Greetings, my amazing readers!
My apologies for not uploading before. And yay, people have been reviewing a lot!
I AM AT 200 REVIEWS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Disneyfan, who is a guest, is my 200th reviewer. She scored that spot by reviewing every chapter with great things about this story.
Thank you SOOOOOO much, disneyfan. You are now MY biggest fan.
What would you like for your reward? Would you like to star in the next chapter? Idk, that's pretty much all I can give you.
There is still more to the story. Big drama with Ariel and Arista coming up. And there is still some more Dani/Flynn fluff I have to do, and Esmeralda and Frollo. So please don't give up on the Crystal Thief! Everybody who stuck by me, I love you and thank you a million times over. I give you guys all happy faces.
Yeah, that's it. There ain't no trumpet fanfare or anything, sadly.
Reply To Comments:
TheLonelyMonstersCompanion: I know! I was about to lose faith in him with all the bad moves he did, but I knew in the end that Peter would be weaved back together as a hero.
Flying By Wire: Thank you for all your support! I know, that's EXACTLY what I thought of Peter. :D
Guest: (The one that said nooooooooo) Me too. Except when I write them, they're fun. –evil grin- I'm kidding. Don't worry, maybe this chapter doesn't have a cliffhanger...or maybe it does.
Guest: Awww, thank you so much! Who doesn't love Peter Pan? Especially when he saves his best friend before he dies?
Pleader: Here it is!
Zulily: Yikes. That scared me at first, but then I laughed. Thank you! Keep reading and reviewing!
Disneyfan: Thank youuuuuuuu hon, for all your support.
Disneygurl12: Hehe, yeah, exactly. Thank you!
Avril Lambert: IKR! He finally proved himself to the world...
Three Caballeros Girl: Thank you for all your support...and your awesome, awesome review. Reviews make me hyper! Please continue to R&R!
Wow, guys. That was more than 5 reviews! BUT EVERY SINGLE ONE IS TREASURED IN MY HEART!
Onto the story!
-Crystal
Darkness and floating ghosts is not how I imagined I'd spend my eternity. But I'm sure I made the right choice—everyone has to make hard decisions at least ONCE in their life.
-Kida
Kida was pale blue and floating, her hair flying in the slightest movement of the people around her. She smiled at the redhaired boy who was kneeling by the execution podium.
"Princess Kida." Hades looked pissed. "What are you doing, may I ask? I thought you were supposed to be watching the Execution from the Hall of Souls."
"I wanted to see the young man that stole my Crystal," Kida responded, brushing white hair off her face and staring Peter down.
Peter shifted his gaze to the floor.
Hades gestured at the executioner, who lifted the axe.
"Wait," Kida floated in front of Hades, looking pale and small in comparison to the seven-foot god of the Underworld.
"What?" Hades demanded, looking upset.
Kida pressed her lips together. "I want to say something."
The murmurs started up in the crowd.
"A ghost!"
"It's the princess!"
"She's gonna tear Gingerboy apart!"
"She wants to be avenged!"
"She's beautiful, isn't she? Shame she's dead—I'd make a move on her."
"Kidagakash!" cried the King, lifting his hands feebly. Mr. Clayton looked horrified, and Rhimes was staring at Kida like she had just came back from the dead—which she had.
Kida held up a hand to her father. She turned to Hades. "The deal was, the one who stole my Crystal dies, I come back to life. Is that right?"
Hades nodded, looking bored, holding something that looked like a glowing cigarette between his pointed teeth.
"Well, then, I cut the deal."
Hades choked on the cigarette, and it vanished in a puff of gray smoke. "Excuse me, Princess?"
He put his face up close to hers. "I don't think so. I made this deal so you could return to Earth and rule your people. The deal was, someone else dies and you come back to life."
"I take the deal back," Kida replied calmly.
"There are no take-backs!" Hades whined, sounding like a child in kindergarten who had tagged a kid, only to have them tag him back.
Kida glared. "Who said? You said nothing about take-backs. This is my deal. And I can change it in whatever way I want."
"You don't want revenge?" Hades demanded. "He used your Crystal for evil!"
"Everyone makes mistakes," Kida said slowly. "Even gods. But he corrected his mistake by saving a life. He knew what he did was wrong and he saved the person he wronged, when he could have left them there to die."
"He's an abomination!" Hades howled.
"I don't care." Kida narrowed her eyes. She turned to Peter. She bowed low to the ground, and unsure of what to do, he bowed back, glancing at the crowd, who looked freaked out. He was bowing to a ghost.
"I would be honored to let such a courageous young man live." Kida smiled. "You are braver than most of us could ever hope to be. I know you used my Crystal for evil. But it is with my father now, and will continue its legacy with the heir of my kingdom, the person who will rule my people." She touched Peter's shoulder gently. "You did a good thing, Peter."
Peter shook his head. "But Princess," he began. "You have to rule your kingdom. The world needs you. You're a princess. But I'm not needed—"
Kida swallowed. She couldn't believe she was making this decision. "You're needed more than you think," she said with a nod. "I want you to stay alive. And I want you to think before acting next time. Do you understand, Peter?"
Peter nodded rapidly. "Yes!"
Kida nodded and turned back to Hades.
"How is this gonna work?" Hades asked her, gripping her arm. "I haven't gotten anyone new for my Dead Society yet!"
"Yes, you have someone new." Kida pointed to herself. "Me."
Hades crinkled his brow. "You'd do that for this pint-sized waste of oxygen?" He gestured at Peter, who blushed bright red.
Kida nodded solemnly. "He deserves to live. He has a life, a reason to live."
Hades closed his eyes and chuckled. "As you wish. This will be an eternity."
"I know."
"Spent with me and the Lost Souls."
"I know." Kida sighed.
"Stuck as a ghost for the rest of your life in a dark gloomy cavern. You sure you want to do this, Princess? You have a chance to live, be flesh and blood, to feel the world around you. You just say the word and this boy will die. You can live."
Alive.
The word had never meant so much to Kida before. Alive meant breathing and walking and running and holding things without them falling through your hand. Alive meant your heart was beating loud inside your chest and you could feel your blood coursing through your veins and your internal organs working. You could feel the warmth of your skin under your clothes, and the feel of your tongue as you talked. Alive meant you were a part of this world, and dead meant you were part of another society, where people did not know you exist. Your records were gone, life moved on. Like you were words written in black marker on a whiteboard, and then erased. Just like that. No way of capturing your face again, bringing images of you back to life to see you laugh and move around and not glowing but just you, in all the colors that made you you.
Kida took a deep breath. She was moving into a new stage of her life—eternity.
Her stages had been small and unimportant so far—graduation, warrior princess, for a short time, a financier of Disney High, and now, a ghost in the Underworld. The choice she would make now would be far more important than to go to war with a kingdom or not. The choice she now made would decide whether she would live or die. Whether she would be dead or alive. And this was huge.
Kida looked at Peter. One word. That's all it took. She'd be a princess, home with her father to rule her people and take care of them. Back in the lush mountains of Atlantis to live life far away from probing Palefaces and never become scared or depressed or sick again.
To live, to feel her own beating heart, to marry, to run her fingers over her arm and feel the tiny hairs and the heated skin.
Her one last chance.
Kida looked up at Hades. "I choose—"
The End of This Chapter! Sorry, no more POVs. It's the end! Wait for the next chapter! I know what a cruel cliffhanger. I actually feel bad.
No, jk.
Keep reading, I thought it was too cruel to cut you guys off like that in the middle of Kida's big dramatic decision.
So keep going!
"I choose death."
Hades had barely ever been surprised in his lifetime, but he defenitely was now. He raised his eyebrows, then nodded. "So be it."
Kida ran to her father and hugged him one last time, tightly. Tears rolled down his face.
"We must forgive, Papa," she said simply.
She felt how cold she was. Her life and blood and human-ness was slowly draining away. She was becoming paler, she was glowing.
She was becoming a ghost. Hades's ghost. Nothing but another pawn in his Underworld chess game.
She stared at him, then began to feel a gentle suction coming from Hades's robe.
He smiled.
She nodded. His robe was made of the Lost Souls that had accomplished something in their lifetime, and in the end, ended up in the Underworld.
As Kida began to vanish, Peter smiled at her.
He had much to offer the world, she knew.
And she realized—she had made the right choice after all.
Kida taught me to forgive.
-Jim
As soon as Kida had gone, Wendy saw Peter stand there looking so confused, and then Rhimes walked to center stage after bickering with the King and Mr. Clayton briefly.
"Citizens of New York," he said, clearing his throat. "Er, it appears that Mr. Jim Hawkins is innocent, according to...sources. And it also appears that—" He turned back to the King, who nodded slowly with his eyes glowing with sorrow.
"—Mr. Tremaine is free to go." Rhimes narrowed his eyes, scanning the crowd.
"I ask that Lady Tremaine and her two daughters come speak with me, please, shortly, per request of Mr. Tremaine." He turned to Peter. "Uh, you may go."
Peter hopped off the stage as people began to scurry around in pandemonium, trying to ask questions and get answers they simply would not get.
How much more awkward could Rhimes look?
Wendy looked at Peter and smiled. She wrapped her arms around Jim's neck, crying into his shoulder.
Jim ran his hands through Wendy's hair, trying to comfort her. He pressed his lips briefly onto hers, and Wendy leaned into the kiss, loving every inch of it.
"Ohmygoodness!" Charlotte LaBouff ran back to Jim and grabbed Peter by the arm, linking arms with th two of them. "Boys, that was amazin'!" Charlotte giggled. "Wen, how are ya, dear?
"Okay," Wendy said, giving Charlotte a small smile.
Charlotte bounced up and down. "The Disney High Newspaper Club wants to interview you at once!"
"We have a newspaper club?" Jim raised his eyebrows.
"Cool!" Peter crowed. "Now everybody can read about how awesome I am!"
"Son, son!" Sinbad pushed his way through the crowd to find Jim.
Wendy twisted around from talking to the blonde girl named Alice Wonderkin to see what would happen.
Jim turned, and raised his eyebrows.
Wendy reached for him, but dropped her hand. Jim had to solve these problems on his own.
"Son!" Sinbad grabbed his shoulder. "What you said up on the stage—we got a second chance. Would you be willing to—I mean, me and your mom, it's clear we're not meant for each other. But still, I want to be your father. You make your old man proud."
Jim stared at his dad. The man he had prayed to God to never end up as. The man he had prayed would never show up again. The man he once considered his hero.
An older reflection of him. Looking at Sinbad Hawkins was like taking a glimpse into the future. Jim blinked. "Yeah, Dad. I think a second chance would be cool."
"That's awesome, Jimmy!" Sinbad beamed. "I can't wait." He clapped him on the shoulder and started venturing back into the crowd.
"Oh, and Dad?" Jim called.
Sinbad turned. "Yes?"
Jim grinned slyly. "It's Jim."
Isn't Jim Hawkins HOT? Like, that last line just made me smile. (Repeat of Chapter 2, btw)
Okay! So that's the end of the Execution. The BIGGEST part of the story is over. –sniff, sniff-The story is coming to an end. And I really grew to love it. So many people helping and showing support, and I don't want it to end.
But the act still goes on! The main event is done and solved, but there are still little dramas going on in the lives of our other Disney characters!
-starts up Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Music while I rant about what happens next while praying I don't give anything major away-
And will Peter and Jim and Wendy and Alice be able to patch up the remains of their emotions after the execution? What will become of Esmeralda, injured and weak, when Reverend Frollo comes to visit her in the hospital when she is sick and paralyzed? What will happen when Arista is forced to reveal herself to her sisters and father when a dreadful accident happens? Peter isn't a prince, but will he get the happily ever after that he deserves? Will Jim's innocence erase his criminal records? Keep waiting for Chapter 28 of THE CRYSTAL THIEF!
-turns off the music-
I'll update again this weekend, hopefully. Keep waiting for the next chapter! Tell me what part of the dramas mentioned above you would like featured in the next chapter—Esmeralda and Frollo; Aftermath of Execution (Sarah and Sinbad's POVs); Peter and Alice; the Triton Family Accident. Okay? Bye, people, see you in my next update! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Oh, yeah, and since you just finished reading all the way down to here, why don't you please just make me REALLY REALLY HAPPY and just write a review? It can be a smiley face for all I care. YOUR reviews are what make all this writing worthwhile.
Later!
-Crystal