AAAAAARG! SCHOOL IS A (INSERT WORD OF CHOICE HERE). I AM SOOOOOOO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG! But I'm back! Okay, tomorow will be a busy day for me! I'm going to try to update this story again, but I will also be updating all my other stories. EVEN MY PETER PAN ONE! Gasp! But right now this was all I could do.
Unknown: Ah! You got me! Yes, this is what I have been doing. But only because of school taking up my time. Actually, I've had the chapters for Peter Pan story ready! Confusing, right? But like I said, I will be updating tomorow and (hopefully) finishing that one soon. Thanks so much for subscribing, and no, you wont have to stop following. I'm back baby! School is steadily winding down, and thought there will be a few more rough patches, those wont stop me! So thanks again and hope to see you review again!
ElementalQueen: So glad you like the story! Keep giving me ideas! I like them!
AnimationNut: Yeah, poor her. Or rather poor them. LOL! Hope you like this chapter!
VulpineSnow: Oh, that would have been goooooood. Now worries, plenty of Gaston hitting on her coming up!
..Attic: Thanks so much! That means a lot to me!
xxxxInu girlxx93839: EXACTLY! That will be a big part of my story. Actually, that will be shown in a chapter coming up. Lillie herself is a curvey and short girl. She's not model thin, she's not perfectly preportionate, her temper isnt always in check, she stumbles and messes up, she cant sing for her life, and she has a dream that doesnt involve getting married at a young age and doing nothing for the rest of her life. In other words SHOE'S NORMAL! Sure, she's beautiful, or pretty, or cute, ore whatever you'd call it. But perfect? Far from it. And that's something that's looked down on in this universe. I'm using her to kind of fight that. Glad you think that way too!
Strawberry Chick: No worries! She's one of my faves too and will be getting plenty of "screen" time!
DisneyPrincess: Sigh... good things never last do they.
BUBBLYbuttons2me: Yay! Now you'll jump for joy too!
AngelOfDarkness1959: I know, I was shaking my head and clucking my tongue when I read it over myself. (Sigh) Learning processes sometimes can be tough, cant they...
animeloser: so glad! And no worries, I got over it XD
Whiteling: I would be too! I'd open my door, see a man with flaming hair and just be like "uuuuummmmmm... hiiiii?"
Rainlily216: Yeah! They would try to scare her away, in fact, thats what they do here! (haunted mansion... hmmm...(thinks of later chapter))
stamper55555: YUUUUP! YAY! GUESSING GAMES ROCK!
Drama sapphire: poor unfortunate soul (lol I made a funny!)
Nostalgia's My Best Friend: Guess again! Its not too hard! If you want the answers just PM me! And any other villains you want just ask!
Daydreamer747: again... poor unfortunate soul... (god i will nEVER get tired of that!)
princess of the negaverse: THANKS! SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT!
NOW! ENOUGH OF THAT! ONTO THE CHAPPIE!
ENJOY!
Lillie honestly wasn't ready for the new day. At all. And by 'at all' she meant at all, at all. She didn't know what job she'd be doing. Heck, she didn't even know what she was. She doubted she was still a writer, the point of this whole thing was to be undercover. But then what job had she been assigned?
That thought mulled over in her brain the entire morning. At five o'clock she woke up thinking that. She thought over it as she started the coffee pot. She thought over in when she was in the shower. She thought over it when she was making herself French toast. She took a short break during that thinking to eat the French toast. But then she went right back to thinking.
During all of her time thinking Bartleby simple sat there watching her pace back and forth, his droopy eyes trying to be wide and pleading in hopes of getting a piece of French toast. He wined a little, but she still didn't notice. So finally he barked, something he didn't do very often.
Lillie snapped out her dream state and let out a frightened yell, then calmed down enough to look down at her giant dog. She sighed. "Sorry Bartleby. Just nervous is all." She grabbed his dog bowl off the floor and began washing it in the small sink. "Todays my first day of work and, honestly, I'm not ready! I mean, how am I supposed to do well when my own job is a secret to me." She sighed again, grabbing two of the left over pieces of toast from a plate on the ugly white counter and plopping them into his giant bowl. "I mean really! Couldn't they at least tell me something like… oh I dunno… YOU ARE GOING TO BE WORKING AS A- and then finish that with a definite answer? But noooooo. They just have to make the whole damn thing a mystery." She ranted on as she waved his dog bowl around animatedly. Bartleby followed it with his eyes, a large puddle growing on the floor.
She finally noticed his expression. "Oops! Sorry, buddy! Here you go." Placing the dish down on the ground she stood back as her large dog attacked it with all of the might that great French Toast hunter would. "Okay, I'm going to go get dressed, you enjoy that."
He snorted into the dish.
She rolled her eyes and began to walk out of the kitchen, forgetting completely about the large lake of drool on the tile floor.
Bartleby didn't even look up when he heard the slip, bang and following "OOOOW!" He just kept on eating, totally happy.
After deciding on her outfit (a black pencil skirt, cream blouse and black pumps), placing dashes of makeup on her face and icing the quickly growing lump on the back of her head Lillie felt like she was ready to begin her first day. She shoved all of her papers into a briefcase she had dug out of a packing box and checked her messages on the newly plugged in answering machine. She had received three, and all from when she was in the shower. Two were from Mickey, which she deleted as soon as his happy voice rang through, and the other one just an advertisement asking her if she had lost her voice recently, and how the right lawyer could probably reimburse her for at least half of her losses. She erased it.
"Bartleby!" She grabbed her keys from the edge of the kitchen counter, peeking her head around to look into her room where her dog was fast asleep on the sleeping bag in her room. She'd have to remember to unpack her mattress tomorrow. The dog on top of it seemed to notice her.
"Hey, Bart. I'm going to work. So don't stay up too late!"
He made a face as if to say you're kidding me, right? She just shook her head.
"Don't eat anything off the counters, no playing with matches and if I come back and see any holes in the walls you don't get any desert for the next month." He snorted. "Glad to see we agree with each other."
She opened the door and shut it behind her, locking both the top and bottom locks on the outside. Then she pulled the slip of paper from her pocket, the one she had been handed the day before.
She smoothed it out against her knee, ridding it of most of its crinkles and lines. The paper itself was nothing special, and neither was the writing. Just neat and small in black ink. There were a few smudges on the letters and some sporadic blotches that freckled the page, but nothing much else. It just looked like whoever had written it had done so in a hurry.
Neighbor, the letter began with.
We are so very pleased to have you here with us. So very very pleased. And to hear that you would be working with us was almost too good to be true. You see, not many new people do come around her, and when they do we accept them with open arms. And so we, as a group, would love to accept you to our building.
As our first gesture we'd like to give you directions to work. The place is rather off the beaten path, and quite hard to find. And who wants to get lost on their first day?
When you exit the apartment you'll want to take a right down the street. Keep walking three blocks, you'll reach the main road. Cross the street at the large cross walk (don't worry, its not hard to miss. Once there take a right down Notting Boulavard. Just keep walking until you reach the large building. Don't worry, you wont miss that either. It's quite large.
The front door will be unlocked, however our boss keeps all the side doors bolted.
As our second gesture we'd love to meet you inside to really show you around the office.
Work begins at 9:00 AM every day. Don't be late.
Best of Luck
Your neighbors
Underneath all of that were the signatures of about forty people, but she didn't bother reading any of them. She just re read the directions and then stuffed the letter into the small slotted pocket into her tight skirt. She felt the scrape of the paper against her skin and it tickled.
Straitening her back she shook her bangs off of her forehead where they had resided and smoothed what little hair she had against her head, hoping her pixie cut would behave for the day and not decide to play tricks on her.
Everyone had already left, as everything in the hall was eerily silent. As she descended down the grey stairs her heels clacked and echoed. She quickened her pace and in a few minutes had reached the lobby. Offering a quick hello to Edgar, who only responded with a bored nod over his newspaper, she left the building and took a right, hoping that the directions were right. She immediately shook the thought away. Why wouldn't they be right? These were her neighbors! And as long as she had known, neighbors were either awful or great, there was no middle ground. And these seemed to be the great kind. After all, who helped someone on their first day of arrival? With a happier feeling in her chest and a nagging voice in the back of her head that said her dog was definitely going to eat her out of house and home, she left for where, the directions said, work would be.
"YOU DID WHAT!" Mickey Mouse stood still on the spot, his gloved hands tugging on his ears. "Why! Why couldn't you just let this one work!"
"Mickey, what's done is done." The tall vizier replied. He twirled his snake staff in his hand, testing the weight, and then gripped it with too much force, relishing the small crackles of power that ran through his fingers. "You really should have learned your lesson before you invited this new one to come."
Mickey shook his head furiously.
It had started off as such a great day. But then the new recruit had failed to show on time, promptly 8:00 AM every morning. At first he had thought that she had gotten lost, and so decided that a few extra minutes wouldn't be bad. But then half an hour passed by. And then forty-five minutes. And still, the new girl had failed to show.
So he had done the first thing that had come into his mind. He began to question the villains, the only people who he thought could be guilty of any act big or small in the town. And this of course could include the lack of a certain new girl in the building who, despite her size, was very hard to miss. After all, Mickey had thought, she had enough fire in her for three underworlds combined. And the underworld was a really big place.
So he had gone strait up to the villains and had asked what they knew of the girl who had arrived the day before.
Their answer?
Without any hesitation or delay in speech the entire villain ensemble present openly admitted to having laid a trap for their new neighbor and that, if it worked as it was planned to, she would be on the next flight home.
Thus the conversation turned to Mickey screaming at Jafar who only regarded him with a cool stare.
"Honestly Mickey, did you not believe that within time we would strike against any good sent our way." Jafar smirked. "The girl was obviously someone who would cause… an adequate amount of trouble. One princess too many never settled well with us, you know."
Mickey just slumped down. "But… what did you do!"
"Nothing yet." The vizier cackled. "But trust me that something will be taking place very soon. She is a Princess, and like all Princesses she does not take her fears lightly."
Mickey just fiddled with his shirt collar. "Aw gee. You're gonna scare her, aren't you."
"Quite the little genius isn't he?" A tall man in a yellow shirt and tight hunting pants strolled forward. His small moustache twitched as he smiled and his tightly gelled salt and pepper hair gleamed under the cheap office lights.
"Clayton." Jafar nodded.
Clayton offered his own nod and then turned back to the mouse. "You see, we really cant have anything breaking our natural order of things. You know how hard the Undiscovered's are searching for new bait around these times. Another one of those dancing singing royals and I might just shoot someone."
"Agreed."
Mickey just stared at the two villains. "But… where did you send her then?"
"To the abandoned mill on Notting Boulavard."
"You mean the super scary extra creepy haunted house looking thing at the end of the very intimidating street?"
"That's the one." Smiled Jafar.
"Ohhh!" Mickey slapped his hands over his eyes. "Now I've gotta go fix this." He pushed past the two tall men and hurried past the rows of desks and out the door into the stair well.
Clayton and Jafar watched him go, and when he did finally leave Clayton turned on the other men in surprise. "Why on earth would you tell him our plan."
"Just killing two birds with one stone."
"Aaaah!"
"Alright everyone!" All the other villains raised their heads. "In our positions. I believe that Hook is already where he should be. And our poor unfortunate soul is almost there as well."
Lillie pulled the piece of paper from her pocket and checked the address, then looked up at the large brick building that loomed in front of her. It was the only building on the street, and it was the most appealing looking thing around. The entire area was broken down and mangled. No grass grew beyond the cracked and abused sidewalk. The wire fences had holes in them big enough to be doors, and the only life in sight were a few weeds and some lazy flied that were buzzing around a lone dandalion in the shade, one that looked as if it were gripping onto life with the last of its strength and a pair of iron fists.
It wasn't as though the building didn't have its problems. The bricks were turning green and the cement holding them together seemed to be crumbing. There were a few windows that had cracks and one or two that were boarded up. No light came from the inside, at least none that she could see.
She checked the paper again.
"They must not have taxes here." Was all she muttered. She shrugged off a feeling of fear that was slowly creeping up her spine, balled up the paper and held it tight in her fist and then picked up her briefcase from the sidewalk, brushing it free of dust with the knuckles of her clenched fist.
Without looking back she approached the rusted green front door and wrenched it open, a task not easily done, and walked inside the dark building.
Mickey ran to the abandoned mill and stopped dead in his tracks. On the path leading to the entrance way the dust was unsettled and footprints lead towards the opening.
"Aw no!" He slapped his forehead. "I'm too late."
"Indeed you are."
He spun around. "Jafar!"
"Hmm… yes…" The tall man smiled and slitted his eyes. "I'm afraid it is too late for you."
"SQWA! Too late for you!" Iago fluttered down from the sky to land Jafar's shoulder. "Hey! Hey, Jafar! This must be a new record, huh? Whats it been since she got here? Twelve hours?"
"Yes."
"And already gonna leave!" The parrot cackled. "Ain't these kinda things just great!"
"And the Angel Fish doesn't suspect a thing!" Ursula approached the crowd, followed by a pack of other villains. "This is just perfect!"
"She'll be gone before midnight." Maleficent smiled coolly."
"AND THEN ITS OFF WITH HER!" Bellowed the queen of hearts.
"I get the dog." Cruella added.
Mickey just shook his head. "Aw geez. Why you guys? This girl was going to really add some great things to our town."
"Like what? Rainbows and ponnies. No thanks mouse boy." Hades quipped.
Mickey sighed. "You are all just impossible, you know that."
Jafar opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a sound that made Mickey jump and made the others smile maliciously.
A sharp piercing scream.
"Gentleman and ladies," Jafar bowed low, "we have done it again."
Lillie walked down the hall ways, her steps unsure and slow. She strained her eyes to see through the dark. Everything was dead silent, but the pounding in her ears was loud. The building was empty, that was certain. The lights that hung above her head had been broken for a very long time, and the only light was through holes in the dusted windows. A thick layer of dust coated the floor and it swirled around her ankles as she walked. The hallway she had chosen had been directly to the right of the front door. Doors were on both sides going down. She had already tried at least ten of them, finding them all locked and empty. And when she did find a door that was open all that was inside was a room with only a chair and a giant hole in the floor. The entire painting scheme was beige and swamp green and made the darkness around her seem even darker.
Her heels echoed as they clicked their way along the cheap linoleum tiles.
She stopped where she was, finding it useless to continue down the seemingly endless hallway with not a soul in sight.
She cleared her throat. "Hello?"
Nothing.
Sighing, she placed her suitcase on the floor and pinched her teples. The realization of what had just taken pace hitting her like a sledgehammer. "Great. Just great. I should have known. Whats the first rule, Lillie? Really?" She rolled her eyes. "Never trust a pack of people with evil smiles." After a quick thought she added "or flaming hair."
She bent down to grab her briefcase, ready to exit the building, call a cab and find her real workplace when a noise entered her range of hearing. It was small, but noticeable. Like the squeak of old floorboards. A shiver ran up and down her spine.
"Hello?" Her voice was even but her hands began to sweat and shake. "Whose there."
Nothing.
Then…
Squeak
She held her breath. There was no denying it, she was not alone.
Lillie swallowed hard and then slowly turned around, her feet were like lead bricks but she forced them to tiptoe away.
But just as she took her first quiet steps something red and large lunged out of a nearby corner strait at her.
So she did the first thing that came over her mind…
Not to mention her body.
"Oh we are so good!" The villains outside were practically dancing for joy, their laughs emanating through the air.
"Aparently, our touch has yet to be lost." Grimhilde smiled a delicate smile.
"You said it!" Gaston flashed his own.
"We are jus' great!" Jaser said, shaking Horace's hand heartily.
They all turned when the front door of the building was opened.
"That must be Hook!" Madamme Mim piped up.
They all waited expectantly for Hook to come out, his fists raised in triumph at the juvenile scare attempt that no doubt worked on a simple human.
However, they all reeled back when they saw that same simple human pushing the door open with her back and holding it open like that. She placed harp lack briefcase on the ground, leaned more heavily against the door, and stared into the black abyss that was the inside of the building. The tapping of her foot was soon all that was heard. Every single person there had gone completely silent.
Hades was the first to gather his wits and speak. "What are ya doin'?" It came out a lot less threatening then he would have liked.
She jumped a little, finally noticing them. "Oh. Um… Well…"
They watched her stumble over her words and noticed a few things that had changed over her features the second she had been confronted by the god.
First, her cheecks had turned slightly pinker.
Then she had bit down on her lip.
Her eyes had flashed something that looked akin to anger, but they couldn't be sure.
And overall her face was at battle between fury and guilt.
"Well? Speak up girl!" Jafar demanded.
A bit more of the anger flashed through at that, and she opened her mouth. A sound must have caught her ears, they noticed, because she closed her mouth and whipped her head to face inside the building.
"Will you just pinch it!" Her voice, seething, carried to the rest of the people outside. "It'll never stop if you don't put some pressure on the thing!" She paused. "And stop acting like such a baby! God, I've seen three year olds that complained less than you."
Even Mickey Mouse had furrowed his brow at that.
But all questions were answered when Captain Hook stepped out of the shadown and into the light, his head tilted back and his long piano fingers pinching rather hard at his now bloody nose.
"OH MY GODS!" Hades cried, rushing up to him. "What in Hades happened to you!"
" chee punch'd 'ee. Id da 'ace!" The blood was dripping down his long chin and a few spots had gotten onto the white ruffles of his shirt. Something large was beginning to form on his forehead in a 90 degree angle shape that looked suspiciously like he had taken a breifcase to the head. But he didnt seem to notice that, only freaking out over his most likely broken nose.
"WHA- WHY DID YOU DO THAT!" Jafar ran up, the eyes of his snake staff glowing.
"Whoa buddy. I can give you plenty of reasons why. But I'll narrow it down for you." She grunted as she picked up her case and allowed the door to slam closed as she moved away from it. She looked up at him, having to since the difference in height between them was so extreme. "Its called instinct. He jumped out at me. I reacted."
"You punched him!"
"'Oo punch'd ee!"
"Okay, I told you before I am really sorry!" She faced the pirate. "Also, you might want to get that checked out. I think its broken."
"I 'ow 'at!"
"Just saying... again... reeeeaaalllly sorry. But you deserved it. You've gotta admit that."
"'Aptain 'Ook neber abmits 'oo any'ting!"
"Sure thing Captain Ook."
"'Ats 'Aptain 'OOK!"
"Thats what I said!"
"Sorry to break up this fascinationg coversation, but can we please get back to the matter at hand." Jafar remarked bitterly. "Like the small fact that you punched him in the face."
"Again. I reacted. Now, I suggest you move so I can get to my real work. Which I'm sure the mouse will show me too." She brushed past him, then stopped and tunred towards all of the people now staring at her. "Try to pull the friendly neighbor crap again, and I wont need any instinct to power my fist."
Then, with a quick turn of her heel, she was off towards Mickey.
They watched her leave, watched her walk up to the mouse and explain her situation. Of course, the mouse still looked too stunned to truly respond, but nodded and blinked.
Jafar stared at her and narrowed his eyes. "This means war…"
"Wud meens 'or?" Hook asked.
"Right in the face?"
"RIGHT IN THE FACE!" Mickey paced back and forth in front of his desk, Minnie standing close and looking worried. "And after that she just told me that he scared her and that she felt kind of bad. Then I got her a cab and told her to go home for the day, and that tomorrow I'd call her a car to take her to work. And that was it!"
Minnie seemed to think for a moment. Then her eyes widened. "So… right in the face?"
"Yeah!" Mickey paced faster. "She isnt making friends, I'll tell you that."
"Oh dear. Maybe we should just send her home."
Mickey stopped pacing, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "No… no we wont do that. I don't think she'd agree. She didn't seem too shakien up by all of this. Actually, she seemed really calm. I think she'll last a little longer. 'Course I'll giver her the option-"
"Of course!"
"But I doubt she'll take it."
Minnie sighed. "Maybe you were right. Maybe she does need to meet an undiscovered. If she keeps acting like this then all that girl will have is a whole lot of trouble."
"Minnie! That's a great idea! Get her to meet a prince! They'll fall in love! And, of course, he'll protect her! And not only that, another defeat, another story and one less undiscovered!" His smiled widened and he kissed his wife's cheek with a loud smack. "I'll get right onto the files to search for a match! They have to meet without her thinking I set her up though, she didn't like that idea. And of course, they'll need to have a three day romance period, that always works! Maybe reservations at the club! A romantic carriage ride through the park! Villain free days for them to truly-"
"Mickey dear?" His wife hesitated. "Don't you think this is a tad bit fast?"
"No way! Don't worry Minnie! Just leave this to me and you'll see! Another story is just waiting to happen! And its got her name on the cover!"
That's it for now! Again, sorry this took so long! Next update will be coming in about a week, so stay tuned!