.

""We"?" the imps repeated in disbelief.

"It's the least we could do for letting us stay the night." I said, glaring down at the imps -who immediately shut themselves up and put on agreeing smiles to not make me mad.

Toaster smiled. "That'd be really appreciated, Frankie."

"So, what should we do?" I asked her.

"I can't believe you guys are actually asking them to help."

A harsh, cold breeze briefly blew our direction -nearly getting frost all over the imps and the appliances- and all heads turned over to a window near the kitchen to see that someone else had been listening to us this whole time. An old air conditioner rested in the window, and judging by his annoyed glare, I could tell that he wasn't too happy about this whole situation.

"Oh, uh, hi?" I greeted him.

"Well, I did suggest it if it wasn't a problem to her." Toaster answered the AC's question with a mean pout.

"And it isn't!" Lampy added. "So lay off!"

"Gee, I'm really scared there, Lampy." the AC gave a snarky remark with a voice that sounded like Jack Nicholson. "Whaddya gonna do? Blind me?"

"Hey, you leave him alone." I said defensively. "Look, my friends and I have to pay our debt to them for letting us stay, and if chores are the way to do it, then we'll do it."

"What kind of human are you, anyway?" the AC asked me. "You act as if appliances have been talking to you your whole life."

"What's the big deal if I hear you talk or see you move anyway?" I asked him as I gestured down to the imps. "You certainly don't have any problem with these two seeing you move."

"Get this through your chrome, kid:" The AC glared at me as if I didn't want to understand. "Appliances have a protocol with humans, and those low watts broke it last night when the lamp started talking to you."

Ah, so I get it. They had no problem revealing themselves when it came to nonhuman things, like the imps and probably animals, but for humans. Well, humans are humans. They fear, hate, and destroy what they don't understand. Exclusively in that order. But, fortunately for these appliances, I'm not like most humans.

"Well, I don't care about some protocol." I told him as I placed my hands on my hips.

"And since you were obviously eavesdropping on our conversation last night," Radio stated. "You may remember that Bluebelle, here, said something about not telling anyone about us."

"Yeah. So, why don't you just shut off?" Kirby added and snapped back at the AC.

"Whatever." the AC rolled his eyes. "But if you dimwits get caught, it's your own fault."

"Who are you callin' dim?!" Lampy offendedly asked as he shone his light bulb at the AC, only to not receive an answer. "Hello?"

And just like that, the AC reverted back to his inanimate state. Ending the conversation, and forcing Lampy to turn off his light in an irritated way.

"Oh, I hate it when he does that." Radio grumbled. "It's rude."

"What's his problem, anyway?" I asked the others.

"Who cares?" Kirby retorted back grouchily before rolling off in a huff. "He's a jerk, anyway."

"He wasn't always so grumpy." Blanky explained to me nicely. "But one day he just became… so cold."

"It might be best not to push him." Toaster suggested to the little blanket. "Pushed too far, and he could overheat."

"Metaphorically, right?" Pain asked her.

"Actually, literally." I answered. "My dad's shop nearly caught fire when one of our ACs overheated."

The imps looked up at me in looks of both confusion and surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, but we fixed it up in the end." I finished my short story before changing the subject. "So, about our cleaning job."

The appliances looked up at me in surprise. "You're still gonna help us?" Blanky asked. "Even after Air Conditioner was so mean to you?"

"I don't really care what that old grump says." I explained. "Protocol or not, I want to help out."

"Alright." Toaster nodded. "Let's get to it."

"Oh, one second!" I stopped her and the others really quick in realization. "I did promise you guys an introduction last night."

I went over to the side table and held Genie's lamp, but was quickly stopped by the imps, but not in a bad way. More of a concerned way.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Panic asked me.

"I've probably broken world order fifty times in the past four days," I told him. "What more harm could I do?"

The imps thought about it for a moment before they realized that I had a point. Nowhere during the trip to this world did they once shapeshift into something other than themselves, so if this was a movie, then we probably broke the order the world was in. But whatever happened next, it would be on me, not them. I'm man enough to take responsibility for stuff I did, unlike some people I know. So, if Merlin found out, I'd accept whatever punishment he had out for me.

"Eh, fair deal." Pain said with a shrug.

"Genie, come on out." I said as I rubbed the lamp. "There's someone here who wants to meet you."

Genie came out of his lamp dressed like either a safari guide or a hunter -I couldn't tell which.

"Oh, can it wait, Frankie Stein?" Genie asked. "Spielberg's doing auditions."

Just then a T-Rex head came out of the lamp, chomped down on Genie and retreated back into the lamp. A second later, Genie came back out, with his clothes all torn up. Thank God my back was turned on the appliances, otherwise, they'd be about as confused as the imps and I were at the scene.

"Never mind! I'll wait for the reboot." Genie said before he turned himself back to normal.

I brushed it off as one of his usual lamp antics before I got to the point. "Okay, I would've shown you last night, but-"

"Will ya look at that?" Genie stopped me the moment he saw the appliances and looked at them in awe. "Sentient appliances!"

"Genie, these are the guys," I made the introductions. "Guys, this is Genie."

The appliances all looked up at Genie in awe. "Holy mother of Edison." Lampy said as his jaw practically dropped.

Kirby looked up at me with an arched brow. "Who exactly are you guys, anyway?"

"Just a ragtag group of friends on an adventure." I told him. He rolled his eyes at my comment, clearly not buying it or just didn't really care. It was hard to tell with him.

"It's very nice to meet you, Genie." Blanky was the first to greet Genie.

"Good to meet you too." Genie said before he whispered to me. "Say, Frankie Stein, you sure it's a good idea for them to know who I am? What about world order?"

I did my best to reassure him. "I'll worry about it."

"If you don't mind, Genie, could you help us with some chores?" Toaster kindly asked Genie, trying not to be rude by interrupting our conversation.

"Sure, little buddy," Genie told her in assurance, getting her drift. "I'll give you a hand or two."

I braced myself for Genie to pull out his usual theatrics/humor and give himself a crazy amount of hands to lighten the mood, but for some reason, that never happened. Which, honestly, confused me a little.

"Relax, just 'cause you don't wanna screw things up, doesn't mean I will." Genie whispered to me before winking. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing that he wasn't about to get me into any more trouble than I probably was already in. Genie really was a good friend to have.

"Well, fellas, let's get to it, then!" Radio happily said.

And with that, and some Golden Oldies curtsey of Radio's radio stations -cleaning goes better with music after all- we all went on to clean up the cottage. We all had our own designated cleaning jobs to make it easier for everyone: Toaster and Blanky handled the dusting, Radio tidied up some paper scraps off the floor -using his antennae as a pick, Kirby of course vacuumed, the imps helped Lampy sweep the hardwood floors, Genie helped move furniture in that needed cleaning either underneath and cleaned off the walls, and I washed the windows and woodwork.

Something small to help out in this world, and sure, the job wasn't as heroic as liberating Mount Olympus or helping restore music to a kingdom, but it was still a job worth helping out with. And I could tell that the imps and Genie were having fun helping out, even if the former refused to admit it. Honestly, this little work part of ours reminded me of the times my friends and I would help my dad and Endy clean up his shop back home. So, I found it enjoyable, nonetheless.

After a solid twenty minutes downstairs, I made my way upstairs to see if either one of the bedrooms needed any cleaning. Knowing that they hadn't been used in a long time, who knows what kind of dust or spiderweb could be dwelling in either room? Anyway, I went into the master bedroom only to find that there was nothing for me to clean, so I moved onto the second one: the appliances' master's bedroom, and while there was nothing there for me to clean either, I did see Lampy attempting to make the bed by himself. Grabbing one on the corners of the quilt on the bed by his mouth and trying to make it the hard way.

"Here, let me get that for you." I offered as I went over and took two of the blanket's corners to help out. Making the lamp's job a lot easier.

"Oh, thanks." he said once we finished making the bed.

"What are you doing up here all by yourself?" I asked him as I knelt down closer to his height.

"I was tidying up, but then I got to thinking." he told me. "Why did you choose to stay in the cottage?"

I blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You know, of all the places to go, you and your friends came here of all places." he continued.

Well, that somehow made it easier to understand what he was trying to ask me.

"Well, at first we were just going to stay here until it stopped raining." I told him. "But when I met you and the others, I felt like my friends and I had to stay longer."

"Wow, that's weird."

I gave a small shrug. "Not really. It just means you all were much kinder than I had thought. Panic thought you guys were ghosts haunting the place, so that's why he was scared."

"I dunno." Lampy shook his shade as he continued to think. "I'm just trying to understand. Trying to figure out exactly what it all means."

"Well, it's a little hard to explain." I said, puzzled. I then remembered something my dad did for me whenever I used to be confused about something.

"Think of it like this: Say that you had a burnt bulb and you have to get a new one, and you use a lightbulb brand you're not used to using. But you then get used to that bulb so much that you end up appreciating it more than you thought."

He thought for a moment, trying to understand what I was trying to explain. But just when I thought I had to try a different approach, the little lamp lit up -metaphorically, of course- the moment he realized what I said.

"I think I get what you're talking about!" Lampy said before smiling at something reminiscent. "It's like how I felt the first time the Master brought me here."

"Something like that, yeah." I nodded, trying to make him feel confident in his relation to what I said. I wish I knew what it was like for him when his master first brought him home, but all I could do was picture it in my head as best as I could.

"That's very interesting." Lampy said in awe. "I… never really had anyone try to explain things to me like that before. How'd you know how to do it?"

"Quite a questionable little lamp, aren't you?" I smirked at him before giving another explanation. "If you wanna know, it's how my dad used to explain things to me when I was younger."

"Wow."

"C'mon, we better get back to work." I said as I got up and walked out of the room, only to turn around to see that Lampy wasn't following me -but looking up at me in a strange way. "Lampy, is something wrong?"

"Huh?" he asked before he snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "Oh, uh, n-nothing! Nothing's wrong."

I gave him a small smile as I nodded my head to cue him to follow me. "Then let's go."

He hopped over to me, and we both went back downstairs to see that everyone was all finished cleaning the cottage. I guess with the extra help, my friends and I were able to cut the appliances' cleaning time shorter than it would normally be. I looked over at a wall clock and saw that we had spent the past hour cleaning, because it was now already 7:00 in the morning. Not too shabby for morning chores.

"Wow, I can't remember the last time the cottage was this clean." Radio gave a whistle sound in awe. "Why, it's shining brighter than the Chrysler Building!"

"And as someone who lived near that building, that's saying something." I agreed with him.

"What's the Chrysler Building?" Panic asked as he put the broom up in the closet under the stairs.

"It's something from my home." I explained to him.

"We really appreciated your help, Frankie." Toaster told me on behalf of her and the other appliances.

"We were happy to do it." I told her before I turned to my friends for confirmation. "Weren't we fellas?"

"Hey, it beats soul counting." Panic agreed with a shrug and a small smile.

"Or soul wrangling, or feeding Cerberus," Pain listed. "Or just being Hades' go-to guys in general."

"Whoa, you two worked for Hades?" Genie asked the imps, which surprised me to know that he knew who Hades is.

"Who's that?" Blanky asked.

"Long story." the imps told him.

"Really long story." I added. I stood myself back up a prepared to say my goodbyes, but when I did, something on the wall in the kitchen caught my eye.

"Hey, Toaster?"

"Yes, Frankie?" Toaster answered.

"Does that phone still work?" I asked as I pointed at an old wall phone.

Toaster gave an unsure shrug. "Well, Phony hasn't woken up since the Master left, but she should still work."

"Good." I said as I nearly tripped over everyone just to get to the phone in a hurry. I placed the handset on the side of my face and started hitting the number buttons on the phone. Once the phone number was dialed, I heard the other line ringing.

"I just hope this works." I muttered as I nervously wrapped the cord around my finger as I waited for someone to answer the phone.

Chapter Text

Alex’s POV

Pearl and I didn’t know what to do after that vortex, which we both had dubbed the Gay Vortex because of all the rainbow colors we saw in it, swept away Frankie about five days ago. We should have called her parents, but we knew that if they, mainly her mom, knew that we had snuck over when Frankie was supposed to be grounded and under solitary confinement, she’d get into even more trouble. And to be honest, we already caused her enough trouble to last her a lifetime. So, that wasn’t gonna happen.

But with each day that passed, Frankie was still missing. And there was nobody we could call who could help us: the cops hate us, Frankie’s mom hates her, my moms wouldn’t understand what happened, and Pearl’s dad’s face was so far up in stupid business work and crap to even care. The only good news we had was a phone call from Frankie’s dad saying that he and the others were staying an extra night up in New Hampshire, so it bought us only a small amount of time. We were on our own, and the suspense was killing us, and breaking us to the point of trying to call someone.

“That’s it.” Pearl said as she stood up from the couch and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling her family!”

“Pearl, don’t!” I snatched her phone away, much to her disappointment. “If they find out we were here when she was grounded, she’ll get into even more trouble and we might not see her again!”

“Alex, Frankie got swept up in the Gay Vortex to who knows where.” Pearl reminded me. “I highly doubt that’s what she’ll get in trouble for.”

“Have you met her mom?” I asked her as I handed back her phone. “She once grounded her for a week for having a messy room, and then compared it to Ty’s so-called cleaner one.”

Just then, Frankie’s rotary phone rang loudly from her room. Normally, this would be a good thing, but given the recent circumstances, we were probably so massively screwed.

“Crap, what if it’s her mom?” Pearl panicked when we rushed into Frankie’s room. “If it’s her mom, we’re dead, and so is Frankie!”

“Don’t panic, they’re calling from the rotary phone.” I assured her with false hope. “It’s probably her dad.”

“Then you answer it then if you’re so sure.” Pearl said as she pushed the handset to me.

I gulped and nervously answered, praying to God that it wasn’t either one of Frankie’s parents.

“Hello?” my voice cracked as I answered.

“Alex?” Frankie’s voice called out from the other line. “Alex, is that you? Can you hear me?”

“Frankie? Yes!” my mood instantly changed into an excited one. “Where are you? Are you hurt?”

The moment Pearl heard that it was Frankie who was calling us, she got excited too. How could we not? We thought she was dead, but the sound of her voice disproved that theory. This was better than the time we thought one of our first paint-bomb nights washed away in a rainstorm, but it didn’t.

“You’re not calling us from Heaven, are you?” Pearl asked her as she pulled the handset towards her.

“Pearl, shut up!” I snapped at her and put the handset between our ears so we could both hear Frankie.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Frankie told us. “What about my family? Are they back yet?”

“No, girl, your parents called yesterday and left a message on your dad’s machine.” Pearl explained to her. “They’re staying an extra night upstate.”

“Okay, that’s good.” a sigh of relief was heard on the other line before Frankie started talking again. “You guys are never gonna believe where I ended up after that portal took me.”

“The Gay Vortex was a portal?” Pearl asked in confusion. Portals? What the Multiverse of Madness was Frankie talking about?

“Yes but get this:” Frankie said. “I’m in Disney.”

Pearl and I looked at each other in confusion. Was Ty’s leftover pot smoke really doing that big a number on her, or was Frankie going crazy? There’s no way that the Gay Vortex was a portal that hyper speeded her to another state.

“You’re in Florida or California?” I finally asked her.

“Neither.” Frankie did her best to explain it to us. “That poem we found was actually a spell that transports people from our world into an alternate world where every single Disney character and story exists!”

Okay, yeah, that poem we found was dumb, but there’s no way it was a magic spell. “Okay, you must’ve hit your head pretty hard there, girl.” Pearl said, doubting Frankie’s words.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I swear, I’m not making it up.” Frankie said. “I’ll prove it to you.”

A small silence came as Frankie handed the phone on her end to someone else.

"Frankie, how do I work this thing?” another voice, one that was deep and scratchy, asked Frankie.

Pearl’s almond-shaped eyes widened at the sound of that other voice, as if it was familiar. “Wait a minute, I know that voice.”

“Just speak up into the little end next to your mouth.” Frankie told him.

"Give me some credit, I don’t know how this junk works!” the voice yelled at her.

“It’s not junk, you’re just old-fashioned!” Frankie snapped back.

Wait a minute. I recognized that voice too. There’s only one Disney character I knew that had a voice that deep and scratchy. It was Pain! Which meant that Frankie was in Disney, and probably just met her favorite Disney characters. Because if Pain was with her, Panic probably was too. Geez, that also meant she met Hades in person while Pearl only met him in really, really -shall we say- interesting dreams she had.

“Okay, Frankie, we believe you now.” I told her before she gave that imp a history lesson over how to talk into a phone.

“But how is Pain there if you’re talking into a phone?” Pearl asked her. Yeah, that was going to be my second question.

“Every story that we know in Disney takes place in smaller worlds.” Frankie did her best to explain to us. “It’s hard to explain over the phone, but when I get back, I’ll try to explain everything as best as I can.”

“Okay, but just be careful wherever you are.” Pearl told her.

“I am,” Frankie assured us. “That’s literally part of the goal of my adventure.”

“We can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back.” I said, eager to hear about her adventure when she came home.

"I better get a move on,” Frankie then said. “I have to say goodbye to a couple of new friends before I head out.”

“Hey, let us thank them before you go.” I told her.

"One moment please.” Frankie said. It was quiet for a moment, except for a few hushed voices from the other line, before Frankie started talking again. “Okay, they’re ready.”

Pearl gave me a confused look before I spoke into the phone again. “Uh, thanks, whoever you are, for helping our friend.”

"You’re welcome!” a woman’s voice called out from the other line.

"Happy to help your Bluebelle out!” another voice, one that sounded like an old radio host, said.

"Alright, I’ll see you guys soon.” Frankie told us. “Goodbye!”

“Bye, Frankie, be careful!” I said.

“We love you!” Pearl told her. Then the phone on the other line hung up, and Frankie was gone once again.

“At least now we know she’s alive.” I said as I threw myself onto Frankie’s bed in relief, knowing that Frankie was alive, well, and trying to get back home.

“Yeah, but now we have to think of something to tell her parents if they get back before she does.” Pearl pointed out another obvious fact about our situation.

“Yeah.” I agreed. A weird question then popped into my head regarding to whoever was helping Frankie. I looked up at Pearl with a puzzling look as I sat myself back up.

“Hey, did one of those voices over the phone sound like Lovitz to you?” I asked her.

Meanwhile

Frankie’s POV

When I was finished with my phone call, I hung the phone up, turned my back against the wall, and as I slid down to the floor, tears ran down my face. I couldn’t believe that it actually worked. I managed to get into contact with someone from my world while I was still in Disney. I couldn’t be more happier knowing that. And what’s more, I had an extra day before my parents got home; that’s an extra day of adventure while trying to find the king.

“Don’t be sad, Frankie.” Blanky said as he used one of his folds to help wipe my tears

“I’m not sad.” I sniffed. “These are happy tears.”

“You really missed your home, huh?” Panic asked me with a kind expression on his face.

I gave a small nod before realizing what a total mess I looked like in front of my friends and hosts. “Oh, just look at me: I look like a housewife watching a soap opera.” I said as I fanned away my tears and stood back up.

“Well, wherever your friends are, I hope you find them.” Toaster told me with a kind smile.

“Same with the rest of us.” Radio added as he used his antennae to pull Lampy, Kirby, and Blanky in for a small group hug, much to Kirby’s disliking.

A gentle tap was then felt on my shoulder as Genie whispered to me. “Frankie, we’ll give you some time to say goodbye.”

“Thanks, Genie.” I told him with a smile.

Genie gave a nod and gestured at the imps. “Boys, if you would.”

The imps nodded at what Genie was trying to tell them, and they turned back to the appliances. “Well, so long, fellas.” Pain waved them goodbye.

“Bye!” the appliances used their wires, antennas, and levers to wave goodbye to Genie and the imps.

Panic nearly tripped on his tail when he waved goodbye but was immediately picked back up by Pain, which was followed by small chuckles from Genie and I. When those three left the cottage, I knelt down to the appliances for one final small talk with them. This was probably gonna be one of my sadder goodbyes on my adventure, especially since these guys were abandoned by their owner. But I couldn’t stay, and, deep down, the appliances knew this too.

“We’re gonna miss you, Frankie.” Blanky said as he hugged me goodbye.

“I’ll miss you guys too.” I told him and the others. “But, hey maybe if I’m lucky enough, I could come back to visit.”

“Really?” Toaster hopefully asked. “You’ll come back to visit us?”

I nodded. “I promise, little toast-”

I stopped myself when I realized something. What I was about to say; that’s why I recognized everything: The cottage, the picture of the little boy, even the appliances. The world I was in, was from The Brave Little Toaster. A movie I hadn’t seen in a really long time, and the reason why I didn’t remember the appliances all sooner was because I only ever saw the movie once as a kid, but I still remembered bits and pieces of it. Especially Radio: the one I remembered the most. I knew he looked familiar!

“Is something wrong?” Blanky asked me when he noticed the reminiscent look on my face.

“No.” I shook my head with a small smile. “Just a thought.”

“What were you thinking about?” Lampy asked me.

“How much I’ve-” I stopped myself before I could break worldly order any further and fixed my phrasing. “How much I’m going to miss you guys.” 

I hugged those little appliances, including a relucent Kirby, but once I broke it off, I followed Genie and the imps to the door. I only looked back once to say one last thing to those little guys.

“Thank you all again.”

And after another somber wave goodbye, I shut the door of the cottage, and continued on with my journey. It hurt seeing the sad looks on those appliances’ faces as my friends and I left the cottage, but I knew we couldn’t stay. And as my friends and I walked to find the next Border of that world, I kept that optimism Toaster and I talked about in my mind. Not only did I feel like I was getting closer to finding the king, but I also just knew that those five appliances will soon be reunited with their owner. My only regret was thinking that it would happen before I visited them, or Disney entirely, again.

“What is it with you?”

I snapped out of my thoughts the moment Pain asked me that. “Excuse me?” I asked.

“You know?” he restated as he gave me another subject to think about. “You’re so keen on getting home, but the moment someone needs help, you bend over to help them like you’re some hero.”

“Oh, that.” I said, feeling my face fall into a guilty expression.

“Come on, guys, Frankie’s the kind of gal who likes to help people!” Genie told the imps to help keep my spirits up. “You should’ve seen the way she helped my buddy Al the first time we met her.”

“To be honest, I don’t even know if I really want to go back.” 

Everyone stopped in their tracks and all heads turned towards me with surprised looks on their faces, especially Genie.

“What’re you talkin’ about?” Genie asked me. “Whaddya mean?”

I raised my hands in defense. “Don’t get me wrong, I miss my friends and family back home, but this place, it’s just so-” 

I didn’t have the right words to describe it, but all I knew was that while I was supposed to go back home, I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to leave. Disney was just so much better, and it made me feel better just being in it the longer I stayed. I felt like I was becoming the person Dad saw that I could be. No, I felt that I was becoming the person I knew I could be. A hero instead of a screw-up.

“It’s better. And I know it was wrong to lie to my friends, but I just couldn’t tell them the truth.” I admitted. “They’d hate me too and probably emotionally blackmail me into going back. And I know it sounds a little selfish, but I just want to be a better person.”

I really didn’t know if it was an act of selfishness or just me being insecure, but when you have friends who tell you everything and trust you like a sibling and basically rely on you to constantly be there to help them when they need it, it’s hard to admit you want something for yourself. Alex and Pearl have known me for a really long time, and everything I did with them I did for them, but how can I tell them that I’d rather stay in a world of fantasy then spend another night getting into trouble just by hanging out with them?

“Does your mom really hate you?” Panic asked me, reminding me of something I had said to Hades a few days ago. “Is that why you don’t want to leave?”

“She does, but,” I told him as I felt my eyes well up again with sad tears. “My dad loves me, and my little brother, and my friends. I can’t just leave them worried about where I am.”

“Then why do you not listen to your own advice?” Pain asked me, his tone growing more annoyed. “Why do you wanna help people?”

“Because I want to be someone I could be proud of!”

Pain’s face shifted into a surprised one, as if he didn’t expect that to be my answer. But it was true. This adventure I’ve been on was so much more than I ever could’ve imagined. And I’m not talking about the whole being the main character, one-upping my stupid brother, and trying to prove that I can be better to my mom thing. I’m talking about being a completely different me that I wanted to be. Back home I had two choices: Keep being a screw-up or pretend to be someone I’m not. But in Disney, I could be the me I wanted to be, not what everyone else wanted or expected me to be.

“You don’t know what it’s like to constantly live being a disappointment in a mother’s eyes. None of you do.” I explained to them as I looked at my reflection in a puddle of water. “But being here, I could be better. Not for her, but for me.”

I didn’t expect them to understand my problem, but they had the right to know my problem and understand the real reason why I was so hesitant about going back home. After all, if you were given the opportunity of a lifetime when you’ve had the life I had, you’d probably do the same thing to your traveling companions. My only problem was that I seemed to feel like I was criticizing myself. What’s the matter with me?

“I’m terrified of going back, because I don’t want all that criticism.” I continued as I stomped the water, not caring if I got my shoe or pants cuff wet. “No matter how hard I try, I’m still the imperfect, troublemaking, embarrassment of a daughter in her eyes.”

The imps’ faces fell into apologetic ones, as if they felt bad about me telling them the truth, while Genie floated with an equally saddened look on his face. I couldn’t blame any of them though, I’ve never really admitted anything that deep to anyone before, and it didn’t make me feel any better telling them that.

“Isn’t there someone who saw all past that?” Genie asked me. “Someone who loves you?”

“My dad,” I said as I turned away, not wanting any of them to see me cry again. “But I think even he gets disappointed in me sometimes.”

“Frankie, I-” Pain tried to apologize -I think- before I stopped him.

“Let’s just get to the next Border.” I spat as I wiped away a stray tear. I’ve had enough tears wasted for one day.

“Oh, about that!” Genie said with a much more happier disposition. “Look at this!”

The imps and I turned to him, and we three gave him confused looks when we saw what he had. For, you see, in his hands was the map King Triton had given us back in Atlantica. Which surprised me the most out of the three of us.

“You still have the map that king gave us?” Pain asked as he flew up and inspected it.

“I thought I dropped it when we escaped from Ursula?” I asked as I went to look at the map too.

“You did, but I managed to snatch it before she could,” Genie said as he showed the imps and I something he saw. “But get this!”

We all looked at the map and were surprised to find that it no longer resembled the map we had used back in Atlantica to find the Border. It now had magically changed to resemble the world we were currently in. Drawn on redwoods and small cottage in the middle of nowhere, and all.

“It changed?” Panic said in puzzlement as we looked at the map.

“How can that be?” Pain asked. “It was only for one world.”

“It must be enchanted to show where any Border is in any world.” Genie said as he handed me the map.

I held the map and looked at it as I followed the path on it. “And the next Border is just-”

I felt like I had tripped over a rock or something, because the next thing I knew, I fell face-first to the ground. The guys each made wincing noises when they saw my epic fail, and the shimmer of an invisible wall said it all. I ran right into the Border and ended up in another world of Disney. Only, much less graceful than I had anticipated. Here’s hoping nobody else saw that epic fail, because I did not want that to be the way I looked when we entered this new world.

“I’m okay!” I said weakly as I gave them a thumbs up to show them that I wasn’t seriously hurt. Well, my pride wasn’t, but my jaw now was.

Chapter Text

Well, after that embarrassing entrance, we made it into the other world. But the weirdest part about this world was that it looked a little bit like New York back home. The only Disney movie I could think of that takes place in New York was Oliver and Company, but this world didn’t look like 80s Manhattan. It felt different, but I didn’t exactly know why. The only way I can explain was that some buildings, including one that looked like a courthouse, had a dome roof with horn-like spikes on it. 

Anyway, as we were walking along, the imps and Genie walked in front of me to give me some space after my little outburst back in Toaster’s world. Panic glanced back at me for a moment to see how I was holding up after my outburst, but did a double take and started screaming in horror when he saw me. Followed by Pain, and then Genie.

“What?” I asked them in concern and confusion.

Panic tried to speak first. “You’re a mon-mon-mon-”

“Monster!” Pain finished as he clung onto Panic in fear.

I gave the imps a confused look and then threw one at Genie, who promptly magicked up a full-sized mirror, and I was able to see what all the fuss was about. I was -in fact- now a monster; a fluffy, sunset colored monster with two small pink horns on the top of my head. My hands were now fingerless as if I were wearing mittens, my feet were tiny and dainty little paws with small black claws sticking out, and a long, pink tipped fox-like tail came out of my backside. My blue-framed glasses were now rounded instead of square and the temples wrapped around my horns.

“Huh, well, this is new.” I nonchalantly said as I examined my new look. It was weird, especially considering that I had either been human or half human in every other world I’ve been to. But at least now I had an idea on what world we were now in. Monstropolis, the city within the world of Monsters Inc. and Monsters University.

Panic was still flabbergasted at my new look. “How are you a monster?”

“Simple, the world we’re in is home to an entire race of monsters.” I summarized where we know were. “No humans. Everything is just monsters.”

“Then how come we didn’t change?” Pain asked as he pointed at himself, Panic, and Genie.

“You’re all shapeshifters.” I gave him a simple answer. “We’ve already figured out that you all are unaffected with other worlds changing you.”

Pain leaned against a light post as he processed everything. “This is weirder than the talking toaster.”

“Fellas, this could be a good thing.” Genie spoke up with his usual positive energy. “If Frankie’s like this now, it’ll be easy for her to get by and find the next Border! It’ll be just like how it was back in our worlds and in Atlantica.”

“Yes.” I agreed. “Thank you, Genie.”

Genie smiled at me before he looked at the map once again. “And, hey, speaking of the invisible wall. Look at this! According to the map, the next Border lies just past this place.”

He showed us a place on the map where the next Border was located. It was shown to be next to a familiar college campus that I knew all too well. But I was still excited about where we were going, because when I saw a familiar blue flag with an M with an eyeball in the middle wave a few blocks away from us, I knew we were getting closer and closer to finding the Border that led to the next world.

“I know where that is!” I said with a grin. “C’mon, it’s not that far away from here!”

The guys nodded, and after Genie turned himself into a scaly blue monster with a clubbed tail to better blend in with the civilians, we were on our way to Monsters University.

Later

We found Monsters University about twenty minutes after arriving at Monstropolis. And everything looked so much cooler than I ever remembered. The students on campus were out and about, having fun and waving to us as we walked around. I was lucky the four of us managed to convince someone that we were visiting for a college tour, although, back home this would be considered illegal to do without the proper forms. Oh, well.

“Okay, this counts as my college visit.” I said as I looked around at all the unique monsters on campus. If I had known college would be this cool in person, I probably would’ve gone with my family to move Ty in -on second thought, I probably still wouldn’t have.

“This is a college?” Genie said as he was also impressed with all the campus had. “Not bad. I wonder what the educational system in a world of monsters is like.”

“Kinda like one for humans, except these guys have a whole program dedicated to scaring humans.” I explained to him, but I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings.

The next thing I knew, I accidentally bumped into someone and nearly fell on my face again. Thankfully, someone grabbed my hand and made sure I didn’t hurt myself. It wasn’t Genie or the imps, this person had only three fingers on their hand, not four.

“I’m sorry!” I quickly apologized. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“A-are you hurt?” a stranger worriedly asked me, no doubt it was the one who grabbed me before I fell.

“No.” I shook my head, only to now realize that I lost my glasses again and my vision was blurry. “But now I can’t see.”

“Oh, uh, here.” the stranger said as he put my glasses in my hand. “They kinda fell off your horns.”

“Thanks.” I told the stranger as they gave me back my glasses. I put them back on and saw that in front of me was an 18–19-year-old Randall Boggs. Telling me that the time the world was set in was during the events of Monsters University. Most likely before he and Mike started classes in the Scaring Program at MU.

“Whoa…” I heard myself softly say in awe as I looked at him all heart eyed. Friendly reminder: I have a bit of a crush on Randall, and this meet cute was definitely something I never thought would happen, except for my wildest dreams, but I kind of liked it.

“You okay?” Randall asked me with a concerned look as he helped me to my feet.

“Uh, y-yeah! I-I-I’m okay, I'm alright!” I awkwardly told him as I tried my best to look good. “Uh, how are you?”

“Pretty good, I guess.” he shrugged.

“Th-that’s great!” I stammered before I wheezed out an introduction. “I’m Frankie.”

“Heh, uh, okay.” Randall gave a chuckle before he introduced himself the way I did with the wheeze. “I’m Randall!”

I could tell he meant it in good fun. After all, this was before he became the villain everyone associates him as. He was still a cute dork at this time, even without his cute glasses.

“Yeah, sorry, that was dumb.” I chuckled nervously. “I’m not really used to talking to cute- uh, college guys.”

Randall gave me a confused look. “You’re not a student?”

“No, but I’m here on a college visit with my,” I glanced at Genie and the imps before looking back at Randall. “Uncle and cousins.”

I could practically feel Pain’s eye roll from where I was, but hey, I didn’t want to look like a creep in front of my crush. Even though I did feel a little like a weirdo when I introduced myself with that dumb wheeze.

“Well, if you want, I can give you a personal tour of the campus.” he kindly offered. “It is welcome week, after all. Might as well make you feel welcomed.”

“Really?” I blinked with starry eyes.

Randall smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it won’t be a problem with your uncle, will it?”

I practically felt my tail wag in excitement when I looked over at Genie and the imps, hoping they’d say “yes” into letting Randall show me around. After all, now that I have an extra day in Disney, might as well spend that time getting to know both the coolest fictional college there ever was and getting to know my biggest crush I’d ever have.

Genie gave me an approved nod and a thumbs-up. “Go ahead, Frankie.”

“Thanks!” I told him with the largest smile on my face.

I quickly pulled myself together as Randall took me by the hand -he had such a warm and gentle touch for being a lizard monster. And with that, Randall led me for a tour of the campus, and I was feeling like I had died and gone to Heaven. Walking hand and hand with my fictional crush -well, before he turned into a sociopath. Could this adventure get any better?

Pain’s POV

Well, she did it again. Frankie’s wasting time in another world so she wouldn’t have to leave and go back to her own. Except now instead of saving a bunch of gods or protecting a mermaid princess or just being nice to a bunch of appliances, she got all goo-goo eyed for some random lizard monster who seems like even a bigger nerd than Athena and a lot less cool than Hermes. Clearly, Panic and I made the mistake in agreeing to join Frankie on her adventure.

“Ah, c'est l'amour.” Genie said as he magicked himself a black and white striped shirt, a sideways hat, a red bandana, and a cigarette -with that last one’s smoke forming a small heart at Frankie and -whatshisname? Randall? Yeah, Randall. Even the name is kinda dorky.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed that Frankie was wasting time again after our whole talk earlier. “She’s wasting time.”

“But this time it looks like she’s smitten.” Panic said as he watched Frankie and that Randall guy walk off together. “Gotta say, it’s a relief than her whole “helping people” schtick.”

“Please, with that loser?” I scoffed. “She could do better.”

“She looked interested.” Panic shrugged. “I mean, a troublemaking vandal like her and a nerdy college boy like him?”

“It seems that our girl is in love, boys.” Genie said as he turned back into his monster form. “Besides, he seems like a nice enough lizard monster. What harm could he do?”

“I give them eleven minutes before she remembers why we’re here.” I folded my arms.

“Please,” Panic rolled his eyes. “Like you don’t sappy when it comes to love.”

“That’s ‘cause I don’t.” I told him.

Panic arched a brow at me. “Does Operation Hate Arrows hold any meaning for you?”

I felt my face get more pink in it as my eyes widened at the memory of one of our failed missions. “Hey, we agreed to never speak of Operation Hate Arrows ever again!”

“No, we agreed never to speak of the Canathus Incident ever again,” Panic corrected me. “You said nothing about Operation Hate Arrows.”

“What’s Operation Hate Arrows?” Genie casually asked.

My eyes darted at Panic frantically, and the growing smirk on his face said it all. “Don’t you do it-”

“One time when we still worked for Hades,” Panic stopped me by telling the story. “We were sent to Cupid’s workshop, disguised ourselves as cherubs, to try to see if we could do anything to prevent Cupid from spreading love.”

He was really gonna get it now! “I swear to Tartarus, if you tell him-”

“And the longer we stayed in the workshop, the more the effects of love got to us.” Panic finished with a mean smirk. “Pain got all gushy and lovey-dovey until we left.”

Genie looked back at me, and I could tell that he was hiding a laugh after hearing that embarrassing story. “And I can see those effects wore off.”

“I was not lovey-dovey!” I snapped in defense.

“This sound familiar?” Panic asked before he shapeshifted into me and tried doing an impression of me. ““I love love!””

“I don’t sound like that.” I criticized his impression.

““I don’t sound like that.”” Panic mimicked back before smirking and shapeshifting back to normal. I growled and felt my hand turn into a fist, ready to punch him in the face.

“Fellas, ease up.” Genie broke us up from almost starting a fight on campus. “Look, I think it’s kinda cute that Frankie’s got her eyes on someone. And it looks like he might like her too.”

“But they just met.” I pointed out the obvious. How could a guy and a gal fall in love at first sight?

“It seems like they’ve been struck by Cupid’s arrows.” Panic added before he finished quickly. “And that’s the last joke I got for Operation Hate Arrows, I swear!”

It better be, ‘cause I was just about to punch his horns right off him if he said anything else about that embarrassing story. It was not a fun mission, for either of us. Not just me.

“Look, can we just drop this conversation?” I asked them both so we could try to focus more on Frankie’s dumb crush. “When she saved us, I didn’t think this stupid adventure meant that we got roped into her dumb love story.”

“Why are you like this to her?” Panic asked me skeptically. “Why do you have to act like it’s such a bad thing she took us in after saving us?”

“Because I’m not buying it!” I told him. “No one cares about us that much to save us from being dragged into a vortex of souls.”

“Well, why not?” Genie butted in with a question.

Why? That’s rich! If Panic weren’t so naive and thankful the moment Frankie saved us, I probably would’ve been just the way he was now. But neither he or Genie seemed to get the idea that I still don’t trust Frankie, even after all the worlds we’ve traveled to together. Geez, is this what it’s like when Hades hears Panic and I talk to him?

“Look at us: We’re ex-minions of Hades.” I told him as I gestured to Panic and I. “Nobody cares about us.”

“C’mon, Frankie seems to care for you.” Genie said. “Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Ya can’t get something from nothin’,” I shook my head. “I know something else is up.”

“And here I thought I was the paranoid one.” Panic said cynically. I eyed at him again before he started talking in Frankie’s defense. “I’m just saying, you shouldn’t judge Frankie for saving us or for being all lovey-dovey when you’re capable of it.”

“Y’know, you and her are kinda the same when you think about it.” Genie pointed out.

I scoffed. “How?”

He then magicked up two graphs -one with Frankie and one with me- and used a pointer to point at the two. “Social outcasts who want to be more than what others see them as.”

I was gonna disagree with him, but then I remembered that sad truth Frankie had told us earlier: She was constantly seen as a disappointment in her mother’s eyes and was so afraid to stay in this world to better herself because she felt that if she stayed, everyone would hate her for being so selfish. I don’t know how or why, but it actually did remind me how Panic and I always planned on trying to quit our jobs and run away from the Underworld but were too afraid of Hades finding out and dragging us back to torture us for trying to leave.

We wanted something better, only I was looking out for my brother and myself. Frankie’s morals get mixed up the more she tells herself why she wants to stay. Overall, we kinda were a little the same, but that still doesn’t mean I trust her after she saved us. I don’t buy her whole “you didn’t deserve to be punished”. Please. If she knew all the stuff we did while we worked for Hades, she’d probably leave us for dead.

“C’mon, we’d better make sure she and her little boyfriend aren’t doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing.” I changed the subject and went to find Frankie and Randall. I could practically feel Panic and Genie watching me ignore the earlier conversation, but there was no way in Tartarus they were getting me to admit that Frankie and I were the same.

Chapter Text

The day I had was probably one of the best days I’ve ever had, and being with Randall just made it better. When he gave me a tour of the college campus, he sounded so smart pointing out all the different buildings and what they were all about. He was a perfect gentleman -or gentle lizard, in this case- and I just couldn’t help myself but stare at him the whole time. He was the most perfect guy a gal could be around.

It was nearly one in the afternoon by the time the tour ended, and the two of us were sitting on a bridge overlooking the large creek that ran through the campus. Randall and I were making small talk with each other, but it couldn’t be more perfect. We were having fun, and I just couldn’t stop smiling at Randall.

“So, this is your first college visit, huh?” Randall asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “My parents shipped my older brother off to college a few days ago, but they forgot about taking me for a visit.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I assured him. “But thanks.”

“So, uh, where are you from?” he asked me.

“I live in the city.” I said.

“Really?” Randall looked at me puzzled. “Huh. I’m from Monstropolis too. How come I’ve never seen you around before?”

“Recently moved from a different city.” I told him the only lie I could think of. I know it’s wrong to do so, but hey, it’s all I could do.

“So, this is MU, huh?” I asked him a change of subjects as I looked around the area. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.” I heard Randall say.

I glanced back over at him, and saw that he quickly looked away. Holy smokes, was he looking at me just then while I wasn’t looking at him? I glanced down to see if he was trying to hold my hand with one of his to try to prove my theory, but instead I saw that our tails had wrapped around each other. I guess under all that fluff, I couldn’t even feel my tail wrapping around his. Oh, well, I will count that awkwardness as a half win.

I cleared my throat nervously and changed the subject as I unwrapped my tail. “E-ever thought about pledging for a fraternity?”

“I mean, yeah, but,” he turned his head away. “I don’t think they’d want me.”

“Why would you say that?” I asked him in a confused way.

“The top fraternity I want to pledge for is only for the most elite scaring majors.” he went on to explain as he twiddled his fingers on his second set of hands. “But, I don’t think I’ll be so good at it.”

“Isn’t scaring your major?” I asked him. “That means you have to be good at something regarding scaring.”

“Well, there is one thing I can do,” he said before shaking his head doubtingly. “But I’m not the best at controlling it.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Randall eyed at me nervously. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Promise.” I nodded.

Randall gave a deep breath before he told me about his ability. “I can turn invisible.”

“Really?” I beamed -even though I already knew what he was capable of. “That’s so cool!”

Randall looked at me hopefully. “You really think so?”

“Yeah!” I told him with a kind smile. “I mean if you think about it, the scariest thing is something you can’t see.”

Randall then turned himself invisible for a moment and then revealed himself, now showing a smile of relief knowing that his abilities will get him a future in scaring -and to an extent being accepted into the ROR (Roar Omega Roar) fraternity. At least now he had someone who believed that he could be one of the greatest scarers there ever was. One’s self-esteem is built on the support of others, y’know.

“I… never thought of it that way before.” he said.

I gave a small shrug. “Maybe because you never really believed it for yourself?”

Randall gave me a surprised look before smiling gently at me. And I know that we’ve only met just a few hours ago, but I think I made quite the impression on him. It was almost sad when I realized that this sweet guy sitting next to me was going to grow up to be a terrifying and sadistic person who will do anything to make sure he’s top of the leaderboard. But right then, right there, it didn’t really matter. If this is what love at first sight really felt like, I never wanted it to go away.

“Randy, you out here?”

Randy and I looked on one side of the bridge and saw someone calling out for him. A particular small, one-eyed monster most famously known as Mike Wazowski was looking around for Randall. I assumed it was to help him practice the different types of phobias or scaring positions, but considering I dropped into this world during welcome week at MU, I thought otherwise.

“That’s my roommate.” Randy told me sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his long neck. “I kinda promised him we’d go get textbooks for classes.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I assured him when I remembered that Genie and the imps were probably waiting on me. “My crew’s probably looking for me too.”

Randy gave me a confused look. “You mean your uncle and your cousins?”

My expression turned into an almost poker face sort of realization before I spoke up again. “...Of course.”

“Oh, there you are.” Mike addressed Randy before he noticed me sitting next to him. “Who’s your new friend? She’s kinda cute.”

“Oh, uh, Mike, this is Frankie.” Randy introduced me to Mike as we hopped back onto the sidewalk. “Frankie, this is my roommate.”

“Name’s Mike Wazowski.” Mike introduced himself and gave me a handshake. “Good to meet you.”

“Likewise, I’m sure.” I told him. “Hate to be that gal, but I gotta get going.”

“Will I ever see you again?” Randy asked me.

“I hope so.” I told him as we held hands. “Promise you won’t forget me?”

“Only if you promise the same.” he said as he looked at me with those beautiful emerald green eyes.

I gave him a nod. “I promise.”

I caught Mike looking at us in a confused way, which caused Randy to notice him staring, and we both let go of each other’s hands nervously at the fact that we had an audience of one for our -what I thought to be- a somber goodbye.

“See you around, Randy.” I told him. “And thanks for the tour.”

“You’re welcome.” Randall waved me goodbye as he and Mike started to walk off.

I gave a happy sigh. The first guy I ever had a crush on, and we spent most of the day together. Not too bad for a short visit to another wonderful world of Disney. And if I ever came back, I could see him again, and that would definitely be something to look forward to.

Who am I kidding? If I never came back, I had to make that departure my best one.

“Randy, wait!” I called to him.

Randy and Mike stopped in their tracks and turned to see me running towards him. This was it. Something I always fanaticized about doing and now finally getting the chance to as a grand gesture before I left his world.

“What is it?” Randy asked me.

“To remember me by.” I told him. And with that, I kissed him on the cheek.

When I pulled myself away, Randall’s purple and blue scales all over his slender body shifted into a soft pink color before turning back to normal as he grew a smile. Mike even gave a small smile at the sight of his roommate getting affection from a girl -it was a different time, folks. One of a guy’s only priority during his academic years was getting a girl to like him instead of the other thing that I won’t mention because there could be younger readers reading this.

But alas, this romantic moment could only last so long. Besides, I could practically feel the imps getting annoyed with me wasting time in another world when we were supposed to be finding the king so I could go back home.

“Okay, now I’m leaving.” I told him awkwardly.

Randall snapped out of whatever dazed daydream he was in when I kissed him and gave a nervous smile back. “Oh, uh, g-goodbye, again.” he said awkwardly.

“Bye.” I waved at him before running off excitedly to find the others.

For never wanting to go a hector near any of the guys at my high school, I was proud of myself for not only spending most of the day with a college boy, but working up the courage to kiss his cheek. If I had the nerve to kiss him on the lips, I would’ve been prouder, but that probably would’ve been more awkward for Randall and I. I have my limits for the first meeting with a guy -take notes people: Know your limits.

I found Genie and the imps waiting for me on the south side of the campus. The former taking immediate notice of my excited face, getting the impression that I enjoyed my tour with Randall, while one half of the latter gave a somewhat annoyed look at me finally coming back to focus on my main mission.

“Well, looks like that kid certainly made an impression on you.” Genie told me as I walked up to him and the imps.

I gave a dreamily sigh at the thought of Randall. “He’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met.”

“Well, maybe if you ever pop into this world again,” Panic stated as he nodded his head at Randall. “You and him can go on a real date.”

“I would hope so.” I said as my tail wagged softly at the thought.

“Geez, you’re gonna make me sick with all this mush.” Pain rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Okay, yeah, I get that I wasted half a day in another world doing something other than finding the next Border, but Pain’s little attitude on my decisions was really starting to annoy me. If he kept this up, I might have to consider ditching him and Panic in the next world we go to. Emphasis on the “might”.

Panic eyed Pain before saying something that confused me: “Operation Hate Arrows.”

“Shut up about that!” Pain retorted back to Panic, his face turning pinker than usual.

I blinked at that mention of some weird operation name. “What’s-”

“Not important.” Pain stopped me before storming off in an embarrassed huff towards the portal as Panic snickered at him.

“C’mon, you crazy lovebird,” Genie chuckled as he led me towards the Border. “We’ve got a Border to cross.”

I nodded and followed Genie, but I stayed behind only for a moment while he and the imps exited the monster world through the Border. I turned around to hopefully see Randy and Mike chatting in the far distance, but neither one of them were in sight. They were long gone by now. But it was okay, and a somber smile was on my face as I placed a hand onto the invisible barrier of this world.

“Remember me, Randall Boggs.” I whispered hopefully before joining the others in the other world.

Chapter Text

The Border that we found in Monstropolis led to yet another world in Disney, and we all ended up in a nice world that was home to a calm forest with a cool breeze flowing through. Kind of like how I wanted the first world I traveled to be before I ended up in Aladdin’s world when I first started my adventure. The map we had wasn’t too clear about which world we were now in, but it did say that the next Border was another day’s travel. So, we spent what little daylight we had going in the direction it was in.

However, when night fell and we were still nowhere near the Border -close to halfway, I think- we realized that we needed to rest for the night. Unfortunately, we were so deep in the woods that there was no sign of civilization for miles.

“Looks like we’re camping out for the night.” I stated.

“Ooh! Sounds fun! I’ll help set it up.” Genie beamed at the idea of the four of us camping. He then went off to make us a campsite like these woods were a campground, complete with a fire circle and chairs to sit in around the circle.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Panic asked when we stopped walking. “What if somebody finds us?”

“I’m more worried about ticks getting me than people finding us.” I told him.

Yeah, that shows you all how much I like the outdoors. Don’t get me wrong, nature is beautiful, especially when it’s untouched by humans, but the ticks? Just thinking about those blood-sucking, Lyme Disease carriers digging their heads into my body makes my skin crawl. And with my current outfit being my pajamas from back home, I had very little to protect my face.

Pain looked over at Genie’s progress before getting an impressed smile on his face. “Hey, look at that.”

We all looked and saw Genie had finished up with the campsite, and even magicked up some hammocks in between some trees -one for me and two for the imps. A relief because my hips do not do so well on hard surfaces. Genie sat down in one of the chairs around the fire circle and was holding four weenie roasters in one hand and a tray of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers in the other.

“Anyone for s’mores?” he offered.

I was starving. I think the last time any of us had a decent meal was during that celebration back in Atlantica -which underwater cuisine is pretty tasty, I have to admit. So, the idea of the four of us dining on the traditional campfire snack practically made my mouth water. So, without a second thought, the imps and I sat with Genie around the fire circle and made s’mores.

Later

“I can’t remember the last time I went camping.” I said as I watched my fourth marshmallow roast over the campfire. “I had to be eight-years-old, and my dad wanted to spend the entire Fall Break camping.”

“You don’t really talk much about your dad.” Panic pointed out as he ate his fifth s’more. “Is he bad like your mom?”

“No. My dad’s great.” I explained. “And I think he’d really like to visit this place and meet you guys. He’s about as nuts about stuff like this as he is about appliances, and he loves appliances.”

“Well, we’d like to meet him someday.” Genie said with a smile.

“Why does your dad love you and your mom hate you?” Pain asked. “I thought it was both parents’ jobs to love their kid?”

“Because I exist? Because I’m not her quote-unquote “golden child” of an older son?” I listed off what I thought were Mom’s reasons that she hated me. “Because I want to have fun with my friends in ways she thinks are illegal?”

“You do illegal stuff?” Panic asked.

“Depends on your take on painting abandoned city property.” I said as I ate my s’more.

The teal imp thought about it for a moment. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“What about your dad?” Genie asked.

“He’s not too bothered by it, but he does think that I could do better as a person.” I admitted. “He’s why I think I could be better.”

“Like to be a hero?” Pain interpreted.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Is that why you’re-” he stopped himself from repeating what happened back in Toaster’s world and rephrased himself.  “Is that why you want to help people?”

I gave a little shrug. “I guess so.”

Genie then looked up at the night sky and then back at a watch on his wrist he had magicked up for comedic effect.

“It’s getting pretty late,” he stated. “We should probably get some sleep.”

I agreed with him on that. I placed my marshmallow roaster down and helped Genie put out the fire. After he magicked up a bucket of water to douse the flames, I used the roaster to stir up the remaining ash and embers. When all was said and done, we all went to our hammocks -aside from Genie who started to go back into his lamp- so we could all have a good night’s sleep.

I yawned as I climbed into my hammock. “Goodnight, guys.”

“Night, Frankie.” the guys all said to me right as I went to sleep for my 6th night in Disney.

Several Hours Later

A rustling noise woke me up from my sleep. It was nearly dawn when I woke up, but I still peeked out from my hammock to see if it was Genie or one of the imps was up and moving around, but they were all still asleep. If someone else was here, then they were probably spying on us, and with the two easy worlds we’ve traveled to in a row, I was worried our luck had run out and another villain had spotted us. So, I got out of my hammock and went to find whoever was out there, reluctantly leaving the others behind.

I wandered around the woods for a while before spotting an open meadow behind a tree line. And when I went to inspect it, those rustling noises came back. I hid myself behind a tree and peered out from it, expecting to see some evil maniac lurking about. But there was no villain, or any other human for that matter. That thing making the rustling noises was just a female deer wandering about.

The doe’s ears raised in alert when she sensed that I was near, and the moment she looked up and saw me, all I could do was stare at her back. I had never seen a deer so close before, let alone see an actual deer since I grew up in a city, but there was something about that animal that made me feel like I was honored to be in her presence. I carefully crept out of my hiding spot, slowly enough not to spook the deer, and held a hand out for her.

The deer hesitated at first, but I guess she sensed that I wasn’t a threat and decided to slowly approach me as well. I stopped moving the moment she got super close to my hand so I wouldn’t scare her off. The deer sniffed my hand, and when she finally knew that I meant no harm to her, she let me pet her head. And, gotta tell you, deer are a lot more soft than they look. 

I probably had spent ten minutes petting the deer before I heard more rustling noises approaching. The doe’s ears perked up again and she turned her head towards the direction the noises were coming from, but she didn’t run off. That meant that it wasn’t a human or a predator approaching us, but some other animal. And when I saw what animal it was, I could hardly believe my eyes; A stag, probably the tallest and most regal looking deer I had ever seen approached the doe and I, but this wasn’t any normal stag.

“The Great Prince…” I quietly breathed in realization.

I bowed my head in respect for him. The prince stared at me, his eyes narrowing at me as he was determining whether or not I, a human, was allowed in his presence or his forest. But the doe, in silent talk, gestured towards me. Neither deer were making a single sound, but I could tell that they were talking about me and how I didn’t hurt the doe before the prince showed up. But there was something else, something particular about these two deer that seemed off. I then noticed that the doe looked a little on the stout side in her belly, indicating that she was pregnant and was expecting a fawn pretty soon.

A pregnant doe standing with the Great Prince?

My eyes widened in realization, only this was a happier one. That doe was Bambi’s mother, and at the moment, she was still pregnant with him. This meant that the events of the movie had yet to happen, and that my appearance hadn’t broken any sort of world order so far as I was aware. A rarity on my adventure thus far.

The two deer then gave me a goodbye nod as they walked away towards the meadow. Seeing those two together before their son was born was a very sweet sight to see, especially since they never interacted after the fact. Even after being in their world before their son’s story began felt special. It’s hard to explain, but I guess after being in all the other worlds before or during their stories, I felt like I was growing closer to both those worlds and Disney entirely. Which made me realize that leaving Disney was going to be much harder than I had originally thought.

“Frankie?”

I gave a frightened noise before I whipped my head around, but thankfully, it was only Genie who had found me and not some creeper or villain I had met before.

“Genie!” I said in relief. “I didn’t hear you follow me. Did you come to bring me back to the campsite?”

“Yes and no. I needed to talk to you about something.” he explained to me. “Something kinda important.”

This was serious. If it wasn’t that important, he’d tell both me and the imps or wouldn’t have bothered following me, but if he followed me all this way and waited until after the deer left to talk to me, this was really serious business. 

“What is it?” I asked.

“Well, that’s just it. I can’t exactly explain it.”

Maybe I stand corrected.

“Okay, you’re kinda losing me here.” I said to him. “A little more than you usually do.”

“Look, I like helping you out. You’re my buddy!” Genie started explaining before a worried look came onto his face. “But, I keep getting these visions about Al and Agrabah in trouble, like something’s calling me back.”

“You’re just a little homesick, is all.” I told him. “I mean, I get that.”

“No, it’s something else.” he shook his head. “I think it's a premonition.”

“Like a future vision?”

“Yeah.”

I stood there with a puzzled expression. “Can genies even see the future?”

“Sometimes,” he said before getting onto a more serious point. “But the more worlds we go to, the stronger the premonitions get.” 

He then turned himself into an old fortune teller, complete with a crystal ball and a necklace of charms, and threw some bones onto the ground, and watched as the bones stood up and started shaking as if they were scared of something.

“The bones say danger will come to Agrabah.” he said in an eerie voice.

I blinked at the bones in confusion. “They do?”

“The bones never lie.” Genie said before turning and speaking back to normal. “They may joke about your weight, but they never lie.”

If Genie’s premonition was as bad as he and the bones say it was, then I knew what had to happen. Since Genie was free, then there was no point in forcing him to stay with me on my adventure. And if Aladdin was in trouble or going to be in trouble, then he needed help more than I did. I know that he could take care of himself, but with a friend like Genie, Al could use the help. Besides, Genie’s probably seen the whole world and more by now like he always wanted. So, there was probably not much else for him here with the imps and I.

“I understand.” I finally said. “If that premonition is calling you back to Agrabah to help Aladdin, then I won’t stop you.”

“But what about you and the imps?” he asked. “I don’t wanna leave you guys here by yourselves. What if you still need help finding the king?”

“We’ll make do with what we got.” I assured him. “Don’t worry about us.”

“Hey, with all the trouble you seem to get yourself in, how could I not?” Genie said as we started heading back to the campsite.

Five Minutes Later

Genie and I explained his premonition and that he had to leave back for Agrabah to the imps when we got back to the campsite. To be honest, I expected the imps to argue back and say that we need someone like him to stay with us on my quest, but considering as how they were speaking from one freed former prisoner to another, I was surprised to see the imps understand why Genie had to leave and couldn’t stay with us on the adventure any longer.

“Take care of yourself, big guy.” Panic told Genie.

“Yeah, and next time we see each other,” Pain added. “Well, uh, maybe you could show us this Agrabah place. You and Frankie make it sound kinda cool.”

“Maybe sometime, fellas.” Genie smiled at them. “Try not to cause trouble for Frankie.”

“No promises, but okay.” Pain said.

Now came the hard part. I knew that this was probably the last time I’ll ever see Genie if I never came back to Disney, and since he’s been nothing more than a true friend to me during my adventure, this goodbye was going to be super hard on me.

“I’m gonna miss you, Genie.” I tearfully said as I hugged him goodbye.

“You too, Frankie,” he told me -getting equally as choked up as I was. “And no matter what anyone says, you’ll always be a hero to me.”

That meant a lot coming from him. We broke off the hug, and Genie gave me the map he had held onto for most of the adventure. Indicating that I was the one in charge of it now, and I wasn’t planning on losing or destroying it like I did the spell. Genie then magicked away the campsite before he floated up into the air, reluctantly ready to leave.

“Say “hi” to your pops for me.” he told me with a smile.

“I will.” I assured him as I waved goodbye. “Tell Aladdin I say “hi”.

He gave me a nod, and just like that, Genie disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Indicating that he left back for his home in Agrabah.

“I’m gonna miss him.” Pain said after a moment of silence. “He was pretty fun to have around.”

“Me too.” I agreed before shaking away the thought of Genie no longer joining us and started focusing on the mission at hand. “C’mon, let’s get a move on.”

To my surprise, Pain was the one who stopped me from walking off with a concerned look. “Hey, you gonna be okay?”

I gave him a reassuring nod. “I’ll be fine.”

And with that, the imps and I continued on to the direction the next Border was in. I had a more determined look on my face as I held onto the magic map. It was up to me now to find the king, I only hope the next world we go to will put us closer.

Chapter Text

The imps and I traveled the rest of the morning to get to the next Border. It was quieter now without Genie, but I knew him leaving was for the best. He was needed elsewhere, but I’ll miss him. As we walked to find the Border, we were surprised to find that when we entered through it, the scenery hardly changed at all. Sure, my outfit now looked like a medieval peasant girl in a cloak instead of my pajamas, but we were still in the deep woods. Thankfully, I knew that if the imps and I were now in medieval times, we might get lucky and find someone living in the woods. Heck, we could bump into Merlin again, and maybe he could help us find the king.

“Is it just me, or did these woods just get a whole lot creepier?” Panic asked as he flew next to me.

“It’s just you.” Pain told him. “But it is a little weird that we’re not really out of the woods.”

“Yeah, literally.” I gave a slight scoff. We had spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon walking, and to be honest, I didn’t think I could survive another step. My feet were killing me, I smelt like a dump truck on a hot garbage day, and there was still no sign of the king or anyone else in this world.

“Hey, over there!” Panic smiled as he pointed at something.

We all looked, and saw an old woodcutter’s cottage, with smoke coming out of the chimney. Someone lived here, and we had some help at last from our long trip.

“Oh, thank God!” I grinned as the imps and I raced to the cottage. I nearly tripped over my dress skirt before reaching the door but managed to pull myself together to appear somewhat modest. But just before I knocked, I looked down at the imps.

“What?” Pain asked me in a confused way.

“Might be a good idea to disguise yourselves.” I suggested to them. “We got lucky these past couple of worlds, but if we are in medieval times, we could get in trouble.”

“How bad is it for a girl to walk around with a pair of imps?” Panic asked.

“Pretty bad.” I told them nonchalantly. “They’ll accuse me of witchcraft and burn me alive.”

“Oh.” the eyes on both imps widened at my answer.

They then turned into a familiar couple of critters; A cute rabbit and a gopher, and each of them hopped on me, the rabbit in my arms and the gopher perched on my shoulders. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a familiar older woman in a red dress and a small yellow shawl over her grey hair: It was Flora, one of the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty in her human disguise. Which meant that I was in the middle of the movie where she and the other fairies were raising Princess Aurora, or should I say Briar Rose, in secret.

“Uh, hello.” I greeted her.

“What are you doing in the woods all by yourself, young lady?” Flora asked me worriedly. “Come in, quickly.”

I walked inside the cottage, where I spotted the other two fairies, Fauna and Merryweather, in their disguises as well. Fauna gasped at the sight of my tired appearance and rushed over to help me in. Merryweather followed shortly after.

“Thank you.” I told them as they helped me inside their cottage.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Fauna said as she removed my cloak and hung it up for me. “You look like you’ve been travelling for days.”

“We have.” I told her as Flora helped me sit down in a chair to rest my feet.

“I’ll get you something to drink.” Merryweather said as she went to find a cup.

“Thank you.” I told her.

“Rose, dear,” Fauna called for someone upstairs. “We have visitors.”

Footsteps came down from the stairs, and I saw the main attraction of this world. A girl about my age, wearing a grey peasant dress, with hair of sunshine gold and lips as red as the rose and practically walked into the room full of grace: Princess Aurora, or Briar Rose as she’s known at this point, walked downstairs and greeted the imps and I with a kind smile. The imps stared at her with open jaws, I’m betting they thought only Aphrodite was the only most beautiful woman they ever saw up until now.

“Uh, h-hi.” I greeted.

“Hello.” Aurora said before noticing the disguised imps and rushed towards them. “Oh, what adorable little companions you have.”

“Yeah, they are pretty cute.” I smiled as I handed her the rabbit for her to pet.

Pain tried his best to escape the warm hug from the fair maiden, but he practically melted like butter while he was receiving attention from Aurora. Panic then stared up at me in an offended way, so, me thinking he was feeling left out of receiving attention, I picked him up and started petting him too. The little guy started smiling again once he got the attention.

“What’s your name?” Aurora then asked me.

“Frank-” I caught myself and just told her my real name. “Francesca.”

“That’s a lovely name.” she complimented before introducing herself. “I am Briar Rose, but my aunts just call me Rose.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said.

“So, Francesca, what brings you to our cottage?” Merryweather asked me as she handed me a cup of water. “We hardly ever see strangers in the area.”

“I’m trying to find someone who can help me get back home.” I explained to her as Panic hopped onto my shoulder. “Some king, but everywhere we’ve went, we haven’t been close to finding him.”

“Maybe you’re looking for King Stefan?” Fauna suggested. “He is the only king within miles.”

“No, it can’t be him.” I shook my head. “The king I’m looking for is supposed to be gifted in magic.”

Flora thought for a moment before speaking. “Well, I suppose we could provide some assistance.”

Aurora turned her head. “How so, Aunt Flora?”

“Well, when your aunts and I were younger, we used to be fascinated by magic and even researched on the most powerful magic holders of the world.”

“Oh, yes!” Fauna added. “We once had a book that told us all about them.”

“But we lost it years ago to-” Merryweather finished with a grumble. “To her.”

“Her who?” Aurora asked.

“Maleficent.” her three guardians said in unison.

The name of my all-time favorite Disney villain ran chills down my spine. But then I thought, if Maleficent had this book, maybe giving it back to the good fairies could result in them helping me find the king. Yeah, this new plan was risky. Riskier than any other plan involving a villain I had thus far, but if I could use that book to find the king, then I could get home quicker than expected. Which was good, because I was running out of time. I only had a few days left before my parents got home.

“Who’s she?” Aurora asked a second question.

“She’s said to be most powerful user of dark magic.” I explained to her. “So far to call herself the Mistress of all Evil.”

“Indeed. She’s a dark fae born with the horns and wings of a dragon,” Flora continued. “But her status is one not to reckon with.”

“How do you mean?” Aurora asked her.

“Maleficent is evil.” Merryweather stated with a huff at the dark fae’s name. “So evil that speaking her name should be considered a sin.”

“But if she has this book,” I spoke up. “Then where can I find her?”

“Oh, she lives in upon the Forbidden Mountains-” Fauna began to say before realizing what I was talking about. “Oh! Oh, you can’t be seriously thinking about stealing the book from Maleficent!”

“If she’s the only one who has something that could get me to the king, I’m afraid that’s my only option.” I told her.

“But you could get cursed! Or worse, killed!” she worried.

“Listen, I know you all mean well, but I have to do this.” I explained to her and the other fairies. “I have to get back to my family, and if the king is the only way to do so, and if Maleficent has the only key linked to him, then so be it.”

“Very, well, child,” Flora finally agreed before she headed to a door upstairs. “But we must give you something before you go on your quest.”

I gave Panic to Aurora, who wanted to follow us, but was stopped by Fauna.

“Rose, stay here, please.” she told her.

I could tell Aurora wanted to know more, but in any case, she still obeyed her caretaker and sat down with the rabbit and gopher in her lap. “Yes, Aunt Fauna.”

When the fairies led me into the room where Flora had gone to, which turned out was a simple storage room. They then shut all the windows and blocked out any opening they could find with rags, including a small crack in the window bind and the keyhole to the door. Whatever they wanted to give me, they really didn’t want Aurora to know, or anyone who would be listening, for that matter. This was to be done in absolute secrecy.

“Merlin was the one who sent you, wasn’t he?” Flora asked me when she and the others had finished securing the storage room.

My eyes widened in a mix of surprise and confusion at her question. “You know Merlin?”

“We’re all members of a high council of magicians, sorcerers, and fairies.” Merryweather explained as she pointed to herself and Flora and Fauna.

“He told us a great deal about you, Francesca Cole.” Flora continued. “And we’d like to help you.”

“Really?” I smiled. I was in more luck than I thought, I mean Genie was great to have as a friend, but I was in the presence of the three good fairies. They’re magic was known for bringing happiness to others, and nothing would make me happier than having something that could help me get back home.

“The book is magic, but Maleficent doesn’t know it.” Fauna continued.

“How magical?” I asked.

“By simply asking the book to take you to one of the magical beings in it’s pages, it’ll send you there directly.” Flora explained.

“Like a portal.” I summed up the book’s ability. So, if I get my hands on the book, I teleport to the king, and I’m home free. I feel like I was denied critical, need-to-know information when I first found out about the king, but Genie only knew so much, so I didn’t held it against him.

“Maleficent mustn’t know about its power.” Merryweather warned me. “Who knows what would happen if she ever found out.”

“I understand.” I told her. Well, here’s hoping I could protect a book better than I could a spell.

“Here, to protect you from Maleficent’s guards and her powers.” Flora told me as she went to a small hole in the wall. “A Beacon of Hope.”

Flora pulled out a small golden stick: her magic wand and used it to instantly magicked up an amulet that appeared around my neck. A pretty little necklace with a gold chain and a large blue crystal charm hanging off of it. It was beautiful, but I could feel some sort of energy coming from it as I touched the crystal.

“That amulet will allow you to change form, to guise yourself when you act out your quest.” she explained to me how the Beacon worked. “Use it wisely, child.”

“And don’t tell this to Rose.” Fauna said. “The less she knows about Maleficent, the better.”

“I know.” I assured her and the others. “You have to keep her safe.”

“Thank you.” Flora said as she hid away her wand. “And good luck.”

I thanked them for their help and left the storage room, where I saw Aurora still gently petting the imps, who were absolutely smitten and dreamy eyed at the kindness of the unknown princess. Aurora then noticed me watching her and saw her guardians leave the storage room shortly after.

“You’re leaving already?” she asked me.

“I’ll stop by after I find the book.” I assured her with a smile as I grabbed my cloak from the hook. “I promise.”

Aurora handed me the imps as I made my way to the door, but I didn’t leave without saying a kind goodbye to my kind hostesses. “It was a pleasure to meet you all.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you too, Francesca.” Rose smiled as the fairies stood next to her.

“Fare thee well.” I waved Aurora and the fairies goodbye, and the imps and I set out for our biggest challenge yet.

Later

“This is it?” Pain asked me as we stood a few feet from the base of the Forbidden Mountains.

“Yep.” I nodded with a gulp.

It didn’t take us long to get to Maleficent’s domain, about a good hour or so, but by the time the imps and I got there, it didn’t take a genius to know that we were extremely nervous about going in there to steal the fairies’ book. Especially since it won’t be an easy thing, what with Maleficent’s goons standing guard at every possible entrance or exit surrounding her castle, her pet raven Diablo -or Diaval, depending on which you prefer, and Maleficent herself. She wasn’t a sleazy dealmaker like the previous villains I’ve encountered, but she was twice as powerful as both Jafar and Ursula combined but only ranked slightly lower than Hades in the same terms.

“Sure is creepy.” Panic shuddered at the crackling thunder surrounding Maleficent’s lair.

Pain gave a slight shrug. “Least it’s got a better view than the Underworld.”

“You really think this Maleficent lady has that book?” Panic asked me.

“She has to.” I said. “Those fairies aren’t known for deceiving people.”

“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.

“We sneak in, find the book, and get out before anybody notices the three of us.” I listed out the plan.

“Four actually.” a familiar voice corrected me.

The imps and I whipped our heads around to see someone in a blue cloak standing behind us. I was just about to interrogate this stranger for following us, that is, until I saw that under the hood, this stranger had sunshine gold hair, rose red lips, and kind amethyst violet eyes.

“Rose?” I gasped in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to help.” Aurora said as she pulled her hood back, showing that she was confident in helping us steal a book from the one who cursed her, and was conveniently wearing her purple shawl over her head.

“No, no, no. No. You don’t get it.” I did my best to send her back for her safety the nicest -if not warning- way imaginable. “If Maleficent sees you, she’ll kill you.”

“I’m not afraid of her.” Aurora said as she put her hands on her hips. “Not when my friend is going after her alone.”

I tried to argue back, but there was no point. Sure, Aurora might not have been developed as a character -like, at all- but if she was so insistent in helping the imps and I steal the book and wasn’t backing down no matter how much I warned her about what would happen if Maleficent found her, then there was no point in sending her back to the cottage. I supposed that having Aurora help would be alright. The good fairies were gonna kill me if they found out Aurora snuck out to help me, but the extra help would be good to have.

“Okay, but stay close to me.” I told her. “And whatever you do, don’t reveal your face to her if she sees us.”

“Why?” Aurora asked me as she put her hood back on.

“Because you look a little like someone she really doesn’t like.” I told her.

“My goodness, what strange creatures.” Aurora changed the subject when she saw the imps in their true forms. “Are they changelings?”

“Changelings?” I repeated.

“Fae with the ability to change their shape.” Aurora explained. “I’m no expert, but I believe that these two were the animals that were with you back in my aunts’ cottage.”

While she was right about that last part, the imps were far different from changelings. I eyed at the imps and then back at Aurora. I didn’t have the heart nor time to correct her on her mythical species identification, so I just went with it.

“Yes. They’re changelings.” I finally spoke, noting the offended faces on the imps.

Aurora smiled at the imps as she knelt down to their heights. “Well, they’re positively adorable, nonetheless.”

The imps started giggling like a bunch of dorks at the compliment before they were stopped when Aurora kissed each of them on their cheek. After that, Aurora stood back up and started making her way towards the Forbidden Mountains, with me and the imps close behind. All though, the latter were still star struck about the kiss.

“I think I could get used to pretty girls thinking we’re cute.” Panic gave a giggle as he and Pain swayed lovestruck after Aurora kissed them.

I gave a chuckle and helped them move forward. “C’mon, you little smitten kittens.”

Later

It took about another hour to climb up the Forbidden Mountains. For being such a creepy and dangerous looking domain, it was actually easy to climb up. I guess it was all played for a rouse to scare away any passer-byers who came across the domain of Maleficent. The four of us managed to reach a small path that was clear and out of the way from any danger, when Aurora felt that something wasn’t quite right with the path we were on. And her fears were proven right when we heard a scraping sound approach us.

“What’s that?” Aurora asked as the scraping got louder and more threatening.

“I dunno.” Pain said as he looked around. “But it’s weird and getting angry.”

“Just stay close to me.” I told everyone.

Just then, strange creatures jumped from behind trees and bushes. All dressed in dark clothes and helmets and having faces of either lizards, bats, birds, or pigs. These creatures were an army of goblins and goons. Aka: Minions of Maleficent. And they all surrounded us with spears and swords in hand, ready to strike for an attack for trespassing onto their mistress’ land. I put myself in front of the princess and the imps so they wouldn’t get hurt.

“What are they?” Aurora asked me as she tried to hide her face away from them so they wouldn’t see her.

“Maleficent’s goons.” I said.

One of the goons, the pig-faced one I remember from the movie, stepped forward and pointed a spear at us as he ordered. “Who dares trespass onto the territory of Maleficent? State your purpose!”

“We don’t mean any trouble.” I told the goon. “We’re just looking for something.”

A bat-faced goon holding a sword noticed the imps and tapped the pig-faced one’s shoulder. “Captain, innit those-”

“They are.” the captain gave a sadistic pig grunt as he grinned menacingly at the imps. “Mistress will love to have those.”

“Wh-what are they talking about, Frankie?” Panic asked as he sank behind me.

“I don’t know.” I answered, not liking what the captain said. If Maleficent wanted the imps, she’d have to take them away from my cold, dead hands herself instead of sending her goons to steal them for her.

“Seize the changelings and kill the girls.” the captain ordered the other goons.

The goblins started closing in on us, but the imps then jumped out from behind me and turned into a pair of tigers. They roared at the goons and started swatting at them with their massive, clawed paws.

“Get back!” Panic threatened with a snarl at them as he and Pain protected Aurora and I, giving us time to escape.

“Run!” I yelled at Aurora.

Aurora nodded and started running back down the mountain. I followed after her, and the imps -now back in their normal forms- followed me. We ran, but the goons were still chasing after us. I only hoped we could find a way to get them off our tracks, but more importantly to never let them find out that Aurora was with me. I couldn’t afford to get her discovered by Maleficent so soon.

“Frankie!”

My heart stopped and so did my body when I turned around and saw that one of the goons had snared the imps up in a net. Neither one of them could get out or shapeshift themselves free, the net had too small of holes, that it almost looked like an ant couldn’t crawl through them.

“Boys!” I gasped as I ran back to them. The captain then pointed his spear at me in a threatening manner, but I pulled it away from him and snapped the thing in half as I then tried to reach for the net with the imps in it.

“Let them go!” I ordered the bat-faced goon holding the bag, but I was then met with a bird-faced goon who then pushed me away.

Aurora came rushing to my aid, and we watched helplessly as the captain took a vial out from a pocket and threw it to the ground, releasing a foul-smelling cloud of purple smoke. And when the smoke cleared, Aurora and I gasped. The goons were gone, and so were the imps.

“NO!” I screamed. I fell to my knees and pounded on the dirt in anger. How could I let my friends get kidnapped like that? How could I break my promise to them? This was worse than any horrible thing that had happened to me on this trip.

“I’m so sorry, Francesca.” Aurora apologized. “I truly am.”

“I promised I’d keep them safe…” I said as I sat there in disbelief, processing what had happened. “I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them.”

“Let’s go.” Aurora then said with a determined tone.

I looked up at her in confusion. “Rose?”

“Your friends have been kidnaped, but they’re being taken directly to those mountains.” she explained as she pointed up to Maleficent’s lair. “Where the book is.”

“So, we go in to save them and get the book at the same time.” I pieced together what she was saying. “Rose, that’s brilliant!”

I get that she didn’t have a lot of screentime, but I don’t really understand why people underestimate Aurora. If they realized how clever, brave, and kind she is, they’d probably treat her with more, if not the same respect as the other Disney princesses. And I certainly had more respect for her when she was the first to realize that we could save the imps and get the book from Maleficent.

“Hang on, boys, we’re coming!” I shouted up towards the mountains as Aurora and I started climbing up again.

Chapter Text

Well, it was almost sunset when Aurora and I climbed back up the mountain, only this time, we avoided the path we were on earlier to avoid another attack from Maleficent’s goons. For an extra precaution, I had Aurora hide her face away with her purple shawl, leaving only her eyes and nose visible. If we ended up bumping into Maleficent, the last thing I needed to happen was for Aurora to get caught before the prophecy was completed.

When we got to Maleficent’s palace, we snuck past a snoozing guard, and tried our best to sneak in without getting caught. It'd proved easy when we saw that there were hardly any guards in sight.

“It’s too quiet in here.” Aurora whispered as we hid behind a large pillar.

“Yeah,” I whispered skeptically. “I don’t like it.

We snuck in deeper into the palace, hiding behind pillars and tapestries to avoid any guards that were on watch. This was riskier than I thought, but it was worth it to save the imps and get the book. We eventually managed to make it towards Maleficent’s throne room, where Aurora and I knew it would be the hardest to hide away, especially since Maleficent spent most of her time sitting on her throne listening to reports from her goons.

“Man, she’s hot.”

I felt my eyes light up the moment I heard that voice. “That was Panic.”

Aurora and I followed a direction where we heard Panic speaking, and it led us to a balcony overlooking the throne room. Where we found the imps: roped by the neck, hands and wings tied, with the goons making sure they wouldn’t escape as they were being presented to Maleficent, herself. Sitting on her throne, with her pet raven perched on one of the throne’s armrests.

“Found these two outside the castle, mistress.” the captain said as he presented the imps to Maleficent.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I send you out to scare innocents, and lo, you catch changelings.” Maleficent gave a sinister chuckle before giving an order. “Away with them.”

“Yes, mistress.” the goons obeyed and started dragging the imps away.

“But gently, my pets.” Maleficent spoke to her goons once again. “And prepare the device. I have plans for these changelings.”

The goons saluted their mistress and hauled the imps away through a door on the left side of the throne. As the imps were being hauled away, Maleficent sent another pair of goons away to prepare that device she had been talking about.

“What could she mean a device?” Aurora asked me.

“I dunno.” I told her as I eyed those goons going off to the machine. “But we’re gonna find out.”

We followed the goons as they walked deeper into the palace’s catacombs, and in one room in the deepest part of the palace, Aurora and I hid ourselves as we peeked at the device. At first, I thought it looked like some sort of medieval electric chair, but then I saw the tubes going into the wrist and ankle cuffs on it. The tubes led to an alchemy table to a potion bottle. What was Maleficent up to?

“How’s it look?” one goon, one with a bird beak, asked another one in a cockney British accent.

“Like a torture device.” a goon with a lizard snout replied in an annoyed way with the same accent.

“I dunno.” the bird-faced one shrugged. “Maybe give it an’ extra sanding to smooth it out so it’ll look nice?”

“You moron, we’ll burn it after we use it.” the lizard-faced one said after smacking the other one upside the head. “Didn’t ya ‘ere ‘er ladyship? After we find the princess and complete the prophecy, she’s gonna drain the lifeforce of the changelings to give us the ability to change shape.”

I covered Aurora’s mouth the moment she gasped. That’s why Maleficent needed the imps. She was going to drain them of their powers and give them to her goons, but why? What could she use their abilities for?

“So, when the changelings are dead, then we can attack the kingdom and then ‘er ladyship can reclaim ‘er rightful place in power and complete ‘er vengeance.” the lizard-faced goon practically answered my question when he finished speaking to the other goon.

“Right. I knew that.” the bird-faced one said in a dumb sounding way. And with that, the sound of scraping feet against the cobblestone indicated that the goons had left the room.

“They’re gonna kill the imps.” I summed up the imps’ fates as I stared at the device with scared eyes.

“There has to be something we could do to stop them.” Aurora whispered.

I looked around to see if there was a weak spot on the device, but knowing Maleficent, she probably perfected it of any weaknesses. That is, until I spotted a mace and a Warhammer conveniently leaning against the wall where the goons weren’t looking.

“You prefer a hammer or a mace?” I asked her.

Aurora started at me in shock. “I beg your pardon?”

I ignored that and handed her the Warhammer. “Just follow my lead.”

I lifted the mace, which proved difficult because the thing felt like I was lifting a two-door microwave, but I toughed it out. I had the imps’ safety to think about. So, I snuck into the room, and prepared to smash this torture device into pieces, when I found out that there was still a goon, the bird-faced one, left in the room. And we looked at each other in utter surprise.

“Oi, how’d you get in ‘ere?” he asked me.

I readied my mace for a nice smack to his head, but instead, Aurora lost her balance trying to lift up her Warhammer, and the hammer part fell right onto the goon’s head with a hard CLANG. Knocking him out cold for the time being.

“Nice shot.” I gave an impressed laugh.

“Oh, Heavens.” Aurora gasped at the unconscious goblin. “Did I kill him?”

“Nope, he’s still breathing.” I assured her, y’know to ease her conscience, before reading my mace at the device. “Come on, we better destroy the machine before any other goons show up.”

Aurora nodded and swung the Warhammer at the chair, smashing it into splinters while I followed with my mace. When the deed was done, we tossed the weapons aside, and for an extra good measure, I took the potion bottle from the table and threw it against the wall, shattering it.

“Oi, what’s goin’ on down there?” the lizard-faced goon’s voice called from upstairs.

“C’mon! Quickly!” I said as Aurora and I ran out of the room.

“Wait. What’s that?” Aurora grabbed my hand and stopped me.

I looked over, and she saw something laying on a stone lectern in another open room. Before we could get a closer look, we heard more goons approaching to check up on the device. Aurora and I hid in the room, thankfully when the goons passed us, they didn’t run into the room as well. We got lucky so far, but there was no wood to knock on to prevent any jinxes, so I had to watch what I said next. Aurora and I looked over at the lectern and saw that there was a thick brown book laid open.

When I approached the book slowly, I could see something very interesting on the pages the book was turned too. On one page, it had a drawing and description of Maleficent herself, but on the other page, it was a drawing and description of the evil queen Grimhilde, the main villainess of Snow White. I flipped Maleficent’s page and saw a picture and description on the other two pages that showed the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. This meant only one thing:

“This is it.” I told Aurora as I closed the book. “This is the book your aunts told me about.”

“That seemed fairly easy to find.” Aurora said as she took the book and hid it away in a pocket in her cloak.

“Yeah.” I agreed skeptically as I looked around for spies. “A little too easy.”

“Come, let us save your friends.” Aurora told me as she grabbed my hand and led me out of the book chamber.

I nodded, and we went back up the stairs. While we miraculously managed to avoid any other run-in with Maleficent’s goons, we did run into something. When we reached an empty hallway we passed through earlier, a swarm of black feathers flew in front of my face, blinding me for just a moment. Aurora gave a panicked scream as I threw a punch at the unseen foe. I hit something and heard it fall to the ground. Aurora and I looked and saw Maleficent’s raven, Diablo, shaking his head in dizziness after getting punch. The bird gave us a mean look before giving us an angry squawk and flew away.

“Stupid bird.” I grumbled.

“Are you alright?” Aurora asked me.

“Yeah. A little shaken up, but believe it or not, that wouldn’t be the first time I was jumped by a bird.” I assured her as we pressed on to save the imps.

I should’ve known seeing Diablo meant trouble the moment he flew in my face, but I didn’t think much of it. I was wrong the moment Aurora and I went back up the stairs to try to free the imps, where we became cornered in the foyer of the palace, but not by the goons. Aurora and I were confronted by Maleficent, with a sly Diablo perched on her shoulder. That stupid raven led us right to her.

“I must say,” Maleficent spoke surprisingly calm at us. “I’m quite impressed that you two managed to trespass into my lair.”

“We came to save my friends.” I told her.

“Friends?” she repeated with a chuckle. “Those creatures of Hell are your companions?”

“They’re from the Grecian Underworld, not the Christian Hell.” I corrected her before threatening her. “But if you hurt them-”

“You’re threatening me?” Maleficent chuckled. “How quaint. Foolish, but quaint.”

“Please, your excellency, release her friends.” Aurora begged her. “They mean no harm.”

“Oh, but they do.” Maleficent went on to explain. “I’ve heard legends of Underworld creatures capable of shedding their skin to turn into deadly creatures or humans to trick others. That they nearly killed an infant immortal by turning into venomous snakes.”

“Well, they never actually got the chance to bite him.” I stated.

Aurora turned to me with a surprised expression. “You know that story?”

“Yeah, but-” I stopped myself when I realized that Maleficent’s motives for the imps weren’t that finished as those goons said it was. “Why are you interested in the imps?”

“With their power, I will be able to extract their essence into my own army.” she explained. “Creating my own army of changelings.”

“Why?” Aurora asked her.

“Because it’s justice I want.”

“All this because you weren’t invited to a royal christening?” I asked Maleficent as I folded my arms.

“Oh, Heavens.” Aurora gasped.

I looked at her with an arched brow. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“Not being invited to a royal christening is the biggest dishonor anyone could give someone.” Aurora explained to me. “I’d certainly be upset if I weren’t invited, but I’d never get revenge.”

“I wasn’t uninvited. I wasn’t wanted.” Maleficent corrected with a growl. “But that’s not my whole reasoning.”

Aurora and I looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Maleficent. “It isn’t?”

“No, you poor simple fools. The king betrayed me!” Maleficent yelled with venom in her voice when she was reminded of Stefan. “He had stolen what was rightfully mine all to become king!”

Aurora backed up slowly. “W-what did he steal?”

“Her wings.” I answered in a soft gasp.

Aurora looked at me in surprise and Maleficent started at me in shock. The latter especially because I knew why she hated King Stefan so much despite never encountering me before. That’s why she wanted her army of changelings, she wanted revenge for Stefan cutting off her wings and betraying her trust almost sixteen years ago.

“She and Stefan, they were in love once, but he betrayed her.” I explained to Aurora what happened when her father became king. “One night while she was asleep, he took away her wings: Something very precious to her. All so he could become king.”

“And with my army, and the death of his only child,” Maleficent continued her plan. “We will strike his kingdom until I’ve taken everything he ever loved. Just as he took away what was mine.”

“And you were gonna hurt or kill my friends to do it.” I recapped her plan as I stared her down. “And that I won’t allow.”

“Very well.” Maleficent said calmly as she pointed her staff at Aurora and I. “Then for that, you and your friend must die.”

Diablo understood what his mistress was about to do and flew away to protect himself. And that bird had the right idea the moment I saw the lightning bolts spark out of Maleficent’s staff. My first instinct was to rush Aurora away from the danger. We then hid behind a pillar as Maleficent was shooting dark magic and lightning bolts at us. Not the best hiding spot, but Maleficent didn’t seem to care, she was still trying to kill us.

“What do we do?” Aurora asked me.

“We need to get to the prison cells.” I said. “That’s where the imps are.”

She nodded, and we bolted out of the room and out of Maleficent’s shooting range. Neither one of us dared to look back to see if Maleficent was following us or still shooting her dark magic at us, but I heard the clamoring of goons she had summoned before her to do her bidding.

“Search everywhere for those maidens!” I heard Maleficent order her goons. “But bring them to me alive, I want to hear them beg for mercy before I kill them.”

“Down here, quickly!” Aurora called for me.

I turned and saw that she was heading towards the doorway on the left side of the throne. Where we saw that it led down a long flight of stairs: The exact entrance for the castle’s dungeons. We raced down there before Maleficent or any of her goons could spot us. Only problem we ran into was the fact that there were a lot of cells, all with wooden doors and one small, barred window on the top. And with the imps being so small, it’ll be hard to know which one I could find them in.

“Pain? Panic?” I called out for the imps. “Where are you?”

“Frankie, Rose, we’re over here!” Pain’s voice called out.

Aurora and I turned and saw both his and Panic’s hands waving out of a barred window at the very end of the dungeon. We rushed over there as quickly as we could, but we couldn’t open the door to free them. The door was locked shut, and there was no sign of any key. Well, it was a good thing I was a rebel from New York: We’re experts in the 20-some-year-old art of improvising under pressure. Well, y’know, most of the time.

“Stand back!” I warned them as I grabbed a rock.

When the imps were away from the door, I smashed the rock repeatedly into the door handle, until it broke. Unlocking the door and allowing me to free the imps, who then embraced me with tight hugs. It surprised me that they even wanted to hug me when Aurora and I saved them, especially after thinking they both hated me this whole time, but it felt nice to know that they were safe and that they weren’t strapped to Maleficent’s former device.

“Are you two okay?” I asked them as I searched them for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“We’re fine.” Panic said as he and Pain broke off their hug. “We’re just really glad to see you.”

“Oh, Francesca, your hand.” Aurora worried.

I looked at my hand and saw that while I was breaking the imps out, I must’ve cut my palm on the rock because it was now bleeding. But it’ll take more than that to slow me down, so I ripped off a piece of my cloak and wrapped it around my wound to try to stop the bleeding.

“I’ll live.” I assured her. “Now, let’s get outta here!”

The four of us raced back upstairs to the throne room, but just when I thought we were home free, a blast of green fire appeared before us. And Maleficent rising from them like a she-demon from Hell: Angry and was definitely not going to spare us. The imps turned into a pair of wolves as they got in front of Aurora and I to protect us, but I stood between them to make sure I didn’t lose them again or risk Aurora getting captured. Maleficent messed with the wrong Live Actioner.

“Listen, Maleficent, I know how you feel, but vengeance is never the answer.” I tried my best to reason with her.

“You don’t know how I feel.” she growled back. “You can’t fathom how much I’ve loathed.”

“But I do.” I told her. “I know what it’s like to be betrayed by someone I thought loved me. I lived like that my whole life.”

“What do you know?” she asked me as she pointed her staff at the four of us. “You’re as human as he is!”

“Watch out!” I yelled at the others as I pulled them down right as a bolt of energy shot out from Maleficent’s staff. The bolt hit a wall and ricocheted around the throne room until it accidentally hit an incoming and unsuspecting goon, turning him into a statue. The four of us stood up to see the outcome.

“Ha! You call that magic?” Panic taunted at Maleficent. “Hades is much worse!”

“Yeah!” Pain agreed before blowing a raspberry at her.

Maleficent didn’t take too kindly to the fact that she missed hitting us with her magic or Pain’s little taunt, because the second that happened, her eyes started glowing something scary and the orb on her staff started crackling with electricity again.

“Bad thing to do, huh?” Pain asked me nervously.

“Yep.” I answered the moment I saw Maleficent’s growl reveal a mouthful of jagged sharp teeth. “Run!”

If we ran a second too late, the four of us would’ve been blasted by Maleficent’s lightning attack. But thankfully, we ran out of the palace in time, or at least Aurora and the imps did. I knew that I was done running away from villains who wanted to kill me and my friends. I was bringing the fight to Maleficent, and there was no turning back. So, I stood my ground in front of the palace’s drawbridge as I saw Maleficent running towards me.

“Boys, get Rose out of here! Now!” I ordered the imps.

“What?” Pain asked as if I were crazy.

“No, Francesca-” Aurora tried to stop me.

“Just go!” I stopped her as I faced the oncoming dark fae. “I’ll handle Maleficent.”

The imps reluctantly nodded and led an even more reluctant Aurora away from the palace and down from the Forbidden Mountain. I was alone in this battle, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t losing any more friends during my adventure. Maleficent reached me and started stalking towards me, like a cat cornering her mouse prey.

“You are a fool to challenge me, child.” Maleficent pointed her scepter at me. “You will pay for your insolence.”

“Insolence? I’m a New Yorker,” I stated while referencing Hondo much like Genie once did. “I don’t even know what that means.”

And with that final indication that I wasn’t backing down from another villain fight, it happened. Maleficent struck her staff into the ground, flew up into the air in a flash of purple and black smoke, and I stared in awe as I saw the dark fae turn into a dragon before my very eyes. To be honest, if she wasn’t about to kill me, I’d be a little more excited. But when I remembered that the fairies’ gift was still on my neck and what it was capable of, I realized that I could out match Maleficent in battle.

“Two can play this game, Maleficent.” I told her with a determined look. “Now, let’s see you dance.”

I touched the amulet, and as if it were reading my thoughts, a magic blue aura emerged from the amulet and wrapped itself around my body. I started to grow and feel my body change form. My nails grew into claws, my teeth got sharp as my nose and jaw grew into a snout, and I felt a pair of horns, spines, wings, and a tail grow on me. It was painful feeling my bones snap and grow, but I felt powerful. And when the amulet’s magic was done transforming me, it didn’t take a genius to know that I had now become a dragon too.

On instinct, Maleficent charged at me, and we engaged in an all-out dragon fight. Maleficent, being older and more experienced, had the upper hand at first, but with my youth and speed, I felt like I could easily outmatch her in battle. I was proven right when I miraculously dodged a tail smack to the face and I was the one to land blows after I swiped a talon at Maleficent’s neck, drawing blood from the other dragon.

“Okay, I’m a dragon.” I thought to myself. “Think, dragons have weak spots, so what’s her weak spots?”

Just then, Maleficent reared up on her hind legs and tried to jump at me, but I retorted back by repeating her actions and basically played a dragon version of Gladiator Hands. After a solid minute, Maleficent snapped her jaws at me, but as I smacked her hard on her snout, I saw something very specific about her dragon form that were too obvious to not miss when thinking about how to defeat a dragon: Our bat-like wings and our long, powerful tails.

“Wings and tail; They help balance a dragon!” I reminded myself in realization. “A downed dragon’s a dead dragon!”

If I was going to get Maleficent to stop fighting, I knew that I was going to have to do it the hard way: Tying her wings up and pinning something on her tail. If I could get her grounded, it’ll be easier for me and the others to escape her domain. If I weren’t a B- student, I would’ve thought of this the moment we both turned into dragons.

But in order to get Maleficent grounded, I knew that the only way to do it would be to weaken her ability to fly. So, I pushed her away from me and I flew up into the air, surprising me to the fact that I was even able to fly with my smaller wings, with Maleficent in hot pursuit. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it’s worth the risk to get her to not hurt my friends.

Panic’s POV

Pain and I managed to get Rose down from the mountain safely, but we were still worried about Frankie. I don’t really get it why either, but she was absolutely nuts to try to fight that Maleficent chick by herself. And things only got worse when we saw not one, but two massive dragons fly from the mountain. With one black one with a purple underbelly angrily chasing after a blue one with a white underbelly. The black one going after the blue one like Cerberus used to chase after Pain and I during feeding time.

Rose squinted up at the blue dragon. “Is that-”

There was something kinda familiar about both of those dragons. The black one’s horns looked just like Maleficent’s. Come to think of it, Rose’s aunts did say that Maleficent had dragon horns, so she was probably the black dragon, and if Frankie was still up on that mountain, and the blue dragon’s scales matched that blue necklace Rose’s aunt, Flora gave her…

“Frankie turned into a dragon!” I exclaimed as I watched the two dragons fighting each other in midair. Yep. Frankie was nuts to fight Maleficent by herself.

“C’mon!” Pain told us as he turned himself into a dragon too. “We gotta help!”

I nodded and turned into a dragon as well.

“After you, m’lady.” I extended a talon to help Rose hop up on my back. Once she was one, Pain and I took off so the three of us could help Frankie. Gods, I may not be the nicest imp, but please don’t let Frankie die. I don’t think I could live with myself if I saw the only mortal who cared about Pain and I was killed by that creepy -yet, really hot- dragon-fairy.

Frankie’s POV

Well, if grounding Maleficent wasn’t going to work, then continuously flying around chasing me might tire her out. But that wasn’t working, so I had to stick to the plan. If I could somehow find a way to get her grounded, I might have an advantage. Maybe firing holes into her wings if she dove after me could do it? I scratched off that idea, because if I didn’t fly away in time, she could take me down with her. All I could really do then is keep thinking and pray that the imps got Aurora to safety.

Just then, a blast of fire came out of nowhere and hit Maleficent in the head. Maleficent roared in anger and pain as I saw two smaller dragons fly up to me: one magenta and one teal. Pain and Panic had come into the dragon fight to help me out, and Aurora was with them too. Riding on Panic’s back as if she were a dragon rider. I would’ve been mad to know that she was in harm’s way, but considering the circumstances, I needed the extra help.

“Francesca, what should we do?” Aurora asked me.

I tried to speak back but could only spout out some growls and dragon chattering noises. Which no one really understood. So, I retorted to a game of charades with my talons to try to tell them that if Maleficent wants to go down with a fight, then we had to one-up her by chaining her down to the ground.

The imps didn’t understand what I was trying to tell them, but thankfully Aurora seemed to get the idea. “We need to ground Maleficent so she wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

“You got all that from her hand gestures?” Pain asked her.

“My aunts and I play charades every Saturday night.” she explained to him. “I’m rather good at it.”

“You don’t say?” Panic cynically said before getting to a point. “So how do we ground a dragon-fairy?

“I might know something that could work!” Aurora said. “My aunts say that fae are nearly immortal against all man-made metal, all except iron!”

Pain understood what she meant. “Then we need iron!”

“Yeah, but where do we get some?” Panic asked.

“I might know a place!” Aurora smiled brightly.

“Then go get it!” Pain told them.

I was distracted as I watched Panic and Aurora fly off and Maleficent took the advantage and knocked herself into me. Forcing me to lose focus on my dragon form, and the amulet’s power activated again, turning me back into a human. Without the wings I had in my dragon form, I started to fall towards the ground. I screamed as I tried to turn back, but it was no use. I couldn’t use the amulet under this kind of pressure. I closed my eyes and braced myself for immediate death, but I felt something swoop under me and pull me back up into the sky.

“I gotcha!” Pain’s voice called out.

I opened my eyes, and to my surprise, Pain was in fact the one who caught me before I fell to the ground. He was still in his dragon form, and I was riding on his back, but I was still surprised that he actually saved my life. And here I thought he hated me this entire trip.

“You just saved my life.” I said with a surprised look.

“Wouldn’t be the first time!” Pain said as he tried to avoid eye contact. “How far back is she?”

I turned around and saw that Maleficent was flying in a little too close for comfort, especially with her snapping jaws full of sharp teeth.

“Almost to your tail!” I screamed in panic as I looked back forward and prayed we’d fly faster.

Meanwhile

Aurora/Rose’s POV

Panic and I flew towards the castle of King Stefan, right where my aunts said that there would be some iron chain. Apparently, after his daughter was stolen by some fae fifteen years ago, he had the royal blacksmith construct massive amounts of iron chain so he could snare and trap any other fae that should come near his kingdom. If Maleficent was a darker version of these fae, and if the king had all this iron at his disposal, then it should work to try to ground her. I only hoped this was the right thing to do, especially after hearing about how Maleficent and Stefan used to be in love.

“Down there!” I pointed Panic towards the open and empty castle courtyard.

“You sure this place has iron?” Panic asked me.

“My aunts say that the royal court has some to protect the people from fae.” I explained to him once we landed near a rather convenient pile of iron chains. “We just need to ask if we could borrow some.”

“Rose, my brother and friend are about to get eaten by some half fairy-half dragon… thing!” he told me. “We don’t have time to ask, we gotta steal some and we gotta do it now!”

I stared at him as if he were insane. “But that’s wrong.”

“Sometimes doing bad stuff to save others is a good thing, now let’s go!” he said both impatiently and frantically.

I thought for a moment. My aunts had always told me that stealing was a bad thing to do, especially if one were to steal from the king. But Panic was right. Francesca was in trouble, and I had no time to ask the king for permission to borrow the chain. So, I reluctantly gave in and started gathering up the chain. Oh, I do hope King Stefan was a reasonable king. Maybe if he knew that I had stolen the chain to help save my friend against a dark fae, he wouldn’t be too terribly mad.

“Alright.” I said as I placed most of the chain onto Panic’s back. “This is an awful lot of chain.”

“Have you seen how big Maleficent is?” Panic asked me in a snarky tone. “I think this should be enough.”

I nodded and hoped back onto his back. “Let’s go.”

And with that, and a slower takeoff, we flew back into the air to help Francesca and Pain.

Meanwhile

Frankie’s POV

Pain and I probably had flown around the whole forest about six times by now, but each time, Maleficent just kept flying closer and closer to us. And I think Pain was starting to tire out with each lap he flew. Thankfully, luck was on our side the moment I saw Panic and Aurora fly back, with plenty of iron chains long enough to trap at least three dragons.

“They’re back!” I grinned.

“About time!” Pain said as he kept trying to avoid Maleficent’s gnashing teeth from biting his tail.

“Francesca, I hope you have a plan.” Aurora said as she tossed me one end of the chain.

“I do.” I told her. “Lead her towards the ground!”

She nodded, and we commanded the imps to start diving towards the ground. I looked back for a moment to see that Maleficent had dived too to try to catch us. Let’s see: One oversized dragon with small wings and not enough wind speed to help her fly up as we were diving to the ground? Yep, this plan was working flawlessly. I smirked when I turned back around to see that we were a few feet away from the ground.

“Now!” I shouted.

We swooped back and managed to use the iron chain to wrap up Maleficent’s legs and wings. Judging by the sight of smoke on the scales and the roars of pain the dragon was giving, the iron was wounding her, just as Aurora said they would. We then wrapped up the chain around Maleficent’s snout to shut her up, and when we were all out, we watched as the mighty creature crashed to the ground. Leaving a large crash path in the dirt as she laid there writhing in pain from the iron burning her scales, her powerful tail thrashing about and knocking down any nearby tree in its path.

Aurora and I hopped off the imps once we landed and started to approach the dragon. Maleficent was still alive but weakened. I remembered though that the moment any if that chain were to be removed, Maleficent would heal, and the effects of the iron would vanish. In any case, my friends and I managed to defeat the Mistress of Evil in battle. Okay, I take it back. Fighting a dragon as a dragon, then riding on another dragon, and finally defeating the first dragon was officially the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Sorry, liberation of the Olympian gods.“Everyone okay?” I asked my friends.

The imps, now back in their original forms, were panting from exhaustion, but gave a thumbs-up. “We’re alright!” 

“Oh, my goodness.” Aurora breathed. “That was quite exhilarating!”

“You make a good dragon rider.” I complimented her.

“Oh, heavens, no.” she shook her head and hands. “I think I would rather stay on the ground from now on.”

I gave her a small nod. “As you wish.”

Aurora smiled before turning towards the writing dragon. She approached Maleficent slowly but confidently as she placed her hands on her hips. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Aurora looked so angry before, let alone capable of being angry.

“We’ll let you out when you behave yourself.” Aurora told Maleficent, the latter giving a small, annoyed growl as smoke came out of her snout and rolled her eyes.

“Rose!”

Aurora, the imps, and I looked up to see three cloaked figures running towards us. Aurora’s eyes widened in shock when she realized that these three figures were her three guardians. They finally caught on that Aurora had helped me get the book, and they all looked very worried about her.

“Rose, are you alright?” Fauna asked as she looked for any signs of injury of Aurora.

“What were you thinking?” Merryweather scolded her. “Going after Maleficent like that!”

“What if she saw your face?” Flora asked, equally as scorned.

“She didn’t see my face.” Aurora assured them before pointing at the downed dragon. “And look! We trapped her in chains, and we got the book!”

The three fairies gasped at the sight of Maleficent chained up and laying on the ground in her dragon form. Flora and Fauna were naturally the most surprised, while Merryweather was more impressed that we managed to outsmart Maleficent.

“You all did that on your own?” Merryweather asked us.

“It wasn’t easy.” I told her.

“Well, as grateful as we are that you girls are both safe,” Flora said before turning to Aurora. “We are still very cross with you, Rose. You know better than to run off on your own without a word.”

“I know, and I’m really sorry.” Aurora apologized to them. “I’ll do any extra chore you want me to do for however long you want.”

“As you wish, Rose.” Merryweather sighed reluctantly.

“We’re just so happy that you’re unharmed.” Fauna sighed.

“Here, I think you all said this belongs to you.” I told the fairies as Aurora pulled out the book from her cloak pocket -impressed by the fact that it didn’t fall out during the fight with Maleficent.

Aurora handed the fairies the book, and at first, I thought they were going to use it to send me to where the king was, but a grateful smile from the three somehow told me they had other plans for their long-lost book.

“Keep it, child.” Flora told me as she gave me the book. “After all, you need it to get to the king.”

“Thank you.” I said to them as I hugged the book. “Thank you very much.”

“Thank you, again, for saving my life, Francesca.” Aurora thanked me as she held out a hand to shake.

“You’re welcome.” I smiled at her as we shook hands. “And thank you for saving mine.”

“You’re very welcome.” she smiled. “It was lovely to meet you.”

“And you too.” I told her.

The imps said their goodbyes to Aurora, who gave them each farewell kisses, once again getting all swoony over the fair maiden. I practically had to drag the two by their tails just to get them moving, but not without on last goodbye to Aurora and the good fairies.

“Goodbye!” I waved at all of them.

“Goodbye!” the four women waved back.

And within the span of another hour, as nightfall finally came, we left our new friends. But this time, we weren’t without rewards. We had a magic teleporting book that was sure to have a picture of the king somewhere in its pages.

“Well, we have the book.” Pain grinned as he flew up next to me. “Now we gotta find who this king is.”

“Let me see.” I started mumbling as I flipped through the pages and crossed out any magic user I knew wasn’t any sort of king. “Merlin, no. Yen Sid, no.”

“Hey, the gods are in this thing.” Panic said when he pointed to a chapter talking about the Olympians. “Maybe that king was supposed to be Zeus?”

“Yeah, he does get in contact with mortals.” Pain added.

“No, it couldn’t be.” I shook my head. “Remember, Genie said that the king has access to my world.”

I kept flipping through the pages, until Pain pointed at a picture that caught his eye. “Who’s this guy?”

I looked at the page and saw a drawing of Mickey Mouse in his Sorcerer’s Apprentice get up. Curious as to why exactly he was in a book with a bunch of sorcerers, witches, wizards, and fairies, I then read the description written next to his drawing:

"Though unassuming due to his smaller stature, this

mouse is one of the most powerful figures in Disney history.

Crowned king after the death of his creator almost 60 years ago,

King Mickey now resides in the Magic Kingdom, where he

oversees all the worlds of Disney and has access to

the Live Action World.”

Mickey Mouse? Crowned king?! I facepalmed myself for not realizing the fact that the mysterious king I had spent almost a week looking for was none other than Mickey Mouse, himself. The icon of the entire Disney company being the king of this whole other world should’ve been an obvious sign from the get-go. How I didn’t realize it six days ago is way beyond me.

“I’m an idiot!” I gripped. “It should’ve been obvious!”

“This Mickey guy’s the king?” Pain asked me.

“Yes!” I said.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Panic grinned. “Ask it to take us to him.”

I nodded and placed a finger on the drawing of Mickey and asked the book confidently. “Take us to the king, please.”

A yellow aura flared from Mickey’s page in the book and wrapped itself around the imps and I. I held onto the book tightly as the imps held onto me. And just like that, we disappeared from Aurora’s world, and were making an immediate beeline for Mickey’s.

Meanwhile

Aurora/Rose’s POV

“Come along, Rose.” Aunt Flora told me once Francesca and her changelings had left. “It’s time to go.”

“Yes, Aunt Flora.” I told her as I watched her and Aunt Fauna and Aunt Merryweather head back to the cottage. I started to follow them but stopped when I heard something behind me.

“And what does this spell do?”

I gasped softly and hid myself behind a tree. When I peered out from behind it, I watched in horror at a most terrifying sight: Maleficent, now back in her dark fae form and free from the iron chains, was now accompanied by a stranger. He was tall, dark, well dressed, and his bear was so twisted. He was dressed in robes that indicated he was some sort of wealthy man from Arabia and carried a gold staff carved in the shape of a serpent, a cobra I think, and the two of them were standing right next to a strange circular light that swirled colors. I knew I had to find out what all this meant.

“It’ll take us to another world, one just begging for us to rule over it.” the man told Maleficent as he showed her a piece of parchment with strange lettering on it.

Maleficent’s eyes glowed as she smiled an evil fanged grin as she looked at the parchment in interest.

“And where you could get revenge on the one who dared to defy you:” the man continued as he, too, grinned wickedly before revealing a name I never imagined he’d know. 

“Francesca Cole.”

I held a hand over my mouth to keep another gasp silent as I watched Maleficent and the man disappear in that colorful light. Once they were gone, I could hardly process all the thoughts going through my head: What was that parchment and who was that man who knew Francesca? Was he someone like Maleficent? Another evil force she had encountered in the past? These questions weren’t going to help. I had to warn Francesca, before it was too late.

“Aunt Flora! Aunt Fauna!” I called out to my aunts as I raced towards them. My aunts stopped walking when they saw me running for them.

“What is it?” Aunt Merryweather asked me.

“What’s wrong?” Aunt Fauna asked.

“It’s Maleficent, someone freed her from the chains, and they’re going after Francesca!” I frantically explained.

“Oh, dear!” Aunt Fauna exclaimed in horror.

“We have to find her!” I exclaimed in a worried tone. “She could be in trouble!”

“Get back to the cottage, make sure you’re not seen.” Aunt Flora told me. “We’ll find Francesca before they do and warn her.”

“Do be careful!” I told them before running back to the cottage.

I should’ve gone with them, but I knew my place was back at the cottage in case Francesca and her companions should return to escort my aunts back safely after defeating Maleficent and that strange man. I only hope my aunts would warn her in time.

Chapter Text

The imps and I spent a solid ten seconds in a swirling vortex that reminded me of the portals I traveled through before, and after those seconds were done, we found ourselves hovering in midair before we fell down to the ground in a pile. My glasses fell off again and hit a cobblestone path, but thankfully, they didn’t break against the stone. The imps, who have landed on top of me when we landed, rolled off of me in groans of pain.

“That’s one way to teleport.” I said as I shakingly stood back up and put my glasses back on. “You boys good?”

“We’re okay.” Pain moaned when he shook his head in dizziness.

Panic rubbed his head, but then gazed in amazement at where we had landed. “Holy Styx…”

I looked and stood up as I saw what was in front of us. Main Street U.S.A, Magic Kingdom, and right in its center was the main attraction of all main attractions: The Disney Castle, in all its glory. It almost felt too good to be true as I stared in awe at the castle, it was more beautiful than I ever pictured.

“Boys, welcome to the Magic Kingdom!” I presented the imps to the kingdom. “This is where we’ll find Mickey.”

“Let’s hope so.” Panic said as he grabbed the book.

“Race ya to the castle!” Pain betted.

“You’re on!” I grinned as the three of us engaged in a race all the way to the castle.

Lucky for us, the streets were pretty empty, so nobody cared as we all raced each other just to get to the entry of the castle. The imps even turned into horses at one point just to try to get the advantage, but I -being street-smarter- climbed up on a fire escape on one of the buildings and jumped from rooftop to rooftop to out beat them. When that worked, I climbed down and made a beeline straight for the castle.

But just when things felt like they were going right for me, I must’ve slipped on a loose cobblestone or something, because the next thing I knew, I tripped and fell into a water fountain that rested just inches away from the castle doors. Soaking me to the bone as a way of karma getting back at me for sort of cheating in that race. The imps thankfully noticed, shapeshifted back to normal, and came rushing towards me to see if I was hurt or not. I lifted up my soaked hair and glared at them as I spat the water out of my mouth. Mentally telling them that neither one of them should tell this to Mickey when we find him.

“Little ma’am, are you alright?” a voice asked me.

The three of us looked over and saw someone had spotted us by -and in my case in- the fountain. It was Goofy, all decked out in his Kingdom Hearts guard uniform too. He must be a member of the castle guard in this world too.

“I’m okay, thanks.” I told him as he helped me out of the fountain, but no sooner than he helped me up than he slipped over and fell into the water fountain himself.

“You okay?” Pain asked Goofy as we pulled him up.

“Yep! Just fine.” Goofy laughed. “Thank you for helpin’ me up.”

“You’re welcome.” I told him.

“So, what brings you three to the Magic Kingdom?” he asked the three of us.

“We need to speak to the king.” I told him. “It’s a long story, but we think he could help us.”

“Well, follow me, I’ll take ya right to him!” Goofy offered. “We haven’t had a visitor in a while!”

“Thank you.” I smiled as the imps and I followed him.

“Hey, what about you guys?” Panic asked the important question as he pointed at Goofy and I. “You’re soaking wet.”

“Don’t worry.” Goofy assured him. “The castle door’s got built-in hair dryers for somethin’ like this!”

We went and kept following him, and right when we reached the castle door’s two large hair dryers came out of two large holes in the walls and blew warm air on us. Not only drying off Goofy and I, but also doing wonders for my hair too. It never looked or felt so fluffy. As soon as the hair dryers were done and went back into their hiding spots, the doors to the castle opened up, and the four of us walked inside and got to see just how big and beautiful it was on the inside.

“Whoa, this place is huge!” Pain said in awe as we walked into the main hallway of the castle.

“Glad ya like it.” Goofy said. “This place has been ‘round here for almost a whole century!”

“It’s so fancy.” Panic said with starry eyes at the castle décor.

I agreed with him on that. I always dreamed about walking into the Disney Castle, just to see what it would feel like to be inside something so magnificent, and here I was. Really inside it, really feeling lucky enough to experience something this amazing. I wished my dad, younger brother, and friends back home were with me to see it too, so we could all experience it together.

“But everyone’s getting mad and blaming me for canceling it, but it wasn’t even my idea!” 

I stopped walking at the sound of a voice coming from behind a closed door. I knew I should’ve stayed with Goofy and the imps, but something told me that I had to know what was going on. Curse my morbid sense of curiosity. So, I went over to the door when the others weren’t looking and cracked it open. Inside, I saw Mickey looking sad as he was talking to someone in a glowing orb of light. A bothered king is usually not a good sign, but a downtrodden king was an even worse sign.

“Can’t ya just keep it going? Just for a few more episodes so everyone’s happy?” Mickey tried to reason with the orb.

“You know the rules:” a distorted voice spoke from the orb. “If it doesn’t fit…”

““Then out with it”.” Mickey sighed reluctantly. “But-”

“Trust me, this is the best call to make.” the voice told him before vanishing into thin air.

Mickey gave another sad sigh and stared at the ground. I guess being king of Disney also meant making big decisions with some mystical orb who was very strict about certain things, and definitely didn’t care about how Mickey would feel after those decisions were carried out.

“Geez, that guy sounded like a jerk.” I stated.

Mickey agreed with a sad sigh, not realizing that I was in the room with him. “I don’t like most of the ideas he tells me about, but I go through with them to help protect my kingdom. I don’t want him to hurt my people, in any of the worlds.”

“You do what you’re not proud of to make everyone else happy.” I summed up his problem, something that felt a little too familiar on my account.

“Something like that.” he said.

Mickey looked up at the mirror and saw our reflections looking back. He gave a small gasp when he realized that he really wasn’t alone in the room and turned to me.

“Oh, -ha- I didn’t mean to be rude.” Mickey said with a small laugh as he held out a hand. “Name’s Mickey Mouse.”

“Frankie Cole, good to meet you.” I shook his hand.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in any of the worlds here. Where you from?” he asked me.

“Actually, I’m glad I ran into you.” I began to tell him. “You see, I-”

“Mickey!”

The two of us looked, and saw someone run past the room, but do a double take and look back in. It was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and he looked like he was very worried about something.

“Oh, there you are!” he said in relief as he came into the room.

“Frankie, this is my brother Oswald.” Mickey introduced me to Oswald. “Oswald, this is Frankie.”

“Hello.” I greeted Oswald.

“Nice to meet you.” Oswald said before turning his attention back to Mickey. “Look, bro, something’s happened. A bunch of fellas are talking with Yen Sid: It’s real urgent!”

Mickey gave him a nod and began to follow Oswald out of the room. Only stopping for a brief moment to turn back to me.

“You don’t mind coming, do you?” Mickey asked me.

“No, of course not.” I said. “If anything, I might be able to help. I’m pretty good at helping people.”

“Oh, boy!” Mickey smiled as he and I followed after Oswald. “It’ll be great to have an extra set of hands!”

Later

Oswald led Mickey and I towards a large room, where a cluster of people were in there all shouting and worrying about something pretty important, but it was hard to tell what exactly they were talking about. In the front of the room, I saw the wizard Yen Sid sitting at a desk, silently taking in all the chaos as if it wasn’t bothering him at all, while one Donald Duck -also in his Kingdom Hearts get-up- was trying his best to calm down the crowd. Mickey and I entered the room, where I spotted Pain and Panic waiting on me in there. And when I stood next to them, I got to hear what all this commotion was about as Mickey went and stood next to Yen Sid.

“It’s the worst possible thing to happen!” I heard Merlin shout out.

“We need to find her and warn her!” another voice cried out.

“Everybody calm down!” Donald yelled at the crowd. “One at a time for Master Yen Sid!”

“What is all this about?” Mickey agreed with his own question.

A familiar voice spoke up. “Well, your majesty, magician supreme, I got word from a friend that-”

“Genie?” I questioned when I recognized who was talking.

Genie turned towards me and grinned largely when he saw me. “Frankie!”

The next thing I knew, he flew over to me and the imps and gave us a great, big hug. I missed him too, but I didn’t think he’d miss us that much from being back in Agrabah. Even the imps were confused with all the affection, although I’m pretty sure those two aren’t used to any form affection.

“Oh, thank Heavens,” another voice said. “She’s safe.”

Genie looked over at someone and placed the imps and I down. To my surprise, it was the three good fairies -now back in their more magical attire than their peasant disguises, but that’s not what was making me feel confused. What confused me was that I had only seen them an hour ago, and I know for a fact that Aurora’s story hadn’t ended after that. Something was up, and something was telling me that with all these worried people here, it wasn’t a good thing.

“Flora? Fauna? Merryweather?” I addressed the three. “What’s going on?”

“That you can ask him.” Merlin interjected as he pointed his staff at someone.

I looked over where Merlin was pointing at and saw a small bird perch that sat next to Yen Sid’s desk, but who I saw on that perch both surprised me and made me nearly boil over with rage. Although, the rage was more annoyed than furious when I saw Iago.

Iago, upon seeing me, sank his feathered head down and gave a nervous smile. “Heh, nice to see you again.”

I turned to Genie with an annoyed look as I pointed a thumb at Iago. “What’s he doing here?"

“Huh, figured you’d be madder.” Iago said.

“At what? Your master trying to sweet-talk me into ruling my world or the fact that he tried to drown me and Aladdin?” I asked him as I stormed up to him.

“Actually, you finding out about the spell swap.” he stated.

“What spell swap?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

All voices were silent until Genie came towards me with a worried look on his face.

“When I had that premonition telling me that I needed to go back to Agrabah, it led me back to Al, then a whole bunch of stuff happened.” he explained to me before his tone got more nervous. “Turns out that while I was there, Iago, here, told me that during your last encounter with Jafar, he swapped the spell you had.”

I felt my jaw drop and my eyes pop. “WHAT?!”

“It was just a copy of the spell you burned.” Genie continued. “Jafar snatched the real one when you weren’t looking.”

“You mean to tell me that you spent six days thinking that you actually destroyed the spell?” Iago asked me.

“How long has everyone else known?!” I retorted back at the parrot.

I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Jafar was clever enough to not only steal the spell, but to create an exact copy of it and made me think that I had destroyed the original copy in an attempt to prevent him from taking over my world? This was bad. Scratch that -of all the worst possible things that could ever happen, this was THE worst possible thing! I can’t believe I was so stupid and not think that Jafar would do something like that!

“Genie told us as quickly as he could.” Yen Sid told me. “But by the time we went to see it for ourselves, Jafar had survived a battle he wasn’t meant to, and he and the others were already making preparations to take over your world.”

“Others?” I repeated. I did not like the sound of that.

“Yes.” Flora added in a worrisome way. “Oh, I’m afraid to tell you that Jafar has recruited several other villains to join him on his conquest.”

She then swirled a circle with her wand and showed everyone a visual of the new crew Jafar now had after stealing the spell: Maleficent -now freed from her iron chains, Ursula, and Hades. That last villain struck fear into two people in the room, one of them completely mortified that Hades was now free from his imprisonment in the River Styx.

“No, no, no, no!” Panic started to hyperventilate. “How did he get out?!”

Pain did his best to calm his partner down. “Panic, calm down-”

Panic grabbed onto Pain in fear. “If he finds out we ditched him and joined Frankie-”

“Hades is not going to find out!” 

All heads turned to me. This wasn’t their problem to deal with, and the serious look on my face said it all.

“I’m going back to my world to stop them and put them back where they belong.” I said before I told them my plan. “You all were never a part of my world, so I suggest you all stay while I handle my fight.”

“What?” several shocked voices asked me.

“You mean you’re gonna face all those villains by yourself?” Iago asked me as if I was crazy. “Are you nuts?!”

“I’m the one they want.” I told him. “I’m not putting anyone else in danger because of me.”

“But you can’t fight them alone.” Mickey tried to reason with me, but I was firm in my decision.

“Listen, I get that you all want to help, but where I’m from, people fear and hate what they don’t understand.” I told them all the dangers my world had in hopes it’d convince them not to follow me. “The instant they see you guys, it won’t just be the villains we’d have to worry about.”

“What is it with you and wanting to keep us safe?” Pain asked me.

“Somebody’s gotta do it.” I told him.

“I will accompany you,” Merlin told me. “I have something that can contain the villains long enough to get them back to their worlds.”

He dug into a pocket in his robes and pulled out a crystal ball in a small golden pedestal. I recognized it from those times my dad and I would watch those old Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom playthrough videos on YouTube. This was the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom: the only thing powerful enough to not only defeat the villains, but powerful enough to trap them inside the crystal ball.

“Okay.” I approved of Merlin accompanying me on my new quest.

“Here,” Donald said as he handed me a piece of paper. “Jafar isn’t the only one with a spell to the Live Action World.”

“Thank you.” I told him.

“Travel safely,” Yen Sid told Merlin and I. “And may you be victorious in your battle.”

Merlin and I gave him a silent nod, but just before I could read the spell to activate the portal home, I felt someone tug on my pants cuff. I looked down and saw the imps look up at me with worried faces.

“You’ll be back, right?” Panic asked me.

“We’ll see.” I answered unsurely.

Merlin placed a hand on my shoulder, and I began to read the spell once again. When that all-too familiar swirling vortex of color appeared in the floor of the council room, Merlin and I jumped through. Ready to return to my world, ready to trap the villains, and I was ready to fight off those villains in well-deserved rematches and win.

Chapter Text

Alex’s POV

“Okay, we just gotta wait for Frankie to come back.” I said as I paced nervously back in forth in Frankie’s living room. “That’s all we can do.”

“I just hope it’s before her parents get back.” Pearl worried. “I can’t believe they’re coming back today!”

“Here’s hoping Frankie doesn’t get mad at us for not telling her about this newest change in plans.” I said.

Well, turns out that Frankie’s parents changed their minds about staying upstate an extra day with Ty. There was a nasty storm coming up their side, and it would’ve made traveling too dangerous, so Frankie’s dad thought it would be best to not stay an extra day and come back that very night. Frankie was still stuck in an alternate world where Disney characters and movies are their own worlds, and we didn’t know what to do.

We tried calling Frankie to see how far away she was from getting home, but when we called the number of the place she was staying at, some deep-voiced grouch named Kirby said that Frankie had left after she called us the day before trying to get back home. We didn’t know where Frankie now was, she wasn’t back in our world yet, and her parents were about an hour away from the city. Clearly, things could not get any worse.

Just then, the Gay Vortex appeared in the living room once again. Pearl hopped off the couch and stood next to me as we hoped Frankie would come walking out of it, but the sight of black smoke and the smell of sulfur, saltwater, and some kind of burnt meat made me have second thoughts about Frankie coming out of the portal. And those thoughts were proven right when one particular villain came through the portal and into the living room.

“Mortals,” Hades told us in a booming voice. “On your knees and bow to my magnificent evil!”

“Alex, I think I’m having that dream again.” Pearl whispered to me as she practically drooled over the sight of Hades in Frankie’s living room. 

“Unless I’m also in that dream, I don’t think this is your hot dream.” I whispered as I slowly pulled her away.

“Oy, why do I even try?” Hades muttered before he introduced himself to us. “Hades, Lord of the Dead. How you doin’?”

And just like that, Pearl swooned and fell onto the couch.

“Pearl, you okay?” I asked as I helped her up.

“Better than okay.” she said dreamily as her lovestruck gaze was still on Hades.

Great, she was smitten while we were about to probably get enslaved by a Disney villain. Could things get any worse?

“Well, you’re not one for dramatics, are you, my liege?” a voice purred as another person entered through the vortex.

The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn’t it?

Our heads turned to see an elegant woman step out of the portal. Well, elegant in the way she walked, not so elegant in the fact that she had a pair of black horns on her head and a nasty scratch mark on the side of her neck. Those last two were more creepy looking than anything, but Hades looked at Maleficent with interest as she walked into the room.

Hades gave her a slight scoff. “And you could do better, babe?”

“Just watch me.” Maleficent told him.

“Uh, Frankie never said anything about this over the phone.” Pearl whispered to me.

“Frankie?” Hades repeated that name as his flames flickered from blue to red. “You two know Frankie Cole?”

I shook my head as I thought of a lie. “Only Frankie we know is Frankie Donkeybrains.”

The two villains all looked at me with arched brows.

“Frankie Donkeybrains?” Hades repeated.

“Uh, yeah.” I said. “Guy runs a bar in Philadelphia.”

“We mustn’t waste time with these two.” a third voice said.

Two more villains stepped out of the portal. The tall, dark, and sinister Jafar and the ever-so fabulous Ursula stood with Maleficent and Hades. Okay, so what I’ve gathered is that they somehow managed to steal that spell thing Frankie had and allowed them to come to our world, and Frankie more than likely pissed every single one of these villains off when she ended up in their worlds. I was starting to worry that Frankie made more enemies than Pearl and I thought.

“Remember, we have a whole world to divide and conquer.” Jafar told the other villains as the portal closed behind him.

“You all can split the world; all I want is dominion over all the oceans.” Ursula told them.

“Perhaps it’s time we make our public debut?” Maleficent suggested.

The three other villains agreed with her, and with a snap of Hades’ fingers, they all disappeared in a puff of smoke. Leaving Pearl and I still in Frankie’s apartment with confused and nervous looks.

“Frankie Donkeybrains from Philly?” Pearl asked me with cynicism to break the silence. “Really?”

“It was all I could think of!” I defended myself.

“Listen well, all of you!” Maleficent’s voice boomed from outside.

Pearl and I opened the door to the apartment’s terrace to see that the villains were now making their public debut right in the middle of the street. A crowd of civilians stood there like a bunch of idiots as they all were recording the villains on their phones, and not a single one of them realizing just how screwed the entire city of New York was now in.

“How y’all doin’ tonight? Ya havin’ fun?” Hades asked them. “‘Cause we are.”

“There are going to be some changes in this city.” Jafar told everyone. “We’re in charge now, and you all shall obey us.”

“This is fake, man.” Vincent -some lame hipster no-it-all from school- said as he just waved off the obvious threats while standing on the sidewalk. “It’s just some dumb advertisement.”

“Fake you say?” Maleficent eyed at the crowd as her eyes started glowing green.

“Oh, you’ve made her mad now, angelfish.” Ursula chuckled as she showed off Maleficent transforming into her dragon form.

The crowd started backing off at the sight of the dragon, but apparently when that wasn’t an obvious threat, the moment Jafar turned into his giant cobra form, Ursula grew into her giant self, and Hades made himself as tall as the Empire State Building, that’s when the crowd all realized that the villains were all very much real, and just how bad things were about to get. Yeah, things had gone from bad to worse in a manner of minutes for pretty much everyone who wasn’t a magical, evil, megalomaniac.

“Okay, not fake!” I heard Vincent scream as he ran away from the villains. “Definitely not fake!”

“This is our world now!” Jafar laughed wickedly as he and the other villains started terrorizing New York City like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.

“Scale of one to ten, how bad is this?” Pearl asked me as we watched as the giant dragon, cobra, sea witch, and Greek god wreaking havoc.

“11.” I gulped.

“C’mon!”  she told me as she grabbed my baseball bat and baseballs. “We gotta stall ‘em ‘till Frankie gets back!”

I nodded and grabbed myself some unused paint bombs and slingshot. The two of us then started to run out of the building so we could try to stop the villains before they took over New York, or worse, the world.

“Please hurry, Frankie.” I muttered under my breath.

Chapter Text

The city was a wreck when Merlin and I got back to my world. I knew that things would probably be chaotic when I found out that Jafar, Hades, Ursula, and Maleficent had arrived in my world to try to takeover, but I didn’t think they’d all turn themselves into giants -or giant animals, for two of them- to terrorize New York City. Green and red flames torched the sidewalks and roads, large tentacle tracks created new ditches in the roads, and there was now a black and red cobra slithering itself through Manhattan as a black dragon flew over: Terrorizing the people of New York to submit to their power. This was like a scene in an old 50s giant monster movie, only much more frightening.

I looked at where Merlin and I had ended up after exiting the portal, and it was my dad’s shop! Still intact amongst the chaos. I gasped and ran inside in hopes of finding my friends still alive and safe inside.

“Alex! Pearl!” I called as I began to run through the shop and try to head up to the apartment. “Where are you?”

“Frankie!”

I stopped halfway, turned around and saw my two friends standing right outside the shop door. I gave them a smile and rushed over to them and gave them a hug.

“I missed you guys so much!” I told them.

Pearl was the first to break off the hug. “Frankie, we need to get out of here!”

“The villains,” Alex continued with a scared look. “They just showed up about an hour ago.”

“This is worse than I thought.” Merlin worried. “If they keep this up, they’ll destroy the city!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” I said as I began to storm out to give the villains one last chance to surrender.

“Frankie, are you nuts?” Pearl stopped me. “You can’t fight all four of them.”

“I’m the one they want.” I told her. “But they picked the wrong girl to fight.”

Alex looked at Pearl and Merlin before looking back at me. “Okay, but if things get rough, we’re stepping in to help.”

“Gotcha.” I nodded.

I turned and went back to head towards the villains. Lucky for me, Jafar, Ursula, and Hades were in plain sight and stomping -and slithering- down Times Square. Maleficent was still flying around the city, almost as if she didn’t care that she was traumatizing so many people. Although, knowing her, she probably didn’t. Still, it was pretty weird that she didn’t notice me when I started yelling at the other three villains.

“Hey!” I shouted up to them. “Miss me?”

Jafar, Hades, and Ursula all turned around when they heard my voice, and while one of them gave me a sinister smile, the looks of utter rage and hatred on the other two said it all.

“You!” Hades and Ursula bellowed down at me.

“If you’re ssssurrendering, then we accept it.” Jafar hissed at me as he coiled up to try to strike me, his sly smile still on that snake face of his. No doubt, he was proud of himself for tricking me back in Agrabah.

“Why bother with just that?” Ursula cackled. “Let’s kill her now! That’ll settle things quick enough.”

“I don’t think you want that.” I said calmly and coolly as I looked up with a smirk at the only immortal in the city. “If you thought I’m annoying alive, just wait till I show up in the Underworld. I’ll annoy you for all eternity.”

“Not if a one-way trip to Tartarus fixes that.” he flared up red in anger. “Which can be arranged!”

I rolled my eyes up at him. Making him more angry was just too easy, but still oh-so predictable. C’mon, Frankie, let’s speed things up here, you’ve got an entire city to save.

“Okay, let’s cut the crap:” I spoke up again. “You all need to get out of my world, or I’ll-”

“Or you’ll what?” Ursula stopped me with a laugh.

“What doesss a powerlesss mortal like you have that can overpower the mossst powerful beingsss on Earth?” Jafar asked me.

Just before I could answer him, Ursula shrank down to her normal size, grabbed my waist with one of her tentacles, and started constricting it tightly around me. I tried to break free, but she used two more tentacles to pin my arms behind my back and another two to hold my legs together. I was trapped, again.

“I’m gonna enjoy squeezing the life outta you.” Ursula grinned wickedly as her tentacle wrapped tighter and tighter around me.

“If this is for what happened back at your lair,” I strained as I nodded towards Jafar and Hades. “Just know that those two bozos are the main reason why I refused your offer!”

“Face it, angelfish.” Ursula chuckled. “You’re alone. Nobody’s gonna save you.”

She then used one of her hands and grabbed my neck, attempting to choke me as quickly as she could. And while I was dangling and gasping for hair, I saw something hit her in the face and spread something orange all over her. Ursula dropped me in rage and started wiping the orange stuff off her face, only to have something else hit her and give her a large splotch of yellow on her person too.

“Get away from her!” Pearl shouted at Ursula as she and Alex threw paint bombs right at her.

I coughed as I tried to get the air back in my lungs while Merlin rushed over to help me up. Now all three of them were now stuck in the crosshairs of three villains. This was not good.

“Francesca, are you alright?” Merlin asked me.

“Run!” I started pushing him to move. “Don’t just stand there!”

Merlin understood what I was doing the moment he saw Jafar preparing for a strike. The wizard grabbed Alex and Pearl by their shirt and jacket collars, and the four of us ran just as Jafar nearly pierced us with his massive, sharp fangs. But running was no good, we still had a giant snake slithering after us as the sea witch grew back to her giant size after getting the paint off her.

The four of us managed to hide away in a subway, where the snake thought he had the upper hand -or tail, in his case- when he thought that if we exited through either end, Jafar would be there to strike us. But we never did. Instead, we ran for miles down to the next stop, thanking God that there were no subway trains on any of the tracks during the chaos up topside, and we were able to stop and catch our breaths when we finally reached the next stop as we tried thinking about how we were going to trap the villains in the Crystal and save the city.

“Look, there’s four of us, and four of them.” Pearl said her idea. “I’d say, we fight them off one by one.”

“Pearl, that’s nuts.” Alex told her. “They’re too powerful for us.”

“We must figure out how to trap them in the Crystal.” Merlin said. “It’s our only chance.”

“I might be able to get close enough to one of them, but I can’t do it if they see me.” I suggested.

“Well, we better think of something quick!” Pearl said as she looked up from the subway entrance. “The cops are here!”

Alex, Merlin, and I looked out of the entrance, and lo and behold, cop cars were chasing after the villains in an attempt to gun them down. While it was unsurprising to know that the cops wouldn’t hesitate to gun down a threat, it wasn’t the villains I was worried about. There were tons upon tons of people still running around in a frenzy just to hide away from the villains. Ruthless authority with the usual shoot-first-ask-questions-never motto mixed in with frightened civilians and four giants?

“This is bad.” I said with widened eyes. “If they shoot at them, it won’t do anything except kill innocent civilians!”

“What do we do, Frankie?” Alex asked me in hopes I had an answer.

“I-I don’t know.” I said as I froze there as I tried to think of a plan.

I didn’t know what to do next. Everything was in chaos, and I didn’t know what I could do to stop it. Sure, I had the Beacon, but I was too stressed out to even think about what I should turn into to try to fight back. I didn’t even think about having another giant fight without having to worry about hurting so many other people, I probably would’ve, but this was different. There was nothing I could do to stop them. There was no one who can help show me what to do.

“How about say “thank you”?” a familiar voice asked me.

Or so I thought.

The four of us looked up, and saw another portal open, only this time I could sense it wasn’t villains coming out of the portal. My theory was proven right when I saw Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the three fairies come out of the portal, and behind them were some familiar faces I thought I’d never see again: Aladdin, Hercules, and Ariel -holding her father’s trident, no less. Those last three were accompanied by Carpet, Genie, Pegasus, and the imps.

“What are you guys doing here?” I smiled in relief as I went and gave my hero friends hugs.

“We told them about the villains.” Mickey said with a smile.

The imps nodded in agreement as they hopped up on my shoulders.

“Don’t think we’re letting you fight those creeps by yourself.” Pain told me. Well, at least now it seemed that he liked me now more than he did a few days ago.

“And after everything you did to help us,” Hercules added. “We knew that we had to return the favor.” 

“But why?” I asked them.

“Because you’re a hero to us!” Ariel grinned.

Aladdin nodded in agreement. “Say the word, and we’ll follow you into battle.”

I don’t really know why, but I felt like what they were telling me was true. Everything I ever did in their worlds wasn’t to cause any problems for them or making the villains’ goals too easy. All I ever did was help them. I guess, even through all my doubts, I really did become a hero in their eyes. They believed in me, so now, I had to believe in me too. And now with that information and that I felt calmer about how to assess the situation, I went right back to doing what I do best: Plan under pressure.

I gave them all a more determined look on my face. “Alright, let’s do it!”

“That’s the Frankie we know and love!” Genie smiled. “So, what do we do first?”

“We just need to distract each villain long enough for me to trap them inside the Crystal.” Merlin explained to them the main goal.

“Right. So, here’s what we do.” I started to tell everyone my plan. “Alex, Herc, you guys will handle Hades. Try to draw him away from anything flammable.”

“Right.” the two nodded. Hercules then helped Alex on top of Pegasus, and the three off them took off to fight the god of the Underworld.

“Pearl, Ariel, you two will lead Ursula to the East River.” I addressed my other friend and the princess.

“Uh, won’t that be sort of hurting her?” Pearl asked me. “You know how bad the East River is.”

“That’s exactly the point.” I told her. “If Ursula gets weakened by the pollution and toxins in the water, it may damage her enough to do the job.”

“Alright.” Pearl and Ariel nodded.

“And Ariel, don’t touch the water!” I warned her.

“I won’t!” Ariel smiled in assurance. “C’mon, Pearl, let’s go!”

Ariel then used her father’s trident and summoned up some water from a nearby fire hydrant, and she was able to use it to help both her and Pearl soar into the air as if she was using movable water pillars.

“How are you doing this?” Pearl asked her.

“It’s a spell my father taught me.” Ariel explained.

“That explains why you’re using his trident.” Pearl pointed out just as she and Ariel went after Ursula.

With those two now off to face another villain, there left only two more villains to distract and capture.

I turned to Aladdin and Genie for the next part of the plan. “Okay, Aladdin, Genie-”

“I’m guessing we tackle Jafar?” Aladdin interpreted for me.

“Makes sense to me that we do.” Genie said. “We fought him once, and we can do it again!”

“You’re right. Let’s go!” Aladdin said as he hopped onto Carpet.

“Al, wait!” I stopped him for a brief moment.

He stopped and turned to me. I knew that he came all this way to help me save my home, but I still felt bad that I wasn’t there to save his. After getting sucked away by that portal in Agrabah, I wasn’t able to help Aladdin face Jafar the first time he fought him. So, I felt like I needed to give Aladdin some closure after what happened before he went off to face the sorcerer once again.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry I didn’t stick around to help you when you needed it.” I apologized. “Things just happened so fast, and-”

“Hey, don’t worry. I get it.” he smiled at me. “You saved me from getting lost in another world, and for that, I’m thankful.”

“Stay safe.” I told him.

He nodded. “We will.”

“Don’t worry about us, Frankie Stein.” Genie gave me a thumbs-up as he, Al, and Carpet all flew after Jafar. All that was left was me, Merlin, the imps, the fairies, and Mickey and his closest friends.

“What about us?” Panic asked.

“We’re going after Maleficent.” I told him and Pain. “I think I might be able to get through to her.”

“Are you certain this is wise?” Fauna asked me.

I’m not saying it’s the smartest move in the world,” I told her. “But it’s all we can do to distract her long enough.”

“We’ll put a spell over the city so nobody else gets involved with the fight.” Merryweather assured me.

“Good.” I said before remembering one annoying little detail about this battle. “And could somebody please stop the cops before they shoot up half of Times Square?”

“Leave it to us!” Mickey said as he pointed at himself, Donald, and Goofy.

“Thanks, Mickey.” I told him. “And be careful.”

“Same with you and your friends!” I heard Donald shout back while he and the others went to stop the police. The three good fairies wished the four of us luck as they went to put a protection spell around the city.

Now, to get to Maleficent. This wasn’t going to be easy. It was clear that she had no real interest in ruling over the Live Action World, only causing fear to anyone she sees. She wants that place of power just like she did back in her world. So, in order to get her to talk, I knew that fighting her wasn’t the answer. There will be no Round 2 of another dragon fight, sadly. I was going to try to convince her to stop, like a civilized person.

So, instead of turning myself into a dragon, I touched the Beacon and focused on what I needed to have in a transformation: A large pair of feathered wings. Capable of giving me the speed and flight distance I needed to draw Maleficent’s attention, get her somewhere to talk to her -and if things went rough, get Merlin the advantage to trap her in the Crystal.

“Let’s ride!” I yelled at my crew.

Pain and Panic gave excited laughter as they turned themselves into dragon. Merlin turned himself into a bird, carrying the Crystal carefully in his talons, and the four of us flew up into the air to miraculously draw Maleficent’s attention. While we were airborne, I got a glimpse of everyone else doing their part of the plan. Friends drawing away the villains, the fairies casting their spell on the city, and Mickey and his crew convincing the police not to fight. I wished all my friends, old and new, luck as we all did our parts to stop the villains and save the city.

As my group flew in the sky, I managed to catch Maleficent’s eye while she was soaring over the Brooklyn Bridge. The dragon gave a mighty and furious roar and started flying towards us.

“Okay, she sees us.” I told the others.

“You make that sound like a good thing!” Panic shouted.

I looked around for a safer spot so I could talk to Maleficent, and I struck gold when I saw a familiar building. One located right next to a billboard with a familiar painted floating lantern on it.

“Head for that roof!” I told my crew as I flew towards it.

They all followed me with Maleficent close behind. Once we reached the building, the three good fairies had joined us. Being successful in putting that protection spell over the city. But before any of us could go any further with the plan, Maleficent arrived. The black dragon ignored pretty much everyone on that rooftop as she stared me down angrily, turning back into her dark fae form for one final confrontation.

“You are either wilier than I expected or more foolish.” Maleficent told me.

“Maleficent, please,” I told her as I made my wings disappear. “Just listen to me-”

Maleficent stopped me in a threatening way. “You won’t trick me with your fancy words, child!”

“I know I won’t, but I still want you to listen to what I have to say.” I said as I raised my hands defensively. “It’s true, I don’t know what it feels like to be betrayed by a boy I once loved.”

Maleficent’s eyes boiled with rage. “You dare bring-”

“But I do know what it feels like to be hated by a loved one!” I stopped her.

Everyone was silent for a moment, even Maleficent didn’t try to attack me when I said what I said. I took a deep breath and began to try to reason with her. This plan has to work, otherwise, I’ve killed us all.

“I have spent sixteen years being a disappointment in the eyes of a loved one.” I explained my pain to her, hoping she’d understand. “She doesn’t know how many times she locked me up or how many times she made me feel worthless compared to my brother.”

This was the moment I finally realized why I wanted to do so much good during my journey. It wasn’t because I wanted to please someone who would always be disappointed in me or to become someone better than I already could be. I already was perfect the way I was. I didn’t need anyone’s approval or to stop being a vandal just to be someone everyone could be proud of. All I had to be was myself. My friends saw that, the characters I interacted with or saved saw that, and now -while talking to the Mistress of all Evil- I finally saw that.

“But I’ve realized something during all those years of neglect and criticism:” I finished. “I don’t have to be perfect for her or even show her the pain she caused me.”

“You expect me to feel sorry for you over some neglectful mother with a preference for your brother?” Maleficent asked me.

“I don’t.” I said. “I just wanted you to know that I understand you.”

“How can you understand me?” she pointed at herself. “The Mistress of all Evil!”

“Because now I realized that I was going on an adventure for the wrong goals.” I told her. “I spent so long wanting to be better to please her or please myself, that I forgot who I was along the way.”

“If I may, Maleficent,” Fauna spoke up. “You and Miss Francesca are quite the same when you think about it.”

Maleficent narrowed her eyes towards the fairy. “What did you say?”

“Frankie used to cause trouble, but all that it came to her was just hate from her mom.” Panic answered for Fauna. “But Frankie wanted to change for the better when all she got was hate.”

“It took us almost a whole week to see it for ourselves.” Pain added.

“Maleficent, you used to protect the moors from humans, you were a guardian.” Flora said. “And what Stefan did to you was truly unforgivable.”

“And that’s how you became who you are today.” Merryweather finished. “You changed for the worst when the worst happened to you.”

“The women and the imps are right.” Merlin agreed. “Do you even know why you wanted to join the other villains into taking over Francesca’s world?”

Maleficent hesitated to answer after being asked that question. She then turned around to see the destruction she had caused while her and the other villains terrorized New York. From what I could tell, and from what I know, her vengeance against Stefan was on personal manners. She didn’t care about dominating a kingdom or a city, all she wanted was her vengeance. Something she knew she wouldn’t get in my world. Maleficent had been so clouded by her hate, that she couldn’t even see why she joined a bunch of villains in the first place.

“...I don’t.” she softly spoke as she fell to her knees, her staff clattering as it fell out of her hand.

That moment should’ve been the moment I asked Merlin to trap her in the Crystal, but I just couldn’t bring myself up to do it. Maleficent may be a villain, but she was still a broken-hearted woman who never healed after being betrayed by the man she once loved. So, I decided to try one last attempt to convince her to surrender without the use of the Crystal. I made my way towards her, against the warnings of the fairies and Merlin, and I stood next to her as we looked at the city in chaos.

“How can you be so kind to me?” she asked me to break the silence. “I took away your friends, destroyed your homeland.”

“I got my friends back and my homelands can be fixed.” I assured her as I helped her up. “But the hate that drives you forward has to be stopped.”

I reached down and handed her back her staff, hoping it would convince her to help us take down the other villains, but there was something in her eyes that said otherwise. She was planning something else.

“It will stop,” Maleficent said as she grasped the orb on her staff before giving me a hateful look. “When my vengeance is completed!”

She then used her staff and pushed me to the ground. The three fairies tried to help me, but the imps stopped them. The two knowing that this was something I could handle on my own. After all, the one flaw in Maleficent’s actions was that she was now vulnerable. Something that I knew I would feel bad about only because of our talk.

“You may understand my pain, child, but that does not make us equals!” Maleficent told me as she raised her staff for another attack.

“I know, and I’m sorry for this.” I apologized before I pulled Merlin’s Crystal from my sweatshirt pocket and touched it against Maleficent’s hand.

Maleficent gave a horrified gasp as she saw herself being sucked into the Crystal. She tried her best to break herself free from the force of the Crystal, but it was no use. The Mistress of all Evil was sucked inside the Crystal, and not even her magic could free her.

“One down, three to go.” I said as I gave Merlin back his Crystal.

“How in the world did you manage to steal the Crystal?” Merlin asked me.

“I guess I learned one good thing after my encounter with Jafar.” I shrugged. I didn’t really know how to answer him, so let’s just say that I snatched it between me talking to Maleficent and me comforting her.

“Look out!” Panic screamed as he pointed up at something.

We all looked and got out of the was the moment we saw Ursula falling down towards the building we were on. Thankfully, we got out of the way just in time for her to crash into the building, but thanks to the good fairies’ protection spell, the building didn’t collapse. I looked closer at Ursula and saw that her tentacles were covered with burns and nasty wounds. Pearl and Ariel were successful in getting her to the East River, and just like I had thought, the river’s toxins had done their job. Lucky for Ursula, since she’s a toon, the toxins won’t kill her just hurt her long enough until she gets back to her world, or something like that.

“What have you humans done to the waters?” Ursula asked me as she winced from her injuries.

“You don’t wanna know.” I told her.

Merlin then took action and trapped Ursula inside the crystal. Giving Maleficent some company in her temporary prison and now leaving the rest of us with only two more villains to capture. After that, we regrouped with Pearl and Ariel so we could go help the others.

“You guys okay?” I asked the two.

“You were right about the East River’s toxins hurting her.” Pearl said.

“What is in that river?” Ariel asked me as she looked back towards the East River.

“Again: You don’t wanna know.” I told her as I summoned up my wings again. “Now, come one, we have to help the others.”

They nodded and joined the rest of us to track down the others. We got lucky when we spotted Hercules and Alex trying their best to distract Hades, even if the latter was firing giant fireballs at them to try to burn them down. This next villain capture might be harder than the other two because, for one thing, he’s a god. So, who’s to say that Hades would even get trapped inside the Crystal. And the other problem was how Pain and Panic would feel seeing and fighting their former boss.

“You boys up for this?” I asked the imps.

Pain gave an unsure shrug. “Had to happen sometime.”

“Promise you’ll keep us safe?” Panic asked me.

I smiled at him. “Always.”

“You and that little she-yutz may’ve stopped me from taking over Olympus,” Hades told Hercules as the latter flew around him. “But you won’t stop me from taking over this world!”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that!” I shouted.

Hades whipped his head around, and when he saw who I was flying next too -Oh, man- he was pissed.

“You two?!” his flames turned bright red when he saw his former henchman fighting alongside me.

“Consider this our letters of resignation!” Pain snapped at his ex-boss.

“Yeah!” Panic blew a raspberry in agreement.

“This is what betrayal feels like, you overgrown candlestick!” I yelled at Hades, reminding him of his betrayal back in the Underworld.

Hades growled at us and started throwing fireballs again. Lucky for the imps, being airborne moving targets proved to save their hides from being burnt to crisps, but there was still no way to shake Hades off of us so we could trap him in the Crystal. Even Ariel shooting water at him did nothing. He’d just kept on firing fireballs.

“Hey!” Pearl then smiled. “I got an idea!”

“What is it?” I asked her.

She had Ariel move a water pillar towards me, where she whispered me her plan on getting Hades’ attention. Her idea was way riskier than us splitting up, but I decided to go with it. I gestured towards Hercules and Alex to follow me and the others while Pearl and Ariel went the opposite direction to distract Hades for us.

“Hey, hot-stuff!” Pearl called at Hades in a flirty way.

With Hades’ attention towards her, and with the rest of us flying right behind his head, everyone flapped their wings hard against the air -aside from the fairies who just summoned forth gusts of wind to help us out- and we all blew out Hades’ flamed hair within a manner of minutes.

“Whoa, is my hair out?” Hades said as he let his guard down and felt his bald head in surprise.

With that distraction all said and done, Merlin tapped Hades with the Crystal, and the immortal was sucked into the crystal ball alongside the two female villains. Hades tried firing fireballs to break himself and the others out of the Crystal, but it was no use. I guess even godly powers were no match against the Crystal.

“Don’t be so burnt out.” I smirked at him in the crystal. “At least you have some company.”

“Pity,” Pearl started to say. “I think he seemed interested.”

“You do realize he tried to destroy your home, right?” Ariel asked her.

“Hey, a gal can dream.” Pearl shrugged.

“Where’s Aladdin and Genie?” Pain changed the subject to a more important one..

“They’re leading Jafar towards Central Park.” Alex answered.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Merryweather said as she magicked up something with her wand. “That parrot wanted me to give you this. He said it could help trap Jafar.”

She then handed me a simple black Arabian oil lamp: Jafar’s djinni lamp. I then had the idea of all ideas on how to stop Jafar from destroying and ruling New York.

“Is he still a genie?” I asked Merryweather.

“He should be.” she told me. “I saw the gold cuffs on his wrists just before we arrived here.”

“Good.” I said before turning towards Merlin. “Can the Crystal trap objects?”

“Enchanted ones,” Merlin confirmed with a nod. “And a genie’s lamp should count.”

I gave a determined smile as we all flew towards Central Park. With us now having the upper hand in this fight, and with Jafar’s newest weakness, it won’t be long until the city is saved and the villains can be sent back to their worlds. Hopefully without any other spell swaps or thefts this time.

“Francesca, do be careful.” Flora warned me.

“Don’t worry.” I told her as I started to fly towards Jafar alone. “I got this.”

I whistled at Aladdin and Genie to get their attentions and let them know that I was going to help them end their battle. And while they stood by me to back me up in case things went south, I still had a really nervous feeling about how I was going to get the giant cobra staring me down back into his lamp. I glanced over at Aladdin and Genie, and they each supported confident smiles at me. They believed I could do it, so it was time I believed I could too.

“You little foolsss.” Jafar hissed at us with a mean smile. “You think you’ve won? Thisss isss only the beginning of the battle!”

“Surrender now, Jafar,” I warned him. “I mean it.”

“She’sss telling me what to do?” he chuckled as he slithered closer to me. “The street ratsss’s bravery flickersss inssside, but I wonder how all that bravery will tassste.”

“This is your final warning!” I yelled as I held up his lamp.

Jafar’s snake eyes widened at the sight of his enchanted prison, and with a shrill roar, he turned from his giant cobra form into his oh-so phenomenal cosmic powerful djinni form. Ready to try to fight me before I rubbed the lamp and gained the upper hand.

“Where did you get that?” he demanded an explanation.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I snapped back and rubbed the lamp, bounding Jafar to obey my wishes. “I am the holder of this lamp, and that makes me your master!”

“All the powers of a genie,” Jafar yelled into the skies. “And I am bound to the rules of the lamp!”

“Should’ve thought of that before you made the wish.” Aladdin smirked at his enemy.

“But no, you just wanted more power.” Genie added before blowing a raspberry at Jafar.

I smirked before I asked my first wish. “My first wish, is for you to undo all the damage you and the other villains have done to New York City.”

“No!” Jafar tried to resist but couldn’t. “I… must… obey!”

He then used his magic to fix all the damages he and the other villains had done to the city. Making it looked better, and a lot cleaner than he had been before he and the others arrived. Had to say, I was impressed, but that wish was only one out of three that needed to be done.

“My second wish,” I continued. “I wish to have back the original spell that you had stolen from me.”

Jafar bowed his head in defeat as he magicked up that small piece of paper that caused all this much trouble. I took the spell and gave it to Flora for safe keeping, because I wasn’t finished with this evil djinni quite yet.

“You have one wish left.” Merlin told me. “Use it wisely.”

“And I will.” I said before I spoke to Jafar one last time. “My third and final wish is for you to remain in your lamp until a new human master finds it, and you are to never mention my name to them.”

“No!” Jafar screamed as he was dragged back into his lamp. “NO!”

Once he was inside, I tapped the lamp against the Crystal, and it was sucked inside with the other villains. They all tried to rub it so they could wish themselves out of their prison, but it was no use. None of them were human, therefore, my wish worked on them too. Again, if I wasn’t such a B- student, I would have thought of doing all of that before that huge battle happened. It probably would’ve saved everyone else the trouble of backing me up, but then again, it was nice to have the extra help. After all, we all played our parts and saved the city.

That is, until we heard the explosion go off.

We all looked around as one section of the city started sparking with multi-colored lightning bolts. Scattering around and striking wherever it touched, even being proven to be effective against the fairies’ protection spell. It couldn’t have been a trap by the villains. They were all too busy trying to take over Manhattan or try to scare everyone in obeying their command. Whatever this thing was, was dangerous.

“What was that?” I heard Hercules asked out loud.

I felt my eyes widened the moment I realized that that explosion and lightning wasn’t caused by some character. The rainbow lightning striking everything only meant one thing:

“The portal!” I gasped. “Something’s wrong with the portal!”

Chapter Text

We all flew towards the portal. Whatever was causing it to shoot lightning out of it, we had to make sure it wouldn’t hurt anyone. But by the time we got there, seeing the scared looks on Mickey, Donald, and Goofy -who successfully got the police to back off during our fight with the villains- as they saw us approach them and the portal, it wasn’t a good sign. Especially since the once round portal now looked like it was folding itself like a round piece of paper.

“I thought we closed it when we came here!” Goofy told us in a scared voice.

“This has never happened before.” I stated as I made my wings disappear. “They’re supposed to close. What’s wrong with it?”

“Oh, this is terrible!” Donald worried, as if he knew what was wrong.

“Why?” I asked him.

“The portal’s been open for too long, it’s become unstable!” Donald explained to me. “It’ll close in on itself and destroy everything within a five mile-radius.”

“Can’t we evacuate the city or find shelter?” Pearl asked.

“It wouldn’t matter.” Alex shook his head. “It’s too late of a warning.”

“What about the protection spell?” Goofy asked.

“It’s not effective against the portal.” Fauna worried.

She was right. If anything, the portal's lightning bolts were weakening the protection spell, and making it disappear with every blast it struck. Which meant that the city would be vulnerable to the portal closing, and a devastating explosion.

“You guys have to get back to Disney, now!” I told them as I saw the portal grow more unstable.

“She’s right, we have to get back to our world,” Merlin told us. “But someone must stay behind to hold the portal open long enough.”

“You mean, someone won’t make it if they stay?” I summed up the fate of the one who would choose to stay behind.

Merlin gave me a reluctant nod. “It’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.”

“But so long as you have this, dear child,” Flora told me as she gave me back the spell. “You’ll be able to send them back when things have calmed down.”

“I’ll do it.” Hercules volunteered himself. “I’m the strongest one, I might be able to hold it open long enough.”

“Herc, you can’t!” I tried to stop him.

“I have to.” Herc told me. “As a hero, it’s my job to keep everyone safe.”

Hercules then turned to try to hold open the portal, but just as he was about to touch it, the portal reacted violently and started to cause a tremor -much like the one that happened when I first read the spell a few days ago- and it sent him stumbling backwards and everyone else falling to the ground. Had Pegasus hadn’t caught him in time, Hercules could’ve hit his head on the pavement. Thank God for loyal winged horses.

I helped Hercules and the others to their feet -except for Ariel, who was tended to by Genie- as we watched the portal continue to reshape itself in horror.

“It’s too powerful!” Merryweather exclaimed.

“What do we do?” Ariel asked worriedly as Genie helped her onto Carpet.

There was only one thing to do. Someone had to stay to hold open that portal long enough for all the characters to get back to Disney, and it wasn’t going to be one of them.

So, without saying a single word and looking at the crumbling and sparking portal with the most determination a person can give, I started making my way towards the portal. Everyone tried to tell me to stop, but I didn’t listen. I wasn’t losing any of my friends to the destruction of the portal, so if anyone was going to hold open that portal long enough so everyone could get back to Disney, I knew I had to do it. I grabbed the top of the portal, my feet held the bottom of it in place, and held it open as I turned around and faced everyone, so I could see their faces in my world one last time.

“Frankie!” Aladdin called out.

“Go, just go!” I grunted as I kept holding the portal up as much as I could.

“Quickly, everyone into the portal!” Mickey told the others as he instructed them to go into the portal.

The other characters listened to their king, and all went into the portal, each of them doing their best not to bump into me and make me lose my concentration of holding up the portal. Mickey went in after everyone else did to make sure they all got back to Disney safely, that is, until I spotted two characters who didn’t leave quite yet.

“Frankie, you gotta let go!” Pain yelled in fear.

“We can’t just leave you like this!” Panic tried to push me out if the way to save me.

“Go!” I stopped him and Pain as I kept holding open the portal. “I’ll see you both when this is all over!”

“You promise?” Pain asked me.

“Of course, I do.” I told them. “I love you guys.”

Both imps gave me the most saddened surprised looks I had ever seen anyone give me. I could tell that they never had anyone say that to them before, but after all we’ve been through together, I think they accepted it, because what they said next nearly made me jump in after them.

“We love you too.” they told me right before they jumped into the portal.

The imps were the last two characters that went back into Disney, now all that was left to do was to try to let go of the portal before it became more unstable.

“Frankie?”

That voice made my heart drop. I looked up and saw my parents and baby brother looking at the scene in confusion and shock, but that’s not what got me. I thought Alex and Pearl told me that my parents were staying an extra night upstate when I called them from Toaster’s world, why was my family back so soon? And at the worst possible time to?

“Dad?” I asked with widened eyes.

Before he could ask me what the heck I was doing, the ground started to shake, and the portal started to get heavier and spark out more multicolored lightning bolts. It was becoming more unstable by the second, and I had to let go of it soon before it blows up and hurts everyone.

Pearl noticed what was going on and was the first to react. “Run!”

She and Alex ran towards my parents and brother to try to get them somewhere safe. I tried to follow after them, but I just couldn’t move. The pressure of the portal kept pulling me down. And just when I had the strength to push it back up to try to break free from it, another bolt of lightning shot out from it. Striking me in the back. I let out a pained scream and my legs gave out immediately. And so, I let go of the closing portal, fell right back into Disney, and then, dear readers, everything went black.

Pearl’s POV

“NO!” I screamed as I saw Frankie fall through the portal.

I ran to where the portal had disappeared, Alex was still standing in shock, and Frankie’s parents and baby brother stood there in confusion about what they had just seen. I feel to my knees right where the portal was and tried seeing if I could reopen it again. I had to know if Frankie was okay, or at least alive.

“Franke!” I kept asking as I slammed my fists into the ground. “Frankie, can you hear me?!”

“That did not just happen!” Alex kept saying. “I can’t believe that happened!”

“What happened?” Mr. Cole asked us. “Where is she? Where is our daughter?”

Alex and I didn’t know how to answer him. I don’t know how much he and Mrs. Cole saw before Frankie fell in, but I don’t think they’d believe us if we told them that Frankie held a magical portal to another world open so a bunch of Disney characters could go back to their world and so she could save a five-mile radii worth of New York from being blown up. But worst of all, we had no way of knowing if Frankie was still alive after she fell in.

I was about to give up until I saw something next to my hand that I thought I had dreamt up. A small piece of paper with a bunch of dorky poetry written on it: The spell Frankie had that opened the Gay Vortex -or portal, was still in this world. It must’ve flown out of her hand after she fell back into Disney! This was a sign that Frankie had to be alright, at least I hoped it was.

“Alex!” I called out. “I found the spell!”

“Read it!” Alex yelled at me frantically. “We have to know if she’s okay!”

I fumbled a little to open the spell, but when I finally opened it up, I began to frantically read off those dorky rhymes on that paper that Frankie had read just a few days ago”

“A kingdom of magic calls to you,

Where hopes and dreams all come true.

To the land of dragons to the realm of mermaids,

A friend shall come to your aid.

To whisk you away to a land of wonder,

Come, traveler, and seek these to wander.”

After I read it, another more stable portal opened up. If this gets us to Disney, it gets us to Frankie. And there was no use sitting around waiting until that thing got unstable again, our friend needed us.

“C’mon!” I called out as I grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled him into the portal with me.

“Kids, wait!” Mr. Cole called out as he grabbed baby Leo and followed us through the portal.

“Ed, get back here!” Mrs. Cole yelled as she followed Mr. Cole through the portal.

Later

It didn’t take long for us all to arrive in Disney, just a quick trip into a swirling gay cortex, and we all found ourselves in a hallway of some really fancy looking house. A castle maybe? In any case, we were in Disney. Although Alex and I had a more rougher landing that the Coles did. He and I feel to the ground hard before we picked ourselves up.

“Where are we?” Mr. Cole asked as he made sure baby Leo wasn’t hurt when we arrived.

“Alex! Pearl!” Mickey’s voice called out to us.

Alex and I turned and saw Mickey and Merlin rushing towards us. The two of us gasped and rushed to them to meet them halfway, worried about Frankie’s condition.

“Merlin! Mickey, we have to do something!” I cried out to them about Frankie. “We have to save her!”

Merlin and Mickey each exchanged regretful looks. This meant bad news to anyone who’s ever seen any hospital show or has ever had a loved one in an actual hospital. Frankie’s condition was worse than what I had thought it would be in. Correction: Worse than anyone of us would imagine.

“I am so sorry, but I’m afraid there is nothing we can do.” Merlin told us. “Her injuries were too much. She has made the ultimate sacrifice.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked them.

“Frankie’s comatose.” Mickey said sadly. “And we don’t know if she’ll wake up or not.”

I felt my heart shatter as I buried my face into Alex chest. He held me tight as I cried into him. Frankie couldn’t be in a coma; she just couldn’t be! Not after we had just gotten her back from her getting sucked into Disney to begin with!

“Please, let me see her.” Mr. Cole’s voice broke when he begged to Mickey. “Let me see my daughter.”

Mickey gave him a reluctant nod. “Yes, sir.”

He then led us all towards a set of doors, but when he opened them, we all something that shook us all to our cores: Frankie in what looked like a hospital gown, laying in a bed, unconscious. Her body was covered in dark bruises, especially on one side of her head. Indicating that the lightning strike to the back wasn’t enough to take her out, and that when she fell back into Disney, she hit her head hard. It couldn’t end like this for her. We couldn’t lose our best friend!

“Oh, Frankie!” I started bawling as I once again turned to Alex for comfort.

“She got us home, but at what cost?” Mickey said as he wiped away a sad tear. “Her life meant so much more for everyone she helped in my kingdom, even me.”

“You’re okay, Frankie. Daddy’s here.” Mr. Cole said as he knelt down by Frankie’s head and held her hand. “Daddy’s got you.”

“She’s faking it.”

The room fell silent as all heads turned to the annoyed Mrs. Cole, who wasn’t shedding a single tear at the sight of her only daughter in a coma. Even poor little Leo, who didn’t even understand why his big sister wasn’t moving or talking was crying for Frankie. Did Mrs. Cole really hated Frankie more than she loved that douchebag Ty, or was she just born a heartless bitch?

“What did you just say?” I heard myself ask her in a growl.

“Ed, honestly, this isn’t a first for her: Always doing something spontaneous to get attention and facing the consequences of what she does.” Mrs. Cole brushed off Frankie’s condition. “Unlike some of our children, she’s just faking.”

“Our daughter may never wake up, and you think she did it for attention?” Mr. Cole repeated what she was saying as he handed me baby Leo.

“What else is new? I mean, she’s just a little troublemaker.” Mrs. Cole began her usual children comparison. “Now, if Tyler-” 

“Ty is a fake, Carol!”

Alex held me and baby Leo close as we witnessed Mr. Cole finally snap at his wife. I have to admit, I never thought I’d ever see a man as kind as Frankie’s dad ever raise his voice at his wife, but considering that she didn’t even care about Frankie, she definitely deserved it.

“That perfect son of yours did nothing but torment and blame Frankie for everything he didn’t want to get caught doing!” Mr. Cole yelled. “I didn’t say anything, because you’re too stubborn to listen to anything anyone has to say if it’s not about Tyler!”

I shielded baby Leo’s eyes away from his parents fighting each other. Even if Frankie never woke up from what happened, I couldn’t let her baby brother see just how heartless his momma was towards his big sister.

“Frankie could die from keeping that thing open! We might lose our daughter!” Mr. Cole said angrily as he gestured towards Frankie’s body. “She sacrificed herself to save two worlds, and if you don’t care about her for doing that in the slightest, I will take her and Leo far away from you, and you will never see us again! Is that clear?!”

“How dare you speak to me that way!” Mrs. Cole yelled at him and prepared her hand to smack him in the face.

“L-leave…” 

Frankie’s parents stopped fighting. when that groggy sounding voice spoke up. Everyone’s attention went towards the bed Frankie was lying in, and everyone was in a mix of shock and relief the moment Frankie sat herself up and glared ice at only one person in the room.

“Leave Dad alone!” Frankie yelled at her mom.

Frankie’s POV

You guys thought I was dead? The accusations of my condition were greatly exaggerated. I was out, but I could still hear everyone.

So, that’s how my mom really thinks of me? Here, I thought all she ever wanted me to be was to be just like my stupid brother, but no. She never cared about me at all, and what she said showed. I get knocked out for a solid 20 minutes -I think, everyone thinks I’m either comatose or dead, and all she thinks is that I got electrocuted just for kicks and attention and she thought she had the audacity to treat my father so shamefully for defending me? I thought all those villains my friends and I fought were evil, but she: My own mother truly is a real monster. 

Dad gave a smile of relief as he rushed over to hug me, followed by Alex, Pearl, and Leo. I was happy to be surrounded by the people I loved, but I wish I could say the same thing to my mother. As soon as everyone stopped hugging me, I stared angrily at my mom, who had a horrified look on her face after getting caught about what she said and almost did to my dad.

Mom tried her best to find an explanation. “Frankie, I-” 

“Save it, Mom.” I shut her up with an icy glare. “Everything I ever did was never to get attention. I was living my life the way I wanted to, but you didn’t care. You don’t care about me at all!”

The room fell silent as I saw my mom shudder with the truth I had thrown at her. I had spent so long keeping these feelings about her inside, but I’m opening that bottle and letting it spill out so she can know the pain she caused me my entire life.

“So, save your half-hearted attempts at wanting forgiveness for sixteen years of doing nothing but hating me and comparing me to my brother, because you are way past that!” I finally spat.

Mickey gave a nervous gulp as he approached my mom to break the tension. “Maybe you should leave the room, Mrs. Cole.”

He and Merlin then led her out of the room, thankfully before I could shout words at Mom no good woman should ever yell, leaving me alone with Dad, Alex, Pearl, and Leo. I finally did it, I finally actually called out my mom for treating me like nothing but garbage my entire life. Sure, we had arguments before, but she never gave me the time to speak for myself.

“I fought several villains, got electrocuted, got knocked out for a while, and even survived a fall,” I listed as I fell back onto the pillow. “But standing up to her was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.” 

“I’m proud of you, honey, and I’m so glad you’re alright.” Dad smiled as he kissed my forehead. “You really became a hero, just like you’ve always wanted.”

“I’ve always been a hero, Daddy.” I corrected him with a weakened smile. “It just took me a while to realize it.”

“Frankie! You’re alive!”

I sat myself back up and saw Pain and Panic standing outside the open doors, each of them with relieved smiles on their faces and tears forming in their eyes. They both flew from the door and right at me for a tight hug. I don’t blame them, though. I caused quite the scare. And I would’ve pushed them off my extremely sore body, but I was so happy to see my imps again.

“Barely.” I said in exhaustion as I recalled my injuries. “So, that’s what it feels like to be electrocuted, huh?”

“How do you feel?” Panic asked me as he and Pain broke off the hug.

“I hurt,” I gave a pained chuckle. “But it’s kind of a dry hurt.”

“It’ll be like that for a while.” Pain assured me. “Believe me, I know.”

“I know you know.” I smiled at him as I ruffled his hair, recalling the time he got electrocuted by a bunch of eels during our adventure in Atlantica.

“What about your back?” Alex asked me.

Pearl nodded in agreement. “Yeah, girl, you got hit pretty bad there.”

“And your legs?” Dad then asked. “How do they feel after that bolt hit you?”

So many questions, but to wrap up their answers: My lower back felt so sore that it was hurting just sitting up talking to everyone, but I could get over my back pain. It was something else about me that was worrying me too much.

“I…” I gave a worried look. “I don’t think I can feel my legs.”

Chapter Text

Well, it took a few days, but I was back up and fully functional after my injury. According to the castle doctor, who was also Queen Minnie Mouse, I should be walking normally in another month or two. With pleasantly of physical therapy and a few months’ worth of wearing leg braces, it’ll be like I never got struck by lightning. Until then, I was wheelchair bound. Not that I was complaining, I was just happy to know that I’ll be able to walk again.

On the day my friends and family were supposed to come back, was when my life started to get more interesting. Remember how in the first chapter, you saw that I went on the best adventure in my life, and it ended up having me become the Guardian of Disney. I bet you’re still wondering what exactly that means. Well, here, let me show you:

“Frankie, you about ready?” my dad asked me while he was making sure my mom and friends were all ready to leave.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I said as I wheeled myself out of the room I was staying in.

“Good morning, Frankie,” Mickey greeted me as he walked by. “How are you feeling?”

“A bit better, thank you.” I told him.

“Listen, before you leave, do you mind if I talk to you in private?” he asked me.

I thought it was a strange request, but much like the request Toaster and her friends asked me when they let me and my companions stay with them during my adventure, I knew that it was the right call to make to accept said offer from the king.

“No. Not at all.” I told him.

I let him wheel me back into my room where we could talk privately. I closed the doors once we were in so nobody could hear our conversation, and that’s when Mickey started talking to me about something pretty important.

“I just wanted to thank you for all you’ve done.” he started. “You save so many of not only my people, but yours as well.”

“It was the least I could do.” I told him. “Almost every character I met in Disney was nothing but kind to me. I couldn’t let you all hurt yourselves just to save the rest.”

“And for that I’m eternally grateful.” Mickey said. “But there’s something else I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Well, uh, you know just how busy and rough my role as king is. I’m too busy running my kingdom and settling things within the other worlds.” Mickey nervously explained before he got to a point. “So, I need someone to look after those worlds when I’m not able to.”

I blinked in confusion. “What are you saying?”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, especially since I kinda waited until the last minute,” he offered me. “But if you want, I’ll make you the official Guardian of Disney.”

“Guardian?” I repeated “What’s that?”

“Somethin’ me and the fellas worked up,” Mickey explained. “It means that you’ll be sent to the other worlds when I can’t and help all the characters through their journeys before or during their stories.”

A Guardian? Protecting people? This was a hero job. This Guardian business was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I was very reluctant about what I’d choose. On one hand, I can only see my friends and family for visits and nothing more, but on the other, I could grow as a person and learn so much more. As much as I had been wanting to go back home, I realized right then and there that I belong in Disney, and that everyone I encountered and became friends with during my adventure saw me as the hero I always dreamed I could be. And it’d be a shame for all of them if I let them down.

“Can I talk to my family first?” I asked Mickey.

“Of course.” Mickey smiled.

Later

Mickey and I found my family and friends waiting for me in the foyer of the castle. They were all thanking the characters that had been so kind to let us stay in their home until I was able to be in decent condition. I was a little nervous about telling them all what Mickey had offered me, but I knew I could do it. I just hoped they all understood why I decided to do what I was about to do, especially my mother.

“Dad?” I spoke up.

“What is it, Frankie?”

“Well, we’ve been talking, and I’ve given Frankie a really good proposition here.” Mickey said before he turned to me to give them the news.

“I’m gonna stay here and become a Guardian.” I told them all.

“Guardian?” Alex repeated on everyone’s behalf.

“Whenever I’m too busy with other worlds or my kingly duties, Frankie will be given opportunities to go to different worlds of Disney to help anyone in need” Mickey explained to them before rephrasing one detail. “That is, when she’s able to walk again.”

“You can’t be serious.” Mom scoffed. “Frankie, your place isn’t here in Fantasy Land-”

“Disney, actually, ma’am.” Mickey corrected her.

“Whatever,” Mom brushed him to the side. “You belong in the real world.”

“You mean in the same world my harpy of a mother lives in and berates me and calls me a disappointment?” I snapped a rude remark at her. “This isn’t your choice, mother.”

“But I’m still your mother, and I think that living in a fantasy world won’t give you better opportunities for your future.” she tried her best to sound motherly.

“And I’m her father,” Dad stepped in. “And I think that if she’s given this opportunity to keep being what she wants to be, then we should let her.”

“Ed!” Mom scolded.

“You know, I’m starting to think that divorce is not that bad of an option.” Dad snapped back at her.

That statement shut Mom up pretty quick.

“You sure you’ll be okay without us?” Alex asked me.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I nodded.

“Visit us whenever you can.” Pearl told me as she gave me back the spell.

“Keep it.” I told her as I pushed the spell back into her hand. “You guys might need to visit me someday.”

My friends smiled at me, and both gave me one final hug goodbye.

“We’ll miss you.” Pearl sniffled.

“I’ll miss you guys too.” I told them.

We broke off our hug, and Pearl recited the spell to open the portal. She and Alex each gave me one final wave goodbye before they left into the portal for their world. Mom slowly followed after them, but without giving me something I didn’t even know she was capable of: Kindness.

“Be careful, Frankie.” she told me in probably the nicest way she’s ever said to me.

“Don’t worry about me.” I assured her.

She gave me a soft nod and went into the portal. I’m still furious at her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate that she’s trying to change for the better, even if she gets hit with the threat of divorce if she keeps acting like a bad mom.

All that was left to say goodbye was my Dad and my little brother.

“Thanks for believing in me, Dad.” I told him.

“It’s a father’s job to believe in his little girl.” he smiled at me. “And, hey, once you get a place of your own here, I’ll even help you move in if you want.”

“Can I keep the rotary? Please?” I asked him hopefully about one of the appliances we owned.

“Of course.” Dad chuckled as he gave me a group hug with him and Leo.

“By the way, a friend of mine here wanted me to tell you he says “hi”.” I told him after we broke off the hug, remembering a promise I once made to Genie.

Dad gave me a smile. “Well, tell him I say “hi” too.”

He then handed me my baby brother, so I could say goodbye to him too. This was going to be hard for me because Leo didn’t really know what was happening with me

“Leo, I’ll see you soon, okay? I’ll visit you on every birthday and holiday, but you be a good boy and listen to Daddy, okay?” I told him. “Maybe when you’re big enough, you can visit me here.”

Leo giggled brightly as he put his tiny hand on my face. “Sissy!”

I smiled at him and kissed his cute little cheek after I heard him say that word. My baby brother’s first word was “sissy”; I was his first word. It’s every older sister’s dream to see her little sibling look up to her, but to be their first word? That’s the greatest honor any older sibling can have. And with Leo, I knew that I’d have to make I lived up to his expectations, to make him proud.

I handed Leo back to Dad, and Dad quickly looked over at the king of Disney and his mage and captain of the guard.

“Keep an eye on her for me, okay?” he asked them.

“Yes, sir!” Goofy saluted him.

“She’s in good hands.” Donald added.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Cole,” Mickey finished. “We’ll take good care of her.”

Dad smiled as he and Leo started to make their way towards the portal. But, he only stopped briefly to see my off one last time.

“I love you, Dad.” I waved him goodbye.

“I love you too, sweetie.” he smiled at me.

A sentimental tear ran down my face as I saw my father and baby brother disappear back into their world and the portal to mine close right behind them.

Several Later

I spent the rest of the day keeping to myself, of course, Minnie told me that we would start my physical therapy and leg braces the next day. All in effort to help me get better and be ready for when I officially became Guardian. It was still pretty weird to wrap that concept around my mind: Me, a former troublemaking screw-up, saves New York and Disney from both a group of villains and an unstable portal and becomes a protector of Disney worlds and characters. It’s weird, but in a nice thought sort of way, and I was excited to see more of the worlds as I went out to help others.

“You okay, Frankie?”

I stopped staring off at the sunset when I heard that I had a pair of visitors watching me. Since Pain and Panic’s role in their world isn’t really needed anymore, Mickey allowed them to stay with me providing that they don’t pull off any evil deeds, mean tricks, or do anything to betray my role as Guardian. They promised, which I didn’t mind at all. It’d be nice to have my favorite characters as my roommates.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I told them.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Pain asked me.

“How everything’s gonna be so different from now on.” I gave a shrug as an answer.

Panic looked over at Pain for a bit before looking back at me. “You know, we never really did get a real explanation.”

“For what?” I asked him.

“Why you saved us from the Styx?” he listed. “Why you care about us so much?”

“Is that what you guys are after?” I asked them jokingly.

“Hey, I had my doubts, but you really are a good kid.” Pain said as he and Panic flew over to me. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious.”

“You both remind me of myself.” I told them. “Given a bad rep just because of something you did.”

Pain shrugged as he landed on the concrete railing. “We’ve done a lot of bad things.”

“I’m aware: Kidnapping, attempted murder, hostage takeover.” I began to list out their crimes. “Am I forgetting anything?”

“Well, there was that one time we caused an entire city-state to hate each other.” Panic recalled.

I gave him a chuckle. “You two are gonna have to tell me all about your misadventures.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.” Pain gave a small laugh.

“But I also saw something else in you,” I brought back up the earlier topic. “Something that just said that you two aren’t as evil as you were supposed to be.”

“You saw that in us?” Panic asked me with a hopeful tone. “Really?”

“And after everything we’ve been through, I can only say one thing about my predictions:” I told them as I gently held their faces in my hands. “I was right. You two are good deep down.”

The imps smiled at me and gave me a hug. It felt nicer than the ones before, almost warmer. Which I guess since we’re gonna be working together from now on, I’d grow to get used to and appreciate more than I already do. And I really appreciated their hugs.

“So, what’s next for us?” Pain asked me as he and Panic sat down on the concrete railing.

“Who knows?” I told them as the three of us watched the sunset over the Magic Kingdom. “There may be other adventures over that next horizon.”