Chapter Nine: Seeing Double
"You ready, Merida?" Peter asked, picking up her bag.
After she and Peter had left Jack's house, Doctor Sweet had taken Jim back to the hospital. This morning, he was brought to the dungeon, which meant that Merida could go back home. She sighed.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
She didn't know if she was really ready, but she had to tell him that she was. She was going to miss so many things about this house. The windows, the trees, the roof… And besides that, she still felt like something wasn't right. Peter had been promising her all morning that it was safe for her to leave now, but she still wasn't sure.
"Well, off we go." Peter said. He swung her bag on his shoulder, grabbed her, and jumped off of the porch.
The two were silent for a few minutes, but Merida couldn't shake the feeling that something was still wrong.
"Peter, we need to land right now." He did as she said, dropping down in the middle of the trees.
"What's wrong?" He asked, looking her over.
"It's just," She took a deep breath. "I still feel like something is wrong. I don't think it's safe." Peter looked at her for a long second and then nodded.
"Look," He said "We'll just hang out at your house for a little while, okay?" Merida looked up at him.
"Peter, if something's still wrong, that's probably where I shouldn't go." Peter smiled slightly.
"Exactly. If something is wrong, then we'll find it and fix it. If something isn't wrong, then, well, we didn't lose anything, right?" Merida smiled up at him. He always listened to her, even if she seemed crazy to him.
The two walked carefully over to her house. Peter handed Merida her bow.
The outside of her house looked normal enough, but there was a silence over the area that was unsettling. Merida motioned for Peter to follow her and she walked up to the front door.
Slowly, she turned the handle, opening the door silently. She couldn't see anyone, but then again, there were only a few places to hide, and they weren't here.
Merida signaled for Peter to go down the hallway. He did and she went into the kitchen. She looked around, but it was obvious that no one was there. Maybe she was being paranoid.
"Merida!"
She sprinted down to the hallway and turned into her bedroom, and what she saw stunned her: Peter had Jim pinned to the floor.
"So he's still in the dungeon?" Merida had been on the phone with Doctor Sweet for a few minutes now.
"Yes, Merida, I'm looking right at him. Is something wrong?" Merida looked at Jim, who was tied to a chair.
"Everything is fine, but you might want to send some people over here."
"Why?" There was some shuffling on the other line.
"Just trust me on this. I have to go." Merida hung up the phone and walked over to the chair. Peter was leaning against a wall, scratching his head. She walked up to Jim and stood over his chair.
"I think we have a problem here." She said, staring at Jim. He looked down at the rope holding him to the chair, and then looked up at her.
"I don't see a problem here." She moved closer to him.
"Sweet says that Jim is locked in the dungeon, and here you are, tied up in my living room. Care to explain?" Jim made an over-exaggerated thinking face.
"Nope. Not really." Peter stood up.
"You're not Jim." He said. He had a hard expression on, but Merida could see all of the emotions in his eyes.
"Prove it." Jim said, smiling. Peter squared his jaw.
There was a knock at the door, and Merida answered it. A group of people came into her living room consisting of Jack, Mulan, Tiana, Jasmine, and Aladdin. When they saw Jim tied to a chair, they stopped in their tracks.
"Peter found him in my bedroom and pinned him down. Would anyone like to explain what's going on here?" Jack walked up to him, rubbing his own chin, and stood in front of him.
"Maybe you'd like to explain, mate." He said to Jim, who smiled at him.
"Nope." Jim said. Mulan stepped forward.
"If this is Jim, then-" Merida shook her head.
"This isn't Jim. I don't know what's going on, and whoever this is doesn't want to talk. I think we should talk to the Jim in the dungeon. Maybe he knows something." Peter nodded.
"Do you think that the five of you could babysit for a while?" Peter said, staring at Jim.
"I think we'll be just fine." Tiana said, pulling up a chair.
Merida and Peter walked out the door. Once they were a good distance away, Merida voiced the question that was gnawing at her mind.
"Do you know what's going on?" Peter kicked a rock.
"Well, theres a few people who could pull that kind of thing off." Peter said, concentrating. "The first is Facilier, but I don't think it's him."
"Why not?" Merida asked. From what she had observed, Facilier would probably do something like this.
"Well, the spirits are mad at him. They have been for a long time. They almost killed him in Tiana's old universe." Merida looked up at Peter.
"Spirits? And he's from Tiana's old universe?" Peter sighed.
"They're the ghosts of his family. Facilier used to use the spirits to control his magic, but he couldn't keep his side of a bargain with them, and they attacked him. And yes, he was a part of Tiana's universe. He almost killed her and her husband." Merida pondered this for a while.
"Well, who else could it be?"
"There's only one other person that I know, and I hope it's not him." Peter said. Before Merida could ask who that was, he spoke again. "Is it okay if we fly now? Snow White's castle is pretty far away."
"The dungeon is in Snow White's castle?" Merida looked at Peter like he was crazy. Snow White was one of the sweetest people she had ever met. Maybe a little too sweet at times, but still sweet.
"It wasn't Snow White's idea," Peter said, picking up Merida. "that's just how her castle was built." Peter jumped off the ground and flew towards the forest.
It took a whole half an hour of flying to get to Snow White's castle. It was several stories high, on top of a mountain, and surrounded by a moat. The exterior was so cheerful that it was hard to imagine a dungeon with criminals below it.
When Peter and Merida dropped to the ground, he took off his backpack.
"Weapons?" He asked, looking at Merida.
"Not this time." She said, and they walked towards the castle.
Merida looked around. There were so many animals over here. Snow White must have a thing for nature.
Once they got to the door, Peter knocked once, and Doctor Sweet answered.
"Is it true? Are there really two of him?" He whispered, looking around.
"Not exactly," Peter said "There's Jim in the dungeon, and then there's someone who looks a lot like him tied up in Merida's living room." Doctor Sweet's eyes widened.
"You don't think…?" Peter nodded, and Sweet sighed. Merida looked between the two of them. What was it that she didn't know?
"Well, I'll take you to him." The Doctor said, closing the door behind them.
Sweet led Peter and Merida down a series of hallways and into a library.
"Where's Snow White?" Merida asked, looking at Sweet.
"She doesn't like being home when we're taking people to and from the dungeon." Merida nodded. That sounded like Snow White.
He walked up to a book, pulled it, and a door opened. Merida had to suppress a laugh; It was so cliché.
The door took them down a stony hallway, down a flight of stairs, and into a hallway with various doors.
"Third door." Doctor Sweet said, motioning to a door. Peter began to walk to it, but Merida stopped him.
"Peter, do you mind if I do this alone?" Peter looked her over, looking like he did mind quite a lot, but nodded and stepped back. Merida walked into Jim's cell.
Once she was inside, she closed the door behind her. Jim was sitting on his bed, and he looked up.
"What's going on?" He asked, hugging the wall.
"I was actually hoping that you could tell me." Merida said. Jim looked up, curious. "There's a man tied up in my living room who looks exactly like you." She said, and Jim shot up.
"You found him? Where is he?"
"Hold on." Merida said, leaning against one of the walls. "He's still at my house. I just need you to tell me what happened." Jim stood up.
"How do I know that you'll believe me?" Merida crossed her arms.
"You don't. You need to trust me." Jim put his hands on his head and sighed.
"All right." He said, leaning against the wall opposite of Merida. "I have no idea how much time has passed since they got me." She looked up at him.
"That day, I had been hanging out with Peter. We were shooting bows in the forest. When it got dark, I decided to go home, so I said I'd see him later and I started to walk." He looked down, biting his lip.
"And then what happened?" Merida asked.
"I heard something behind me, but I wasn't sure what it was. I decided to go see if it was Peter following me. I called out his name a few times, but no one responded. Then all of the sudden, there were big arms around me. I didn't even have time to get out my bow…"
Jim cleared his throat and looked up at her. "They took me to some cave in the forest and tied me up. I have no idea how long I was in there, but by the time I managed to escape, Mulan tackled me and started saying that I had done all of these things."
He looked Merida in the eye. "You don't know how sorry I am for what you had to go through, but I swear, I had nothing to do with it. I don't even know who you are."
Merida looked Jim over. He didn't look vicious like the person who was tied up in her house, he looked like he was lost and tired.
"I believe you, Jim." She said. He looked up at her.
"Thank you." He said, and his voice caught.
Merida walked out of Jim's cell. Peter was sitting on the ground against a wall, and he looked up when she closed to door.
"So?" Peter said, getting up.
"That's the real Jim." She said. Peter looked up at her.
"What happened?"
"He doesn't really know. The last thing he remembered was shooting arrows with you, and then someone tied him up in a cave." Peter looked at the wall for a while, and then a smile crept on to his face.
"I knew he was a good guy." He said, and he looked up at Merida.
"I'm going to go talk to Jim for a while, okay? You talk to Sweet and get everything sorted out." She nodded, and Peter walked into Jim's cell.
Merida began to walk up the staircase, trying to process what was going on. The person who she had met as Jim, the person who she had gone on dates with, the person who had captured her wasn't who he was claiming to be.
"Merida?" Doctor Sweet turned the corner and walked to Merida. He looked nervous.
"Doctor Sweet? What's going on?" He grabbed her arm, tugged her into the closest room, and closed the door. It looked like it was a study.
"Merida, you need to listen very carefully." The doctor looked her in the eyes and she nodded. "That man who is tied up in your house is extremely dangerous."
"You know who he is?" Merida looked up at him. Sweet looked even more nervous than before.
"Yes, I know who he is. Peter doesn't want you to know because of how dangerous he is. You need to see that he's just trying to protect you, but I think you have a right to know."
Merida swallowed. If Peter had thought that it was too dangerous for her to know, did she really want to know? She already knew the answer to that.
"Yes, tell me." There was a loud noise, and the two were quiet. There were footsteps. Merida recognized them, they were Peter's. Sweet pulled his mouth to Merida's ear.
"Jafar."