Chapter Eight

MR. V

The room inside the Wardrobe was dark for a mere moment with the only light shining from their portkey amulets and Ember's hair. The Recruits murmured in hushed whispers and Mr. V counted the amulets before he tapped his cane three times on the ground. It was very quiet for a few seconds then the inky blackness fluttered away like bats in the night to reveal stain glass floors underneath their feet. Emerald green, topaz yellow and onyx purple stained-glass floors alighted the room to show that it was not a room but a void of space that they stood in. The Recruits all jumped at the suddenness of the light gasping and cursing as they were shown light. Dalmatia, Jack, and Veil seemed to like it from an artistic point of view; Adam, Jane, and Malfie seemed relieved that there was more light; Joe and Shade seemed to be indifferent; but Farja and Jamila were the most excited about the pretty lights. Mr. Po, though he had seen this plenty of times now, even looked just as impressed as the Recruits.

"Welcome, Recruits," He couldn't help but smirk at their reaction, "to the Door Between Realms."

"This isn't anything like Wonderland," Jack turned in a circle and looked from the floor to the void around them.

"This place isn't quite like anything you'll ever know." Mr. Po chuckled as he walked with his hands behind his back to stand next to Mr. V. "It only gets better the more you visit."

"Well, we're only in the foyer, the Doors are this way." Mr. V twirled his cane and turned on his heel to lead them further north of where they all stood. With each step that he took, more stained glass floors lit their way. Their footsteps echoed as if they were walking on thin sheets of ice and the stain glass crackled with more life. Farja and Jamila were having way too much fun jumping around and causing more life. "Careful where you step," Mr. V called over his shoulder. "One wrong step and you could fall into a place you don't know. Stay with the group."

"EEP!" They hugged each other as they rejoined the group.

"Geez, V, you don't need to scare them." Mr. Po huffed as he helped to usher the girls along to keep them with the rest of the group. "It's all right ladies, just stay with the others."

"What exactly is this place?" Adam asked on Mr. V's left. "I know you have said that this is the Door Between Realms, but what is it exactly?"

"It is exactly as it sounds, a door that takes you to another Realm." Mr. V answered honestly. "The only thing is, you can only go through the Realm that is the same as your portkey."

"Sounds too simple." Lady Jane Hock rolled her eyes.

"Yes," Mr. V frowned, "However if you wished to visit another Realm, you would need to be with the person that has the particular portkey."

Just as they entered the room of doors and all the portkeys present, all the doors that would take them to their Realms came to life and floated in midair at just the right height for everyone to easily step through; Veil's was possibly the shortest because of how small she was. All of the doors were stained glass, just like the floors they had walked upon, however, there was a stain-glass picture of the story they were to alter. The Recruits slowly entered the space and walked up to their respective door, some in awe while others grimaced. Without even having to tell them they were each drawn to their own door, their amulets glowing, drawing them towards their doors until they all stood in front of their doors. Both Mr. V and Mr. Po stood at the entrance they arrived in and quietly watched the Recruits.

Adam stood before a peridot green apple door that held the picture of a beautiful princess with raven hair taking a bite into an apple. A scowl formed on his face as he stared at the image.

Jack stood before a ruby red heart door that held the picture of a girl falling down a hole with her skirt floating out acting as a parachute following a rabbit.

Lady Jane Hock glared at the gray diamond crescents that hooked over into a marquis shape to make a door. Her hands were balled into fists as she saw a star filled sky and a giant clocktower filling in the space with a pirate ship flying in the sky.

Malfie held his mirror at his hip as he stared at a pair of amethyst wings that joined together to form a door. An angry spinning needle rested in one of the wings while a sleeping maiden rested in the other.

Dalmatia crossed his arms as he looked at the simple garnet circle door filled with spots and an estate building.

Joe looked ready to scream at the mother of pearl white conch shell door as a mermaid rested in the center looking playful and free.

Farja's lips turned down in a frown as she looked at the orange Sphalerite oval door. A lap and a tall tower rested in the center of it and she began to play with her hair nervously.

Jamila fidgeted in front of a yellow topaz square door with lions and bones littering the picture.

Veil held onto her bell tightly as she stared at the white diamond bell door with the beautiful building of Notre-Dame standing front and center.

Ember's hair did not seem to burn as brightly as she stared had teal blue flames as a door. There was a picture of a man staring into the water and ignoring everything else around him.

When all were ready, they all turned and looked at Mr. V expectantly. "Well it seems as though they all knew which door to go to!" Mr. Po chuckled nervously. "That's great!"

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Joe scowled as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Now you are all to go into your respective Realms and do a simple scouting out of your surroundings." Mr. V answered and snapped his fingers. Their field journals appeared in midair for them. "Each of you has been given a journal, and each of you must record what you see while you scout out things."

Both Jack and Jamilia let out a groan as they accepted the journal and writing utensils. "Record anything you think is important information, or anything that you deem worthy to assist you in your mission. I don't care how you write it or even what you write so long as you just write something down to inform me of your whereabouts and what is going on in your respective Realm."

"To inform you?" Jane Hock snarled. "These are for you?"

"They are field journals." Mr. Po stepped in to alleviate some of the tension between her and Mr. V. "There are too many of you and too few of us to keep an eye on all of you all the time. The journals are just there to give us a little insight as to what is going on in your Realm."

"So don't treat it as a diary and just use it for work purposes." Mr. V smirked as he looked each of them in the face. "Since you all seem so eager to begin, take plenty of notes, don't talk to people, and be back by dinner. Dinner is six o'clock sharp; be there or I'll be forced to find you and drag you back."

With scowls and groans from them they all stepped through their doors and vanished into the Realms. Mr. Po and Mr. V could only stand there and watched as the Doors closed behind their Recruit. Mr. V couldn't help but silently wish things would go well for each of them and that they will use this opportunity to discover more about themselves as well as what they need to have their own happy ending. All of their doors closed and locked and with nothing left for them to do, they needed to return to the castle. Mr. Po just stared at the Doors before looking at Mr. V. "I thought we were supposed to train them before you just turned them loose."

"And waste my time teaching them something that comes as second nature to them?" Mr. V scoffed and turned on his heel to leave. "I think not. Experience will be their best teacher, besides, if they really want help, they will come and ask for it or try to just figure it out on their own."

"Then what was the whole point in that speech earlier?" Mr. Po sounded very disappointed that he wasn't going to teach them or help them train. "I was really looking forward to it!"

"You were just hoping to kick them to the ground." Mr. V smirked as he looked at Mr. Po.

"It is one of the few things that I get to look forward to!" He whined and rubbed the hells of his hands into his eyes. "I sit at a desk all day and calculate numbers, at least whipping these kids into shape is the only way I can let loose."

"I could always tell Villa you want to help her in her sewing endeavors."

"You wouldn't dare!" He growled. "I hate needles!"

"Then stop whining about the job you already have!" Mr. V laughed and earned a groan from Mr. Po. Mr. Po walked with his hands behind his head, fingers laced together, while Mr. V spun his cane around. The two gentlemen Hosts walked back in silence with only the stained-glass floors clinking with each step.

"So," Mr. Po hummed. "What are we going to do while we wait for them to get back?"

"Check their records," Mr. V listed off his fingers as he spoke. "Make sure they didn't smuggle anything into the Castle and go through the library and pull out all the Story Books that would be a reference to the original tale."

"Why would we do that?" Mr. Po raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"We want to make sure they're writing their own Stories," Mr. V explained. "It's good to be inspired by other stories, but it is never good to try to make it your own. They need to make sure that they are seeking out their own happiness more than their Villains."

Mr. Po chuckled darkly, "That is really going to mess with a few of them."

"I figured you would like to hear that," Mr. V chuckled as they got closer to their exit.

"If I can mess with their lives just a little," He rolled his shoulders and let his hands fall to his sides. "I will be thoroughly amused."

Twirling his cane on his hand he used it to push open the door and stepped through the Wardrobe. Ms. Scatter sat on a bench writing things down in her own journal of sorts while Ms. Villa sat beside her rambling about different fashion tips and filed her nails. Scatter's glasses sat at the very edge of her nose as she wrote and her hair was still pulled back, but in a low ponytail; Mr. V did not know her hair was so long. It looked good down; she should wear it down more often. Mr. Po stretched his hands over his head before joining his sweet Ms. Villa. He immediately enveloped her in his arms and twirled her around in a circle.

"Eito!" Villa laughed and held tightly onto him.

He chuckled and set her feet back on the ground, "Did you miss me, darling?"

She poked the end of his nose, "Always."

Ms. Scatter huffed and pushed her glasses back on her nose as she glared at the loud couple. "Could you two get a room?"

"No." Ms. Villa smirked with her nose in the air.

"We could go to the library, Eva." Mr. Po chuckled as he drew her chin to him to capture her attention.

"And why would we go there?" Her nose wrinkled with a frown.

"Because, we now have a mission to remove all of the original Story books." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "It will cause trouble for the Recruits."

"Oh, why didn't you say so sooner?" She purred and twirled out of his arms but grabbed his hand to pull him behind her. "Let's go!"

While the other two Hosts flitted away off to the library, Mr. V stepped out of the Wardrobe and looked down at Ms. Scatter. He placed his hands over the top of his cane and leaned on it as he looked at Ms. Scatter. "You don't stay still for long, do you?"

He took a half step back when her head snapped up at him. Her eyes were yellow, not brown. It was only for a split second, but he saw that her eyes were yellow. "Of course not, Mr. V," She smiled like normal, as if nothing had happened. "There is plenty to do around here."

"But of course," He felt awkward and tried to smile, but he could tell that his smile was awkward.

"Are you all right, Mr. V?" Her big brown eyes were full of concern as she took a half step towards him.

"I'm fine," He rubbed the left side of his face. "I'm just really tired. I think the lack of sleep has finally caught up with me."

"Well, it's what you get," she crossed her arms and pouted at him. "You've been up for a whole three days! Of course, your body is tired and is demanding sleep!"

"Right, right," he shrugged with a chuckle. In all honesty though, he could go for a nap for the rest of the day, even until dinner if his schedule wasn't filled up. "How's my schedule looking today?"

"Well, since you just let the Recruits just jump in to do field work. . ." She slipped through the papers on her clipboard. "You have the next four hours free."

He raised his brow at her. "It was supposed to take me four hours to teach them?"

"Well, from what we had initially discussed," She frowned at her clipboard. "You had originally planned to talk to them one on one and then would teach them per time slot."

"Ah," He yawned. "Right, I remember now."

"Well, since your schedule is freed up," She clutched her clipboard to her chest. "You'll have a few hours to get a nice, long nap in."

"Well I had planned on doing that with or without your permission from the schedule," He chuckled and began to leave the room.

"Rude." She mumbled and earned a barked laugh from him.

"Sounds like you could use a nap too, Ms. Scatter."

Her face flushed, but she put her nose up in the air, "I'm afraid I can't." She tightened her hair in a tight ponytail. "There are quite a few things that I must take care of for the next few hours. Besides, wouldn't it be better for one of us to wait here for the Recruits to ensure that they return safely?"

"You're right," He rubbed his chin hair. "You don't absolutely have to do so, but if you so choose to do so please record the hour, minute, and second that they return."

"Of course, sir," She smiled, looking a little relieved, actually. "May I know why you want the time recorded?"

"To see how long they're actually out on the field." He yawned again, and this time his eyes were acting difficult to stay awake. "If they're there for too long then they're more than likely getting into trouble. If they're there for too short of a time, then they're more than likely getting into trouble. If they're actually in there for just the four hours that I plan to attempt to take a nap, then it means that they did as they were told, and they will more than likely be getting into less trouble than the others."

"I see. . ." She looked a little confused, but nonetheless wrote it down on her clipboard in her things to do. "Should I wake you in four hours, sir?"

"No," He waved her off and tried to cover his yawn. "Unless they all return within four hours, then no. I'll see their field reports at some point and time."

"Understood, Mr. V." She smiled up at him. "I hope that you have a lovely nap, sir."

"Thank you, Ms. Scatter," he waved over his head as he walked away. "Good luck with your duties."

He did not bother to wait to hear her response, but instead tapped his cane, summoned a portal, and walked through it to be tossed immediately onto his bed. Quite a few questions dealing with Ms. Scatter were buzzing around in his head, but he decided to file those away until after his nap.

MR. PO

Their fingers were laced together as they scurried down the halls to go to the library. His heart beat so happily in his chest as she pulled him along, giggling at the mischief that they would be up to. It reminded him of all those years ago in university. Her laugh made his stomach flip and his heart flutter and only made him fall even more madly in love with her than before. After years of knowing each other as friends and after years of being together he still found multiple ways to fall for her every day. Eva flung the doors open as she entered the library and practically skipped to the shelves that held the Villains' main stories. "How many of the Stories do we need to pull?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Only the ones that will directly affect them." Mr. Po hummed as his eyes already scanned the shelves. "I'll call them out, you pull them?"

"So long as you carry them." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned to the books. He held his hands out expectantly to her.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Her eyes skimmed the shelves before she reached for it and dropped it off in his outstretched arms.

"The Evil Queen and Snow White." She hummed as she looked back to the shelves. "Next!"

"Alice in Wonderland." He too looked to the shelves to see if he could grab a few along the way.

"Which ones?" She huffed as she skimmed them. There was the original volume and then the four individual books. "There's at least five here."

"Get them all." Mr. Po insisted. "Better to be safe than sorry."

"True, true." She sang as she did just that. "Oh, this is so exciting!"

"Peter Pan next, darling." He laughed at her excitement.

"Eito, you really shouldn't call me such sweet names when we're working." She puffed out her cheeks as she grabbed the books. "Should I grab the Tinkerbell series as well?"

"Of course, they have too much information about Neverland." He nodded his head. The load in his arms was already getting heavy. "I'll be right back; I need to get the cart for the rest of the books."

"Very well." She waved him away and he quickly walked to the check-in desk to pull the cart. He hadn't realized that there were so many different copies and prints of the books or else he would have grabbed it from the beginning. The moment he found it he went on ahead and dropped the current load of books onto the cart.

He hummed a jazzy little tune as he rolled back to the aisle where Ms. Villa was to find her frowning deeply into a book. It was a red book with a giant black and yellow 'I' on the cover. It was the Incredibles series and from the angel where Mr. Po stood he could see that she had it open to Metroville. Her gloved hands tightly held onto the book before she closed it and hugged it to her chest. Mr. Po didn't have to ask why she was looking in the book, he knew all too well why she looked so mournful at the book. Ever since they left Edna Mode and worked for Galbaki things just weren't quite the same for Eva. She lost her childhood best friend and Eito essentially burned the last bridge he had with his sister. There was only so much that they could do in the Anti-Realm to distract them from their pasts, especially since Eva's profession in fashion was something that constantly reminded them both of Edna. Eito couldn't help but hope that this Recruit Program would be enough to properly distract them.

"Did you find all the Tinkerbell books?" He asked softly, she jumped at his voice.

"Of course, I did." She huffed and pushed her glasses back onto her face. "Who do you think I am?"

"Eva Villa," he answered with a smile, "The best World Villain Seamstress in all the Realms!"

"You know it," She threw on a confident smile and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "The next book?"

"The Sleeping Beauty," He started searching for the next one. "I'll search for 101 Dalmatians."

"Good, good," She snatched the desired book from the shelf. "The sooner we get these books together the better."

"Why do you say that?" He raised a brow at her as he brought the books back to the cart.

"Because we have no idea when those Recruits will come back." She blew her hair out of her face as she joined him at the cart. "The sooner we remove their resources the better."

"You grab The Little Mermaid," He pointed in one direction while moving towards the other. "I'll grab the 1001 Arabian Nights."

She quickly walked down the aisle until she found the book she needed. "What do you think about these Recruits we have?"

He paused and looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"You think they will actually live up to their purpose?" She brushed her bangs from her forehead.

"Why wouldn't they?" He grabbed the 1001 Arabian Nights and even found The Lion King series. "The Villains wouldn't have signed them up for this program if they didn't think them capable."

"I just feel that it is such a high standard to live up to." She held her arms out. "I know that it would be a lot for me, there's no telling the amount of pressure the little babies are under!"

"It is a lot," He agreed with a nod of his head. "But they can only escape this world by writing their own Stories, so they have to be capable."

"I suppose you're right." She crossed her arms and tapped the retrieved book on her elbow.

"Can you grab the Hunchback of Notre Dame?" He pointed to the book before he reached for the entire Greek series of the Iliad, Odyssey and the Roman Aeneid. She grabbed the book as requested but still had a worried look on her face. "Are you that worried about them?"

"If they don't succeed then I lose potential inspiration for future costumes and designs." She huffed and rested her elbows on top of the stack of books on the cart. "They all have such unique personalities; it will be so amusing to see how they blossom."

He could only smile at her for how cute she was behaving, though he was rather worried. Though she had it tucked under her arm he was very aware of the Incredibles book she still tightly clung to. He decided not to comment on the book and instead grabbed the handles of the cart and began to push it. She quickly pushed off the stack of books and crossed her arms as she walked beside him. He stole a glance at her and could tell that she was still worried. He tried to think of another topic that she would much rather be discussing, "How do you think you think our fellow Hosts will fair?"

Her green eyes got a shine to them as a new spark ignited in her. "With each other or this program?"

"Yes." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she chuckled at him.

"I think they will use the program to further ignore the things that go on between them." She surmised.

"And what things go on between them?" He snorted in disbelief. "He is the boss of the entire Castle and she is his secretary. They're both too busy, how is anything going on between them?"

"Not you too." She groaned in dismay as she opened the doors to the library for him. "They have the second-best relationship, next to us, of course, and they would be perfect together! They just need to open their eyes to see it!"

"I don't know." He hedged carefully. Romance and trying to play matchmaker always got her in trouble during university, he hoped she would push things too much. "I think we should stay out of it."

"Absolutely not!" She stomped her foot and looked at him. "If I have an opportunity to upgrade Scatter's wardrobe then by God, I will do it!"

She then proceeded to rant and rave about Scatter's fashion choices and how she just wanted to upgrade it and would use any excuse to do so. She was a lovely girl who preferred a much more simple lifestyle and wardrobe, but that was far from satisfactory for Ms. Villa. Then again after being a fashion designer for so long and working with Edna Mode, there were just some things that she couldn't change about herself; not that he wanted her to change because he loved her for everything she was. He was glad they chose to come to the Anti-Realm together, perhaps here they would be able to make a difference and give a younger generation a better life that they never had.

Author's Note:

Thank you so much readers! I hope you've been enjoying the story so far!

Please remember to leave a comment or review and tell me what you think!

Thanks for coming along the journey with me, stay tuned for more!

Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter