Chapter 7: Endless Night, Lifelong Scars
Quick Disclaimer: I do not own anything Disney, characters, attractions or otherwise. I only own my 10 OC's and the unfolding plot of this story, so no flames please!
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Ivy's P.O.V.
"Oh god. Not this again!" I said, my heart thudding in my chest. Jasmine and I had been assigned to the Haunted Mansion, the one place in the park I never wanted to see again.
"Ivy!" Jasmine began but I cut her off, backing away from the mansion. Being near this place in the daylight had been scary enough, but now that it was night the ghosts had the upper hand.
"No way I'm not becoming the 1000th resident," I said, turning away to run back to the castle, when Jasmine grasped my shoulder. I turned to face her, and the expression in her eyes made my heart clench. She looked so sad, and I knew it was for Aladdin.
"Trust me, I don't want to be here either, but this is the only place that Aladdin would never set foot in, at least not intentionally, and I'm nearly positive that this is where he's being held." She looked scared to, but was clearly ready to do anything just the same. I had always admired Jasmine for her courage, and if she was going in, to save someone she cared about, I wouldn't let her go alone.
"But how are we going to defend ourselves? The ghosts will have a greater advantage anyway, but we still need something to give us a chance of coming out of here alive." Jasmine nodded, an hopeful smile growing on her lips.
"You are right. But we do have something to give us an advantage. There's a prophecy that's been here since the parks creation. There are 10 extremely powerful swords, created by Walt Disney himself. Until now, we have never had to use them, let alone find them, and they can only be used when our need is greatest. And from what we found out, they can only be used by you and your friends, the people who still believe in the magic of this place. So that's another reason we're here, collect one, but we need to move fast." I nodded, shaky as we mounted the steps.
"We have to get to the séance room. Madame Leota won't harm us, and she might have some idea where to find the sword." I could only nod, too scared to speak, because while I wouldn't run away, going back in went strongly against my flight instinct. The doors squeaked open, an ominous sound that made my legs shake. All around them, ghoulish moans and groans filled the air, as we snuck around corners and ran down dark hallways. If I had been older and had a weaker heart, I may have gotten a heart attack. It was when the suit of armor jumped out at me that I finally lost it, ducking around him and running as fast as I could.
"Ivy, come back!" cried Jasmine, racing after me. Luckily, My fear had propelled us right into the séance room.
"Well at least you found her," said Jasmine, panting from her quick run.
"Great. I meant to do that," I said, trying to save a little face, as we moved closer to the séance table, the gypsy's ball interior swirling with green smoke.
"Excuse me, Madam Leota?" asked the princess, sitting down in one of the chairs that surrounded the table. I gulped as the gypsy turned to face us, and I realized it was the Leota from the Haunted Mansion movie, played by Jennifer Tilly. Which was a bit of a relief, as the ride's original Leota was voiced by the same actress who voiced Maleficent and Lady Tremaine, and I was already freaked out and didn't want to be even more so.
"I am Madam Leota, seer of all. What do you wish to know? And if you can, keep it 3 questions or less." Finally calm, I rolled my eyes. Jasmine elbowed me in the shoulder before speaking to Leota.
"Perfect, because we have three questions. The first is where can we find Aladdin. We know he's here." Leona closed her eyes.
"The answers you seek are dark and strange. The room he resides in is dusty and dis- arranged." I looked at Jasmine, who also looked confused.
"Um, English please?" I said, hating how everyone around here seemed to be talking in riddles.
"Look, kid I don't make the rules here ok, I just work here" she said, dropping her high and mighty accent.
"Sorry, it's just we're kind of in a hurry here. This ride has already attempted to kill my friend here," said Jasmine, her brown eyes looking concerned and frantic.
"All right fine. He's in the graveyard, in what looks like a mausoleum. But it's locked up tight, so you're going to need something powerful to break him out."
"Well that brings us to our next question then. Where can we find the sword that we believe to be in here?" I said, as Leona closed her eyes again.
"I'm seeing the attic. I can't tell you where specifically, but I think you can figure it out." I sighed as it still wasn't too much to go on.
"Ok. And the last one. Who is behind these attacks on the park?" Leona smirked.
"Easiest question of the night. Well word on the street is….. oh boy!" I did not like the way she said that, as a ominous sounding creak sounded through the room.
"What was that?" asked Jasmine nervously, Leota looking nervous.
"Here's a piece of advice on the house. DUCK!" she yelled, as we hit the ground, narrowly ducking under a rusty looking hatchet. We hightailed out of there, being closely pursued by about 10 suits of armor.
"Where do we go?" Jasmine panted, narrowly dodging a vase. I looked around desperately and smiled when I saw a large wardrobe.
"In here!" I said, the two of us leaping into it, closing the doors just as the suits of armor entered the hallway.
"Hurry, they'll get away" said one, yelling over his shoulder at the others. "And if we don't have them soon, Jafar will have our heads!" I stifled a gasp, feeling Jasmine tense up when she heard the villain's name.
"That man scares me more then Master Gracey" said another, who was leaning against the doors of the wardrobe.
"Well then let's catch them!" said another, the group running out of the room.
We waited a few moments an then got out.
"How could we have been so stupid. We should have known that Jafar had something to with this!" said Jasmine, her dark eyes flashing dangerously.
"It's all right. We all make mistakes, but something tells me Jafar isn't working alone. I mean it is Jafar we're talking about here." Jasmine nodded, scowling as she thought of the wicked ex-genie. " You're right. He may be powerful, but his plans usually fall through." I nodded, having thought just as much.
"Right now we need to focus on getting the sword and finding Aladdin, but we can't get very far looking the way we do" she continued. It was then that I really looked inside the wardrobe.
"Perfect! Look what I found." I tossed her a gray and black dress, while grabbing one for myself too.
"With these outfits, and some of this face powder, we can pass as ghosts" I said, already whiting up my face. It took a bit longer with Jasmine's tan skin, but soon we were done and drifted down the hallways, trying to look as dead as possible. We bypassed the ghostly ball quickly, for the suits of armor were poking around down there. We also had to duck when a stray bullet ricocheted from the dueling paintings. Ghostly or not I didn't want to be hit with one. We then stopped short outside the door to the attic.
"Lets do this fast. Constance is much smarter then the armor guys, and she might just recognize me from the last time." Jasmine nodded, but before we walked in, she yanked me back into the shadows, her hand over my mouth. She then pointed into the room, and I saw why. Constance was standing in her usual spot, talking with Jafar! We strained to hear their conversation.
"Unlike the rest of these ignorant ghouls, you know which side you're on. Bring us Princess Jasmine and the brat, and we'll forgive you for your previous failure," he hissed, leaving in the direction of the graveyard.
"Don't you worry. They won't get far" she said, stroking the blade of her axe in a loving manor. I looked at Jasmine. Although neither of us wanted to go in there, Aladdin was counting on us. We floated into the room.
"Good evening Constance. Frightening night isn't it?" said Jasmine, making her voice sound like dead leaves in the wind, making me both amazed and slightly scared of her.
"I suppose so " said the bride in a bored tone, looking at herself in a dusty mirror.
"Why isn't a beautiful bride like yourself not at the party?" asked Jasmine, distracting Constance with her own vain nature. This gave me time to look around. Among all the dusty wedding presents and groom pictures, there weren't many open spaces. Yet something told me to look toward the piano.
"Oh you know me. Always the death of the party" Constance was saying as I inched toward the piano, the long wooden piano bench covered with dust. Somehow, I knew that this is where the sword was. Almost like a magnetic pull that was drawing me closer, moving my hands towards the lid, a warm feeling moving through my body.
"Why don't you have a change of scenery and accompany me down?" said Jasmine, subtly steering Constance to the door.
"Hm. Sounds good, but hey! Wait a minute!" she screeched, looking towards me.
I had opened the box. Inside, lay the sword, it's gold handle embossed with the symbol of the genies lamp, with a brightly colored aquamarine blade. I had pulled it out when I heard the bride's voice, and in the back of my mind, felt the handle grow warm, heat spreading throughout my whole body. And for that one moment, I felt completely safe, like nothing bad could happen. That's when Constance's voice broke through my calm state.
"I know who you are! You're the girl who I decided not to kill earlier. I plan to rectify that, now!" She came at me, her hatchet swinging like crazy. Somehow, I was able to block her swings, the sword feeling like it was part of my arm, despite the fact that I had never held a sword in my life. Still, she was good, and I was getting tired pretty quickly. She kept aiming for my neck, and once or twice came close enough to graze me, and knowing her favorite pastime, it wouldn't be long before her hatchet found it's mark. She had me backed up against the wall. It seemed hopeless when Jasmine got up behind her, swinging a leg into the back of her knees.
This knocked her backward, sending her sprawling into a large steamer trunk. Jasmine slammed it shut, quickly piling stuff on top of it.
"Let's get out of here!" she yelled, as we ran out of the attic, and jumped down into the graveyard. We had reached the first rows of tombstones when a huge crash shook the ground behind us. Constance had escaped! We ran fast, the ghosts we passed cheering us for our ghoulish screams.
"Look, there the mausoleum!" I yelled, our fear pushing us to run faster. The door was heavily padlocked, the lock huge and complicated looking.
"Break the chains! She's coming up on us fast!" said Jasmine. I looked back, and wished I hadn't, because seeing Constance appear through the doorway nearly made my heart stop. Jasmine yanked me around, and I somehow made my arms move, the blade cutting through the chains like they were butter. The doors flew open, pushed from the inside, sending us falling backwards onto the ground. Before we could blink, Aladdin's carpet zooming out, with Aladdin himself riding it, accompanied by Abu, Iago and Genie.
"Quick get on!" he yelled pulling us up onto the rug. We flew through the graveyard for a moment, and then smashed through a window, angry yells and shrieks following us. While Aladdin and Jasmine embraced, I made the mistake of looking back. Constance was glaring at me from the shattered attic window, her knuckles white from the grip on her hatchet. I knew this wasn't over, not by a long shot.
"Thanks for the save back there Aladdin," I said after I had introduced myself.
"We should be thanking you, Ivy. If it weren't for you and Jasmine, we could have been stuck there forever" he said, his politeness and easygoing nature making me smile.
"If I had to listen to that stupid grim grinning ghost song one more time, I would have let them kill me, because the monkey wouldn't do it!" griped Iago, with an un-amused Abu glaring at him.
"Lets just be glad you're all right, because whatever happens, we need as many people on our side as we can" I said, hopping my prediction for what might happen was wrong.
"Where was Mr. Gracey in all this?" asked Jasmine, looking up at Genie.
"Wait, isn't Mr. Gracey on the villains side?" I asked.
"Well yes and no. Being a ghost, he isn't truly good or bad. That's what makes him such a good middle person in all of this." As Aladdin was talking, I noticed that my shoulder felt wet. I wiped some of it off, thinking it was sweat, but when I pulled my hand back, I saw it was covered in blood.
"Oh god" I whispered, getting everyone to look at me.
"Oh my goodness Ivy, what happened?" asked Genie, his eyes changing into binoculars while looking at it.
"I guess Constance managed to nick me back in the attic and I didn't notice." It was starting to throb now, as Genie pulled out some bandages out of thin air.
"If only you were a cartoon character so it could heal faster. This is the best I can do for now," he said, wrapping my shoulder up tightly.
"It's ok, I'll be fine, but thank you Genie. We need to go find the others and tell them about the villains!" I said, holding my shoulder as we flew through the air.
I'll just say this now. I love the Haunted Mansion! It's one of my favorite rides, so I wanted to incorporate it again in this chapter. More to come soon!