Chapter 44: Be Prepared

Maleficent caressed the Black Cauldron. Soundlessly, her robes rippled over the black belly. Pausing, Maleficent dipped a finger into the bottomless mouth.

She smiled as her crow spiraled down from the sky.

"Silent as the grave."

"Not for long." Hades lounged on a tombstone. Blue flames dripped from his robes. Calmly, he observed Maleficent pacing around the frozen student.

Hades took a second look: the blonde girl's face was scared stiff. Literally. She had been with another student – another girl, but this one an older brunette with violet eyes and a wry attitude.

Hades shifted. The brunette had heard him. She'd heard all the dead souls trapped in Petrified Forest. The brunette had tried to warn her little blonde friend, but both had been struck with fear when he and Maleficent appeared.

Hades grinned. When she saw him, the brunette had hugged the blonde – freezing her. After one precisely timed "Boo" she'd fled.

Delighted, Hades nabbed a passing moth. However disquieting the brunette's ability to hear dead souls, to hear him, Hades still enjoyed playing the boogie man. Just like the good old days.

"When we have the Chosen One." Hades monologued to the horned witch, "That thing will be gorged with demons. And Fantasia…" Hades flicked a flame from his thumb. "…is toast."

Maleficent paused. Her fingers lingered on the Black Cauldron.

"I dislike your optimism."

Hades's eyes scorched. "What?"

"I find it loathing." Maleficent turned. Her diaphanous golden eyes gleamed like lava. "Hope is food for the defeated. We have not discovered the Chosen One, yet. Do not waste time daydreaming of your undead army until the star is wholly broken."

Soil burned under Hades. Temper boiling, he crossed the graveyard. "Ok. That was rude." Angrily, Hades gripped the sword in the stone. "Watch out Babe – this is my turf, remember?"

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "Well." she smiled hugely with red lips. "Well. You dare threaten me. Me."

Maleficent tilted her head, lips curled with the suggestion of laughter. "The Mistress of All Evil."

"Evil dies too. Just like everybody and everything. Evil dies." Red fire scissored through Hades' skull. Eyes bulging, he willed the flames to grow, rising with his temper.

"But Evil…" Hades growled, body blistering with fire and ready to explode. "…Evil goes to Hell!"

"Hell!" Maleficent laughed. Green fumes bled from her staff and whorled through her horned headdress. "Lord of the Dead! Let me show you the powers of HELL!"

BANG!

A bullet ripped between the two villains. Flames involving, Hades and Maleficent turned.

"Well." Metal parts moved around a red eye. "A forest gale."

Long John Silver.

"Cyborg, Babe." Hades swooshed around Maleficent. A smile slithered over his chin as Silver entered the graveyard. "What took you so long? Come on...join the party."

The darkness stirred. Silver muscled against the shiver running up his spine.

Crooked figures surfaced from the forest. The blood red genie. The seawitch. The horned king. The scarred lion. The hypnotic snake. The rat mobster. The mad witch. The queen of hearts. The puppeteer master. The silent Hun.

The pirate captain.

"Well, well, well."

Silver pushed back his tricorn. The villains heckled as he raised his chin to Captain Hook.

"So." Silver said. He felt Morph squirming in his pocket. "So. We're all here."

"Mayday!" Iago yammered across the tombstones, tipping over Silver's hat as he swooped to Captain Hook's shoulder. "Hold your horses, Inspector Gadget!"

"Fine." Silver said, picking up his hat. "Fine. Now we're all here. At long last off the bloody ship. Fightin' with each other and lettin' all Hell break loose. So….I have one question…"

A cutlass clicked into Silver's metal wrist socket. "Are ye all stark ravin' mad?!" He swung the cutlass, slicing the snarls into silence.

"After all I've done getting' information and spyin' for the Chosen One?" He pointed the cutlass between Hades and Maleficent, "Ye blow cover by showin' yerself te students during the game and bickerin' with fire!"

"Oh excuse me!" Hades waved his hands. "But this is a graveyard and I happen to be the lord of the dead!"

"Annnnnnnnnnnd Missssssssster….I do belllllieve…" hissed a snake with hypnotic eyes. "That…..they ssssssscared the sssssstudent….annnnnnd got the Blllllack Caullllldron! Hmmmmm?"

"Correct, Kaa." Silver shaded his eyes as the red genie diffused into a skeletal man. Called Jafar in his humanized form, the man stroked his beard coolly. "Hades and Maleficent obtained the Black Cauldron. But what have you brought us, Cyborg?"

Jafar's cold eyes gleamed psychotically. "Nothing. Where – pray tell – is the Chosen One? Have you identified the student? At all? No. What have you been doing in that school?"

"Playing boy-scout for the mouse." Maleficent stroked her crow. Black feathers ran between her long fingers as she regarded the cyborg. "And….nursing his soft spot…love-making with his favorite little brat."

Leaning into her crow, Maleficent spoke at Silver in a falsetto. "Oh Jimbo…you got the makings of greatness in you!"

Maleficent lead the evil laughter. Silver stiffened as the villains cackled. Then, dangerously, he raised a growl that shook leaves from the trees.

"Now mark me, the lot of ya. I care about one thing and one thing only!" Silver bared his teeth. "Taking Fantasia. You think I'd risk it all for the sake of some nose-wiping little whelp?"

"Strong words." Maleficent smirked at her crow. "Wouldn't you agree, Diablo? Much like other words uttered by the cyborg tonight….like…take the helm, test the cut of your sails…Get some shut eye…Jimbo. How…touching."

Silver's heart thud. "Shut yer yap, Witch! He was snoopin' about! Getting' ideas! I cozied up to that kid to keep him off our scent!"

Captain Hook moved in his peripheral vision. Warily Silver turned, but pointed a metal finger at Maleficent. "But I ain't gone soft."

Captain Hook smiled. Then, softly against his hook, he applauded.

"Bravo, Master Silver. Enchanting…eh…performance."

Bolstered by his ring of villains, Hook sauntered forward. "But enlighten me. You are our spy and time wastes. Who is the Chosen One?"

Silver pressed a button behind his ear. Recordings of the Magic Bag of Tricks assembly replayed, stimulating the memory centers in his brain.

"Uncertain, it 'tis Capn. Too many students. Too little training. The magic is… too messy to be sure. I need more time."

"Astounding." Maleficent wrung her staff. "Are we not surprised?"

Silver smiled. Smugly, he glanced at Hook. "They have two Shadow Workers."

Captain Hook raised his eyebrows. The cigar between his teeth smoked as the villains hissed.

"Two Shadow Workers. With the mouse?"

"That's bad."

"But two Shadow Worker…with us!"

"That's good."

"Does the mouse know?" Captain Hook asked. He slapped Iago, who had fainted over his shoulder. "And what actions has he taken? We cannot risk his influence!"

"Headmaster knows." Lifting his peg leg from the roots, Silver lumbered through the tombstones. He paused at the Black Cauldron. Eilonwy's frozen finger pointed at his chest.

"But the student's hardly know. Not yet. Classes start t'morrow."

"Can they be persuaded? To sides?"

Silver considered. "Aye. And…maybe." Turning, he placed a metallic hand around Eilonwy's wrist. "Aye te the boy. Maybe…maybe fer the lass."

"Blasted." Captain Hook ground his hook into a tombstone. "And without the map – "

"—I know who has the map."

Hook paused. The tip of his hook had punctured the crumbling tombstone. "A student?"

Silver nodded. "Twere a gift. From the Wishin' Star. But the boy's bein' very…" Silver smiled. "…stubborn."

"Well." Captain Hook raised his metal hand. Silver watched the lethal point as Hook lowered his voice. "Then change his mind. And…quickly. For both your sakes. Understood?"

Silver dared not blink. "Aye. Capn."

"Find us the Chosen One." Captain Hook said, lifting his voice to the darkness. "And we will find a way to the students and to the school."

"Aye, Capn." Silver turned. He hefted Eilonwy into his arms as the villain ebbed into the forest. "Ye can depend on Long John Silver."

"Yes. And Silver…."

Silver turned.

No one was there. But Silver new better. "Aye?" he said to the darkness.

"We must be prepared. I want the Chosen One." Captain Hook's voice spiced the cold breeze. "Alive."

"Aye." Shirking from the starlight, Silver disappeared into the forest. "Won't be long. I've narrowed it down te four."

sultal's note: had a request for bad-ass Ariel, so she will be leading the next chapter. No worries - nothing is changing in the story-line except the POV.

hope everyone is having an awesome week so far. keep writing dudes (if you can) ;)