Heaven's Light, Hell's Fire

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is not a Hunchback Of Notre Dame songfic, despite the title.

This story is currently rated T for strong swearing, but the rating is likely to go up as chapters progress.

All GMD characters belong to Disney, but any others featured or mentioned belong to me. They shouldn't be used without asking me first. Thanks in advance.

Do enjoy the story.


Chapter 1:

Blinded

It was a sweltering August day in 1909. Deep dark clouds attempted fruitlessly to block out the great golden sun as they rambled across the horizon, the approaching thunder rumbling inside them.

No one dared to go out into the heat today...no one except for the thugs of Mouses Fiennes, who were out committing their usual crimes that they had been assigned.

Well, most of them were, anyway. One particular thug—which is not really an apropos term to describe his profession—was busy faking a crime he was supposed to have done.

The thug was around 41 years old, & was a small garden lizard, with a big tail, slimy green skin, & scales all over. He was dressed in a dark-brown English cap, a light-brown sweater, & black pants, without any shoes.

As he concentrated on completing his faked crime, Bill The Lizard sweated nervously, stifled by the heat of the sun, the airless house, & his dark sweater, which wasn't making things any better. Nevertheless, the benevolent reptilian rogue continued to work, as he dabbed the large paintbrush, covered in pig's blood, over the wax body of the woman he was supposed to have killed.

When he was finished, Bill looked back & smiled at his creation, before taking the faux corpse, & tossing it onto the street, where it was trampled by the hooves of horses as they pulled an oncoming carriage.

Bill then rushed back inside the house, & went into a secret room, where an old lady was hiding. The lizard smiled at the woman, then whispered assuringly, "You're safe now, dear. Don't worry about a thing!" After kissing the woman's cheek, he tipped his hat, waved "goodbye", & headed off for Trafalgar Square, where his friends Red & Snakes would be waiting...


"Snakes, you damn bastard, that's not how you desecrate a fake statue of Lady Horatia Nelson!"

"Shut up, Red," Snakes whined, "I'm doing the best I can!"

"Do you wanna get your ass kicked by Mouses?" Red asked angrily, tapping the ashes out of his cigar. "I'm sure you don't!"

"OK," Snakes sighed, "I'll try again." Snakes then proceeded to splatter various hues of paint onto a giant clay statuette of Lady Horatia Nelson, one of Mouse London's great military heroes.

"There," Red coaxed with a satisfied smile. "Now you're getting it!"

Ernest Henshaw, better known as "Snakes" by his cohorts, was around 35 years old. He was a lanky thing, with soft tan fur, gentle brown eyes, a bucktooth, & a big brown nose with whiskers jutting out from the sides. Out of the many rough-&-tumble clothes he wore, his most noticeable piece of attire was his lavender-&-brown striped shirt.

Red Robertson, by contrast, was a very stocky fellow with a barrel-chested form. He chose to wear a brown vest, brown bowler cap, brown trousers, & a red-orange shirt, as well as his neatest black loafers—not to mention the cigar in his bucktoothed, prickled mouth, which he smoked on profusely as he waited for Bill to arrive.

Just then, Red lucked out, & he turned around with a surprised gasp to see his cold-blooded (but certainly not cold-hearted) friend running towards him & Snakes, panting heavily.

"Bill, old buddy," Red shouted merrily, "you're just in time to see us fake the vandalism Mouses told us to do!" Turning to the effeminate mouse, he asked in his deep, gravelly voice, "Are you ready, Snakes?"

Nodding his head & smiling confidently, Snakes replied, "Ready!" Snakes then jumped onto a makeshift seesaw, which sent a can of paint flying over the Goodie Gang's heads...& onto the fake statue of Lady Nelson. The Goodie Gang laughed merrily as the paint splattered all over, brilliantly coloring the statue.

"Another crime faked successfully," Bill cheered triumphantly, "thanks to The Goodie Gang!" The three animals then gave each other a high-five...then gasped as they turned around to see wicked laughing coming from a small mouse.

The mouse was around 30 years old, but he was extremely short for his age. Dressed in a blue baseball cap, purple pants, a blue sweater, & a fuschia vest, he was covered in pale tan fur, with a big brown nose (complete with whiskers) & malicious blue eyes that glittered in their sockets as the mouse rubbed his hands together, snickering.

"Oh, no..." Snakes moaned in exasperation. "It's Peewee Pete! The shrimp!"

"Hey, who you callin' a shrimp?" Peewee Pete asked indignantly, shaking his fist at the frightened Snakes. "You can't call me nothin', now that I saw what you did! And guess what? I'm gonna report you to Mouses!" Laughing wickedly, he rushed off for the nearest sewer grate.

"Come on, boys!" Bill commanded, pointing at the entrance to Mouses' hideout. "After him!"


Alas, the Goodie Gang had arrived too late: Peewee Pete had just entered Mouses' hideout & told him the news, & now the three altruistic animals were waiting to speak to their 71-year-old master.

"Hockley! Robertson! Henshaw! Come here this instant!" Mouses creeched, & the Goodie Gang made their way into the barrel-throne room, where they saw an incensed Mouses, angry as a swarm of hornets, glaring furiously at them as he snarled, "Peter told me what happened in the square...& let me just say I am very disappointed in you all! You know better than to disobey orders that you have been given!"

"Mouses, the Goodie Gang has been around forever," Red explained, looking a bit nervous. "Don't tell me you never noticed it!"

"SILENCE, YOU BASTARD!" Mouses screamed. Red immediately clammed up, as Mouses calmed down, slicked back his shock of wild hair, & smiled wickedly as he said, "In fact, I know just how to prevent this from happening again..." Turning to the doorway & clapping his hands twice, Mouses shouted, "Daniel!"

Suddenly, a young mouse of around 20 entered the room. He had light-brown fur. His chest was so weak, one could easily see the bones of his ribcages. He had a frown on his face, & he looked very sad. His pale yellow eyes were sunken & bloodshot, & his cheeks were hollow. His cheeks were very pale, & his physique was very poor.

"Daniel," Mouses commanded with the cold grin still on his face, "fetch the pot!"

Daniel simply bowed & said, "Yes, sir." Then he went off, coming back with a small brass pot full of boiling water. As he handed the pot to Mouses, Daniel bowed once more, & said sadly, "Do what you are about to do, sir." Then he left the room, crying.

Bill's eyes widened in terror. Getting being thrown in the face with scalding water was one of Mouses Fiennes' worst punishments for disobedient thugs. (But NEVER as bad, of course, as getting eaten by Felicia, the fat executioner cat.)

Mouses scooped up some of the boiling water, & flung it in Bill's face. As soon as the water splattered his face, Bill screamed, & shut his eyes real tight. Then came the pain...

As Snakes & Red watched on in horror, Bill screamed & swore dozens of angry obscenities as he writhed around on the floor, holding his burning glazzies.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, why did you do it, Mouses?" asked Red tearfully, sobbing as he held his hurting friend against his prominent chest, cradling him gingerly in his arms as he tried to heal his pain.

"It had to be done," was Mouses' cold reply. "It had to be done...to make sure that Bill never tricked me again."

"And what are you gonna do to us?" Snakes asked defiantly, as Mouses smiled wickedly once more...


Soon, all three animals were on the floor, groping & fumbling around for each other vainly.

"Uh, just how long are we to be stuck in this shit-hole?" Red asked, blindly grabbing Mouses' harp & plucking the strings.

"The blinding is only temporarily," Mouses explained calmly as he sipped a glass of champagne, "but hopefully, this whole experience will teach you a lesson about being good."

"Sure...right," Snakes said sarcastically as he finally managed to grab...the big string that pulled down a great green bottle, dunking him in champagne.

Mouses let out a small chuckle, & turned away from the blinded Goodie Gang, rubbing his jeweled paws together as he smiled evilly & plotted: "Excellent...now, with those infernal goody-two-shoes out of the way, I can now begin my plan to get rid of the Baker Street Family, once & for all!" An evil cackle bubbled forth from his lips...

"What'd you say, Mouses?" Snakes asked, to which Mouses replied with a normal smile, "Nothing, my dear Henshaw!"