AN/ I've said it a million times but I don't think I ever said it here. Rewatching House of Mouse was the best idea I ever made.

Chapter 202: Deal with the Devil

They arrived in the Castle Gardens. His Castle Gardens. Mickey took in a deep breath in. It was nice to be home. He shifted and set Sora down on the ground, seeing as he couldn't support the boy's weight for much longer.

"Yer Majesty!" Goofy called.

Mickey grinned and looked up, happy, but not exactly surprised, to see Goofy and Donald rushing to meet him.

"Heya Goofy, heya Donald!" he said, as they approached.

Goofy was grinning, but Donald attempted to remain slightly formal.

"It's nice to see you, Your Maj—"

"Mickey!"

Mickey couldn't have smiled any wider.

"Minnie!" he called.

He resisted the urge to rush to her, seeing as he probably shouldn't leave Sora, but he couldn't stop himself from taking a few steps in her direction. Minnie giggled a little and grabbed his hands, smiling widely. After a second she glanced in Sora's direction, eyes narrowing with worry. Mickey cast a glance in Sora's direction, too. Both Goofy and Donald were looking him over, trying to determine if he was okay.

Minnie turned back to Mickey. "You weren't supposed to be back for…" she began.

"I know, I know." He waved her statement off. "But I thought that, uh, Sora here—" he nodded at the boy "—could use a good night's rest in an… actual bed and- and I wasn't sure where else to go…" He trailed off, scratching his ears and shuffling from foot to foot.

"So… you brought him here," Minnie finished.

"Yeah."

She giggled.

"That's, uh, not a problem, is it?" he asked. "I mean, we've got plenty of spare rooms, uh, don't we?"

"Of course!" Minnie assured him. "Donald, Goofy," she turned to them, "do you think you can take Sora to a room?"

Goofy stood up straight and saluted. "Yes yer majesty," he said.

"You got it!" Donald was already bending over to pick Sora up. He grabbed Sora by the arms and lifted him off the ground. Goofy bent down to get Sora's feet. Of course, because of their height difference, Goofy was nearly bent double to keep Sora level.

"Hey, Donald, maybe I should—"

"Shh! We have orders."

Mickey chuckled, and Minnie laughed and shook her head.

"So, what happened to Sora?" Minnie asked, as they watched Donald and Goofy drag him off.

"Not sure," Mickey admitted. "He sorta just landed in front of me and- and there was this wolf we were fighting and- and he just… collapsed." Mickey let out a long sigh, scratching his ears. "Maybe I should go check on him—"

"No," Minnie told him, gently. "You could use some rest, too. I'll check on him."

"Ya sure—"

"Rest, Mickey," Minnie repeated, and headed off.

xxx

With quite a bit of effort (it was a surprise they didn't wake Sora up, considering how many times they nearly dropped him), Donald and Goofy finally got Sora onto the bed of one of the guest rooms. Donald let out a long breath and dusted his hands off.

"There," he said, turning to leave.

"Now just wait a second, Donald," Goofy said, catching him before he'd left the room. "He can't sleep with his shoes on! And what if he needs an extra blanket?"

Donald frowned at Goofy for a long moment, but it was clear that Goofy wasn't going to change his mind any time soon. Donald groaned.

"I'll go get a blanket," he muttered, heading out.

"Grab an extra pillow while you're at it, could you?" Goofy called after him.

xxx

"What now?" Sora's Shadow spat, turning away from the wolf as it approached him. He flicked his chains at the nearby tree. They hit it, and bounced off, dropping to the ground before he could pull them back. "Don't tell me you still don't know where Sora is."

There was a pause.

'…I don't know where he is.'

Sora's Shadow turned, in rage, and lashed his chains at the wolf. "Then why'd you come to me!?" he roared.

The wolf jumped out of the way, then crouched down, ready to attack. It growled at him for a moment, before shifting into a more relaxed position.

'I know who he's with,' it said. It snarled a little, but held its head high with dignity.

"How does that help?" Sora's Shadow scrunched up his face. "We knew he was with Cloud, but we couldn't track—"

'He's with Jara ni Raerí.'

Sora's Shadow paused, eyes going wide. "The Mouse?" he whispered.

The wolf lowered its head in a form of a nod.

"How easy is he to track?"

'Easy.'

There seemed to be a smirk on the wolf's face. It held itself confidently.

Sora's Shadow relaxed, working his chains into a twirl. That was good. That was very good.

'But I'd prefer not to fight him,' the wolf said, a small growl at the back of its throat.

"Of course." Sora's Shadow smirked. "Can you take me to—"

"Hey! You!"

He paused, turning to see who was addressing him. At least, he assumed they were addressing him. There was no one else in this area—he even took a second to make sure of it. The two little demon looking things must be addressing him. They couldn't be addressing anyone else.

He frowned as he looked them over. They both came up to maybe his knees, and didn't look too bright. One of them was fat and red, the other skinny and blue. And… did he recognize them?

"You sure this is the guy we're looking for?" the red one whispered, leaning close to the blue one.

"I think so," the blue one replied, smiling nervously. "He matches the description pretty well."

"Oh. Well," the red one took a step forward, and straightened to make himself look important. "Lord Hades wishes to speak with you."

Sora's Shadow raised his eyebrows. "Hades?"

"Uh." The red one blinked his eyes a few times, obviously taken aback by the question. "Yes."

Sora's Shadow let out a breath. "Right now?"

The blue one nodded vigorously. "Yes, right now."

Sora's Shadow sent a look at his wolf. It only shook its head and ruffled its fur, clearly disinterested.

'You're the one who made a deal with him, Master,' it told him. 'Don't look to me for guidance.'

"I wasn't asking for your help," he replied, sneering and banishing his chains.

"Uhh…" the blue demon began, clearly confused.

"You talkin to us?" the red one asked.

Sora's Shadow rolled his eyes. "No," he said. "I'm talking to the wolf. Duh."

"You understand it?" the red one asked, just as the blue one asked: "It understands you?"

He stood there for a long moment. He could hear the wolf chuckling.

"Hades wants to see me?" he said, finally.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah he does!"

"Then let's go."

xxx

"Ah, there he is!" Hades looked up from what he was doing, which was examining a model of some sort. He glared at his minions. "What took you so long?"

"It wasn't our fault, Lord Hades," the blue one stuttered, shrinking back a little.

"I guess it was mine?" Sora's Shadow offered, shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah, doesn't matter," Hades said with a wave of his hand. He turned his attention to Sora's Shadow, and then his gaze fell downwards and slightly to the left. "And who's this?" he asked, frowning.

"Uh." Sora's Shadow looked down and saw his wolf sitting there. He shot a glare down at it. He hadn't told it to follow him, though he hadn't told it to stay behind either. Usually it didn't follow him unless given a direct order, though. Of course, this would be the one time it decided to do otherwise.

"That's my, uh, pet," he stammered, looking up at Hades. "My pet wolf."

It turned to him, growling fiercely. 'I am not your pet!'

"Oh quiet you."

"Your pet, eh?" Hades smiled a little, reaching out to it. "How ni—yow!" The wolf snapped at him, and he pulled his hand back with disgust.

"Yeah, I- I wouldn't uh," Sora's Shadow coughed, trying to stifle his laughter. "He's not exactly… tame."

"No kidding." Hades didn't sound too bothered, just shook his hand and headed back to his display.

"What's that?" Sora's Shadow asked, joining him. It looked like some sort of castle—large and very white, surrounded by a town. The town didn't have as much detail put into it as the castle did, though.

"Ah… Disney Castle," Hades said. "It's, uh, a nice little world. Quaint. Awfully full of light…" He grimaced in disgust. "Might've made a nice summer home, I suppose. Not sure if it's worth the effort, though… I'd have to get it away from the Mouse first." He stroked his chin, thoughtfully.

"…Mouse," Sora's Shadow repeated, slowly. His eyes widened and he leaned over the display, studying it closely, like it held the answer to his unasked question. After a moment he turned to his wolf. "Y'think he took him home?"

'I suppose he could have,' the wolf replied.

He glared.

'Oh! You want me to check.' The wolf smirked and slowly got up and stretched. 'I see, I see. You could've just asked, though…' It shook its head, turned around, and sauntered off, vanishing after two steps.

"Uh… what's going on here?" Hades asked, eyes narrowed as he looked between Sora's Shadow and the space the wolf had just occupied.

"Oh, nothing terribly important," Sora's Shadow replied, trying to sound nonchalant. His heart was racing, though. "Why'd you want me here?"

"Just ran into Maleficent, that's all," Hades explained, flicking dust off of his model. "Apparently she's in real estate? She mentioned needing a new HQ, or, something." He paused, slowly looked up at Sora's Shadow. "I… didn't happen to see Sora with her," he said, dragging his words out.

"He- my wolf got him away from her," Sora's Shadow explained.

"So you don't need my help, then?"

"No. Well." Sora's Shadow frowned, considering. Maybe he didn't need Hades's help, now. But… better safe than sorry, given what Maleficent had done to him last time they'd… talked. Besides, he didn't exactly want to piss off the Lord of the Dead. That had bad idea written all over it.

"We still need to kill Maleficent, don't we?" he said, trying to direct the conversation in a different direction.

Hades nodded. "Yeah, we do. But you were going to help me out with Jerk-ules, weren't you? Didn't you, I don't know, say you needed Sora for that?"

"We- we agreed Maleficent was the larger threat, though," Sora's Shadow said. "And that we should get rid of her first. So, right now, Sora's whereabouts are a minor de—"

'He's in Disney Castle,' the wolf said, reappearing.

Sora's Shadow turned to it, grabbing it by the ears and looking it in the eye. His heart leapt in his chest. His lungs felt tight. "He is?!" he asked, his voice coming out in something of an excited squeak.

The wolf shook him off.

'Yes.'

Sora's Shadow dropped to his knees, remaining eyelevel with it.

"Did you see him?"

'No.'

"Then how do you know he's there?!"

'Ja- …the… Mouse said so himself,' the wolf answered. 'Plus, I smelled him.'

"Okay." He supposed that was a good enough answer. "What are the chances of him staying there for long?"

'After what I did to him? Probably a few days.'

Something in his chest constricted.

"Did you hurt him!?"

'Not… drastically,' the wolf replied, slowly. Its eyes judged him, but he took no note.

"I- mm- well-" he stammered, taking a deep breath in, trying to repress the anger that had reared up within him. He bit his lip, opened his mouth, closed it. "That's- that's fine," he said, finally, voice tight. "Fine. That means I can get to him before he leaves. So it's fine. It's great."

"What's this all about, huh?" Hades asked. He'd moved so he was standing next to the wolf, and bent over so he could look Sora's Shadow in the face. "I hope you realize I can't understand this mutt of yours."

The wolf snarled. 'I am not a mutt!'

"Sora's in Disney Castle," Sora's Shadow said, slumping onto the ground, letting out a long sigh of relief. "I know where he is."

"And… Why is this so important?"

"Because I haven't—" He began, then caught himself. No. He didn't want to tell Hades that. Hades didn't know it'd been exactly a month since he'd last seen Sora, nor did Hades need to know that it physically pained him to have been away from Sora this long.

"It's not-" he began, getting to his feet. He reconsidered his words, then continued. "Sorry. It's just… a good plan."

"Uh-huh."

Hades didn't sound too convinced.

"Yeah." Sora's Shadow nodded. "I just thought of a great plan to get rid of Maleficent."

"….I'm listening"