Disclaimer: I don't own Disney or the House of Mouse series.

Chapter 7 part 1:

Mickey Mouse checked his watch for the umpteenth time; only five minutes had passed. The Mouse sat in his dressing room, minutes away from the most stressful night of the year. He sighed, and ran a gloved hand over his face. His right leg shook- up, down, up, down- at a rapid fire pace. Mickey looked up into the big, red mirror, and messed with the collar of his shirt yet again. Nothing he did with it seemed to look right tonight.

Not that it matters, he thought, Not with-

A tap at his dressing room door interrupted his thoughts and he turned to it. The door cracked open and Minnie's head ducked into the room. Mickey was both relieved and mortified to see her.

"You ready, Mickey?" she asked, " Show time soon."

"Oh, ready as I'll ever be, I guess," he answered as he hopped off his chair, " Who's out there?"

"Everyone you'd expect," she answered, "and a few others brave enough to come tonight." Mickey nodded, only half listening. Minnie walked over him and put a hand his shoulder, he lifted his head to face her. "Are you sure you're alright?" She looked Mickey straight in the eye, trying to find the answer for herself.

"Yeah," he said, "Just a little nervous." His uneasy chuckle only emphasized his point. Minnie gave a small smile.

"We all are," she said, "But it'll be over before you know it! Remember, it's only until midnight."

" I-I guess you're right," he said, a little of his normal cheerfulness returning. That was one of the many things he loved about Minnie, she always seemed to know the right thing to say to make anyone feel better. "So, everybody else ready?" he asked.

"Just about," she answered, returning to her professional manner, " everyone's here except Riley."

Mickey nodded, "Ah, that's ok. If I were her, I'd probably take tonight off ,too. Did she tell ya she wouldn't be here tonight?" Minnie gave him a confused looked.

"No, why?" she asked.

Mickey froze, unsure of what he had just heard, "Well, ya told her about tonight, didn't ya?"

Minnie shook her head, "I didn't."

Mickey paled and his stomach felt as though it had plummeted ten stories. "Why not?" he cried.

"I thought you said you were going to," she answered.

"No. I thought you were gonna tell her!" he said, "Oh no, this is terrible, Minnie! Whatta we do? If she's on her way here, how's she gonna take seein' -" He was cut off by a sudden burst of music and the sound of Mike's powerful voice giving the intro. It was too late to do anything about it now, he needed to get on that stage. Mickey cast a panicked look towards Minnie.

"Go!" she said, pushing him in the direction of the stage, "Don't worry, I'll think of something. You just get out there and break a leg!" With one last gentle shove, Mickey was at the edge of the wings. He turned to gave Minnie one last look, but found that she was already gone. Turning back, the heat of the glaring spot lights caused tiny spots of sweat to appear on his forehead. He wondered, though, as he walked onstage, if it was the lights that made him perspire, or his nerves.

The wind howled through the branches of the trees in an almost foreboding manner. Ever rustle, every gust seemed to whisper "Beware! Turn back while you still can." That warning fell on deaf ears as I sprinted through the park, trying to reach the bridge as quickly as possible.


The weather had been acting up that entire day, bringing intense storms of heavy rain, not to mention lightning, to the area. Branches were torn right out from their trees, andleaves scattered the ground as if fall had arrived early. Pellets of hail the size of golf balls attacked the windshields of unsuspecting cars. The weather channel even issued a tornado watch for the area that afternoon. To top it all off, this tantrum of mother nature's caused the whole town to lose power. All of which to my mother delaying my departure for work until the storm calmed. Finally, the weather subdued just enough to convince mom that it was safe to leave the house. Unfortunately, I was over an hour late for work, and with the phones down and my cell battery dead, there was no way to call in late.

In a matter of minutes, the bridge came into view from around the corner. There it stood, soaking wet from the down pour. Water had collected in small puddles at the bottom of the arch. I didn't slow down. With eyes shut, I splashed through the puddles and to the other side. All at once, the wind stopped blowing and was replaced by the sounds of cars driving up and down the street. In one swift jump, I went from the middle of the street to the sidewalk, then dashed down the familiar path to the House of Mouse.

The lights at the club were already lighting up circles in the darkening sky. Its emblem shining proudly onto the street.

"I'm so dead," I muttered. The glass front doors swung open seconds before I reached them. I didn't give it much attention. The club's foyer flew by in a blur, as did the dining room. The back wall of the club turned widely left and gave way to the backstage area. I stumbled in crying, "I'm so sorry I'm late! There was a killer storm back home and..." What stood there stopped me mid-sentence, or rather, who stood there. There was an awkward silence as Hades turned to face me. Beside him was Ursula wearing Minnie's head set and holding a clipboard. My eyes went from one to the other for a good 30 seconds before the silence was broken.

"You're late," Hades smirked.

"Where's Mickey?" I said, my eyes became suspicious slits, "You're not supposed to be back here."

"Shows how much you know," he scoffed.

"I said, where's Mickey?" I demanded, a little more forcefully, "What the heck is going on?"

"Riley!" someone called as they dashed backstage. It was Mickey, with Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Daisy in tow. They came to a skidding halt square between Hades and I. "Ya made it! What took ya so long?"

"Sorry, the weather was bad," I said, "What's going on? Why...why are they back here? Where were you guys?"

"The villains are in charge tonight," Donald's explanation was calm. My reaction, however, was not.

"What?" I cried, "And you didn't tell me?"

"Calm down," said Mickey, "I'll explain everything." He took a deep breath before continuing, "Now, a few years ago there was...an incident one Halloween. A buncha villains got together and took over the club. Well, in the end we managed to scare 'em off using Genie's lamp." At this, Hades let out an unhappy 'humph', not exactly keen on being accused of cowardice. Mickey continued, paying him no mind, "But after everything was said 'n done, they vowed ta try again 'till they got control of the club for good. So that night, we came to an agreement. Once a year, us good guys hand the club over ta the villains. Whatever they say goes. We get the night off, but we like ta stick around, y'know, just in case."

"You can't be serious," I said. To be honest, the idea didn't sound too appealing. All those villains in charge of the club? What was to stop them from giving back the keys at the end of the night?

"Oh, but he is, child," Ursula said and with a flick of her wrist, a golden sheet of paper materialized in the air in front of me. The golden lettering on it read:

"We, both Heroes and Villains, hereby agree to the following arrangement. On one night of each year of the villain's choosing, the staff of the House of Mouse are to turn over control of the club from opening until midnight of that night. Control of the club is to be symbolically handed over by relinquishing the keys to the establishment via ceremony. At that time, the staff present are given the night off and the villains have complete control of the establishment, provided that the building and its patrons remain unharmed. All decisions made by said villains are valid*, so long as they do not inconvenience the heroes, then or in the future. The keys to the club must be given back to the heroes by the twelfth stroke of midnight."

At the bottom of the page were the signatures of the regular house staff, along with that of about two dozen villains.

"Well, this has been an enchanting story time, really," said Hades, snatching the contract away, "but we got a show to run." He gave a dismissive wave of the hand, and the regular staff, including yours truly, turned to go. I made it a total of four steps before something yanked me back so I was, once again, facing Hades. The rest of the staff turned back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he waved his arms around in a wild gesture, "Where, exactly, do you think you're going?"

"Um, with the rest of the staff?" I said, by way of explanation.

"Don't think so, kid," Hades' smirk brought about a sense of dread. I blinked once. Twice, before realization brought with it a sense of dread. This had to be a joke.

"Y-you don't really mean-" I started.

"Bingo!" he relished his next few words a little too much, "You got work to do."

"But I'm not a villain!" I exclaimed, "I'm with the regular staff! I'm supposed to get the night off!" I looked over at Mickey and the others for back up, "Right guys? Tell him." The others shared a deeply uncomfortable look.

"We're sorry, Riley," Daisy said, "but there's nothing we can do. You weren't at the ceremony."

"But that's not fair!" the words rushed out before I could stop them, "How can he make me work? I'm not one of them!"

"Technically, no," Hades said, examining his nails, "but since someone decided to show up late- and in uniform, I might add- that makes you fair game."

I glared up at him, "Then I refuse. Get one of your cronies to serve the food."

In the next instant, Hades turned and shot me a grin that was none too pleasant, "Oh ho! You refuse? Well, you can't 'cause- here comes the kicker, you're really gonna love this one, kid- I have the authority to fire you."

I felt like I'd been shot in the stomach. Defiance quickly turned itself into desperation, "Wha-what? Wait! The contract didn't say anything about that!"

"Then I guess you didn't read it very carefully, did you?" Hades unrolled the contract and pointed to the very bottom of the page, holding it out for me to read. I leaned in close to the page, squinting to make out the tiny print.

"*The decisions that can be formally made by the villains are limited and as follows. They may:

Add/ remove any items from the menu

Fire any employee working on their night if and only if they are dissatisfied with the employee's performance on that night.

I stopped reading immediately. How the heck was this part of the contract? If there were going to be limitations on their power, common sense dictates that firing people should be one of them! I stepped back and looked over at Mickey. His only response was a pitying look and a shrug. He was powerless.

I backed up a step. To say this was something I really didn't want to do this was an understatement. But what else could I do? An opportunity like this presented itself, and I took it. Now, it was my job to do anything I could to keep it. "Ok, Fine. I'll do it."


Hades watched the girl sulk into the kitchen, quite satisfied with himself. It was by sheer luck that Riley was late that night, and just for that he could have fired her. In fact, half of him wished he had fired her right there, but his other half -his smarter half- didn't. Oh, he wanted her gone, sure, but he was going to toy with her a little bit, make her squirm. Of course, having her go through a regular night wasn't going to be enough. He had a plan, genius and fool proof, and once he talked with a few of his fellow villains all the pawns would fall into place. All he had to look for was one slip, one imperfection and she was gone. And with what he had in store for her, that would be guaranteed. He smiled darkly.

"That kid won't know what hit her."


Hey guys! I know this is a short chapter and I promise that the next one will be out in a matter of days. It's just that I meant for this to be the introduction but it was already five pages long! So I figured I'd split this chapter up into 2 parts to keep it from getting too long. Like I said, the next chap will be up in only a matter of days, maybe even by Friday. Still, don't hold me to that deadline.

Anyways, thanks to Galamatias for all the help and having the patience to put up with me! You rock my socks!

As always, love it? Hate it? Have any writing advice? Leave a review.

Thanks to everyone for reading and I hope you like it so far! Till next time!