Chapter 14: Fantasia Gardens
Mindy did her best to hold her breath, but the pressure around her waist as well as the pressure steadily building in her chest caused her mouth to open underwater. She stupidly tried to inhale, but only accomplished getting an immense amount of water clogged into her burning lungs.
She wanted to cough, but ultimately couldn't due to their current surroundings.
When the ship FINALLY bobbed to the surface, she hacked and wheezed until her sides were sore. A gurgle escaped her mouth as a slew of water trickled from her throat as well as some of the bile she'd missed. Mindy sucked in deep breaths as she wobbled to her feet and detangled herself from Dakota's grasp. Her now dampened clothes clung to her body with unbridled determination as she attempted to wipe the lenses of her glasses with the end of her skirt.
It was then that the amulet chose to pop into existence beside her, and re-clasped itself around her neck with a satisfying click…What did you do?
"Wow!" Dakota breathed, "That was like something out of Pirates of the Carribean!"
"Is…is everyone alright?" Peter heaved as he cradled a water-logged Tinkerbell in his cupped hands.
"Aside from being separated from my brothers via magical portal without my consent, I'd say things are going swimmingly!" Wendy hollered sarcastically as she grabbed the railing and stood up, "Where are we?"
"No clue…" Dakota admitted as he tilted his head to get some water out of his ear, "Mindy? Do you have any ideas?"
She didn't respond.
"Uh…kiddo?"
When he once again received no answer, Dakota whirled around and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Mindy wasn't breathing.
She wasn't moving a single muscle. Her eyes were so inconceivably wide, that they looked like they were about to pop right out of their sockets. Her complexion had turned a stark shade of white as a cold sweat formed on her brow.
"What's gotten into…?" Dakota's final word died before it could reach his lips once he saw what she was gawking at.
Directly in front of them was a gargantuan pile of slimy-green rocks with jagged points which made it appear as a foreboding almost castle-like structure. It nearly stretched to the swirling mass of storm clouds that hovered above them, but that wasn't what had made his body grow stiff with terror. Shifting his eyes upward, Dakota saw the colossal form of what looked like a shirtless man...an unnaturally pitch-black shirtless man with an equally unnatural pair of leathery wings adorning its back…
With devil horns sticking out of its square-shaped head.
A sickeningly toothy smirk appeared in the black void that was its face when its predatory stare locked onto the speck that was The Jolly Rodger. It gazed upon it with fiendish delight as if it were nothing but a new toy for an overgrown child to play with. Before they could process what was happening, it extended its bulging arm towards the ship, and grabbed it out of thin air before drawing it closer to its face.
"ABANDON SHIP!" Peter screeched as he, Wendy and the rest of the Lost Boys barreled overboard.
Dakota was about to leap off of the railing when he noticed something was amiss. He turned to see that Mindy had remained glued to her spot, and hadn't reacted to Pan's yell. "MINDY?! MINDY?! WHAT'RE YOU CRAZY! GET OVER HERE!"
Mindy showed no sign that she had heard him, and instead stood petrified as she and the monster's eyes met…tears streaked down her reddened face, but she didn't even pause to wipe them.
She didn't even react when the ship was set ablaze, and the flames trickled dangerously close to her exposed ankles. She didn't break eye-contact with the creature as Dakota hoisted her up by the waist and careened over the side.
"WE NEED TO GO, NO-UGHH!"
Dakota lost his grip on her and they went tumbling their separate ways down the mountain. Mindy was numb as her torso racked unforgivingly against the knife-like edges of the rocks. Blood trickled from her left nostril, and most of her wounds from the previous battle reopened on the descent, but she was too busy watching the ship be burnt to a crisp to care.
The demon slapped its oversized hands together and just like that, The Jolly Rodger was reduced to a shower of simmering ashes…
Mindy couldn't protest as they mercilessly rained down on her.
A horrible, booming laugh erupted from the demon as it set its sights on the little group who had just plummeted onto the pile of pebbles at the base of the mountain. Everyone scrambled up and broke into a sprint through the dilapidated crumbling town encircling the demon's lair.
Mindy remained sprawled out onto the sweltering charcoal and soot in a daze.
There was a ringing that drowned out all of the sounds around her, but it wasn't the one that she was used to hearing. It was twistedly warped and made her vision hazy despite the fact that she was still wearing her glasses.
She took her breaths in staggered puffs as she fixed her gaze on the gloomy skies above her still form…
Mindy didn't even comprehend that a blast of fire had been sent hurdling in her direction until Dakota shoved her out of harm's way. Once again, he hauled her to her feet whilst patting down the flames that had landed on the back of her hair.
He then slapped her so hard that her glasses flew off her face, "GOD DAMMIT MINDY RUN!"
That was enough to snap her out of her stupor, as a strangled cry peeled out of her now bleeding mouth. She didn't have time to wrap her head around what had just happened or pick up her fallen lenses, as she proceeded to run faster than she'd ever run in her entire life (as fast as she could on an injured foot that is).
Adrenaline it seemed, was very much back in her good graces.
Mindy could barely make out the details of the buildings that they passed, but they were irrelevant at the moment. She was constantly worrying that she'd unintentionally trip over a stray brick, or fall into a sinkhole. She relied solely on Dakota to be her eyes as he clenched her wrist in a vice-like grip, and maneuvered around the obstacles that were strewn across their path.
She stole a glance over her shoulder, and immediately wished she hadn't.
The demon was so furious that they had escaped from its line of sight, that it literally incinerated itself. When the flames died down, it proceeded to stretch its arms out and summoned an entire army of ghouls, harpies, and a wide assortment of other devilish abominations scattered around the area to give chase to their retreating forms.
Mindy snapped her neck forwards and focused on quickening her pace.
When they reached the cemetery on the outskirts of the town, things started to get complicated. Millions upon millions of ghoulish figures floated up and out of their once undisturbed graves like daises and started to streak behind them. Ghostly moans lapped at her ears, but she wasn't deterred from her task as they continued to bob and weave past the various tombstones.
Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back, don't look back, don't-
Mindy screamed as something grabbed ahold of her ankles, and caused her to hit her head on a stone cross. A sliver of blood leaked from her right temple as the perpetrator dragged her across the ash-ridden floor. She sobbed in fright as she desperately clawed at the ground to delay her trip back to the mountain.
Dakota threw himself at the harpy with an enraged snarl.
It let out an ear-piercing shriek as he repeatedly socked it in the face. Its feathered wings flapped in an attempt to thrust him off, but this caused him to wring his arms around its neck in response. The harpy unsheathed its talons and struck Dakota across the cheek, and he responded by kicking its opposite arm with a ferocious grunt.
The harpy released another blood-curdling screech as the bone cracked like a twig.
Dakota didn't stop to inspect the damage though, and instead swept Mindy into his arms bridal style before charging through the haunted cemetery. She stared at him in astonishment as her once sunny, happy-go-lucky Dakota Davendork was replaced by a frothing, scowling volcano of loving brotherly aggression.
When they skidded to a halt, Mindy started to panic, "What is it?!"
"They've…they've stopped following us."
Puzzled, she looked up but had to squint to properly observe their surroundings.
On the side they'd come from was the spooky cemetery with its black-and-white sky, demolished rural town, and the demon perched atop the summit of the castle-like mountain in the distance. In contrast, the side that they were on contained a gorgeous night sky sprinkled with stars of every hue and a crescent moon that looked like a Cheshire Cat's smile. An array of blooming wonders littered the path beneath their feet; ranging from roses, daffodils, violets, daisies, and other flowers that didn't exist in The Real World. Beyond them was a cobblestone path that led to a mysterious tower made of stone with blue-and-gold accents and star-shaped windows.
True to Dakota's word, the monsters had in fact stopped chasing them.
They seemed to have been restrained by an invisible barrier guarding the entrance to the meadow. With disappointed wails, they wandered off to rejoin their master back at the hellish celebration occurring at the peak of the mountain.
There was an unnoticeable silence that followed their departure as the group struggled to catch their breath…
It took an absurd amount of time for Peter to ask what was on everybody's minds, "What was that?"
"My mother told me stories about this place." Wendy spoke in a strange unsmiling tone, "My father believes that it's all stuff and nonsense… he's still in denial that The Projectionist even exists…and I was too until I became entangled with this princess business. The Legend tells of a pocket dimension that exists outside of The Dremesphere we know…it's a realm that lays in between our world and The Otherworld. It's called The Fantasia Gardens. They say the only reason The Projectionist hasn't conquered it yet is because of the demonic creature that guards it…"
"Who?"
"Chernabog." Mindy shuddered, "He's from the movie Fantasia, and he's basically the devil."
"This is perfect!"
Everyone stared incredulously at Peter's chipper declaration.
"Um…I'm sorry, WHAT?!" Mindy burst out, "We just lost our mode of transportation AND got chased out of a freaking demon-infested ghost town by the actual devil himself! Unless you're screaming: "This is perfect!" in a sarcastic way then you have no reason to scream: "This Is perfect!" in the first place!"
"What I meant was that Fantasia Gardens is exactly where I was going to take you to help you get your memories back!"
"Again, I just wanna point out that I hadn't given you an answer on that yet!"
"Come on everybody!" Peter ignored her and instead beckoned them towards the path leading to the tower, "There's someone there who can help the two grown-ups get back home if they wish it, and also get us back to The Dremesphere."
The Lost Boys and Wendy followed without question.
The teens hesitated for a moment before bringing up the rear.
"Dakota, I can walk you know."
"Hear ya loud and clear kiddo." He replied in what was thankfully his usual bubbly tone, "But it makes me feel like a charming knight rescuing the damsel in distress, so please don't ruin the moment for me…on a more serious note, are you okay?"
"Yeah…thanks for snapping me out of it back there." Mindy was grateful he couldn't tell that she was blushing due to the ashes that stained her cheeks, "I don't know what came over me. It was like I was paralyzed with fear…"
"Well, given the circumstances I don't really blame you for reacting the way you did…still, all I could think about was not losing you, and my body just sort of…responded on its own." Dakota bit his cracked already-bleeding lip as he stared at the bruise swelling up in the corner of her mouth, "Oh my God… I'm so sorry for doing that to you, and for causing you to lose your glasses."
"It's alright." She said even though she knew that it most certainly wasn't alright, "I'll learn to live with it…when you get the chance; you need to treat those scratches on your cheek. That harpy got you pretty good and you don't want them to get infected."
"You've got a point there." Dakota admitted, "So…what's all this about going home, and not going home?"
Mindy relented with a sigh, "Peter offered to take me to someone who could help me get my memories back and possibly send us home if we wish it."
"And… what do you want to do?"
"I'm not sure…I don't want to go back to Mulberry County and pretend like none of this ever happened." She decided, "Then again, what's the point of staying? Do I really want my memories back, or do I just think I want them back because somehow that'll magically fix all of my problems? Besides, you saw all the things that happened to us the past couple days. I don't want you to get tangled up in the craziness. You could have died trying to save me from Chernabog's wrath."
"And you could've died when you faced off against Hook."
"That's nothing compared to millions of supernatural beings chasing us through a cemetery." Her lips quivered as she uttered, "Imagine what other life-threatening scenarios we'll have to face if we choose to stay…"
"Hey, we don't have to make a concise decision yet." Dakota gave a smile of reassurance that seemed to melt all of her uncertainties about the future away, "Let's just meet whoever it is who lives in that tower, see what's up, and go from there…alright?"
Mindy nodded, "Alright."
There was a comfortable quiet that passed as they joined the rest of their party at the top of the miniature stairwell that led to the entrance of the mysterious tower. Peter placed Tinkerbell onto his shoulder, before rapping his knuckles against the imposing wooden door.
Moments turned to seconds, and seconds turned to minutes…
During that time, Dakota had set Mindy down so that she was free to pick at her fingernails. When he caught what she was doing, he slapped her hand in a reprimanding manner and she shrugged with an awkward chuckle.
Being the ever-impatient boy that he was, Peter knocked a little louder.
"Just a minute!" A familiar voice called from the other side, "These legs aren't as nimble as they used to be!"
When the door flew open, it revealed no one.
"Up here!"
As one, the group tilted their heads upward to see a tiny dapperly-dressed figure descending on a miniature umbrella. Mindy rushed forwards and fumbled to catch him in her cupped hands.
She recognized him instantly, "Jiminy Cricket?"
The aforementioned conscience was about three inches tall, with deep amber eyes and skin as green as leaves. His waistcoat and cravat were a soft shade of orange, and his coat tailed jacket was a deep ebony color. He donned a pair of dusty green dress pants and his shoes were so shiny Mindy could actually see her reflection in them. On his head sat a periwinkle top hat and he held a ruby-red umbrella in his white gloved hands.
His mouth curved into a lighthearted smile upon seeing her face, "Well as I live and breathe! Mindy Singh! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! What has it been now? Six years? Look at how much you've grown! You look absolutely fanta-oh."
Jiminy stopped mid-sentence when he saw the state that she was in.
Despite having never meeting the little conscience before, Mindy couldn't help but glance down at her filthy sandals in shame.
Parts of her mangled hair were either singed, caked with mud, or straight-up missing from her scalp. The Neverland Native dress she wore was dotted with bloodstains, shredded in some areas, and wrinkled beyond repair. Nearly her entire face was covered with soot, and her lips were so chapped that she found it difficult to smile. Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth, nose, and the various cuts scattered throughout her body…and to top it all off, she was drenched from head-to-toe in what was either sweat, water, or some other unpleasant fluid.
"What happened to you?" Jiminy inquired before shifting his gaze to the rest of the children who were in a similar state of disarray, "To all of you?"
"We were pursued by Chernabog." Wendy explained as she removed her hair from its ponytail and wrung out the excess water, "But not before our princess opened a swirling vortex in the middle of London, separated me from my family, and dragged us here against our wills!"
Mindy winced, "I'm really, really,really sorry about that…. I honestly don't know what happened. It…it was an accident."
The Darling girl harrumphed and turned away with crossed arms, "You seem to have been causing a lot of those as of late."
"Gosh, it sounds like you kids have been through quite the ordeal." Jiminy commented, "I'm sure that Yen Sid would love to hear the whole story."
"Yen Sid?!" Mindy squealed in fangirlish delight, "As in Fantasia, Kingdom Hearts, Disney-spelled-backwards Yen Sid?!"
The characters stared at her in bewilderment for a few unending seconds…
She reached up to push the bridge of her glasses up, but when she remembered that they weren't there anymore she released an awkward chuckle, "I mean...we're about to meet the highly esteemed and respected Sorcerer Yen Sid. No big deal. I helped Peter Pan battle Captain Hook today so this isn't anything too exciting hehehe. Then again, this might be a bit strange since they're both voiced by Corey Burton…sorry, sorry that was WAY too meta. I'll just…try not to think about it too much."
A beat passed.
"Ya got me!" Jiminy slapped his knee with forced laughter, "P-pretending to not remember your own mentor! Ohohoho I guess some things never change huh?"
"Yeah…as much as I wish that this was all just an elaborate prank she's pulling Mister Hoppy Legs, it isn't." Peter piped up, "That's kind of the reason why we came here in the first place. She's lost all her memories, and we need Beardy Wizard help to get her back to her old self as soon as possible."
The bright twinkle in the cricket's eye dimmed into a look of utter devastation, "Oh…oh no…that's no good at all…come inside and we'll get this straightened up right away." Jiminy was about to leap off when he glanced back up at the princess, "Do you at least still remember the route to the workshop?"
"I'm so sorry…but I didn't even know that this whole world existed until yesterday."
"Ah well." Mindy looked on with pity as he deflated, "It was worth a try at least."
"Here." She put her palm up to her shoulder, and the conscience alighted it, "Just tell me where to go, and you can point out the places I've been, what my favorite artifacts were, or anything that'll trigger a memory of my childhood…sound good?"
"Sounds good to me." Jiminy nodded and she was beyond ecstatic when a tiny (albeit hesitant) smile formed on his features, "Now we're gonna head up the stairs that are at the end of this hall to the right."
"Got it." Mindy said before dipping inside with the rest of the gang trailing behind her.
They collectively jumped out of their skins when the door slammed shut by itself.
"Sorry, I should've warned you all about that." Jiminy laughed sheepishly before clearing his throat, "Things here tend to have a mind of their own, and some even like to play tricks on me cause of my small stature."
Dakota frowned as they continued down the hall, "Well that's not very nice of them."
"Aw, it's all just harmless fun." The cricket waved it off, "When we talk about Mindy's pranks from her younger years… now that's an entirely different story."
"Oh?" The inquiry was innocent enough, but what Mindy had been trying to convey from her tone was: Why do I have the sinking feeling that this is going to be super embarrassing?
"I can in fact confirm this to be true." Peter lounged on his side in mid-air as he floated beside The Lost Boys, "Remember that one time when she snuck onto The Jolly Rodger and covered it in sticky notes?!"
"That was nothing compared to when she replaced everything in the Galley with cotton candy!" Slightly pointed out with a laugh, "No joke, the entire room was filled with nothing but cotton candy! We ended up eating most of it because she couldn't figure out how to get rid of it all!"
"Or that time when she summoned a mariachi band to follow Captain Hook around wherever he went!" Nibbs chimed in, "His reaction was so priceless! I remember that he tried multiple times to shoot them, but cause of Mindy's protection spell he wasn't actually able to kill them."
"What about when she turned all of the pirates into princesses for the day?" Cubby asked, "Some of them actually ended up liking their new makeovers! It was so unexpected, but we weren't complaining!"
"Ooh! Also, also when she placed alarm clocks throughout the entire ship and all of them went off at the exact same time?!" The twins echoed each other, "Boy was he mad when he woke up that morning!"
"Wow…" Mindy breathed as she froze temporarily in her tracks, "I was kind of a monster."
"Aw come on now, don't say that!" Jiminy whipped his head towards her in an instant, "Granted, you weren't a saint or anything. You made mistakes like every kid does, but you weren't ya know, dead set on bringing misery to others!"
"Besides, that Old Codfish deserved it!" Peter elbowed her.
"I guess." Mindy agreed a little reluctantly.
Why was she starting to feel guilty about what her younger self had done to humiliate the pirates? She hated Captain Hook more than she'd ever hated anybody in her life, but had he really deserved the torture she had put him through? Then again, she had mocked and taunted him when she'd fought him on the Jolly Rodger…and even went as far as to insult his mother.
Mindy shook her head with a sudden decisiveness. No, Peter's right. He had deserved that because he's a Disney baddie, and that's all he'll ever be.
But she did make a vow to herself to never insult anyone's mother ever again regardless of whether they were a hero or a villain. As they rounded the corner and started their ascent up the stone steps, Dakota wriggled his brows as he innocently asked:
"So…you played Kingdom Hearts?"
"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up." Mindy rolled her eyes with an impish grin of her own, "Now don't get your nerdy piano-key suspenders in a twist, I only played the first and second games and I didn't even finish the latter because of how convoluted the plot was. I mean who the hell even was Roxas and why was I playing as him and not Sora for the first hour of the game?"
Jiminy gasped at the use of the swear word, but decided not to comment on it much to Mindy's relief. That would've been an awkward conversation…which we might still be having sooner or later, but I'd rather delay it for as long as I can…if Dakota and I don't end up leaving that is.
"You should've played the prequels."
"There were prequels?"
"E'yup." Dakota nodded, "And don't worry, the story is supposed to be convoluted because the developers thought that the more complicated the narrative was, the more appealing gamers would find it."
"That's just plain ridiculous."
"But it worked though."
"God…I hope I never write a story like that in my lifetime."
"A-alright then." Jiminy stuttered, "When we reach the top, we're gonna make a right, and the door is at the end of the hall."
"Please and thank you." Mindy chirped.
Once they reached the end of the winding staircase, Jiminy started to enthusiastically point out some of the rooms lining either side of the boundless hall, "Over there is your old bedroom you would use whenever you chose to spend the night. Oh, and over here on the wall is a drawing you made when you were three years old! See? It's of you and all your friends from the Dremesphere! And there's the Broom Closet!"
"Wow…" Was all she could say with an amused chuckle, "Impressive."
Mindy reeled backwards with a yelp as the door burst open and a couple of anthropomorphic broomsticks holding buckets emerged from within. They marched right past them as Jiminy greeted them with a cheerful: "Hey there fellas! Look who's finally come to grace us with her presence!"
The brooms did a double take upon seeing an awestruck, grown-up version of the little girl they'd once known, and she shrank back in response…
The cricket cleared his throat, "Well go on now… say hello."
"H-howdy."
Smooth.
The broomsticks glanced at each other before they turned back to her and bowed respectfully.
In a stunned daze, Mindy curtsied in return before she and the others resumed their journey to Yen Sid's workshop. Jiminy continued to describe the rooms and objects displayed surrounding them such as her first potion, a Polaroid of Bald Mountain that was burnt on the corners, and even a room that contained nothing but lamps for some bizarre reason. However, Mindy was having a difficult time paying attention to the little conscience.
It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what he had to say.
After all, he was filling her in on nostalgic details from the childhood she couldn't remember having ever experienced.
The problem was that Mindy couldn't help but notice that a crowd of broomsticks was beginning to flank the group on either side, and it was causing her anxiety to go off the charts. She chose to remain silent about it, and instead quickened her pace.
Everyone else (whether they realized it or not) followed suit.
Sweat beaded from Mindy's brow as she struggled to keep her breathing steady.
By the time they reached the end of the passage, about thirty to forty broomsticks were surrounding them. She tried not to stare at them, and instead shifted her gaze to the door leading to the workshop. It was an imposing midnight-blue thing with sparkling silver stars and a crescent moon painted on its front.
She took in a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for what was about to happen. Mindy then raised her fist and hesitated for a moment before rapping her knuckles against the door.
For a moment, nothing happened…
Then, it creaked open to reveal the legendary Sorcerer Yen Sid.