Chapter 108: The Sword in the Stone

"Run! RUN!"

Ice crunched over the shore and through the forest. The Jolly Roger's mast dug through the sand as the armies fled from the ice and into the trees. Chunks of ice dropped like rocks. Frozen foam sprayed over students as they dodged villains through the forest. And over the roar, Ursula screamed, tongue flapping uselessly as Ariel twisted the chain around her throat and the trident in her grip.

Ice, wind, and water pushed the Jolly Roger into the fighting pirates. Peter buckled as slush poured over his shoulders. Catching Captain Hook's arm before it ripped his stomach, he turned to the icy tidal wave. His dagger almost fell. The wave was monstrous. Curling and frothing, it filled the sky and bent the air. Any second the momentum would break, and the wave would pound them like a fist.

"Peter!" Tinkerbell zipped overhead, Vidia and Rosetta on her tail. "Peter! Come on! The wave! The wave! Come on!"

Peter jerked upwards. Then he stopped. Turning, he found Wendy. Locked in shadows, she and Facilier still fought, unconscious to the danger.

"Wendy!" Peter flew forward. "Wen – ahhh!"

A hook cross his face. Peter swerved, slamming into Gaston. He ripped backwards into Captain Hook. Hand on his face and hook at his back, Hook pinned Peter to the ground. Peter bucked and wriggled, the hook scraping against his back. Desperately he reached for his dagger but gagged as Captain Hook pressed a forearm into his throat.

"Watch this." Hook growled, leaning into his arm. He shoved an elbow into Peter's chin and pulled a pistol from his belt. "Less elegant as walking the plank –"

The tidal wave churned. Ice needled Peter's cheeks. Captain Hook clicked the trigger. Angling the barrel across Peter's face, he aimed at Wendy

" – but deliriously efficient."

Peter screamed. "WENDYNONONO!"

Wendy turned. The pistol fired.

And the tidal wave hit. The force flattened and hurled simultaneously, driving bodies through the forest and flinging aside trees.

Jim sprinted ahead of the wave. Ice filled his boots and bit behind his knees. John screamed. Jim turned as Simba, Eilonwy, and Meg tumbled under the water. Forest canopy raining overhead, Jim grabbed for John. Their palms slipped apart as the wave hit.

Jim seized. Whiteness of the water blurred against darkness of the trees. The tidal wave pummeled him forward then suddenly pulled back. Jim's neck whipped and cracked with the violent change in momentum. Head throbbing, Jim flailed, searching for a hold.

Suddenly he found one. A sold, thick edge. Water rushing away, Jim heaved. Map frozen in his fist, Jim collapsed onto a tombstone.

Tombstone…

Jim's senses crackled. His head snapped up. His eyes focused.

Petrified Forest! He was in Petrified Forest. The coordinates from Billy Bone's map throbbed short range across the graveyard. The line faded into the shadows screaming from The Black Cauldron.

Jim clenched the map. Evil magic bled from the shadows and pulsated into his soul. Even without touching, the demons bloated his mind with nightmares. Draped over the tombstone, Jim gasped. Shaking his head, he pushed away, trying to evade the dark memories.

He had to stop the shadows. To stop the villains from Taking Fantasia. But without the second stars…how could he?

Suddenly, the ocean roared. Even in the darkness, Jim saw icy water spray across the sky. Beyond the waves, Ariel and Ursula fought. Energy swelled. Breakers churned. Another tidal wave was rising.

Jim looked at the Black Cauldron.

He looked at the tidal wave.

If the shadows could get out…

…then the power of the ocean…

…could get in.

Jim turned. Facing his nightmares, he clawed towards the Black Cauldron.

The shadows sensed his approach. Jim's mind was stained with the image of his father. Walking away. Leaving his family. Jim heard himself screaming. Begging. Knowing his father would not look back.

But this time...his father did look back. And when he did...Jim did not see the face of Sinad.

The face...was his own.

Jim screamed. Holding his head, he clawed faster for the Black Cauldron.

Suddenly, someone laughed.

"Ah Jimbo! Aren't ye the seventh wonder of the universe?"

Silver melted from the darkness. His metal joints were frosted and his mechanical eye flickered weakly. But he caught Jim easily as wolf on the hunt.

"Drop the cauldron te Davy Jones? Drown the shadows?" Silver hissed, shadows curling behind his back and into the sky. Twisting Jim's arm, Silver reached for the map. "Gutsy lad. But it'll kill ye! It'll kill ye! Ye and the map – "

"Get off!" Jim wrenched. Pain burned up his elbow as Silver tightened his hold. "Get back!"

"I like ye lad." Silver growled. Slowly, he lifted Jim into the air. Jim choked. Struggling, he tried to release the pressure on his throat.

Silver's eyes gleamed in the map's green glow. Extending a hand, he reached. "But I've come too far to let ye stand between me and me – "

" – take it!" Jim kicked. His boot hit Siler's jaw. The cyborg buckled. Jim dropped, scuffling from Silver's loose hold.

As the cyborg looked up, Jim threw the map. He threw the map with every ounce of anger and hurt inside. The map hit Silver's chest. The green coordinates blinked out as the map rebounded into the snow.

"I don't care!" Jim screamed. "Take it! Take the damn map! It's what you wanted! So take it! TAKE IT!"

Silver stared. Map forgotten, he gazed at Jim.

"I don't care about the map! I don't care about you!" Jim wrenched up. Voice ragged and unrestrained, he made for the Black Cauldron. "I don't care about greatness, or stars, or futures bright as solar flares, or any of your lies! All I care about is saving Fantasia!"

Something glinted in the corner of Silver's eye. Something tiny as a grain of sand and bright as a star. Then the cyborg lifted a hand. "Jimbo! Behind – "

"GET THEM!"

Villains dropped from the sky, protected under Maleficent's wing. Jim was torn off his feet and passed into bondage. But in the dragon fire, his surroundings were illumed. And he saw how hopeless the battle for Fantasia had become.

Scattered over Petrified Forest, like corpses exhumed from their graves, were the students of Fantasia. Ravaged by the tidal wave. Weakened by war. Defenseless in weapon and spirit.

"Take them." Captain Hook snarled. "Take them all."

They fought. They screamed. They bled. They broke. They refused to surrender. But Fantasia was taken.

"Facilier!" Captain Hook pointed to the Black Cauldron. "Ready the demons!"

Facilier smiled. Body crooked as his smile, he adjusted Wendy in his arms. Gliding across the graveyard, he raised a hand.

Snap.

Facilier's shadow swept around the cauldron. Like a snake it coiled around the mouth and into the demons. The demons spasmed, writhed, then calmed. Coaxed by Facilier's shadow, they swirled in a silent vortex. Waiting. Watching. Ready.

Facilier breathed. Exhausted but smug, he threw Wendy. After a second snap, Facilier's shadow enticed a demon from the cauldron. The demon – fleetingly and strangely familiar – twisted Wendy in a black helix.

Jim heard Peter shout. Pulling against Silver, Jim tried to break free. He screamed through Silver's hand. But Wendy did not respond. Three times she pushed against the shadow demon, trying to escape. Three times, Facilier struck her back down. And three times, the shadow hissed into her face and through her mind. Jim's heart sank. Whatever power Wendy had found…was gone.

Captain Hook laughed. He raised his voice over the tidal wave rising to the sky.

"Shadow worker indeed! Take a look Fantasia! Look at your shadow worker!"

The villains screamed with laughter. Peter bucked beside Mulan, but Gaston and Shan-Yu restrained their struggle.

"Shadow worker! Ha! How could we have imagined she was the Chosen One? And how –" Captain Hook roared, spinning about. "- how could we have feared these two little boys? Men! Bring them here! The Chosen Second! The Chosen Third!"

"Imposters!" Hook continued. Passing Silver and Jim with a lethal glance, Hook ripped Peter from Shan-Yu. Gloriously, he removed the silver thimble from Peter with the tip of his hook. Then, gripping Peter's throat, Hook glared into the boy's eyes.

"Well. Let these three be the first ones chosen…to die for Fantasia!" " Captain Hook raised his pistol. Snow from the tidal wave flecked into his black hair as he aimed at Wendy. "….and this time boy…I won't miss!"

Peter screamed. And as Captain Hook cocked the trigger, Jim felt Silver take a small step back.

"No! No, let them alone!"

The villains turned. They followed Captain Hook's gaze to a small boy holding Headmaster Mickey in his arms.

Wart.

The tidal wave growled as the villains stared.

Then, Captain Hook laughed. "This? This is your savior?" Delightedly, he gestured. "A monstrous wave, broken star, and army of demons at my back. And Fantasia sends…a child? A breath of a boy?"

Captain Hook's eyes lowered. They rested on Headmaster Mickey. "A boy with the dead Fantasian King. Dear me." Mockingly, Captain Hook beseeched the night sky. "Oh what are the stars trying to tell us? What could this be? An omen? A sign? The successor of Fantasia perhaps? The new prince? The new king?"

The villains cackled. Captain Hook raised his arm. "Hear, hear, and huzzah mates! Let the boy pass. Come forth…king of Fantasia!"

"King of Fantasia!" Madam Mim and Jafar screeched. The horned king and queen of hearts shoved him forward. The pirates danced, swinging Wart through the villains. Unceremoniously, they threw Wart at the ancient grave. The sword in the stone. "King, king, king! King of Fantasia!"

"Come, come boy!" Captain Hook laughed. The tidal wave curled over the treetops as he grinned at Wart. "Pull the sword! Christen yourself – and watch your subjects die!"

Suddenly, Captain Hook turned. Aiming at Wendy, he pulled the trigger. "Your Majesty!"

The barrel exploded. The bullet cracked through the screams.

And…several things happened at once.

The shadow around Wendy twitched. Faster than lightning, it unraveled, seized Wendy, and tore her from the bullet's path.

"Shadow!" Peter screamed. "Shadow! My shadow!"

Peter's shadow looked up. Sprinting over Wendy, it burrowed into Captain Hook. Hook staggered into Silver, lifting his arm. The silver thimble teetered as his hook stabbed through Peter's shadow.

Peter's shadow dropped, clutching the silver scar in its chest.

Captain Hook raised his pistol.

Facilier opened his arms.

The pistol glowed against Wendy's face.

The demons fell like black rain.

"NO!"

Light blistered the darkness. Rays splintered into luminous webs, intertwining and spiraling around the hilt of a magnificent sword…

…as Wart pulled it from the stone…

…raised it into the darkness…

…and stabbed the white blade…

…into the Black Cauldron.

The cauldron cracked.

The demons screamed.

And the tidal wave struck.