Chapter Seven

Adam awoke to an insane lightning and thunderstorm outside of his window. Although he was very much used to stormy weather and all of the obnoxious noises the weather made to accommodate the Anti-World's lack of sun, sometimes when it got out of hand it bothered Adam. The Evil Queen often locked him in the dungeons on terribly stormy nights and the dungeons flooded, there had been one too many times that he had nearly drowned.

As the rain thrashed against his window and the lightning only seemed to scream for him to awaken, Adam sat up in his bed and looked around him. He had forgotten where he was. Although this room was very much his dream room of sorts, he still felt rather out of place in it. He double checked on either side of his bed to make sure that there was no flooding before stepping out of bed, sliding on the pair slippers that Frederick had left there some time in the night and quietly shuffled to the dining hall. Maybe he'd find something to eat in there before everyone was awake. He glanced at the grandfather clock against the wall; it was 5:25am. He'd have gotten up in an hour anyways, but oh well.

With the exception of his house slippers slapping the floors as he walked Adam was mostly quiet and enjoyed the morning to himself. When he entered the dining hall he had not anticipated anyone else being awake. It was Captain Hook's Recruit, Jane, he thought; he did not try to get to know any of the other Recruits because they were all too young and he had a mission to focus on not socializing. Still he was surprised that she was up, Jane did not exactly strike him as a morning person. Three bottles of rum sat on the table next to a single half empty whiskey glass. She was leaning back in her chair with her feet propped up on the table, her hand firmly holding the glass, but her head leaning back. She reeked of the alcohol.

"You should know that that is terrible for you," She jumped and threw a knife at him that Adam merely side stepped to avoid. The knife planted itself into the wall behind him.

"Fuck you," she hissed and glared at him.

"No thank you, madam." He grasped the knife from the wall and pulled it free. A nice little hole was now in the dead blue wall. "What are you doing up this early?"

"I don't sleep." She poured herself more in her glass then took it back like a shot. "But that shouldn't mean a damn thing to you."

"It doesn't." He gave a shrug and began looking for a way to make tea or coffee. He continued about his way when suddenly there was another shuffling of footsteps behind him, a gurgled sound, and the worst sound of vomit ejecting from someone's mouth. He looked over his shoulder to find Frederick holding a bucket and Jane's hair and Jane's head shoved into it as she was vomiting.

"Good morning, Master Adam." He spoke ever so politely.

"Morning?" He raised an eyebrow at him.

"I saw that you had left your room and assumed that you would want your morning coffee." Jane gently patted his hand, pushed herself up, and saw back in her chair.

"Sorry. . ." She gurgled and held a hand to her forehead and the other to her stomach. "Fucking hell. . ."

"That is not the language a young lady should be speaking," Frederick sighed and snapped his fingers. A taller and younger butler and a petite maid appeared out of thin air and stood behind Frederick.

"Alexander, Natasha," he spoke politely. "Please escort Ms. Jane back to her room and give her the medicine she will need to take for her nausea and headache. And keep plenty of buckets nearby so she doesn't ruin the floors, please."

The servants nodded in response. Alexander scooped her up while Natasha scooped up the bucket and held it out at arms length. Frederick looked at the bottles of rum and shook his head. With another snap of his fingers the glass and bottles disappeared.

"You would like your morning coffee, sir?" he smiled at him and a tray magically appeared on the table. Adam merely blinked.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Oh, the magic?" he merely chuckled. "Trade secret, I'm afraid I've sworn to secrecy and can't tell you."

"I don't entirely believe that," he glared and crossed his arms. "I just want to know how I can make coffee in my room whenever necessary."

"Oh, I can easily arrange that," he pulled out a seat and poured two cups of coffee from the tea pot. "I'll have it in your room this evening when you've returned from your mission."

"Make sure it stays in there at all times." He took his seat and took his cup. "I'd also like an assortment of black teas as well. I like to have tea in the evening before I sleep. It helps keep the nightmares at bay."

"Yes, Master Adam." He took his own cup and sat across from him. "How were things in Apfel yesterday?"

Adam merely blinked and stared at him. He had said nothing about his mission to him or anyone else yesterday.

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry, I suppose I should try to explain." He stuck out his pinky and took a sip of his own coffee, scrunched his nose before adding both cream and sugar. "As you well know, and have probably already seen, all of the Recruits are given a servant of sorts to write down or tell us needs and wants. Which speaking of which" He dug into his inner coat pocket and slid over the menu list Adam had yet to fill out. "Please fill this out so that way the cooks will know what to make you for dinner."

Adam huffed, but took it and circled just a few things he had never tried and a few things that he actually liked to eat, then slid the menu list back over to Frederick.

"Thank you, Master Adam, now I shall continue." He took another sip from his coffee before setting it back onto the saucer. "As your servant I am to know everything about you and to take your field journals to Ms. Scatter so that she can log them into her giant system. However, yesterday I fell and the journal fell open. . ." He slid the field journal over to Adam. "You have impeccable handwriting, I was genuinely surprised, though I suppose I shouldn't be given who your Villain is. . . She is very particular in the way she wants things done."

Although this was a rather well known feature about the Queen, only those who have suffered her wrath for her obsessive compulsive order truly understand how particular she was. There were only a small handful of people who knew this : Adam, since he had suffered her wrath several times before; Snow White before she became a temptress and escaped to the dwarves; and the only other person who suffered was the Hunter. . .

"And you know this how?" Adam looked over his own cup of coffee.

"Well, I am from Apfel." Adam swallowed too quickly. "I've actually been employed by Queen Grimhilde herself."

"What position were you employed as?"

Frederick opened his mouth to speak, but a certain tapping of his cane prevented him from doing so.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Mr. V smiled as he twirled his cane, pulling his seat out at the head of the table. "How are we doing this early in the morning?"

"Just fine, Mr. V," Frederick sighed and pushed himself to a stand. "Just having a morning chat about my position as his butler."

"Ah, fantastic! That's one less thing that I'll have to do." He tapped his cane and his own bottle of Jack Daniels and coffee appeared on the table. "I didn't know you were such an early riser, Adam."

"Almost always. . . " Adam sipped his coffee and Frederick managed to escape from the dining hall. "It is much easier to plan the day whenever there is quiet."

"Too bad that there isn't a sun to light the sky here," Mr. V poured his whiskey into his coffee and loudly clattered his spoon in his cup as he blended the two together.

"Yes. . ." His eyes narrowed as he tried to decide what Mr. V's motives could be in trying to make the small talk. "How soon can I get started on my field mission for the day?"

"Oh, as early as you want," he gave a shrug, leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the table. "Though, depending on the time change I don't think you'd want to be there too early."

"I just need coffee before I leave." He finished the rest of his coffee and stood.

"Not one to waste time, are ya, kiddo?" he chuckled as Adam walked past him. "Just remember to be back by six!"

Much to his surprise, Frederick was waiting outside of the door of the dining hall for him. "Are you leaving already, Master Adam?" he asked and shuffled in behind him.

"Yes," the thunder rolled overhead and made him quicken his pace. "I'm not particularly in a mood to be around the other Recruits today."

"Understood sir," he nodded. "Should I prepare you anything to eat to take with you?"

"No." He just walked down the long halls and corridors that led to the room with the wardrobe. "I'll just buy stuff while I'm in Apfel to add to my field journal."

"Interesting choice," Frederick hummed behind him. "Well then, take this with you." A small leather pouch appeared in his hand. "This is the Apfel currency and this should hopefully be enough for any expenditures you should want to make today."

Adam snatched the bag and turned to the wardrobe to leave the dark Anti-Realm and return to the sun filled Apfel Realm. From darkness to rainbow colors to another dark filled sky passed Adam as he left the wardrobe and entered the Apfel Realm.

When he entered Apfel the sky was an odd pinky color, though the sun was not up. The Door Between Realms shut quietly behind him and Adam could only stare at the sky as he watched this world wake up. Ever so slowly the sun climbed the sky and the sky's color changed from pink to a lavender blue. Birds began to chirp, squirrels chittered, a rooster in the distance crowed, and even flowers opened their petals to the sun as the sky awakened. A small gust of wind ever so gently blew and even the small insects began to buzz to life. Oh how that warmth felt as the sun's rays touched his face. Adam stood in awe as he watched his very first sunrise and felt a small ache in his chest as he watched beauty touch the Realm.


Author's Note:

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you're enjoying it so far!

Please leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing! I would love to hear about who your favorite characters are! Have you ever heard of the Disney Villain Recruiters? Please check them out on Pinterest and let me know what you think!

Thanks so much for coming along the journey with me!

Ko-fi/Sarahthewriter