TW: This chapter contains themes of SA and suicide.
Chapter 46: A Poor Unfortunate Soul
Scarlett jerked awake at someone squeezing her hand.
Mindy shrank in alarm.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I-I was just-"
But it seemed like the words wouldn't come.
Scarlett stared in a mix of mild amusement and incredulity, as Mindy became a stammering mess. Finally, the girl managed to clear her throat and push the bridge of her rose-colored lenses. Her eyes flickered to their still intertwined hands, and flashed with panic before she yanked hers away.
Scarlett restrained the disappointed sigh threatening to escape her lips.
"Never mind," Mindy started with an all-too-adorable nervous grin, "How're you feeling?"
"Like people knocking me over the head with heavy objects is starting to become a trend," Scarlett's brow cocked when she drank in sweet air, and wiggled her bare toes against silky-smooth linens. A thought dawned upon her, "Wait…is this my bed? Where are we?"
"Shortly after you scared me half to death, Triton got rid of Kida, Hook, and Ja-others in exchange for leaving his daughter alone the rest of the time we're here," Scarlett had noticed the unexpected hitch in her voice when she'd almost said Sparrow's name. Mindy settled at the foot of the mattress, "Since we can't stay in the grotto anymore, I made an air b&b I guess? It does have an air bubble around it, but if you look out the window…"
Mindy tilted her head to the side, and Scarlett glanced out of the porthole next to the bed.
Her eyes widened slightly at the school of rainbow trout that swam past. In the distance, she could spot the glistening Kingdom of Atlantica in all its phallic glory, and the labyrinths of canyons, corals, and drop-offs encircling it.
"I uh, might've gone a teensy bit overboard with the decorating," Mindy gestured to the rest of the room with an embarrassed giggle.
Scarlett's vision adjusted to the dim candlelight, and her jaw fell to the floor.
Mindy had recreated her bedroom from scratch. It wasn't a perfect replica, but the effort, thought, and influence was definitely present.
The plush, loft bed contained almost identical sunflower sheets and pillows to the ones she had back home. Blank canvases dotted every inch of the periwinkle walls and paint cans, palettes, and brushes lay in one corner. It was the little touches that made Scarlett's lips quirk into a soft smile: bookshelves with her favorite murder mystery and YA dystopian fantasy novels, aloe flowers and various other plants dangling from the ceiling, martial arts gear (including a punching bag with Elon Musk's face stapled to it), and even-
Scarlett reached out and plucked a framed photo from the nightstand. A tubby, tortoiseshell kitty stared back at her. Her heart did a flip when she recognized the uneven patch of fur on its right side.
"Mister Sniffles?"
"I figured you might've started to miss him by now. This is all only temporary, but I wanted you to wake up somewhere you were familiar with, you know?" When Scarlett didn't answer, Mindy rubbed the back of her neck, "It's too much, isn't it?"
"A little,"
Scarlett tried (and failed) to hide the impressed glint in her eyes as she pressed the frame against her chest. She couldn't fathom the idea that Mindy had done all this for her. No one had ever given her a gift this extravagant before. There had to be some other explanation.
Then, it came to her.
"But I'm sure it's not as elaborate as say, Peter's room,"
Mindy twiddled her fingers and nodded in confirmation, "Yeah…right. Oh! Here,"
Scarlett watched in fascination as Mindy shoved a plate of food into her lap. It was some kind of vegetable wrap with cube-shaped cheese on the side. Puzzled, Scarlett looked up for an explanation.
"Dakota cooked burgers for everyone, but made this hummus wrap just for you," Mindy elaborated, "And before you ask, no. That isn't cheese. It's fried tofu,"
"You're a literal angel," Scarlett immediately dug in and moaned at how delicious everything tasted, "You're also getting better at conjuring actual food instead of snacks,"
"Thanks," Mindy chirped, "You would not believe how hard it was to make tofu appear. It took nearly twenty tries before it stopped tasting like marshmallows. I couldn't help it. Candy's sort of my thing. We ended up making microwaved smore dip with the rejects,"
"Like the kind we used to make at sleepovers?"
"Yeah…although I'm starting to regret ever introducing The Lost Boys to sugar," Mindy leaned in; her voice becoming low and mischievous, "Wendy has been trying to corral those little troublemakers into bed for over an hour, and they're still bouncing off the walls,"
"I don't doubt it," Scarlett laughed, "That's why I'm never having kids,"
"But you're so good with them," Mindy pointed out rather sheepishly, "I noticed how you played with Olivia back at 'Furry Barrie Ingham's' flat. I mean, you're a natural,"
Scarlett's cheeks reddened, "Uh, th-thanks,"
They ate in relative silence before Mindy worked up the courage to ask, "Scar, you sure you're okay?"
"Of course," she answered, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Mindy gnawed her bottom lip, "Because…because of what happened with Jack,"
Scarlett stiffened…her eyes widened to saucers.
The memories came flooding back at full-force. She knew it hadn't been Mindy's fault. She hadn't meant to trigger them; she was only concerned about her well-being and Scar couldn't fault her for that. Still, it'd been nice to remain ignorant, even if reality slapped her in the face sooner than she'd anticipated.
"I…I-I-" Scarlett forced in a breath and turned away, "-I'm over it,"
"Are you?"
"Positive,"
"Scarlett,"
Mindy slipped a finger under her chin, and brought her face back. Scarlett almost choked on her tofu. She forgot to breathe altogether when she caught the heart-wrenchingly pitying gaze in Mindy's silver, gold-specked eyes.
"You don't have to do that,"
Scarlett swallowed, "Do what?"
"Pretend like what he did didn't bother you," Mindy clarified as she released her, "You can fool everybody else out there, but you can't fool me…that was a really fu-err, effed up thing for him to do. I talked to Jiminy the other night-"
Scarlett emitted a low groan of frustration, "Of course he'd snitch on me. Where is the pint-sized psychiatrist anyway?"
"He agreed to give me some space,"
"At least he listens to one of us,"
Mindy winced, but pressed on, "When I had another…nightmare and went back to the surface, Jiminy followed me. He started coddling me and pestered me to tell him about it, when I really didn't want to. I kind of snapped at him, and he asked me if he was a bad conscience,"
"Because he eavesdropped on us at the Jagged Caves,"
"I figured that was the case," Mindy shrugged, "I told him he needed to work on not being so pushy with his clients. He then relayed that to the previous conversations you two have had regarding your reluctance to accept his help,"
"And what do you think about all of this?"
"I think you should hear him out,"
Scarlett pretended to swoon in betrayal, "Et tu, Mindy?"
"We both know how you operate, Scar," Mindy put air quotes around her next statement, "You 'Use Repression to beat the Depression'…but have you ever considered that it won't work forever?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, "It's worked for me so far,"
"And what happens when all of those emotions burst to the surface?"
"That'll never happen,"
"It could've happened today,"
"But it didn't,"
"Aren't you planning to major in psychology?" Mindy questioned, "How do you expect to help others with their mental health, when you can't even help yourself? You know, a wise woman once told me 'You deserve to be helped'"
"Bitch, don't use my own advice against me!"
"I think that opening up to him, and getting everything off your chest would be so cathartic for you. Please Scarlett, I'm-I'm worried. Especially after…after J-Jack…grabbed you like that and…" Mindy's eyes sparked. One startled look from Scarlett caused the fire to extinguish just as quickly as it had come, "What I'm trying to say is, will you at least give therapy a chance?"
Scarlett contemplated this as she stared into the girl's pleading eyes…
Mindy's uncanny ability to overanalyze every emotional scenario she found herself in, was one of the many things she adored about her. It was as though she had a sixth sense to these sorts of things. She was more sensitive and aware of others' feelings than any of them in Scarlett's opinion. Dakota came as a close second, but he was an oblivious, loveable idiot most of the time.
In contrast, Scarlett was positive that Mindy could read minds if she tried hard enough. She was relieved that she couldn't read hers at the moment.
Scarlett became distracted by the adorable little puppy-dog pout in her lips and imagined what it'd be like to kiss them; to reassure her that everything would be okay. She betted on them being softer and sweeter than any marshmallow Mindy could ever poof up. Scarlett pictured herself running her fingers through the tangles in her chestnut-brown locks, caressing her cheek as her lips trailed further down her neck and-
Scarlett blinked a few times and snapped out of her reverie.
The facts were as follows: Mindy was deeply concerned about her in a strictly platonic fashion, and Scarlett couldn't let her down. Naturally, there was only one solution to ease her worries. And try as she might, she could never say no to her.
Eventually, Scarlett sighed while rubbing her temple, "One session…he gets one session to prove himself. And if he becomes unbearable to the point where I want to yeet myself directly into Davy Jone's Locker, we stop. Does that satisfy you?"
"More than you could possibly imagine," Mindy beamed from ear-to-ear as she hugged her, "Thank you. You won't regret this."
"I'd better not," Scarlett returned the embrace with a tight smile, "I really don't want to be marooned in a pocket dimension with my only hope for escape being the POTC crew sailing at world's end. They hate you enough as it is, and I'd rather not have to owe them any favors,"
She shuddered just then.
"Especially Jack,"
#4
I'm giving up on the rhyming, it's too hard. Your second to last clue is in Ursula's Lair.
Mindy's hand shook a bit as she looked up at her friends' petrified expressions. Peter was the only one to try to conceal his rising fear by popping a smore into his mouth. Wendy chewed her fingernails. Tink's light flickered, and Jiminy rubbed her back in comfort. Dakota and Scarlett shared a tacit glance before looking up at Mindy with concern.
The former cleared his throat.
"At-at least it's straight-forward and to the point, just like you wanted," He offered with a weak smile, "That being said, the news isn't great. But if we burst in with guns drawn, we should be able to overwhelm her by sheer numbers alone,"
"She's the Sea Witch. We have no clue how powerful she is," Scarlett said as she leaned against the kitchen counter, "We've seen her brew potions in the movie, but other than the final battle, we've never seen her in full-combat mode without the trident,"
Dakota gave a shrug, "If she can't even beat Big Daddy Triton, then how hard would it be for Mindy to nuke her where she stands? Boom, problem solved!"
Scarlett rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I know you did not just call him Big Daddy Triton,"
"Why? Was it wrong?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"Look, I'm not nuking anyone," Mindy intervened, "The plan is simple. We sneak in and out without being caught or having to fight her. It'll be like we weren't even there at all,"
"But that's no fun!" Peter crossed his arms and slumped in his seat, "These adventures aren't complete until we face-off against the main bad guy,"
"That was when the villain interconnected directly with our goal," Mindy countered, "This is different. We've split up from Ariel and thus, our part in messing with the plotline is over. Besides, Feathers and Fatigan didn't have magic. Ursula does. Until I can control my powers, we play it safe, capiche?"
Reluctantly, Peter backed off.
"Are we all in agreement that this is the best course of action instead of doing something reckless and stupid like we usually do?" Mindy asked with utmost seriousness, "Because if we fail, it could very well lead to us meeting the business end of eight angry tentacles, and a trip to the Disney Vault in the sky,"
Everyone shared looks of understanding.
Dakota broke the tension with a playful bow, "Unrip your plan, mon capitaine,"
Mindy's brows scrunched in thought before her eyes sparked with inspiration, "Here's how this is gonna work…"
Mindy, Scarlett, Dakota, and Jiminy poked their heads over the side of a coal-black boulder.
What met their eyes was an imposing skeleton of a sea beast. It almost looked like it'd been a stegosaurus or a kraken of some kind. Its mouth contained shark-like teeth, and ginormous spikes sprouting on either side of it. They flinched as spouts of pale lavender vapor blasted from the underwater geysers surrounding the lair, and the empty eye sockets of the skeleton glowed with them…
"Of all the evil lairs we've visited so far, this one is by far the scariest," Dakota blurted out.
Jiminy gulped, "And the most intimidating,"
"I've got mad respect for someone who has the balls to live inside of an animal carcass," Scarlett stated in an unabashed voice, much to the conscience's shock. When she noticed the astonished expression on his face, she shrugged, "What? Gepetto lived inside of a whale. How is this any different?"
"First of all, it was a live whale!" Jiminy said defensively, "Secondly, he did it for survival!"
"You're saying Ursula doesn't live in there for survival?" Scarlett asked, "She was banished for pursuing black magic, and this was the best real-estate option she had at the time. Now that is what I call innovation,"
"I kind of feel bad for her," Mindy admitted, "We never know why she got banished, or if her banishment was even justified. And I imagine the loneliness (save for two eels) has got to be unbearable at times,"
"Not to mention the smell," Dakota pointed out, "Heck, I'd snap and try to take over the kingdom too…I don't mean that literally. It. Was. A. Joke. I-I feel the need to clarify this,"
"Stop sympathizing with the Disney baddie!" Jiminy burst, "We need to focus on the mission,"
"You're right," Mindy shook her head, "Let's get a closer look,"
Instead of swimming through the gaping jaws of the creature, the anomaly led her companions to one of the spines. Once she'd found an opening, she gestured everyone to wait there. Mindy entered the lair, and sinister music drifted to her ears. It rose to a familiarly blaring, rapid crescendo as she concealed herself behind a clamshell wardrobe.
"Come on you poor unfortunate soul!"
Mindy peeked around the corner and saw a frightened mermaid princess being accosted by the Sea Witch herself.
She had a plump, lavender frame and a squash-shaped face with drag-queen inspired makeup. Instead of legs, inky-black tentacles with royal purple suckers made up her lower half. A nautilus shell hung from her neck, and short white hair floated in an ice-cream cone updo above her head.
Mindy found herself deeply disturbed at a sudden realization.
She didn't feel a trace of fear upon being so close to Ursula.
She'd been more terrified meeting Captain Hook, Ratigan, and The Projectionist. Maybe she was simply becoming more accustomed to being in dangerous situations. Although, Mindy suspected it had something to do with the fact that Ursula looked…off.
She couldn't explain why.
Mindy checked off the boxes in her head:
- Ursula getting all up in Ariel's personal space.
"Go ahead, make your choice!"
- The sea witch making a mirage of her love appear in her cauldron before bursting her bubble.
"I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much, just your voice!"
- That same sea witch grabbing an aimless blue, bioluminescent jellyfish and flinging it into her brew with a wicked smile…that appeared strained?
"You poor unfortunate soul! It's sad, but true!"
Mindy's brow furrowed as she studied Ursula's countenance.
There! Her ruby-red lips had twitched. Or had she imagined it?
No, Mindy recognized a feigned smile when she saw one. She'd had enough experience faking one in her bathroom mirror before going to school on days she hadn't felt like getting out of bed. Why would Ursula be forcing herself to grin at her own plot? Wasn't she enjoying making Ariel squirm? Wasn't that what she lived for?
"Psst!"
Mindy glanced up at Scarlett who tilted her head in questioning.
She waited until Ursula and Ariel's backs were turned as they looked at the contract, and beckoned her group to join her. Quickly, Dakota, Jiminy, and Scarlett swam to her side. As Ursula resumed her number, they spoke in hushed tones.
"There's our girl, about to make the worst decision of her life and for what?" Scarlett stuck out her tongue in obvious disgust, "A man she met yesterday? And not even a cute man at that. He's plainer than a saltine atop a piece of computer paper,"
"You could argue it was a good decision," Dakota piped up, "They get married in the end, right?"
"At sixteen,"
He grimaced, "You make a valid point,"
"Guys?" Mindy chimed in, "Is it just me, or does Ursula seem…different?"
"What do you mean?" Jiminy inquired.
"I don't know. I've seen this movie about a bajillion times, and her body language (no pun intended) looks weird,"
The trio turned back to the sea witch and observed her movements, "This poor-un-fortunate souuuuuuuuuuuul…..!"
As Ariel signed her life away, Ursula didn't appear as manically gleeful as she'd been in the original film. That being said, her expressions were spot-on, but Mindy could see a dribble of sweat forming on her brow as she conjured two smoky neon-green hands to snatch the little mermaid's larynx.
"Beluga sevruga come winds of the Caspian Sea….!" Even Ursula's singing voice sounded slightly burnt out, "Larengix glaucitis et max laryngitis la voce to me….now sing, sing your voice over to me!"
The group donned equally shell-shocked expressions as Ariel pealed her fourteen-note trill.
"She definitely didn't say that in the original," Mindy breathed.
No one responded, but when they exchanged glances, they all had the same question floating around in their minds: why did Ursula's evil cackle sound more like a mangled scream of desperation? Mindy was so baffled that she almost missed Ariel sprouting her legs, and high-tailing it to the surface with Sebastian and Flounder at her side.
"Mindy, the signal," Dakota whispered from the side of his mouth.
She blinked, "Right, right, sorry,"
The plan had been for Mindy to send pink sparks (her signature purple would blend in with their surroundings) over the lair. That would in turn lead to Peter shouting in a flawless King Triton impression for the sea witch to release his daughter at once. They'd been hoping for Ursula to leave with Flotsam and Jetsam in tow; giving them just enough time to raid the place for the missing clue.
Only, right as Mindy lifted her fingers in a snapping position-
Ursula collapsed onto the floor and started crying.
The sight was unnerving…like a scene straight out of a teen drama where the main protagonist sobs from being left at a school dance, or cheated on by her scumbag of a boyfriend. Only, it was a grown-ass woman. And a stone-cold villain at that.
Mindy didn't know what to think…the others it seemed, were just as speechless as she was.
As hard as she tried, Mindy couldn't name a single Disney villain who'd openly wept in their film. There was the occasional Prince John who whined and threw tantrums like a literal child, but that was out of entitlement. This was out of pure, unadulterated heartache. The sounds of a woman so utterly fed-up and unhappy with her life, that caused even Flotsam and Jetsam to look upon her with immense pity.
Mindy bit her lip upon watching Ursula's moment of weakness.
Scarlett turned to her and mouthed: "What. The. Fuck?"
The tears kept coming, and for a while no one said a word.
Making a decision, Mindy set her jaw and darted out from their hiding place.
"What're you doing?!" Dakota demanded in a half-whisper.
Scarlett yanked on her hair while cursing under her breath, "She's gonna get herself killed,"
"Not if I have anything to say about it,"
Before Scar could stop him, Dakota went after her. Jiminy turned to Scarlett, shrugged, and paddled after his client while biting his lip. Her eyes flitted from safety to death a couple times before Scarlett threw her hands up with an exasperated groan.
"We ride together, we die together I guess!"
She joined her stupid friends.
Mindy approached the octopus as if she were a feral cat, "Hey…are you alright?"
Flotsam and Jetsam flung themselves in front of their mistress with threatening hisses. Mindy careened backwards right as Dakota and Scarlett swam to her side.
"Mindy, sword!"
She unsheathed the weapon and tossed it to Scarlett before preparing a magical attack.
Ursula bolted upright with furious, bloodshot eyes, "How did you get in here?!"
"To be fair, it wasn't that difficult," Dakota replied, "There are multiple entrances and none of them were guarded by anything particularly dangerous,"
"We didn't mean to intrude!" Mindy winced at the unamused look on the sea witch's face, "Well we did intrude, but we couldn't help but notice that you seem-it-it's just-not to say that it's a bad thing mind you-it's a good thing! A-a very good thing in fact, to get it all out there, but um…that is to say…what I'm getting at is-"
"-why were you crying?" Scarlett cut in.
Mindy sighed in relief, "Thank you for saying it, because I did not want to,"
"I was not crying! I was…yelling out in frustration because that is a difficult song for me to sing and-" Ursula's eyes narrowed as they honed in on her…then, they widened in recognition, "You're who they're looking for, aren't you?" when she didn't answer, the sea witch's mouth quirked into an unhinged smile, "You are! The-the Anomaly! Ahaha, this is delicious! This is divine! You, my dear, are the ticket to my salvation!"
Ursula sprung forward to grab Mindy, but Scarlett shielded her from the villainess's borderline predatory gaze, "She's not for sale. Miss Girl's already got a long line of characters' who want her head on a spike, so I suggest you back the hell off before she decides to make you into calamari with jumbo shrimp on the side,"
"You misunderstand me!" Ursula's voice was more desperate now, "I have no desire to turn her in…we both want the same thing. To be rid of The Projectionist, and put an end to this cycle of madness,"
Everyone blinked…
The octopus groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Must I spell it out for you?! I'm awake, you idiots!" Ursula turned away while crossing her arms, "I'm free from The Projectionist's influence which traps us in our stories! Our 'loops' as it were,"
Jiminy shushed her, "Don't talk about it so openly, he might hear you!"
Ursula huffed and inspected her nails, "As if he and his shifters haven't been watching herevery move since the start of this ridiculous princess hunt,"
"But how-how is this possible?" Mindy started to lower her hands, but put them up at the last second, "Don't the characters have to complete their stories in order to break their loops?"
"Child," Ursula whirled around with a patient, slow, tone, "Taking into account the entire Disney pantheon, do you believe that all of them would allow some crooked, sleazy, checkerboarded buffoon to order them around for a full six years?"
"I guess not…there's Master Yen Sid who's-"
"-who's always resided in his own separate pocket dimension," the sea witch snapped, "No, no, I am strictly speaking of characters within The Dremesphere. Hades, Maleficent, Merlin, The Genie, Mickey Mouse to name a few. You really think they wouldn't have been able find a way to counteract The Projectionist's manipulation? I'd bet all the tentacles on my body that they've managed to stay awake as long as I have, if not longer,"
"Uh, okay," Mindy's arms were starting to get tired, but still asked, "And how do we know this isn't a trap?"
"You don't," Ursula answered bluntly, "But if I'd wanted to hurt you, you would have been disposed of in less than three seconds. I know the imagination is limitless, but I have loads more experience than you when it comes to mastering my magical abilities,"
She regarded her for a few silent beats before dropping her hands, "So, why did you choose to fight against The Projectionist's spell?"
Ursula didn't answer right away.
Instead, she gestured for them to sit on a loveseat made of bones with pink, jellyfish medusae for cushions. Mindy held out her hand to Scarlett; much to the girl's puzzlement. The princess then cast her eyes towards her sword, and Scar handed it back before they settled on the sofa. Since there was only enough room for two people, Dakota shrugged and lounged on their laps. The girls didn't even bat an eye at this. Jiminy meandered over to perch on Mindy's shoulder.
Ursula herself plopped onto a tuffet before her pearl pink vanity.
"The Dremesphere was thrown into a panic once word got out that even you couldn't stop The Projectionist," Mindy took immediate notice of how solemn her voice had gotten, as well as how she rubbed her hands while avoiding eye-contact, "Swarms of characters were corralled into The Room all for the purpose of wiping our memories of you, and being forced to relive our stories for all eternity. Yen Sid was able to alter the spell. We'd remain in our time loops while retaining the memories of our creator, and would be freed from them once she returned,"
"Some of us, couldn't wait that long, and so the decision seemed easy at the time," Deep regret shone in Ursula's eyes as she relived her pain, "I wasn't too keen on the idea of being taken advantage of. Especially by someone who doesn't even belong here. Right before the characters of our film were carted off to be brainwashed, I created a potion to keep my mind clear throughout the…the process. Once it was complete, we were returned to our realm, and when each loop had cycled, I…I remained aware of everything,"
"You don't sound too happy about that," Mindy observed.
"Of course I'm not!" the sudden intensity of the octopus's wail caused her to flinch, "You can't even fathom how torturous these past six years have been! To-to perform the same actions, the same mannerisms, the same inflections over and over and over, driven to pure and utter insanity! To relive an excruciating death and brought back only to die again! It was too much for both me and my poor little poopsies to bear!"Ursula wrapped her arms affectionately around Flotsam and Jetsam as her eyes brimmed with tears, "I tried to reverse the effects of the potion because ignorance was far more preferable than this hell, but my efforts were in vain. At some point, I couldn't take it anymore and attempted t-to…erase myself and my babies permanently from this plane of existence,"
Her voice cracked at the end, and she had to turn away from them while sniffling.
Jiminy gasped and covered his mouth while Dakota's jaw dropped in disbelief. Tears slid down Mindy's reddened cheeks as she looked at Scarlett. The girl stared straight ahead with a seemingly apathetic air, but even she couldn't hide the sheer horror in her expression.
Ursula took a shuttering breath to compose herself, and wiped her eyes on her shoulder, "When that didn't work, I tried again a few times before giving up…that was when I became numb to it all. My life was reduced to an endless routine: plot to get Triton's daughter to come to me for help, sabotage her almost kiss with Prince Eric, disguise myself as Vanessa to marry her love, steal the trident, get stabbed by a boat, rinse and repeat. The only thing that kept me going, was clinging onto the hope that you would return. To set me free so I could exact my long-awaited revenge against The Projectionist,"
The group remained silent as they absorbed the tale…
Mindy pictured the countless other characters who'd been awake this whole time, and how painful it must've been: Maleficent plummeting off a cliff as a dragon, Genie sent back to The Cave of Wonders instead of enjoying his long-awaited freedom, Kida's father wheezing his final words without the chance of saying goodbye to his daughter.
So much unnecessary bloodshed, madness, and heartache was on Mindy's hands. Even if she managed to save The Dremesphere, no amount of magic could salvage the minds of those who had suffered due to her absence. That revelation nearly caused her to double over, but she grabbed hold of Dakota and Scarlett's hands as if they were her lifeline.
Mindy choked back a sob as they squeezed her hands. She felt a tiny pressure on her shoulder, and realized Jiminy had started rubbing circles on it. Her two best friends (plus one cricket) gave her scattered looks of condolence and what seemed like…pity.
There was a sudden tightness in her chest. She shut her eyes, but tears streaked from them, "I am…so sorry the three of you had to go through this alone,"
"I don't need your apology, princess," Ursula insisted, "You had no way of knowing the events that conspired following your departure,"
"It's funny," Mindy commented in a broken voice, "You're the first character besides my friends to give me the benefit of the doubt for my past actions. I wish that the characters who've been hunting me all the way from The Isle of Oblivion could do the same,"
The villainess stood and kneeled before her. She wiped her tears away with her thumbs; much to everyone's surprise. Mindy shuddered a little, but didn't recoil. In fact, she felt strangely comforted by Ursula's cold touch.
"Not everyone is going to approve the choices we've made," Ursula's eyes clouded with something akin to empathy, "But that's something that you're going to have to accept sooner rather than later. You're also going to have to accept that it isn't possible to reverse all the damage you've done…but that doesn't mean your future has to look so bleak,"
Mindy looked up at her like she was a frightened child, "But I'm a monster,"
"Ha! I've been called much worse," the sea witch gave a bittersweet chuckle, "In a way, we're all monsters, angelfish. Everyone has done some degree of bad in their lives. It's all about whether the bad outweighs the good, or vice versa that determines someone's character,"
Mindy recalled her last conversation with The Projectionist.
How he'd insisted that she was naïve. How he'd mocked her for believing the characters she'd brought into being, could be more than what the script declared they were. That if they were given a chance, they could be three-dimensional not just in animation style.
Now that Mindy really thought about it, her other companions had shown that same type of complexity time and time again without her even noticing: Peter's absolute terror when faced with growing up, Jiminy's pushiness when it came to his clients unveiling their trauma, or even Wendy's slightly conservative nature.
If she'd ever doubted her idea before, Ursula was living proof that there was in fact far more substance to the Disney characters than anyone expected. When she looked at her, Mindy didn't see the villain from her childhood that made her terrified to pee in the middle of the night, because she thought she was lurking behind her shower curtain. She didn't see a heartless witch with little to no motivations for her cruel deeds other than "evil fun!". She didn't see a monster.
She only saw a clinically-depressed, exhausted woman who had been to hell and back. And who needed Mindy to rescue her from the fate The Projectionist had set out for her. It might've been too late to undo the harm she'd caused to the characters of The Isle of Oblivion, but it wasn't too late to save Ursula.
Coming to a decision, Mindy reached out and took the sea witch's hands, "I will do everything in my power to get you out of here. Just tell me what you need,"
And for the first time, she saw Ursula's face break into a genuine, hopeful smile as tears flooded her vision.
