Sophia's Story
A Disney crossover by talking2myself
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognizable Disney characters. All original characters are my own creations.
CHAPTER 37 Negotiations with Goody-Goodies
Sophia hopped from stone to stone nimbly, struggling to maintain her balance as she landed. "For the love of the Kingdom, Merlin," Sophia scolded. "Stop grumbling to yourself."
"I am not grumbling!" Merlin snapped. "I am simply expressing my displeasure at having to associate with Mad Madam Mim again."
"Which is a fancy way of saying 'grumbling'," Archimedes said before landing primly on Sophia's shoulder.
Sophia rolled her eyes and lifted the hem of her skirt so she could hop to the next stepping stone as they made their way across the tiny stream. One more hop and she landed on the opposite bank. She had to admit, she hated how treacherous the rocky terrain that surrounded Old Disney London was. They had already slid down a steep hill and crossed over an unsettingly tipsy log bridge.
Splash!
Sophia turned just in time to see Jack topple off a stepping stone and land in the stream. Jack let out a curse as Will and Elizabeth each grabbed one of his arms and hauled him to his feet. Jack didn't attempt to use the stepping stones after that. Instead, he just stomped through the water and plopped on the shore bank, tugging off his boot and emptying out the water. "Not a word out of either of you!" Jack snapped as Will and Elizabeth approached. Will closed his mouth, but the smirk on his face said more than he ever could.
Jackie was surprisingly nimble as she followed the others while Arthur had to pause and resume his balance between each stone. As Arthur was about to leap to the next stone, Sophia caught sight of something in the distance. A mangy half-starved wolf had slunk out of the forest and was now intently following Arthur of all people and was licking his chops. As the wolf lunged forwards, Sophia sent a blast of magic in his direction. Arthur let out a yelp of alarm and also toppled into the water. Sophia sighed and made her way back to Arthur's side. A short distance away, a pink frosted cupcake sat on the opposite side of the river. Sophia helped pull Arthur to his feet as she caught sight of the cupcake twitching. Sophia stood there and glared at the pastry with her hands on her hips. There was a poof of pink smoke and the wolf was back to his skinny form. He growled briefly before he caught sight of Sophia glaring down at him.
"Shoo!" she gestured adamantly, pink magic began to glow on the tips of her fingers. The wolf gulped and whined as he tore off into the other direction. Sophia shook her head as she turned towards the others. "Honestly. Of all the people to try and eat, Arthur is probably the skinniest one here apart from Jackie."
A few moments later, Mim's small cottage came into view. It was a stone house with a straw roof that had the distinctive shape of a witch's hat. A skinny chimney rose up on one side. Black puffs of smoke rose up from the chimney. It appeared that she was home.
Sophia had to admit. Her home did have an ominous outward appearance. She had to remind herself that Mim was on their side now. "Well, here we are," Merlin said. He approached the door and rapped on it with his cane. "Mim! Are you in there? Open up!" He rapped again.
"Merlin," Sophia scolded.
"I swear to Disney Merlin if you don't stop that incessant knocking…" at that moment, the door flung open nearly knocking Sophia flat. The little witch appeared in the doorway. She looked very much the same as she had when Sophia had last seen her. Mim looked her up and down. "You seem familiar…" she said.
"I'm Sophia," she said. "You might remember me…."
"Ah yes," Mim said. "The cleaning fairy. Kelsey's friend. Yes, I remember you." Mim nodded thoughtfully before immediately turning into the cottage and slamming the door!
"Hey!" Sophia cried. "Mim!"
"I haven't had anything to do with any villains since we last met," she snapped behind the door. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."
"No, we're not accusing you of anything," Sophia insisted, pressing her ear against the door. "We actually came to see you."
"I'm not risking my skin for any of you goody-goodies," Mim retorted.
"Sounds like it's going well," Archimedes remarked.
"Shut up Archimedes," Sophia and Merlin snapped in unison.
"We're not asking you to risk your life, Mim," Sophia explained. "We have an opportunity for you." There was a silence on the other end of the door. "Did you hear me?" Sophia asked.
"What sort of opportunity?"
"I'm trying to reform The Circle," Sophia declared.
The door swung open so suddenly that Sophia toppled to the ground. "You want to reform the Circle?" she demanded. She looked as though Sophia had sprouted a second head. "The Circle?"
"Yes," Sophia said as she rose to her feet, dusting off her skirts. "May we come in?"
Mim looked at them suspiciously, her eyes lingering on Merlin. "Fine," she said as she pushed open the door. The small group slowly made their way through. If Mim thought it was odd that two of them were sopping wet, she didn't say anything. "Merlin," she said coldly as he stepped inside.
"Mim," he snapped. "You're looking well."
"No thanks to you and your germ," Mim muttered as she slammed the door behind him. Sophia had to admit, the gesture unnerved her more than she wanted to admit. The room was dark and covered in dust, a small shriveled plant sat in one corner. Arthur's hand wrapped tightly around Jackie's and he glanced around the room suspiciously. Mim made no move to invite them to sit, but that was probably for the best given how many cobwebs hung from the furniture.
"The altar is safe?" Sophia asked.
Mim nodded. "No one has come near the thing since the… eh… incident."
Sophia cringed. The incident. The moment where The Thirteen succeeded in summoning Chernabog to disastrous effect. "That's good," Sophia said. "I suppose seeing how it went last time scared them off." Mim nodded and an awkward silence filled the room. "We want to rebuild the Circle," Sophia blurted out all of a sudden.
"So you said," Mim pointed out. "And why would you want to do that?"
"A variety of reasons." Sophia explained. "Mainly to provide some stability to the sorcerer world."
"Because?" Mim asked skeptically.
"Because we need to keep wayward sorcerers from attempting to wake up demons," Sophia said.
"Ha!" Mim scoffed. "Because that worked so well last time?"
Merlin gave Sophia an I-told-you-so sort of look. Sophia determinedly ignored him. "Things will be different this time."
"Melly… er Maleficent told me the same thing," Mim retorted. A sad sort of bitterness filled her voice. Sophia had forgotten that in another lifetime Mim considered Maleficent her friend. Sophia doubted that the friendship was ever mutual and she suspected that Mim knew that as well, but Mim couldn't help but mourn the friendship that she thought she had. In fact, Kelsey had told her that Maleficent was "buried" (or at least all the scraps of fabric that they had found which was all that was left of her) behind Mim's house.
"Someone wise should have been there to tell her it was a bad idea," Sophia said.
"And you think you're going to do that?" Mim asked skeptically.
"I think the Circle is going to do that," Sophia said. "We all remember what happened with Chernabog and this time we will make sure that no one is going to forget it. Plus, we'll be able to help new magicians so they're not stuck wandering around with an unqualified hack witch."
Mim smirked, "Still bitter are we?"
"You could say that," Sophia muttered.
Mim shrugged. "So go reform your Circle. Enjoy! Why are you banging on my door."
"I would like you to join," she said.
Mim whirled around and quirked an eyebrow. "Me?"
"Yes," Sophia repeated.
Mim looked at her suspiciously. "You want me to join?"
"She wants you to join," Merlin grumbled. Will elbowed him roughly in the ribs.
"Yes, I want you to join," Sophia repeated.
"Why?" Mim demanded.
"Because you helped us," Sophia said. "And you did the right thing."
"Once," Mim grumbled. "Does that cancel out an entire lifetime of villainy?" She looked at Merlin accusingly.
"By agreeing to join the Circle you're agreeing to give up villainy so yes," Sophia explained.
"Why would I do that?" Mim snapped.
Sophia drew a deep breath. Everyone in the room's gaze had been shifting from Sophia to Mim like they were watching a tennis match. "Because we would support you too," Sophia said. "You would have friends. You would never feel like you did not belong." The gazes shifted back towards Mim. She made a sniffling sound, but crossed her arms and looked stubborn.
"Has villainy really brought you so much that couldn't give it up?" Sophia gestured to the room filled with squalor. "Besides," Sophia said. "We need you."
"We do?" Archimedes asked skeptically. Merlin gave the stubborn bird a tap in the ribs with his cane.
"We do," Sophia insisted. "You know more about villains than anyone else. You can give us some valuable insights. So you see… really… we need you."
The room was totally silent, everyone was looking at Mim expectantly. "You need me?" Mim repeated in disbelief.
"We need you," Sophia repeated.
Mim finally let out a groan. "Fine!"
Sophia grinned. "You won't regret it, Mim."
"I already do," Mim groaned. "I should have known better than to get involved with Goody-Goodies."
"Oh stop grumbling," Sophia smiled. "You won't regret it."
"So what now?" Mim asked.
"Now we need to convince Yen Sid," Sophia said. "Come on. We need to find him before dark."
Mim groaned again. "Yen Sid? Really?" She turned towards Merlin. "Did you tell her that's crazy?"
"Yes, I did," Merlin said. "You can see how well that went."