TW: This chapter contains themes of SA and suicide.
Chapter 45: Piggy Pan
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE VANISHED?!"
Kida rolled her eyes at Captain Hook's outburst, "They took refuge inside of a sunken ship. Their pathetic excuse for a princess cast a spell around the perimeter to turn anyone who crossed into pickles because she "Was hungry", then one of her lackeys suggested she simply teleport them out of there, there was a magical poof, and they vanished. I don't know what else to tell you. They must be miles away from this realm by now."
Hook pondered this for a moment…then, a stormy glint formed in his eyes.
The only sound that passed between them was the swish of their tails as they glided through the water.
Mindy could feel his eyes on her, but refused to acknowledge it.
A hurricane of thoughts invaded her already-racing mind: Is he staring at me dreamily, or disgust because of what I almost did? Anger? Betrayal? Fear? Is that what it is? Is he just as scared as I am of this feeling?
She picked at her fingernails to distract herself.
Little did she know, Dakota had been asking himself the exact same questions, as he looked at the girl beside him with wide, inquisitive eyes: What are you thinking? What is going on in that beautiful, beautiful brain of yours? Wait, beautiful? No, not beautiful! Bad Dakota! Stop thinking about your friend like that! Is Wendy, right? Am I really in denial, or is The Dremesphere forcing me to feel this way? What if it's not even that? What if I'm only acting like this because I feel obligated to? What is wrong with me?
He tore his gaze away, and honed in on a strange-looking narwhal parked in front of The Grotto. Upon closer inspection, Dakota noticed how shiny its eyes were and that it had a smidge of rust coating the corner of its mouth.
Wait, rust?
In a burst of adrenaline, Dakota tackled Mindy into a bed of tall seaweed and covered her mouth. She let out a muffled scream of panic and confusion, but Dakota put a finger to his lips and tilted his head to the side.
Mindy flicked her eyes in that direction and almost had an aneurism.
Dakota gasped, "Ariel's in there. What do we do?"
"I don't know," She swore under her breath, "How'd they find us?"
"I know for a fact you despise pickles, Melinda,"
Mindy's blood ran cold. Only one person said her name with that specific inflection.
The pair turned to a smug Captain Hook who donned a bright yellow diving suit with a ridiculous circular helmet. On either side of him wearing similar attire was Doctor Delbert Doppler who had detained Wendy Darling, and Captain Jack Sparrow who had detained Scarlett Bloom.
Despite how laughable the codfish looked, he tsked at Mindy's mermaid form, "You're not even trying to be decent at this point. I suppose the only upside to this is that you needn't worry about staining your clothes with blood, ash, or dust anymore since you've opted to wear little to no clothing at all,"
"You know," Mindy pinched the bridge of her nose, "Whenever we cross paths, I think to myself there's no way that this pompous, pretentious asshat could get any more aggravating than he already is. And yet, you single-handedly manage to prove me wrong every time,"
Dakota wheezed at the way Hook's smile became even tenser after the punchline had been delivered. He gave her a high-five right as a small group of Atlantean warriors closed in on them…
The four of them were escorted into the Grotto.
Ariel, Peter, and the Lost Boys were tied to the statue of Prince Eric in the center, and around ten Atlantean warriors encircled them. Tinkerbell and Flounder had been stuffed into a lobster trap held by Kida, while Jiminy resided in an emerald-green wine bottle perched atop a shelf.
"What did I tell ya, folks?!" the cricket banged on the glass with a frantic gleam in his eyes, "I knew Mindy wouldn't jump to use her powers to get us out of here! She doesn't wanna hurt anybody, and she isn't a threat to you anymore!"
"Not a threat?! She's the anomaly!" Dr. Doppler insisted, "Don't you see what she's doing? She's brainwashing you all to defend her and do her bidding! The only reason this room is still intact is because she doesn't want to lose what little followers she has left!"
"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of smart, sciency dude?" Dakota asked, "If I understand correctly, only The Projectionist can manipulate emotions whereas our girl, Mindy can poof anything into existence. They are drastically different from each other, so why don't you do your research before you criticize her?"
"I concur with everything he's saying," Scarlett's eyes ignited with fury, "And for the record, we're not brainwashed. I realize that Mindy isn't perfect. She's not this diabolical, psychotic villain you've all been describing, nor is she this courageous, plucky, teenage heroine who only cares about her image. She's somewhere in between. And the sooner you all realize that, the easier it'll be for us to make this world a better place for both the prominent and non-prominent franchises,"
"I know that's just the spell talking, love," Jack Sparrow murmured into her ear as she thrashed around in protest, "But I have always been fond of a woman with fire. What say after that wench has been disposed of, you and I find somewhere to further separate yourself from her unpleasant company and into more pleasurable company?"
Scarlett opened her mouth with every intention of snapping a witty remark, when the pirate's hand slunk across her upper chest with delicate precision. Instead, a withering, panting sound snuck past as the scream died in her throat. Her world had all but come to a screeching halt as Sparrow's fingers trailed further below her collarbone.
Panic…unrelenting, hot, and downright feral suffocated her as repressed memories pieced themselves together in her mind: something silver and blurry glinting in darkness, multiple hands pressing against her trembling body, crawling through a sludge tunnel towards a glaring white light.
Scarlett shut her eyes tight to prevent the oncoming flood of tears.
Everyone gawked in silent astonishment, but made no move to stop the exchange.
Mindy's nostrils flared.
She felt the pressure building behind Scarlett's closed lids as Jack not-so-subtlety sniffed her hair, and balled her fists when her bottom lip quivered. The final straw was the wail that'd pealed from her when the pirate reached for one of her breasts.
"What is wrong with you?"
Jack's lecherous smile spasmed, and his hand froze in place as he glanced up at her.
"I asked you a question," Mindy's eyes flickered dangerously, and her voice cracked with emotion, "What the fuck is wrong with you? Can't you see how scared she is?! And you call me evil?! Are you kidding?! At least I'm not the one who's molesting high school girls! Get your filthy, calloused, plague-ridden, sex-offending hands off of her you shit-eating pig!"
Not a single person berated Mindy for her spontaneous use of language… not even Jiminy who only emitted a gasp in response. When Jack still refused to answer, she acted without thinking. A cry of outrage pealed from her throat, and her arms thrusted out. A beam of blinding green light hurdled towards him.
Sparrow ducked with a strangled yelp, and the beam whizzed past him. It hit a metal pot which caused it to ricochet into a dinglehopper, mirror, over Kida's head, and finally into Peter Pan which'd engulfed him in a sea of flames.
Everyone gave scattered shrieks except for Hook who chuckled, "Oh, the irony. The sheer irony. Perished by one of his dearest friends…what a deliciously unfortunate set of circumstances,"
"No…no, no, no!" Mindy collapsed to her knees with shuttering breaths, "I-I didn't mean to, Peter I'm so sorry I-"
"-wait a minute," Dakota crouched beside her, and pointed below the statue, "What is…?"
She, and every character followed his gaze as the dust settled.
A plump green pig blinked back at them.
It had a wide snout, clip-clop hooves, squiggly tail, and chubby cheeks but still had a familiar, red-feathered cap on its head. The pig smacked his lips a couple of times, but when he spotted his reflection in a nearby mirror, he squealed in horror.
Mindy exhaled as she registered what she was looking at, "Peter? Is that you?"
The pig scurried behind the statue while oinking.
Hook couldn't take it anymore. He tried multiple times to string a sentence together, but descended into another round of laughter before he could get a single word in. The rest of Mediocrity at Its Finest could do nothing but stare in shell-shocked silence.
"IT'S PIGGY PAN!"
In any other circumstances, Mindy would've rolled her eyes or thrown a quip. But she was still reeling from what had happened to Scarlett, and the ridiculousness of the aftermath. The anxiety of almost offing one of her childhood heroes was eating her alive, and she leaned against Dakota for much-needed stability.
Kida, Jack, and Doppler didn't know what to make of this either, but Mindy did notice them take a few cautious steps backwards. She also noted how the two Atlanteans guarding her and Dakota spoke to each other in hushed tones in a language she couldn't understand.
"WHAT IN NEPTUNE'S NAME IS GOING ON IN HERE?!"
Nearly everybody flinched at the intense, masculine voice that boomed from the entrance of The Grotto.
Ariel's face flooded with relief, "Daddy?"
King Triton swam out from the shadows with Sebastian at his side. He immediately oozed power and authority from his presence alone. A mane of snow-white hair draped his bare back, and a tangle of it made up his wavy beard and mustache. His turquoise tail took up more than half of the room, and everyone scrambled to accommodate it. A regal five-pointed crown rested atop his head, and he carried his all-powerful trident in his right hand.
He practically foamed at the mouth upon seeing Ariel tied up, "Release my daughter!"
"You may have her back, when this one agrees to cooperate," Kida tilted her head downwards at Mindy, before glancing back up with an apologetic expression, "I promise, if she comes with us willingly, we will release her along with everyone else. I understand how precious the relationship between a father and daughter can be, and I want this conflict to come to a swift end as much as you do,"
Of course, Mindy didn't know what having a protective parental figure was like. But as she met Triton's penetrating, judgmental stare, she sensed the desperation emanating off of him, and guilt washed over her like a tidal wave.
She tried conveying through her eyes that she couldn't give herself up, but it was clear that he couldn't've cared less. All that mattered to him was Ariel, and she knew he'd choose her safety over the rouge princess of the Dremesphere's any day.
"Don't do it, Mindy!" Ariel pleaded, "You can't let them win!"
"Why are you defending her?" Kida demanded, "She is a monster!"
"It's you who are the monsters, not her!" the little mermaid glared fiercely around the room, "Mindy has been trying to reason with you this whole time, and all you can think about is vengeance! Letting The Projectionist to kill her isn't going to solve your problems, it'll only kill us all!"
"This isn't your decision to make, lass!" Hook barked before turning his attention to the girl in question, "Aren't you tired of this, Melinda? The running? The emotional damage you've inflicted? The paralyzing fear that you'll inevitably hurt one of your friends? Why not put yourself out of your misery? Wouldn't that make things so much easier for everyone?"
"Don't listen to him," Dakota drew her in closer, "He's only trying to get under your skin,"
And it's working. Mindy's grip on him tightened. Wouldn't it be a blessing to rid this world of my uncontrollable imagination…I can't keep doing this. I can't regain any more of my memories, it's too dangerous. I'm dangerous. It'd be better if I stopped while I'm ahead, and turn myself in.
She opened her mouth to do just that, when Dakota hugged her, "Don't you dare…you're stuck with me, remember?"
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Mindy hesitated once before returning the gesture.
No, she needed to stay alive to fix this. It'd be selfish of her to do otherwise. It wouldn't be fair to Dakota, Scarlett, or the rest if they lost her now. All she focused on was Dakota's embrace, and not on the fear of her fully-realized power. They'd cross that bridge when they got there. For now, all that mattered was the love of her friends.
Just then, Scarlett managed to break free from Jack's grasp, and lunged towards Hook with a shrill battle cry, "How dare you try to manipulate her like that!"
Dakota and Mindy rushed to the statue of Eric. Atlanteans sprung on all sides, but with a single wave of Mindy's hand, were careened backwards into the cavern walls. Kida leapt out to decapitate Dakota, but Mindy drew her sword and whirled around to block her spear.
Once she'd shoved her back, the princesses clashed weapons with steely determination as Dakota untied Ariel and co. The Lost Boys whipped out their slingshots and surrounded Dr. Doppler who'd tried sneaking him and Wendy out the door.
"Let the Wendy Bird go!" Nibbs shouted.
The doctor gave a sheepish smile, and released the girl before high-tailing out of there. Wendy embraced the boys before sending them off to fight off more Atlanteans.
Scarlett had wrung her arms around Captain Hook's neck, effectively cutting off his windpipe. A permanent scowl formed, as sweat trickled from her brow. Right as the captain was about to black out, Jack Sparrow shoved her off and tackled her to the ground.
Scarlett grunted as they writhed on the floor. She'd gotten some good punches in, and had even bitten the pirate on the arm before he overpowered her, and pinned her arms at her sides. All the previous fear had drained from her, and what remained was a searing fury that burned her from the inside-out.
This greatly amused Jack as he gave a lopsided toothy grin, "I can see now why they call you Scarlett…you're blushing, love. That must mean that you're as taken with me as I am with you,"
"In your freaky little dreams,"
She kicked him in the nether regions with her tail; causing him to double-over in pain.
Before she could celebrate her victory, Hook crept behind her and knocked her over the head with the blunt end of his sword. Scarlett slumped forwards in a heap.
Mindy ducked as Kida swung and shattered a clay pot.
She manipulated the broken shards to float at her sides. Mindy paused before flinging them towards the princess. Kida dodged all of them with ease since she hadn't been striking to kill. She grabbed one in mid-air, and threw it at her. Mindy dove, but the tail slowed her mobility, and the shard pierced into her fin.
She cried out as she was pinned to the wall, and Kida pressed her blade against her throat.
Dakota slapped his hands as he finished freeing Flounder, Tinkerbell, and Jiminy. Next thing he knew, Captain Jack pushed him into the sand. He flinched as he awaited a finishing blow, when Sparrow released a strangled yelp. Confused, Dakota popped an eye open and saw that Piggy Pan had bitten the captain on the…bottom.
Jack's nose twitched as he glowered at him, "Bad doggy!"
After a couple tries, he shook the pig off and slammed him into a wall. Furious, Tink flared out her spines and barreled into the captain. Dakota cheered on the fairy-turned-pufferfish as she charged at Jack over and over again. She swept him off of his feet at one point, and every time he tried to stagger to his feet, she'd knock him over again.
Inexplicably, Flounder, Jiminy, and Dakota held up different signs that read scores of: 10, 10, 11.
In the mayhem, King Triton was trying to drag Ariel out of The Grotto.
"Daddy! Daddy, stop it!" she screeched as she fought against him, "We have to help them!"
"I have to protect you!"
"We can't leave them to kill one another!" Ariel protested, "Please! Please save her, daddy…she needs us,"
Triton glanced over at Mindy's whose eyes were bulging.
"Kida…," she clawed at her wrist, "I..I won't…fight…you,"
"Then that makes my job simpler," Kida seethed, "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Once you pass out from the lack of oxygen, we'll take you to The Projectionist, and let him decide what to make of you. Perhaps it'll be worse than death. Perhaps he'll put you in The Room,"
This caused Triton to flinch.
He took one look into his daughter's pleading, tear-filled eyes and relented. Triton let go of her arm, and swam back into The Grotto. Mindy surrendered to her fate, preparing herself to go into a deep sleep. Behind closed lids, she caught a flash of golden light. In her delirium, she figured that she was dying.
Until the pressure was released from her throat.
Mindy coughed and fell to the floor.
She looked up to face King Triton who wielded his trident. Upon following his stern eyes, she saw that he'd blasted Kida off of her. Mindy's mouth hung open as she took note of the sudden stillness…as though someone had put the film on pause.
A look of surprise was plastered on Kida's visage as she stood suspended mid-duck. Captain Hook and Scarlett were on the ground; the former had his hook positioned over the latter's throat with a wicked sneer. Piggy Pan laid in the corner. Ariel's brows were drawn in immense distress at the state of her grotto. Tinkerbell had punched Jack in the cheek with her spikes, and the expression he'd been frozen in was priceless. The Lost Boys had formed a protective semi-circle around Wendy as they'd shot at the surrounding warriors. Lastly, Flounder, Jiminy, and Dakota wore 3D glasses, and their mouths were parted in unfinished, obnoxious laughter.
Triton cleared his throat, and Mindy grimaced before whirling around.
She avoided eye-contact as the silence consumed them…
"Young lady," The Sea King began in a low tone, "You'd better have a good explanation for all of this-this chaos you've brought into my ocean,"
Mindy sniffled before answering in a weak voice, "I swear I didn't mean for any of this to happen…I-I have no words to defend myself,"
"That much is clear," Triton huffed, "Do you even care how your actions and their consequences affect those around you?"
She looked up…barely restraining her tears, "Yes... I've made so many mistakes in my time here, that it's hard to focus on anything else. Most nights, I can't sleep because of the thoughts that overlap in my head: how much power I have, what I'd done to the characters on the Isle of Oblivion, The Projectionist…"
Mindy trailed off and buried her face in her hands.
Triton waited patiently for her to compose herself, "This is the only time I will assist you…all I ask in return is for you and your companions to stay away from my daughter. I don't want you filling her head with ideas of the surface, or putting her in any more situations of peril by being associated with you. What happened tonight could have ended much differently had I not been here,"
Mindy cast her eyes downwards before asking, "Why did you save me?"
"I may not think that you're a good influence for Ariel, but no one deserves to be subjected to The Room…not even you," he answered curtly, "Take my advice, anomaly. If you sincerely wish to free us from…from him, you had better learn to control these powers of yours, and soon,"
"I understand…thank you, your majesty,"
He didn't respond, and instead aimed his trident into the Grotto. A blinding ray shot out of it, and bathed everyone in golden light. A second later, time resumed.
With a stamp of his trident, the Sea King imprisoned the Isle residents (including Hook and a hiding Dr. Doppler) in a pulsing magical bubble. He waved it towards the door, and they were escorted back to their narwhal ship to be dealt with later.
Mindy dashed to Scarlett's aid. She cradled her head in her lap as Dakota joined them.
"Is she…?" he couldn't bear to finish his sentence.
In full-on panic-mode, Mindy checked her pulse and sighed.
"She's breathing,"
"Thank goodness," Dakota rubbed his neck.
"Is everyone else, okay?"
The green pig raised one incredulous eyebrow...
"Ooh…right. I'm so sorry about that," Mindy's cheeks flushed. She then cracked her knuckles with an uneasy chuckle, "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit. I hope,"
He squealed and tried to scurry away, but Wendy scooped him into her arms.
"Do it!" Piggy Pan wiggled in her grasp, but she held firm, "Do it now, Mindy!"
"Here goes nothing!" she closed her eyes and threw her palms out. Mindy heard a poof, and creaked an eye open. A human Peter Pan thrashed his arms as he fought to swim upright. He clutched at his throat with desperate gurgling noises, "Oh-Oh! I'm sorry! Uh-" Mindy tried again, and exhaled when he turned back into a merman, "Thank Walt that worked. Er, how are you-"
"-I'm fine!" Peter slapped his hands on his hips, "Back to my usual, handsome self! But can you guys do me a huge favor?"
The group leaned forward.
"Let's never speak of this again,"
They made synonymous sounds of agreement.
Ariel drifted to her father, "Thank you, daddy…"
"We need to have a chat," Triton turned to the posse behind them, "Will you all give us some privacy?"
Mindy bit her lip.
She whistled to Jiminy, and he alighted her shoulder. Mindy swept Scarlett into her arms.
Noticing that she was struggling, Dakota came to her other side, and hauled them up. Peter, Wendy, Tink, and the boys left first with the trio trailing behind them.
Mindy's eyes met Ariel's and she gave a grateful nod. It was as close as a final 'thank you' that she could give at the moment. Understanding seemed to settle in. Ariel reached out a hand for her to wait, but Mindy had already glanced away.
"Okay, so…why aren't we hanging around Ariel anymore?" Peter blurted out.
The crew lounged in a ginormous coral grove. Mindy insisted she didn't want them anywhere near the Atlantean ship case the Isle residents found a way to escape. In reality, it was because she didn't feel comfortable with Scarlett being anywhere near Jack Sparrow.
"Triton agreed to help us get rid of Kida and co if we agreed to stay away from her," Mindy explained as she laid Scarlett down on a thick piece of mint-green coral, "He thinks we've been meddling too much, and that she isn't safe around us,"
Jiminy sighed, "I suppose this means her story and ours are diverging,"
"Grown-ups," Peter grumbled while crossing his arms, "They think they know everything,"
"Well, can you blame him?" Mindy countered, "I may not know what good parenting looks like, but that is a ma-err, merman who will do anything to protect his daughter. And you saw what happened back there. If you ask me, Ariel is better off without us…or more specifically, without me,"
The group went silent…
"Aw, come on gang," Dakota encouraged with his iconic brace-face smile, "At least we don't have to worry about The Isle's negative comments anymore! And-and it's not like Triton commanded us to leave the sea. We can still look for the time capsule, right?"
"But what if there are more obstacles that require Ariel's skillset?" Mindy asked, "She said so herself. I'd designed these challenges for the two of us to face,"
"And just like with the sirens, we'll overcome them together,"
"I'm with Dakota," Jiminy piped up, "In the long-run, thirteen is better than two,"
"Thirteen is also an infamously unlucky number," Mindy pointed out under her breath, "The number from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks,"
"What I'm getting at is we can't quit now," Dakota swam to the center of the circle to face everyone, "I think it's time we address the elephant in the room," The Disney characters flinched, and he cleared his throat, "Sorry, poor choice of words. Uh, raise your hand if you are afraid of Melinda Maye Singh…be honest now,"
Mindy's hand shot up.
To her surprise, not a single hand joined hers.
"Then that settles it," Dakota chirped, "Mindy, you're the only one here who's scared of your magic,"
"I don't understand… I'm-I'm dangerous!" she sputtered as she drew into herself, "I decimated those sirens, I almost blasted Peter! Look at Scarlett! She's knocked out because I was too busy holding off Kida to watch her back. Heck, I nearly killed her too! Everything that happened at the grotto was because of me!"
"You aren't dangerous, Mindy," Peter knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, "What happened back there wasn't your fault, it was Jack's. The way he talked about Scarlett was disgusting. And when he started touching her…Walt, I didn't know what to make of it. You had every right to fight back. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all. And it could've been worse. At least you didn't turn me into a chicken or something,"
He and the Lost Boys laughed at this.
"I always knew Hook was a scoundrel, but I never would've imagined he'd stoop as low as to…" Wendy trailed off, unsure of how to phrase it, "To…say those awful things to you,"
"And like Scarlett said, you aren't a saint," Jiminy added, "But you aren't evil either…your powers are still growing, and that's alright. You shouldn't feel ashamed of them to the point of wanting to end it all for the sake of protecting others. We love you, reality-bending magic or not,"
Mindy lifted her head to stare at the faces surrounding her.
They were filled with the unrelenting warmth, acceptance, and confidence that she could only dream of possessing. In that moment she realized that they would follow her to the ends of The Dremesphere. This fact should have terrified her, but instead her heart soared with gratitude at having found such loyal people in her life.
Still, she wasn't entirely convinced that they weren't the slightest bit afraid of what she could do...or what she was capable of doing.
