I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is May 19th. Please read the Author's Note for an idea about a new, but completely separate, Disney fic.

Time to Grow Up

The days at Maleficent's castle quickly blurred into one another. Get up early. Spend the morning getting her butt kicked by Hook. Have lunch. Spend the afternoon being bored to death by Jafar and Frollo with Ursula and Maleficent teaching her in between. Have dinner and go to bed. Repeat.

Living in a castle full of villains and that looked as if it belonged in a horror movie could be unnerving at times, especially when Lindsey was left to wander the dark hallways by herself, only to round the corner and bump into one of Maleficent's minions or one of the villains. Lindsey supposed she was adjusting rather well for the most part. She wouldn't call the villains friends per say, they only seemed to tolerate her because of the whole prophecy thing, and Hook was the only one who called her by name occasionally. They were more like acquaintances, co-workers- people you knew and were nice to, but weren't that close to.

The only downside was the lack of sleep. Her trick of drinking something before bed to lull her into dreamland was no longer working. When she did fall asleep, her dreams were unpleasant and were haunted by the same creepy voice each night, repeating the same word over and over again: mine, mine, mine. By the time she fell into a deep sleep without the creepy voice, it was time to get up. Frollo and Jafar didn't even have the decency to allow her to sleep during their lessons. Ever since the first day, Jafar would use his staff to shoot a blast of magic at her whenever he caught her sleeping. It didn't injure her, but it did sting and she knew that Ursula and Maleficent were somehow responsible for that idea. As for Frollo, he might not have magic, but he had found an old walking cane that he took pleasure in whenever he rapped it loudly on the table Lindsey was sitting at, causing her to jump out of her chair in fright. Due to his enjoyment of watching her suffer through his dull lectures and the sermons about propriety and how young women should behave, Lindsey suspect he had it out for her. It seemed like the only reason he gave them was to bore Lindsey to death, causing her to fall asleep, just so he could slam down that stupid cane of his as loudly as possible.

When she brought up the topic to Maleficent and Ursula, they had merely given her their cold smiles and walked away, which was just as good as a 'yes' in Lindsey's mind. She had no idea what she did to Frollo, but he clearly had some sort of issues with women that needed to be resolved. Issues that she would let somebody else deal with, she had enough issues of her own to work through.

Pocahontas's favorite part of the ship was the crow's nest. The name confused her since it wasn't an actual nest for crows, but she had quickly learned that the English had many words and phrases that meant different things from how they sounded. She would spend most of the day up there, using the 'telescope' to keep an eye out for anything that wasn't water. The English crew members had taught her what to search for- other ships, land, even clouds that could potentially lead to a bad storm.

At first she wasn't so fond of the giant ship. Traveling on the ocean was very different than rowing in her canoe. Not only was the trip longer, but the ship would bob up and down, not flowing smoothly like a river. Rivers also had twists and turns, and things to look at. The ocean was just so flat and big, going forever in every direction. When what the sailors called 'sea sickness' had worn off, she had spent several days ailing from a different illness- being homesick. She missed the trees, the land, the animals, and was wondering if the water would ever end. While she knew that John Smith and his men had to have come from somewhere, it seemed too impossible to believe at times when the only thing in sight was water.

She wasn't alone though, which she was grateful for. Many of the English settlers, including Thomas, had chosen to stay behind, allowing many of the Powhatan warriors to take their place on the voyage to England. Her father had spent some time thinking over her request before coming to a decision. He spoke to the tribe that night, explaining the situation. None of his people would be forced to fight with the English against the great darkness that was coming, only those who wanted to. The Powhatans who chose to go were mostly young, those who didn't have families of their own yet, and were looking forward to proving themselves in a battle. Pocahontas knew that not all the men who chose to go would return, but it seemed as if that thought hadn't occurred to most of them, preferring to think they were invincible.

As for herself, her father was hesitant to let her go. He did in the end, saying that she would find a way to pursue the path she wanted no matter what he said, so she might as well go with his blessing. Grandmother Willow, Nakoma, and Thomas wished her the best as well, with Thomas saying she was better than any of 'those princesses' back home, and she should stay true to her heritage. Pocahontas knew very little about 'those princesses', but appreciated the sentiment.

While nobody had officially said it, she knew that the Powhatans on the ship considered her their leader, and as such she would be expected to act as one upon arriving in England. That would mean no more running about doing what she wished. Instead she would have to be her father, putting her people's needs first and acting like a dignified leader, showing the English that she and the Powhatans weren't savages. That would also mean meeting the leaders of England and the other many lands that the settlers had told her about, maybe even some of 'those princesses'.

Perhaps that was why she enjoyed being up in the crow's nest- enjoying the last little bit of freedom to be herself that she would have for a while. Nobody could bother her there, nobody could judge her. Some days Meeko, the only one of her animal friends who wanted to come, would join her if she brought along some of the biscuits he was fond of. He was willing to do anything if there was food involved.

According to the captain of the ship, they were only a few days away from land. Curious as to how he could know that when the telescope continued to only show water in the distance, the captain had explained that by keeping track of the stars and the sun each day, he could figure out their location. Pocahontas was surprised to learn that these strange men from a land so far away, could appreciate the importance of such things, just like the Powhatans. It was further proof that although they may come from different places, that both cultures had something in common that could surpass the gap in between them.

That proof gave Pocahontas hope that the great darkness could be defeated after all, as long as they all worked together. That afterwards, her people and the settlers could live together in peace, and maybe 'those princesses' wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Why do you have to leave?"

Hook had allowed Lindsey a rare break, taking the opportunity to explain that this would be their last lesson for a while. Lindsey was amazed to discover that she would actually miss him once she heard the news. He may have made her sweat more than any P.E. teacher ever had, and was constantly berating her, but he did have his moments.

Upon discovering that she really didn't remember anything of her adventures when she was younger, he had taken to telling her his own memories of her exploits. He would tell her the stories during the ten minute breaks they took- apparently he thought bribery in addition to threats were the proper way of motivating Lindsey to learn.

Apparently, Lindsey had first met Hook one day when she showed up on his ship one day declaring that princesses were stupid and she wanted to be a pirate. By that point Hook was well aware of the girls presence and had expected an encounter sooner or later. Knowing that a four year-old girl was the last thing his crew would want, even if she was one of the girls from the prophecy, Hook had explained all the duties being a pirate entailed- swabbing the deck, hoisting the sails, eating gruel, living with a bunch of dirty, horrible men. A look of disgust had appeared on her face as she realized that the pirate's life wasn't the life for her. Peter had then arrived and kept trying to encourage her to join him and the Lost Boys by being their new 'Wendy'. She had quickly shot them down, to Hook's delight, declaring that she wasn't Wendy nor a Lost Girl, and she didn't need them, preferring to go off on her adventures.

Other stories involved her sometimes teaming up with Peter and the Lost Boys to fight Hook, fighting Hook on her own, and trying to sneak off with his treasure. None of the stories rang any bells or stirred any forgotten memories, but they were fun to listen to and sounded like things Lindsey would do. Hook was the only one so far who tried to get Lindsey to remember, and told her of her past exploits. Something she didn't realize she wanted, until he told her that he was leaving, which meant the stories would be leaving as well.

Lindsey didn't know which she would miss more.

"Lindsey, you're the one who came up with the plan involving my ship. Now that the puppeteer has been set up, and Shan Yu has made the appropriate connections in Asia, we can start." Hook let out a dramatic sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation as if he had explained this a thousand times before. In reality, it was only the second attempt.

"Can't you stay here?" asked Lindsey.

"What, and leave those idiots in charge of my ship? Do you have any idea of the damage they could do if I'm not around?"

Lindsey had suspected that was the case, but thought she might as well ask anyway. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Could I come with you? I'd even be willing to swab the deck and all that other stuff you said I'd have to do as a pirate."

Hook raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, and let out a small chuckle before his face turned serious. "Even if Hades and the others wouldn't kill me for absconding you, you need to be here. Why are you so obsessed with me leaving anyway Lindsey? I would have thought you'd be jumping for joy at the news of my departure. As long as you continue practicing every day, you don't need me anymore."

"It's just... the others listen and tolerate me, but you're the only one who's bothered to remember my name," she responded, biting her lower lip in embarrassment.

Lindsey realized that sounded silly and childish, but it was the truth.

"Silly girl, I remember your name because you're important to my goals. You're attachment to me will only hurt you in the end- have you forgotten where you are? Here, the villain never gets the girl," he said, chiding her.

She figured as much; Hook had never struck her as the sentimental sort. Dramatic and stern yes, sometimes friendly, but never sentimental.

"The break's over, now back to work."

Hades drummed his fingers on his desk. It had been over a week since his visit to the Fates and still nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

After he returned to his home in the Underworld he drew up a list of all those who could know something about the outcome of the war. The Fates had said that not all were heroes, so that obviously some were villains, which he could work with. It was rather easy to intimidate into coughing up information you needed when you were the god of the dead, and had brought back the majority of the villains to life.

Despite deciding to concentrate on the villains, the list was still much longer than Hades liked. So he knocked off all the non-magic users, which was really the only logical way they could have gained their knowledge of the future in the first place. Hearing that Mim had been turned into the Cheshire Cat, allowed him to cross off another name on the ever dwindling list. He hadn't ever actually seriously considered her a suspect due to her blabbermouth nature, but having confirmation was nice.

That just left the one wicked stepmother who could do magic and whose name he didn't bother to remember, Ursula, Jafar, and Maleficent. Of those four, he was pretty confident that Ursula and the stepmother were unlikely. Ursula was as much of a gossip as Mim, and the stepmother's magic revolved more around potion making than casting spells or attempting to see into the future. Just to be sure though, he sent Pain and Panic to spy on Ursula and the stepmother while he attempted to question Jafar and Mal.

Neither mission was very successful. The only information that Pain and Panic returned with was that Ursula had an elaborate system of spells and potions to keep her young and had an healthy obsession with Gaston, Gaston was planning something stupid, and the stepmother had sent her crow after the two. Information that he already knew or could care less about.

As for his own mission, Mal was quicker to suspect something than Jafar. Now he had nothing, and both were suspicious of what he knew and which side he was truly loyal to. Just his luck the two villains who most likely knew something were also the ones who could stand their own against him.

Perhaps it was time to let the villains cool off and start figuring out which of the heroes knew.

Hook had finished early, so Lindsey still had some time to kill before her afternoon lessons. She planned on spending the extra hour napping once she finished lunch. When she opened the door to her room however, she found somebody already on her bed.

It was a blonde girl, one who looked very familiar. The blonde jumped to her feet once she saw Lindsey entering the room and offered a shy, "Hi."

"Hi," replied Lindsey, still trying to figure out how she knew the girl. She wasn't a villain, Lindsey was pretty sure there were no blonde villains, at least major ones. Eventually she decided it'd be better to just come out and ask the girl who she was. "Who are you?"

The girl blushed a bit, embarrassed that Lindsey didn't remember her. "I'm Ella, we met at the Rose Ball... my sister is Sleeping Beauty?" The last bit was phrased like a question, unsure whether or not Lindsey knew her sister was.

The mention of the Rose Ball was enough to jog Lindsey's memory. She had met only one blonde named Ella that night, and it hadn't been the one with her own movie. "Right, Ella, short for Astrella. If you're Sleeping Beauty's sisters, then what are you doing here? The home of the person who cursed your sister?"

"I'm not that worried about Maleficent, after my sister's christening, they didn't invite any guests to mine. Besides, I've snuck over here before and nothing's happened," Ella said excitedly, happy that Lindsey now knew who she was. "Except this time I ran away!"

"I"m sorry, what?" asked Lindsey, still unsure what this teenage princess was doing in her room. Her eyes went from the blonde, to the trunk in the corner of the room that had definitely not been there early that morning.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to grow up with an older sister who's been cursed? My parents have treated me like china my entire life, never letting me have any fun. Meeting you was the most fun I had that night. Ever since you left, there's been nothing but talk of the war, and there was a lot of talk before then. I'm so sick of not being allowed to do anything, so I decided to run away and help you!"

Ella had been bouncing up and down so much during her little spiel, that Lindsey was reminded of a puppy who was eager to please. Which was the problem. Somehow this girl had managed to convince herself that living among the villains was better than living among the heroes, and Lindsey was not only her way in, but somebody to look up to.

Oh god, thought Lindsey, I have a fangirl.

Which posed a serious problem. Lindsey couldn't imagine Ella lasting all that long around here, even if she had been here before as she claimed. If a villain so much as spotted the perky blonde princess, the girl was dead. but how to get her to go home on her own?

"If you want to help," Lindsey began slowly, "You could go home... and be a spy."

Lindsey had no idea where the spy thing came from, but it seemed to please Ella who started to nod her head enthusiastically. "I can do that! I'll be pretending to be one of them, but secretly observing their plans and reporting to you."

"Yeah, you do that," replied Lindsey who wasn't as sure as Ella about this plan, but it was too late to talk her out of it. "Now if you don't mind, I was planning on taking a nap."

LeFou paced the floor of the tavern. It was still early in the day,

Several days had passed since Gaston's declaration that something needed to be done, and he had hoped that it merely had been the alcohol talking. Gaston simply shouldn't be allowed to think and drink. During those several days, Gaston hadn't been around much, and when he was, Ursula was draped on his arm.

That changed an hour ago when he had waltzed into the tavern. LeFou kew something was up, Gaston didn't get up early in the morning unless he had to. He was right- Gaston was leaving with the other crew members of the Jolly Roger that night and had asked LeFou to join him.

"What's wrong?" asked Anastasia who was on the second floor balcony which led to their living quarters and overlooked the main floor below. The children were practicing their letters in the other room. She had just managed to get them settled down for the day when she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. Going out onto the balcony allowed her to see the shadow of her husband flickering back and forth on the far wall as he paced.

LeFou looked up at his wife. He couldn't lie to her, she'd know instantly. Nor did he want to. Sensing that something was off, Anastasia made her way down the stairs and onto the main floor.

"Does this have anything to do with Gaston's plan?" she asked, her voice anxious for the truth.

LeFou sighed and looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "Hook is leaving. Gaston and the crew plan on changing course to launch a surprise attack directly on the heroes and royals. If Hook doesn't go along with they plan on mutinying. He asked me to come along.'

Anastasia pulled his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "Don't you dare, LeFou. You know as well as I do, the heroes aren't defenseless and would be prepared for an attack- they'll get slaughtered."

"I promised him I would," he admitted sheepishly. "He's my best friend, what was I supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to say no," cried Anastasia, who was trying to keep her voice down as to not alert the children that their parents were having an argument. "It's not like the old days when you can run off with him at a moment's notice for some harebrained scheme. You have a family, children, LeFou. Children shouldn't have to grow up without a father."

Her voice croaked on the last words, and tears were silently running down her cheek. He knew she didn't remember her real father. The father she had known, had been for a very brief time, but enough to leave an impact on her of what a father should be. She would say while most people knew Cinderella as the girl who lost her father and had a stepmother, they forgot about the two girls with a mother who had lost a father and a stepfather. Anastasia might not have been his biological daughter, but the man had treated her like one, and there had always been a hole in her heart. One that Frollo could never fill, not that he ever tried.

As for LeFou, his father hadn't been around much. A soldier who was always away, fighting a foreign war somewhere according to his mother. LeFou learned the truth that his father was little more than a drunk crook when he was thirteen, though his mother never found that out. It was probably one of the reasons he liked being around Gaston so much.

His wife was right though. Children shouldn't have to grow up without a father. Or a mother. Or being treated like villains.

He only had one option, but it would mean betraying his best friend, his mentor, the godfather to his children. But hadn't Gaston betrayed him already? By forcing him to choose between his family and his friend?

"You're right," he replied softly, wiping her tears away with his handkerchief. "It's time to grow up. Let's go tell Maleficent... maybe she'll be able to stop him in time."

Feeling rather triumph from her handling of Ella and refreshed from her catnap, Lindsey managed to not fall asleep during Jafar's lesson. She did zone out occasionally but she didn't fall asleep which was a small victory.

That was until she had class with Ursula and Maleficent. A loud snore had alerted the two their pupil had dozed off. Lindsey awoke with a start when she was grabbed by the hair by an angry Maleficent.

"Is my castle unconducive to your sleep cycle?"

"N-o-o-o," stuttered Lindsey, not knowing what Maleficent was going to do to her. Normally, her nap from Jafar's class was enough to tide her over to Frollo's so she never had to face an angry Maleficent before.

Maleficent let go of her hair with such force that Lindsey nearly tipped over in her chair. "If not, then why do you continue to insist upon sleeping through your lessons that are meant to keep you alive? Does this have anything to do with your fondness of my wine?"

"Nightmares," replied Lindsey, who was astonished that she was giving an honest reply for the second time that day. If it had been anybody else, she would have made a joke, but Maleficent probably didn't have the sense of humor that her roommate and family members did.

"Is that all, nightmares?" The way she said 'nightmares' made Lindsey feel like a three year-old who complained to their parents that there was a monster under their bed.

"If nightmares plague your dreams, a sleeping potion- modified of course- would do you better than alcohol. I'll see to it that one be sent to your room each night. You're not overly dependent on the liquid, are you? The last thing we need is for the heroes to find out you have a weakness."

"No," said Lindsey. At least she didn't think she did. She could be sober if she wanted to be, right? And with Maleficent's sleeping potions, she wouldn't have to worry about falling asleep at night. Just the waking up bit, but Maleficent did say modified, so hopefully that meant no true love's kiss being involved.

"Good," responded Maleficent. "Nice job handling the princess earlier," she added with a smirk.

Lindsey's eyes shot wide open, how did she know about Ella?

Anticipating Lindsey's question, Maleficent shot off a response. "You honestly expected me to not know about her visits to the village and my castle? I've known her about for a while. I allow it because her parents have tried their best to keep her safe from me, not realizing I don't have to lift a finger to corrupt her. The girl does that on her own."

That, made sense. Lindsey had long suspected that Maleficent was cunning and manipulative, but that... that was so devious. It made Lindsey wonder just how much of a hand in some of Lindsey's decisions, perhaps a far greater influence than she realized.

"Mal, if you're done," said Ursula, "I'd like to get this lesson over so I can get back to my Gastonny and send him off with a nice long goodbye."

For one brief second, Maleficent and Lindsey shared the same expression of horror and disgust at being told what they deemed to be too much information.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait," said Jafar as he suddenly entered the room.

Iago, who was perched on his shoulder, added, "Yeah, the schmuck just took off with the rest of the crew on Hook's ship."

"So? I fail to see what the problem is," replied Maleficent who was unfazed, unlike Ursula who looked furious and ready to kill.

"Oh did I forget to mention they left without Hook? Knocked him out cold and left him in one of the towers after they mutinied and decided to attack the heroes."

**Author's Note**

I'd like to thank civilwarrose, The Invisible Enchantress, and nightmaster000 for reviews. In case I haven't said it enough, I really love reviews.

So... yeah. Pocahontas will show up later, Hades is still trying to figure out who knows stuff and Frollo hates Lindsey... I wonder why. I wanted to bring Astrella in earlier, but had too many other things to deal with first. She should play a bigger role as the story goes on- I've always wanted to do a princess who hated being a princess and preferred being with the villains. Lindsey has issues to work through, but she will regain her past memories eventually. Anastasia and LeFou are interesting to write since they're one of the few normal couples in this story, that also have pasts they're still dealing with. I also can't ever remember somebody bringing up Anastasia's relationship with her stepfather (Cinderella's) father and if/how she was affected by his death.

Then there's the ending of this chapter. Will there be a battle next chapter? Depending on the length, if not the next chapter, then the one after. Also, be prepared for death's. This is a war, so people will die. I won't be J.K. Rowling killing off characters right and left, just be aware not all will make it to the end alive, and Hades doesn't bring people back out of the goodness of his heart.

Now for the other Disney fic idea- I'm trying to figure out if there would be enough interest to warrant writing it. In order to help me write this story, I did a lot of research. I went to the Disney wiki, tvtropes, and other sites to read about the history of different Disney movies and characters. During that process I kept coming up with ideas of how to improve certain Disney movies that weren't as critically acclaimed or financially successful as Disney and audiences hoped.

I don't have the time to develop all of those ideas into their own separate fics, so my idea is to do a story that deals with one of those movies pointing out the little things that could have made it better, and also outling some ideas that would have completely changed the plot, but could have ultimately made the movies better. Movies that would be included would be Hercules, The Black Cauldron, Pocahontas, Cars 2, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Meet the Robinsons, and some others. Readers would be welcomed to leave their thoughts either in a review or PM, along with suggestions of their own.

If you'd be interested in such a story, let me know in a review or PM. It'd be different than the usual fic, which is why I'm trying to figure out if there is anybody interested. If there is, I hope to have the first chapter out before the next update of this chapter. If not, I won't mention it again.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, leave a review.