"You're sure you have her in a separate room?"

"I'm sure, baby, I'm sure. Trust me."

Maleficent smiled strictly on the outside. Like hell she'd trust a fool like him with the simplest of tasks. "Ok, darling. Just be sure to keep it that way."

"I will for a kiss," Hades smirked.

Maleficent rolled her eyes jokingly. "Deal." She tried not to vomit as she did what she had to do.

Hades was smiling like a million drachmas. It was absolutely appalling on such a hideous man.

"And how do I get back to work without being seen by the souls?" Maleficent scolded herself for not remembering the way out, but the underworld was fairly hard to navigate.

"Down that hall," Hades pointed, "Second left."

"Thank you, dear." Was it really that simple? She should have remembered, but there were several hallways that all looked alike. Maleficent headed for the exit at which Hades had pointed.

"Come back soon!" Hades shouted pathetically behind her.

"I will!" Then, losing the sing-song tone, Maleficent mumbled quietly and coarsely and to herself, "As long as you can guard the damn souls properly."

Maleficent really wouldn't have trusted Hades to keep Aurora's soul separate from the others' if she had a choice. But she didn't. Hades was the Lord of the Underworld. Though Maleficent could have done a much better job herself, Hades had all the power when is came to these sorts of things.

She was just glad that he thought more with his dick than he did with his head. If all went as planned, she would be able to get Hades's cooperation as long as she needed it.

But just as long as she needed it.

• • •

"I can't believe I did that."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Rapunzel. You did what you had to." Belle had to comfort her, because she knew that Rapunzel going mad would drive her mad.

She didn't need for anything else to be mad.

"I'd rather have you around than her anyways."

"But what about her family? They'd want her around!" Rapunzel cried.

"And yours would want you around." Belle was amazed that, even after all this, she could manage to make a valid point.

Rapunzel sighed and mumbled to herself loud enough for Belle to hear, "You'd better be damned happy when I come back home, Eugene."

Belle sighed happily. "I'm just glad you didn't go down the same way as Snow or Ariel or Cinderella."

"Yeah," Rapunzel puffed weakly. "But remembering the fight, I kind of wish I had. It's not like watching Mother Gothel die. She did that to herself, and she deserved to die. This one – it was all my fault."

"It wasn't-" Belle stopped. Damn, it kind of was.

• • •

Mulan had spent the last few days looking. Looking for a way out, without any luck at all, but also just looking at the other girls. Some patterns arose – certain characteristics with certain types of people.

There had been a crowd of European girls at the front of the cell a few days ago, all speaking their European language. The herd had been thinned to just two girls now, and one of them had yet to fight. In fact, now that she thought about it, all four of the casualties to date had come from that far end of the cell.

Mulan's half of the cell was better off, if having murdered a girl could be considered 'better off.' Three of the six had yet to fight, and the other three had fought and won (including herself). People were quieter on this side. Even the three girls to Mulan's right, who all seemed to speak some common language, didn't communicate as often as they could have. Mulan couldn't decipher a word when they did talk anyways.

The murderers were mostly on similar levels of morality, if Mulan thought about it. She knew she couldn't speak for herself without being biased, but she hoped that she had done what was forced of her in the quickest and most humane way possible. There had been some sort of metallic mini canon in the cart that may have done the job quicker, but Mulan hadn't a clue how to use it. Her experience with the sword made it the ideal choice.

The next girl to go up, the Arabic girl, was about as merciful as Mulan. Yes, she killed violently, but it was simply a limitation of the weapon she had been trained in. Mulan assumed that the same goal was in mind: to preserve the self, and to end the opponent's life as quickly and painlessly as possible. In that, Mulan considered the Arab's round a success.

And then there was the redhead. Mulan blamed the weapon once again. Maybe the cloud of snow had interrupted that match, but it was the choice of a torch that had really brought about such a terrible death for the loser. She did the best she could with the weapon she had, but it probably hadn't crossed the poor girl's mind to pick something that killed quicker. Mulan chalked it up to ignorance. She didn't know what any of the weapons were and had to kill with the violent one she chose. She wasn't being malicious.

This is why the most recent fight disturbed Mulan so much. This girl had chosen a frying pan – a frying pan. Had she really been untrained in weaponry, she would have chosen something that looked dangerous, like a trident, or something she felt she could handle, like a staff. She would have chosen some passive weapon, like poison or some defensive weapon, like a shield. A frying pan wasn't even a weapon – it was a blunt object. She could have used it as a shield, but she didn't. She struck intentionally and forcefully and directly at her opponent's head.

It was all intentional, and it was all prolonged and bloody and painful. Mulan, with her military experience and gut of steel, hadn't been able to watch.

It made her queasy just to think about it.

• • •

"Oh, dear God!" Elsa mustered the energy to spin her head back as soon as the Duke of Weselton's cronies opened the door. She heard them drag the corpse in and chuck it onto the ever-growing stack.

"Shut the hell up! It's just another one. What's the damn difference?"

Elsa didn't say anything. She didn't have the strength to say anything more. They hadn't fed her in days, and she'd been getting water from icicles she formed in her mouth.

"Ey, grab that piece, will ya?"

She heard a shuffle and a squeak on the powdered ice floor as one of the two guys picked up a piece of the corpse's head that had fallen off.

They left quietly, and Elsa relaxed. She didn't even mind the hunger at this point, just so long as she could be left alone. Everyone was so horrible here – especially Jafar. Lord, she hated Jafar! He was like an older, uglier, more powerful Hans.

Elsa grew an ice crystal between her teeth and let it melt. The ice she made was, of course, derived from the moisture in the air, and the minimal moisture in this air was tainted with days-old flesh. It water tasted like feet, but Elsa had gotten desensitized to the odor and the taste by now. The cold helped mitigate the stench, too.

There it was – the cold. The damned cold. Elsa didn't feel any physical discomfort from the temperature, but it was getting rather annoying having to deal with the sub-zero temperatures. Tears froze, for example. Every fluid, actually – in the eyes and ears and nose and mouth – began slowing down or crusting over. Elsa would have to cool the areas around those parts in an effort to warm them up – a bit paradoxical, but it worked. It was just a bit of effort.

It was a bit of effort that took a bit of energy that she didn't have. She couldn't keep this up forever. Sure, she could tolerate the cold, but she was still human. Activating the ice continuously was sure to burn her out sooner or later.

• • •

Meg finished her measly dinner and wondered which two poor bitches' names she'd draw tomorrow. Not that the names meant anything to her – it was just fun to think.

A guy came in to pick up her plate. "What," she asked him, "no seconds?"

The guy sneered at her, tied her up and took the plate away. By Zeus, was he rude! He could have at least let her wipe her hands before shackling them again. Now they were cursed to be forever sticky.

Meg kept pressing her thumb and index finger together and enjoyed the sound it made when she peeled them apart. She did anything to entertain herself these days. It was lonely being the only person in a cell built for four.

Meg thought about drawing names again until she realized that she didn't know the names in the first place. It didn't matter. Tomorrow she'd draw two names, as she had the last few days. The announcer would read them, and then Meg would get to see the girls fight from her perch near the Gods. Near.

She rarely actually watched the matches. Actually, that was a lie. She was required to watch all the matches. She just rarely paid any attention to the them. Somebody cuts somebody's something and she died. It was as simple as that; what was there to watch?

This is how Meg spent the time these days – entertaining herself with stupid tasks and dumber thoughts, trying not to focus on how Hades got her here or whether or not Hercules was going to save her bitch ass anytime this millennium.

Probably not, the lazy-ass guy he was. He actually wasn't lazy, but his action, or lack thereof, had convinced Meg otherwise. She wouldn't say she was scared. At least, out loud she wouldn't.

• • •

"Keep peace, girls, no matter what happens tomorrow."

Tiana nodded silently. She knew she couldn't fight even if she wanted to; she could at least give pacifism a shot.

Merida, on the other hand, wouldn't have it. She couldn't say anything through the straps on her mouth, but Pocahontas got the message.

"Merida, listen to me. We can't be killed in combat if there is no combat. Avoid the fight altogether, and you won't have to worry about dying in it."

Whatever. Pocahontas couldn't be reasoned with. If that other girl who hadn't fought – if Merida had heard right, the French girl – was an angry fighter, then pacifism wasn't going to do a whole lot of good.

***Author's Note***

So Maleficent is manipulating Hades to keep Aurora separate for some reason and Meg is in a cell. Other details may or may not be minor. No spoilers :)

Short chapter this time, just because that's all I really had planned between these two matches. No hint as to who's up next, but there are only 6 possibilities anyways (In alphabetical order: Belle/Merida; Belle/Pocahontas; Belle/Tiana; Merida/Pocahontas; Merida/Tiana; Pocahontas/Tiana)

Sorry I didn't upload earlier, I couldn't log into my account for some reason. It's still the 7th where I live, though, so technically I'm on schedule. Oh well, shit happens. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!