Chapter 82: All You Gotta Do is Rub That Lamp

"Flowergleamandglowletyourpowershine—!"

Thirty seconds. Rapunzel needed thirty seconds to wrap her hair around Merlin and sing the healing incantation.

Then, Ariel thought, falling from the sky Merlin's wounds would heal, and he could save them with his magic.

Thirty seconds.

Ariel fought like a huntress. She stabbed and stabbed. Over and over. The sucking of the trident as she wrenched it from pirates' stomachs made her sick. The electricity zinging down the golden shaft set her nerves on fire.

"—Maketheclockreverse—!"

The holes in Merlin's chest started to heal. The blue magic dripped back into his body.

"—bringbackwhatoncewasmine—!"

Ariel swerved. Like a pendulum the trident swung, cutting open the face of a villain. The villain reeled. Silver appeared.

"—Healwhathasbeenhurt—"

Ariel grabbed Wart. She pushed him back.

"—changetheFatesdesign—!"

Silver shouted and turned his pistol.

"—Savewhathasbeenlost—"

Pirates jumped. They seized her waist, her hair, her wrist, her trident. Ariel slammed back. Wart crumpled.

"—Bringbackwhatoncewasmine—"

Jim screamed. He was screaming her name. He was dangling in the air, coming to save her.

"—What once—"

The pirate groped his filthy hands everywhere, all over her.

"—was—"

Ariel screamed for Jim.
"—mine."

"ARIEL!"

"Merlin!" Wart cried, forehead sticky with blood from his hair. "Merlin! Use the magic!"

The wizard jolted, jerking awake. "BLLLLLLLLLLOW ME TO BERMUDA!"

BANG!

Ariel tried to yell, but her breath was ripped apart as her head wrenched in one direction and her body wrenched in the other. The pirate whirled away as something sparkly and powerful exploded.

Merlin's magic shattered like a blue firework. Merlin himself, Mistress Minnie in hand, exploded from the epicenter. The wizard blinked, looking startled as a child rolled accidentally out of bed, as he shot through the icy rafters.

Two pirates, knocked on the ground, looked at each other, baffled.

"Blimey…"

"Where'd he go?"

'Bermuda!" Ariel snarled, stabbing down her trident.

The blue magic rumbled. The walls shook. Ice shivered from the ceiling. Seizing Wart, Ariel

dislodged the trident and sprinted for dear life.

Merlin's magic was rampart without the wizard to contain it. The blue sparks blew across the corridor.

Wart tripped. The magic sprayed over his mouth as he tumbled away.

Ariel ran harder. The blue sparks stung her ankles. Kay and Gaston appeared on either side, pulling away from the magic avalanche. Silver was directly before her, standing in someone's shadow…

Jim. Jim was right there. Right there! Dangling in air by one happy thought as he extended a hand to Ariel.

Blue sparks gnawed at her back. Silver's mechanical arm revolved into a blaster-cannon. The center burned red.

Ariel pumped her arms. The trident flashed, slicing with each stride.

Her heart was on fire, beating too fast to stop. Eyes burning in the blaster heat, Ariel sprinted the last three steps into Silver and reached for Jim—

Then, the blue magic hit.

Ariel's body ripped up, down, and everywhere. The magic punched and pulled her from every direction, vaulting her through the blue storm. Thrown out of control, Ariel's fingers slipped over the trident as she waited for the inevitable—

WACK!

"Ariel! Ariel! It's over! Get up!"

"Jim?"

"Save it for the honeymoon, Babe!" Flynn yelled, hauling Ariel by the belt. Shaking blue sparkles from his hair, he dragged Ariel down a dark hallway. "Come on! They're on our scent!"

Brushing bits of magic from her eyes, Ariel stumbled with Flynn. Rapunzel and Wart followed vaguely behind.

"Where are—" Ariel began, remembering Peter, Wendy, and Jim.

"Dunno! Don't care!" Flynn said, pulling Ariel around a corner. The hallway was getting darker. And colder. "Either halfway to the magical oven or halfway to Hell, if I know Pete."

Ariel's heart skipped. "Flynn—" she protested, gripping the trident.

"—They'll be fine!" Flynn assured. Pausing for a moment, he unlatched the frying pan from his belt before pressing the group deeper into the hallway. Snow crunched as they ran. "They've got Wendy with her psycho goonie power thing. As long as nothing stupid happens they'll be – WHOA!"

ZING!

An arrow flashed across Flynn's knees. Immediately after, three figures pounced from the shadows.

Ariel swung her trident. Electricity sputtered at the attackers, spraying them with needle thin light.

Ariel, stopped. She lifted the trident, expanding the light. "Robin?"
"Ariel?"

"Merida?" Ariel said, moving the trident across her friend's faces. "Mulan? You're alive—"

"LOOK! A LIGHT!"

The group turned. Reactively, Ariel swung the trident in stride like a third appendage. Mulan quickly doused the sparking teeth in the snow. But the pirates were already creeping into the hallway.

"SEE IT? DID YOU SEE IT?"

"I SAW IT!"

"THAT WAY!"

"THEY WENT THAT WAY!"

"We've got to hide!" Merida hissed. Earnestly, she pointed at the tiny Will O' the Wisp drifting down the hallway. "Come on! Behind that snow bank! Spunk to it!"

"Come on Wart." Ariel whispered, taking the boy's shoulders. She could smell the blood in his hair. Without reason, she suddenly ached for Jim as she and Wart slid up and over the snow bank.

Shadows dulled the glistening snow. The pirates were getting closer. Cramped between the wall and the bank, Ariel tried to sink into the snow.

Suddenly, Robin moved beside her. "Dig!" he whispered, burrowing his claws into the snow. "They have lights! They'll see us! Dig!"

Ariel turned. The pirates were moving quickly, flashlights search like strobes. Kneecaps turning to ice, she shoveled furiously through the wet snow. Her heart pounded in her throat as the pirates came closer….closer…

"Time's up!" Flynn said. He scraped his frying pan once more across the shallow concavity they dug into the snow. "Everybody in!"

Ariel dropped. Side pressed against the snow, she curled into a ball, trying to become invisible as the pirates passed.

"Do ye see them?"

"Nah. Maybe ahead."

"Wait. What's that? Up thar?"

Ariel's stomach lurched. Then, she felt someone fidget behind her.

"Oh no."

"Shhhh! Rapunzel!"

"No…" Rapunzel whimpered. Here green eyes glowed against the luminous snow as something slithered closer. "Our footprints…we left footprints in the snow."

Silence….except for the sound of something slithering closer…and closer…

Ariel closed her eyes. Electricity vibrated under her fingers as she clutched the trident.

"One…" she breathed.

The slithering sound hummed in her ear.

"Two…"

An icy cold hand touched her cheek.

"THREE!"

Ariel rolled over the trident. A tendril of electricity spiked across her knuckles as she pointed the golden teeth at—

"A snowman?"

"Hi!"

Ariel stared, baffled.

The little snowman gawked back, equally as baffled but infinitely more delighted to have found a friend.

"Hi!" he repeated, waving a twiggy arm and bouncing happily in the snow. "I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs."

Ariel blink. "Uhhh…." Dumbstruck she watch as Olaf politely tipped the trident away from his carrot nose. "Uhh—"

"Who are your friends?" Olaf asked, waddling to her side.

"Friends?" Ariel repeated dumbly as Flynn, Rapunzel, Merida, Robin, Mulan, and Wart peered from behind the snowbank. Gingerly, she stepped around the waddling snowman. "Uh. That's Flynn, Rapunzel – "

"Oh silly, silly me! Not those friends!" Gleefully, Olaf pointed behind Ariel. "Those friends! The ugly looking guys over there with the eye patches and –"

"—Eye patches?"

"MATES! THERE THEY ARE!"

"Ariel!" Mulan cried, scrambling over the snow. "Pirates!"

"OAAAHHHHH!" Olaf squealed as Ariel turned in a panic, slicing her trident over the snowman and into –

"Eeeeewwwww."

Ariel gaped. The trident sizzled over the pile of disintegrated-pirate-dust.

Olaf poked his head around Ariel's knees. "Wow. Look what you did!" he said, hopping over her feet and skirmishing around the trident.

Curiously, Olaf sniffed the pirate remains. "I find myself disgusted and strangely fascinated at the same time." Suddenly inspired he gasped. Ariel could almost see the light bulb going off over his head as Olaf bopped up and down. "Do they call you General Electric?"

Ariel stepped back. Flynn and Mulan approached at either side.

"Well." Flynn said, eyeing the blackened snow. "That was effective."

"Can you do that again?" Robin asked, jabbing a thumb down the hallway. "Preferably to Gaston, Kay, Facilier, and Silver?"

Ariel shook her head. Delicately, she rubbed the golden shaft. "I panicked." she admitted, eyes glittering in the dying electricity. "Headmaster Mickey said the trident's powers are controlled by my emotions."

"Ohhhhhhh. Just like Elsa." Olaf said, raising pinches of pirate dust to his eye for closer inspection.

"Elsa?" Rapunzel said.

Ariel leaned closer. "Elsa's alive? Olaf? Olaf? Olaf!"
"What's up, General?"

Ariel knelt. Dropping the trident, she held Olaf's head still. "You know Elsa?"

Olaf nodded. "Yup!" he nodded, cheeks squished by Ariel's hands. "She made me! She made me when she made all of this lovely snow and ice—"

"So Elsa's alive? Is she okay? Where is she?"

"Well!" Olaf said, smacking his lips together. "Elsa is upstairs, two flights, take a left and—oh wait second!"

Realization dawned in Olaf's eyes like a pink sunrise. It was followed by an enormous, watermelon-sized smile. "Ohhhhhhhhh! You must be Elsa's friends! The ones she wanted me to find! To save her! To save all the students!"

Ariel nodded. Her heart started to race. "Yes. Yes, that must be us—"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well NOW I get it!" Olaf gushed. "Oh boy, well now I'm just EXCITED!"

"Why am I not surprised." said Flynn.

"This is GREAT!" Olaf continued, flinging forward and hugging Ariel with all the love in his frigid little heart. "You can defeat the bad guyyys! Save the dayyy! Become herooos—"

"—Get our asses kicked by pirates and villains." Kneeling, Flynn took Olaf by the nose. "Okay Frosty—focus. Two eyes, right here.

Olaf beamed, his eyes flitting back and forth. "Yeah?"

Flynn leaned on his frying pan. "What does Elsa want us to do?"

Olaf panted, excited that he knew the answer. "Oh, oh! Rescue, rescue!"

Flynn consented. "Obviously. Anything else?"

"Nope!" said Olaf, patting Flynn on the head. "Rescue is good! Should be no problem-o for all of you…uh…amateurs and General Elect—"

"So Elsa didn't say anything else?" Rapunzel shivered. "Nothing? Is she going to stop this winter?"

Olaf blinked. "Stop this winter?"

Wart nodded, his nose burned with the cold. "Melt the snow. So we don't leave tracks. Bring back the warmth."

"Warmth? Like…summer?" Olaf's face melted into a blissful smile. "Ohh!" Dreamily he twirled over Flynn's pan handle. "Ohh! I don't know why but I've always loved the idea of summer, and sun, and all things hot—"

"Adorable. Adorable—"Flynn said, twisting his pan from Olaf's hug. "—snowman with a death wish. Listen Frosty, those pirates that just got turned into potato chips…" meaningfully, Flynn nodded at the black dust, "…they're bad guys. They're the ones holding Elsa prisoner."

"No!"
"Yes."

"OAAAHHHHH!"

"Olaf!" Ariel said as Flynn clammed a hand over Olaf's mouth. "Olaf, we need you to bring us to Elsa!"

"Quickly." added Mulan.

"And without being caught." said Merida.

"Olaf." Ariel crouched, catching Olaf's overwhelmed gaze. "Olaf. Can you do that? Can you help us save Elsa?"

Bug-eyed, Olaf nodded. Slowly, Flynn uncurled his hand.

"Anything you say General!" Olaf said, saluting.

"Great." Ariel picked up her trident. "We better get going. Olaf—"

An explosion suddenly boomed in the distance. The snow at the end of the hallway turned orange with the reflection.

"Wow!" Olaf said, face blushed and googly-eyed in the glow. "Would you look at th—"

"Come on!" Flynn said, pulling Olaf to the front of the group. "Lead the way Frosty."

"Oh yeah! Right! Follow me!" Olaf said, waddling into the darkness. "Elsa here we come!"

"Fast for a little bugger." Robin said, tail swishing as they ran.

Ariel glanced over her shoulder. Bits of fire nibbled the walls, but no pirates were in sight. Painfully, she wondered again if Jim was safe.

"Just to be clear!" Olaf's voice echoed in the darkness, "We're rescuing everybody, right?"

"Everybody?" asked Ariel. "Who's everybody?"

"Well Elsa…" said Olaf, skipping through the snow. "…and the big guy."

"Big guy?"

"Blue fella." said Olaf. "Big guy. Mailing address is a lamp."

"Genie? Aladdin's genie?" Flynn skipped a step in the darkness. "Genie is imprisoned too?"

"Yup!"

Ariel gasped. "Oh my gosh! That's it! Flynn!"

"What?"

"Genie is Aladdin's magic gift from the Wishing Star, right?"

"Right."

"How many more wishes does Aladdin have?"

Flynn paused. Ariel knew he was thinking. "Technically one."

"One?" Ariel scrunched her nose. "But he started with three! How could he possibly only have one left?"

"Hey!" Flynn said, sloshing through the snow as they rounded a corner after Olaf. "Three wishes is a lot of pressure! And responsibility! And Al promised Genie he'd use the third wish to set him free."

Ariel felt a little guilty. "Well…what were the other two wishes?"

"Al wanted to be a Prince. For the ball. To impress Jasmine."

Ariel consented. Aladdin had looked good. "Okay. What was the first wish for?"

Flynn paused. "…curly fries."

"What?"

"You're kidding!" Mulan said, running behind.

"Hey!" Flynn said defensively. "They don't feed us in that orphanage!"

"Well I'm glad you chose something substantial and nutritious!"

"Exactly!"

"Okay! Okay!" Ariel snapped. "Knock it off, both of you! What's done is done! Aladdin has one wish left. One wish! And I know exactly what he has to wish for."

"I told you!" Flynn said, "Al is going to use the third wish to set Genie free!"

Mulan punched Flynn from behind. "I think the circumstances have changed. Ariel is right. We all know what Aladdin has to wish for."

"What?" Flynn asked, trailing after Olaf. "What? What? What?"

Mulan scoffed. Effortlessly, she sprinted passed Flynn. "You're seriously so stupid."

"What?" Flynn repeated as Olaf sped up stairs. "We get Genie and the lamp to Aladdin and then he wishes for what?"

Ariel held up her trident. Olaf's snowflakes glistened as he lead them closer and closer to Elsa and Genie.

"Easy." she said, gripping the golden shaft. "Aladdin wishes for Genie to get us out of this castle. Outside of Headmaster Mickey's magic wall."

Flynn grinned. He sprinted beside Ariel. "Rat Tail didn't think of that!"

Ariel's heart broke into a million sharp splinters. "No…" she whispered, running harder up the stairs. "…but I bet he still gets out first."

sultal's note:

Good luck to everyone starting school on Monday (including me!). Whether you are restarting or off to a new campus, make the magic happen guys. You can do it. Be yourself. And in the words of Edna Mode...be fabulous dahlings ;)

and keep writing.