Chapter Four

When he stepped through the Door Between Realms he arrived in the dark room again. It was only when he stepped on the ground that the stain glass floors began to glow. He stood for only a moment and saw that his door was the only one floating in the room. The door shut behind him and he took that as his cue to continue forward. His footsteps echoed in the room and the door that would take him to the wardrobe seemed to only get farther away with each new step that he took.

When he finally reached the door he was all too familiar with the gloominess of rain and night that greeted him as he stepped outside of the wardrobe. Other than a cat that was scribbling away on paper with the tip of its tail, he was the only one in the room. The black cat looked at him with big bored green eyes then proceeded to continue writing with its tail. Not entirely sure what the purpose of the cat was, he merely walked past it and continued his way. He looked up at the grandfather clock that sat ticking and nearly froze in place when he saw the time. It was only 11:06 am. He had barely been in the closet for an hour!

Part of him wanted to run back in there to find the lovely scullery maid and speak to her again and get information on Snow White, but he reconsidered his options and decided to find Ms. Scatter or Mr. V to report to. He walked down the halls and ignored the ghosts that followed him down the hall.

"Master Adam," he did stop at his name and turned to see a male servant standing straight behind him. The man was bald, frowning, and almost skeletal, but he was very well dressed.

"Do you need something? You are traveling at quite a fast pace." His voice was wobblily as he spoke.

Adam merely stared at him before finally deciding that he actually worked here and that he would, or at least should, know how to find Ms. Scatter.

"I need to report to Ms. Scatter that I have returned." He said bluntly. "Can you take me to see her so that I may report to her?"

"I can take you, however. . ." his old arms shook as he spoke.

The cat from the bench prodded over talking as he looked at Adam."At the current moment he and the rest of the staff is to leave Ms. Scatter undisturbed."

Adam blinked. "Ms. Scatter is at a very important appointment and more than likely will not be able to take reports or appointments for several hours."

"And just who are you, cat?" Adam's eyebrow rose as he looked down at the mammal.

"I am Varuo." The black cat sat down and his tail tapped on the floor agitatedly. "I am Ms. Scatter's assistant. I make sure things happen even when she is not around."

"I see." Adam did not entirely expect this, but even in the world of Anti-Disney he should not be surprised by talking animals or the roles that they played in society. Perhaps it was because the Evil Queen herself did not keep any animals that this was still a surprise to him. "Then I suppose that means that I report to you then?"

"Yes," the cat almost seemed to smirk at him. "That would mean you would report to me."

"Very well," Adam kept as still as possible. "I would like to report my return as well as to request permission to return to the field."

"Why do you want to return to your field?" his tail flicked behind him.

"Since I was only gone an hour," his teeth stuck together as he glared at the cat. "I wish to do more field work to study the area better."

"All right," the cat stretched out its front paws. "Do whatever you want, just make sure you're back by 6. Mr. V is very particular about having dinner on time."

"As you wish," he nodded his head, strode back over to the wardrobe and stopped as Jane suddenly stepped out. She was breathing hard and looked all around the room and tried to remember where she was.

"Miss Jane," the butler creaked as he walked over to her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she twisted her head away so her hair shielded her face for only a moment. Adam held a hand out to her and with a glare she took it and stood on her own two feet again. Adam looked to Varuo and saw that he was scribbling something down on his paper again before he approached Jane.

"Was Neverland everything you remembered?" the cat's head twisted to the side.

"Absolutely," she clinked as she walked over to the bench, sat down and crossed her arms and legs.

"Would you like some tea, Miss Jane?" the butler asked.

"No." She looked at him and looked exhausted as if she hadn't slept in days. "If you have any rum, though, I'll take that."

"As you wish, ma'am," he bowed with a creak and in the blink of an eye he had vanished. Adam did not wish to stay and hear what had happened to her now that he had an opportunity to return to that world full of sun.

When he entered the dark wardrobe, he walked quickly on the stained glass floors and his door immediately floated in anticipation for him to reenter. He did not hesitate to walk through it when his amulet began to glow and slipped inside quickly. When he reentered the Realm, not much time had passed. Adam wanted to return to the castle to see that scullery maid, however, he was not prepared to see the young Evil Queen again. He knew too much of her habits in her old age, he did not want to see or understand her anger when she was youthful. Oil and grease tinged his nose and his head turned to the mines. The dwarves, of course, he had nearly forgotten about the dwarves. They were a key part of Snow White's story. This was his chance to disway them from wanting to take any sort of action in wanting to help Snow White.

He took a moment to sit on the tree roots, pulled out his field journal and quill, and updated his field journal.

February 9

Field Mission One:

Examine area. - Complete
The land is full of natural resources and teeming with life.
The DBR (Door Between Realms) was high in the thick forests on the mountains.

Find subject and weakness. - Incomplete.
Subject was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any mention of her from any of the servants or the civilians.

Find the Evil Queen - Complete
Found the Original Villain in her Realm, practically ready for the change to begin.
She was very open to the idea of having a chance to change her future.
Also found the Mirror on the wall.
She has sent me to return to my realm so I may find out what she did and how to fix things.

Understand the essence of time in this Realm and the Anti-Disney Realm.

Disway the dwarves from wanting to assist Snow White.

He snapped the journal closed and set off to the dwarves' mines. For this particular route he merely followed his nose and the loud picking, ticking, and banging that grew louder as Adam approached the cave entrance to the mines.

Railroad tracks started at the entrance of the cave and continued within the dark confines of the mines. Picking of axes, ticking of shovels, banging of rocks being tossed within the minecarts followed by the greasy smell of oil, sweat, and dirt. A sign above the cave read "Dwarves' Mines" and Adam spotted two dwarves talking in the mouth of the cave.

"Now Dopey," the sweet old bearded one spoke and adjusted his glasses and made weird hand motions as he spoke. "I know you didn't mean any harm, but you know how Grumpy is. He hates it when others touch his tools!"

The dwarf dressed in an oversized green shirt and purple cap made arm motions and pointed in the cave, but the older one just held his hand up.

"No excuses will work for you, Dopey," he sighed and continued to do more hand motions. "You have your own tools, and Grumpy has his. We all have our names on our tools for a reason."

He one called Dopey pouted and his shoulders fell in defeat.

"Did ya give him one fer, Doc?" an angry one dressed in red with a brown cap spat as he joined the two at the mouth of the cave. He crossed his arms and tapped his toe in impatience. The one that had previously been scolding Dopey was the one Adam assumed was called Doc. He heaved a heavy sigh as he turned to the angry one.

"Yes Grumpy, I told him not to mess with your tools." He put his hands on his hips and stared down Grumpy. "But you ought to know better than to leave your tools just lying around!"

"I dun told you," he spat again, "that I didn't leave my tools out. He bolted to the closet and knocked them all down and started using mine!"

"Regardless," Doc waved his hand to silence Grumpy. "Find a better place for your tools and get back to digging."

Grumpy glared at Doc and then Dopey before he spat again, picked up his pickaxe, and entered the mines. Doc ran his hands down his face and groaned. "It's only ten in the morning and you two are already starting nonsense!"

This time he did not make hand motions as he spoke before he too entered the mines. Only Dopey remained outside as he sat down looking dejected. Adam took note of the time that the dwarf had mentioned and was relieved to cross another field report mission off his list.

Two hours difference between this Apfel Realm and the Anti-Disney Realm. This Realm being two hours behind.

Could not help but find the bunch to be rather odd. That was only three out of the seven, he could only imagine what the others were like. He shook his head and stood from his hiding spot in a blackberry bush. He would find someplace else to explore and discover. However, as he stepped away from the bush, he stepped on leaves and twigs and Dopey's head snapped up to him.

Adam stood very still. If he was lucky, Dopey would be as blind as he was deaf. Luck was not in his favor because Dopey made a weird gargled noise and ran into the mines. With the deaf dwarf outside going to sound the alarm, Adam took his leave. He ran through the forest blindly before he eventually came to a small clearing where a small cottage stood. It was a very small cottage. It was as if it were a house built for children. Adam stood just as tall as the house and he knew just from looking at it that he would not be able to stand inside the house. Despite its size the house was very well made, hand carved details everywhere, and sturdy to boot. For investigation sake he peeked inside the house and was immediately disgusted by the filth that had accumulated within the home.

He shook his head up and left the premises of the cottage and continued on his journey. Apfel has proven to be a rather odd, but happy sort of a place. He only wished that he could visit here at his own leisure and not on missions for murdering a princess.


Author's Note:

Thank you so much for reading!

For those of you who are curious, or for those of you who know Apfel is literally the German word (according to Google) for apple. I wanted to try to make the Realm a little more believable, but I was not entirely sure how to go about it since there is so little that Disney did with Snow White.

Apfel is the name I decided to give to the Realm of Snow White, and hey it's pretty fitting, don't you think?

Thank you for coming along for the journey, stay tuned for more!
Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter