Chapter 80: Faith. Trust. And Pixie Dust.
"Bring that wizard here! And bring the little mouse too!"
"Aye, Sir!"
"Here, Sir!"
"Fresh as meat!"
"Slice em!"
"Cut em!"
"Bleed em!"
"No! No! Merlin!"
"Wart!"
Jim lunged for Wart. He missed, slipping and cracking his knee on the ice.
"Hey!" Jim hollered, knee throbbing. "Wart!"
"Leave him alone!" Wart yelled over the gruesome narratives on the other side of the door. Frantically, he wrenched the knob. The door didn't budge. Close to tears, Wart turned to the barricade. Over and over he slammed his shoulder against the Headmaster's desk. "Just leave him alone! Merlin! Merlin!"
"I'm all right, Boy." said Merlin's voice. It was haggard under the pirates' and villains' curses. "I'm –"
CRACK!
Merlin was cut off by a sickening, indistinguishable cracking sound.
It took every ounce of Jim's strength to hold Wart back.
"Merlin? Merlin? Merlin?!" Wart fought Jim as the villains laughed hysterically. "Merlin!"
"Wart!" Jim seized the boy in bear hug. "Wart, wait a sec! We're not going to let them kill Mer–"
CRACK!
Jim and Wart jumped. Rapunzel and Ariel screamed. Robin lost an arrow. Meg clutched her chest. Merida hugged Tigerlily and John. Wendy pushed upright, heart pounding. Peter shot into the air. Outside, Mistress Minnie was crying.
CRACK!
Over and over the door jolted, again with the sick cracking sound. A flurry of Merlin's blue magic spurted beneath the threshold with each crack.
The pirates roared with laughter.
"You like that?" Kay shouted as the cracking noises and spurting blue sparks burst back and forth like fireworks. "You like that you old goat? Little bit of silver? Little bit of silver in that magical heart?"
Wendy gasped. Horrified, she looked down at her thimble. The metal gleamed. The metal…it was made of silver.
Silver. Silver was poisonous to shadows…to Merlin….to magic!
"..oh no…"
Jim saw Wendy move from the corner of his eye.
"Wait!" he said, holding out a hand. Feeling Wart pull from his grip, Jim looked up to Peter. "Pan!"
Peter nodded. Reading Jim's command, he swooped in front of Wendy, blocking her from the door. "Hold it, Wendy."
Wendy pushed against Peter's arms. "But – "
"Stay!" Jim shouted, running after Wart. "Stay there! Wart!"
The cracking noises were deafening. Wart threw himself against the door. Fist pounding against the icy wood, he yelled as Merlin's blue magic sparked over his feet. "Kay! Stop! Stop hurting him! Merlin! MERLIN! Use the magic!"
"Wart!" Jim shouted, seizing Wart and hefting him from the floor. "Wart listen, it won't help – "
"Just leave him alone!" Wart screamed. Tears burned down his cheeks as Jim dragged him to the far corner of the room. "Please! Stop hurting him! Stop! Stop! I just wish you'd all – "
"AHH!"
Jim dropped Wart as Meg screamed. Her scream was curt, but she grabbed her ears and writhed as if someone had stabbed her skull.
"Meg?" Merida and Rapunzel rushed to the girl's aid. "Meg? What's wrong?"
"Ah! Again! They're doing it again!" Meg shirked away from Rapunzel. She rocked back and forth, face contorted. "The Prophesy! They're saying the Prophesy! Ahh!"
"I don't hear anything!" John clutched a whimpering Tigerlily.
"It's her gift – " said Jim, wrestling with Wart. "— she's listening to the dead! Wart! Wart! CALM DOWN! You can't help Merlin like thi –"
"—he needs me!"
"—I know! I kn – "
"—Let go! He needs me—"
"—Wa–"
"—Let! Go!"
"WART!"
"Jim!" Ariel and Wendy gasped as Jim slammed Wart against the wall.
"Wart, it's okay!" Jim urged, ignoring the girls and pushing against Wart. "Calm down! We're going to help Merlin! But you have to calm down!"
Wart's cheek pressed against the wall. His tears froze into the ice. He bucked against Jim, but the older boy was stronger.
From the corner of his eye, Jim saw the enchanted rose. Three more petals had fallen with Meg's outburst.
"It's okay, Wart." repeated Jim, watching another petal fall. Slowly, he lessened his grip.
Hopelessly, Wart buckled. Jim caught the boy around the shoulders and held him tight. "It's okay, Wart." he said, letting the boy cry into his chest. "We're going to help Merlin. We're getting out of here."
"How?"
Jim looked up.
John Darling frowned back. His glasses were frozen to the bridge of his nose. "How?" he demanded again, flinching at the evil laughter outside. "Look at us. Compare our numbers to theirs. Even if we could get out alive, there's no way we can help."
"John." Wendy reached gently for her brother. "John, I know your frightened but– "
"None of that poppycock!" John swerved venomously from Wendy. "That poppycock pretending that everything is going to be okay. Well it's not, Wendy! Stop being a silly, stupid girl! "
Peter's eyes flashed. He took a step towards John, but Wendy held out a hand. "No Peter, it's all right. He's just upset – "
"Oh grow up!" John jabbed a finger at the door. "Look! Everyone! Just look! And listen! Take a good long listen!"
They did.
Merlin's blue magic dribbled like blood under the threshold. The tip of Kay's silver lance head punctured the door. Blue specks of magic dripped from the tiny hole.
Jim closed his eyes. He clutched Wart's blonde head, squeezing harder as Mistress Minnie was overpowered by bizarre, sickening laughter. It was nauseating.
"See?" John's voice cut through the gruesome mirth outside.
Jim opened his eyes.
John was shaking, either with frustration, fear, hopelessness or all three. Again, he pushed Wendy away.
"Look at the facts!" John blurted, tears in his eyes. "Can't you see what would happen? We open the door. We race out like the gallant knights of old. And then? Then what?"
John shook his head. His hands moved as if he were calculating the odds on an abacus.
"They're bigger. We're smaller. They have numbers, reinforcements. We have thirteen-thirteen students. They're waiting. We're trapped – they can pick us off one by one as we exit the door. They have leverage – Merlin, Mistress Minnie. We have nothing!"
John threw a fist into his palm. "Our motive is rescue, save, escape. Stay alive and keep each other alive. Their motive is – "
"—John!" Tigerlily suddenly cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "John! No more! No –"
"—Their motive—"
"—John!"
"—Their motive!" John exclaimed, staring Jim straight in the eye, "Is to kill! NO reservations! NO regret! NO guilt! Just another mindless crime! Just to KILL—"
"JOHN!"
Tigerlily screamed. Mouth full of tears, she seized John's ear and pulled. She pulled hard enough to rip the skin, but John served, his head ramming into Tigerlily's stomach.
"I hate it!" Tigerlily sobbed, burying her head into John's shoulder. She hugged him fiercely, punching her little fists against his neck. "I hate it when you strategize!"
John hugged Tigerlily back. She hit him faster, causing the top hat – and a Ziploc of pixie dust – to roll off John's head.
Jim stared.
Then he looked about the room, at every haggard face.
"He's….right."
Wendy shook her head. Ariel gripped her trident harder.
Turning Wart to Rapunzel, Jim dragged his feet to the window.
The sky was less black and more blue. Dawn was near.
Jim stared blankly at the approaching dawn. The Wishing Star was the only light in the dark sky.
He felt Ariel behind him. "Jim?" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
The trident gleamed against Jim's worn reflection.
"We can't bargain without the map." he said, mind slogged with despair. "Without the map we're dead…"
The cracking noise outside punctuated Silver's laughter.
"…if we try to leave, we're dead…"
Helplessly, Jim touched Ariel's cold hand. "…If we stay here – "
"—We're dead!" Morph chirped, swelling with each word, "We're dead! We're dead! We're dead!"
Jim closed his eyes. Defeated he bowed his head against the window, under the gaze of the Wishing Star.
No one spoke. They only listened. Listened to their doom.
Then, quietly, Wendy spoke.
"Light." she said.
Weakly, Jim turned his head. "What?"
Fingering her thimble, Wendy pointed out the window. "Morning. Dawn. Light. If shadows have taught me anything…" Slowly, she pointed from the window and to the barricaded door. "…they've taught me that all you need…all we need…is light."
"And faith." Wart rose. Fists shaking, he stared at Merlin's blue magic. "Faith. We need faith."
"And trust." Rapunzel smiled, holding Flynn's hand. Merida and Robin also stood, unleashing identical arrows. "We need trust."
"And just a little bit…"Peter breezed across the room. Light as air, he scooped up John's Ziploc bag, and pulled open the top. Face glowing in the gold light, he grinned at Jim. "…of pixie dust."
Jim's eyes widened. Brain on fire, his eyes jumped from Peter, to Rapunzel, to Wart, to Wendy, to the pixie dust, to the barricade, to the door, to the window, to the direct trajectory between the two…
…to the dawn.
…And any second…
….the rising sun!
"Yes!"
The cue was electric. In aggressive choreographed motions, each student moved.
Robin and Merida tautened their arrows, aims steady with the enormous tension.
Rapunzel crouched, hair ready to snap.
Wendy donned her silver thimble and sharp, deathly needle.
Ariel raised her trident, flexing the lethal teeth over her shoulder like a spear.
Peter spiraled to the ceiling, pixie dust poised over every head.
Flynn, Mulan, John, and Tigerlily pressed their backs under Headmaster Mickey's desk.
Jim, stuffing the enchanted rose into his jacket pocket, joined them.
Meg seized the curtains, preparing to thrust them open and let in the light.
Wart grabbed the doorknob, ready to throw open the door.
"SILVER!"
Jim's voice exploded through the evil mirth like a lion's roar.
There was a silent response.
But Jim knew…he could feel that the cyborg was listening.
"ON THREE!"
Jim's gaze swept through the room.
"ONE – TWO – "
His gaze halted on Ariel.
And he swore, then and there…
..that no matter what happened…
…no matter how much he was tortured or hurt…
…he was going to live…
…he was going to live for Ariel…
….but if necessary…
…die for her.
"THREE!"
They shoved.
The desk flew back.
Peter flung the pixie dust.
Megara cast aside the curtains.
The sun rose.
And Wart threw open the door.
sultal's note: Holy frick 80 chapters!? geezum! Thanks for sticking with this story dudes - it's gotta be close to a year since it started,right? I'm going to have to start drawing scenes from this on Deviant Art, just because this is starting to get long!
ANYWAY- I wrote this chapter with a request that was submitted a LONG time ago. One of you readers requested that "john get his ear pulled." At the time I thought that was a great idea, but did not have a place for it in my story-board until now! So, it's a bit mature, but here it is:)
Hope everyone is enjoying summer (insert Olaf voice)!
keep writing.