"Would you please stop pacing? You're making me nervous," Belle exclaimed. Poor Rapunzel blushed and stopped in her tracks outside the Dean's office.
"I'm sorry! But I'm so nervous."
"I know, Rapunzel. We're all nervous." Rapunzel sighed and leaned next to Anna upon a locker.
"Well I'm not nervous as much as I am excited," Anna said with a gleeful smile attached to her face. Merida chuckled. "I just wanna jump up and down and scream 'Yay Me!' but I also wanna curl up in a teeny tiny ball and hide at the same time." From where she sat sharpening one of her knives Merida could see both Rapunzel and Belle give Anna a quizzical look, not sure of how to respond to such a declaration of mixed emotions.
"Okay...you know as weird as that definition is, it's pretty accurate."
"Oh?" Belle asked.
"Ay. I mean we could have done Subira a huge favor or we just completely ruined her relationship with Disney forever." Mulan groaned as both Anna and Rapunzel's faces became crestfallen. One could almost see the gears turning in their heads with all the negative outcomes to their meddling. She placed a reassuring hand on their shoulders while shooting Merida a dirty look.
"One of these days you must teach me how you became so comforting"
"It's a gift," Merida replied with a shrug. A small door creak knocked the wind out of all of them.
"Shh! They're coming. Act casual!" Belle exclaimed as the five of the rushed to the door.
The melancholy face of their friend greeted them and the authoritative voice they knew so well startled them into taking a collective step back.
"Good Luck Ms. Subira. And to the rest of you...return to class!"
The door slammed shut and the five stood their staring at their friends, awaiting her news with bated breath.
But the African girl did not offer a word, only a small sly grin.
"Well?" Mulan prompted.
"Well what?" Subira asked as she pushed through the five and began making her way to class.
"What did he say?" Rapunzel asked tripping over her own toes to keep up.
"Who?"
"Disney!" Merida growled growing impatient with the lack of an answer
"About what?"
"No jokes, Subi"
"Don't keep us in suspense!" Belle exclaimed
"Oh I'm so nervouscited!" Subira chuckled as both Anna and Rapunzel bounced on the tips of the toes. Mulan eyes were wide in prompting, Merida's impatient face had become a shade of red darker than her hair and poor Belle's fingers kept twitching in anticipation. With a chuckled the queen decide she had keep her friends in suspense long enough.
"...I can run!" Before the last word had even escaped her mouth Subira found her arms full of five different girls, each hugging her and celebrating in their own special way. Each had already devised plans on how to win her the competition and spoke over each other in an attempt to get going. "Now wait, don't get too excited. He has just agreed to consider me with everyone else. I mean that's more than a hundred other princesses to compete against"
"But you're different lass!"
"You're definitely gonna make the cut," Anna exclaimed, a smile permanently etched onto her face.
"There's no doubt," said Mulan a sagely grin upon her face. Subira smile, her heart filling with warmth at her friend's conviction.
"In that case, he also told me I need three things in order to actually compete-"
"Of course, a love interest," said Rapunzel.
"A specialty," said Mulan.
"And a song right?" Belle asked.
"Yep."
"No problem lass. You got some of Disney's finest helping you," Merida added.
"And some of them working against you," said Anna as the six turned the corner and came face to face with the trinity in question. Subira froze at the site of Ariel conversing with her blonde cohort. She turned and smirked at the six before approaching. Subira gulped.
"Looks like the rumors are true. Disney is finally allowing Don Bluth rejects to compete."
"Is that your version of an insult?" Mulan asked, her hackles rising.
"Just an observation," said the redhead, her eyes never leaving her ex-friend. "It's pretty clear to me, as well as everyone else, that this is the year of the mermaid and in an attempt to make it less obvious that I'm going to win Disney has allowed Medusa here to run." Belles gasped as Subira growled, Ariel's comment hitting much too close to home. "Oops! Did I hit a nerve? Why don't you run home and cry to mommy about it?"
"Don't you talk about my mother!" Subira screamed, the tips of her hair strands beginning to burn and sting like fire. Belle held the others back from hugging her while she was in their state. No one knew what part of her would become flaming in this scenario. Ariel held her ground in the face of Subira's magic, knowing full well that Subira would never allow herself to attack a former friend.
"Fine I wont but don't forget, if you wanna win this competition the entire world is gonna see your life on the big screen." Subira gasped as Ariel's words set. A reassuring hand on her shoulder led her anger to dissipate but just as Belle saws Subira's hands clenched into fist, she disappeared. With a quick pop, No African queen in sight. Belle sighed.
"She probably teleported to her room."
"Typical," Ariel mutter as she brushed off imaginary dust. Belle glowed.
"Don't you have witches you could making deals with?"
"Don't you have beast you could be rolling around with?" Ariel retorted and she turned on her heels and continued down the hall with the unholy trinity.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Anna asked clutching Rapunzel's arm to her own.
"She'll be fine," Mulan offered, "but I think she's earned some time alone. We can talk tomorrow."
"What is her problem?" Merida asked with a growled, still seething at the cruel words the other redhead had thrown at her friend. "Didn't she and Subi used to be friends? Who says those kinds of things to their friend?"
"It's...complicated," Belle answered with a belabored sigh.
"Belle?" Rapunzel muttered, her bright green eyes fixed on the ground.
"Hm?"
"Why did Ariel call her Medusa?"
"I… can't answer that."
Subira stared into her vanity mirror, not truly staring at herself, just the mirror. Her mind ran in circles but the one constant was how she'd like to break it. But she could not. she still held hope that one day she find the perfect to enchant it and make it just like Belles mirror so she see her old friends once again. Subira growled, her desires at odd ends again. A creak the door did not disturb her. She already knew it was Belle coming to comfort her like she had so many other times.
"Am I okay? Definitely not. Do I want to talk about it? I'm unsure. What can you do to help? I have no clue so," Subira turned to face the brunette standing in the doorway, "you should probably just go to bed."
"Can I say one thing?" Subira shrugged and returned her attention to the mirror. "Whether you win or not, you need to tell the others, Rapunzel and Anna, Merida and Mulan, about your past. Especially the things you didn't like about it. They have no idea why you're upset or why what Ariel said upset you this much. They hate seeing you in pain...and so do I." Subira sighed and lowered head to the table before covered it with her hands, wanting so much to dissolve….or go home. "I didn't tell them. It's your life, your story to tell. You decide when to tell them and how much you want to reveal. But you should tell them something eventually, just so they know that you trust them. After all, we're hear for you." Subira shuddered as the pickling in her eyes gave way. If Belle asked, Subira would say that she had poked herself in the eyes and caused them to gush.
"Thanks," she whimpered as Belle shut the door once again.