Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 124: Rattle the Stars

Chapter 124: Rattle the Stars

Everyone attended. Everyone.

Tony locked his pizza parlor. Edna Mode clicked her ballpoints shut. Tiana left the gumbo pot with suds. Mulan abbreviated her evening run. Flynn wore a clean shirt. Aladdin wore a clean tie. Genie of course wore nothing at all. Rapunzel packed three tissue boxes. Merida and Robin came bushy and red. Pixies lined the sky. Mermaids lined the shore. And students cluttered the space in between. Flounder's fishy friends watched from waves. The blue whale spouted a sigh. Brigades saluted at Captain Amelia's command. Merlin donned his owl and hat. King Arthur donned his sword and crown. The evening bled with sunset and stars. And Headmaster Mickey lead the procession with Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Pluto aside.

Everyone had come to bid hello and farewell to the guardians of Fantasia.

Everyone.

Everyone except Jim Hawkins.

"Rat Tail was just here." Peter squeezed Wendy's hand to keep his from trembling. "Where is he?"

Wendy squeezed back. She was trembling. "We let him go."

"We?" Peter spoke accusingly at Ariel. "Let him go? Why?"

Ariel looked at Wendy. Then, she pointed to a fiery triangle spitting along the ocean.

"It's only for a little while." Wendy felt Peter's shadow wavering against her back. Sadly, she watched Jim crank the solar surfer. "Just a little."

Peter glared. Envy hardened his unsettled nerves. "Coward. He's gonna run. Hey — ouch!"

"Peter." Wendy lowered Ariel's trident. "Peter. He will be back. Soon. Jim wouldn't run away. Ever."

Resentfully, and unconvinced, Peter rubbed where Ariel jabbed her trident. "How can you be sure?" His voice skipped. Peter hid the fear with derision. "Let me guess. The best friend thing?"

The sunset boiled Wendy's blue eyes. "No. Because his father ran away."

The solar surfer roared distantly in their silence.

"So then..." Peter said, "...what is he doing?"

Ariel and Wendy shared one sigh.

"Catching time."

Above Pirate's Point, the Wishing Star dithered in pink clouds. Cornered at the edge, Peter, Wendy, and Ariel watched the solar surfer disappear across the sand.

"Well..." Peter shook against Ariel and Wendy. Breaths held, they waited as King Arthur approached with Merlin and Headmaster Mickey — the Magic Bag of Tricks, Once Upon a Time book, and circlets prepared. "Well. There isn't much time left."

Time. A non-renewable energy driving the word's healing and carnage. We pretend to understand it, but only understand that time is the most fleeting and valuable of all commodities. Truly; time is short lived.

Jim felt his time running out. So with his world colliding into the unforeseeable, Jim sought the familiar. He flew his solar surfer. The engine gunned and the sails seized energy from the sun. Burning holes through the air, Jim flew with wind ripping away his worry.

But time brings all things to an end. The sky turned dark red with orange ridges and wisps of blue where daylight had been. And the sun, as it has and will always, set. Power gone, the solar surfer sighed to earth.

Jim sagged gracefully. The solar surfer nosed to quiet docks; the same docks Billy Bones had anchored in his descent from the Outer World and to Fantasia. Maneuvering through mast forests, Jim landed.