Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 97: Mickey The King

Chapter 97: Mickey The King

"Ariel. Wake up."

Ariel blinked. Ice crystals stuck to the corners of her eyes. With difficulty she opened them.

Wart was standing over her. Sunlight lit the snowflakes in his hair. A diamond crust had formed over his eyelashes. He looked worried, worn, and somehow much, much older.

Ariel shifted. Aladdin's magic lamp dug into her hip. Painfully she pushed up onto her shoulders. "Yeee-ouch."

Quickly Wart knelt. He pressed a hand to Ariel's temple. It was bleeding. Ariel looked down, the snow was dotted with her blood.

"What happened?"

Wart fisted a clump of snow. Gingerly, he placed it against Ariel's head. "You fell. Er…we fell."

Rubbing the snow over Ariel's skin, Wart gestured over his shoulder. A line of blood trailed from a frozen waterfall, perhaps a twenty foot drop. "Probably wasn't a good idea to travel in the dark. I tried to wake you sooner but…sorry."

Ariel grabbed Wart's wrist. "Sooner? Wart, how long have I been out?"

Wart bit his lip. Guiltily, he glanced at the setting sun. "All day."

"All day?"

Ariel scrambled to her feet. She half turned, looking for her trident before remembering that it was gone. Squeezing her hair, Ariel looked to the sky. The black vortex was overhead, a cavity in the sky. The sun was a prick in the west, the light wavering shyly between the trees.

Growling, Ariel started to run. Her head was spinning, throbbing at the temples but she ran harder, pushing through the pain.

"Faster!" she called to Wart, wrenching her legs through the snow. "Faster! We only have until sunset! Sunset on the third day!"

"Ariel!"

"That's when Maleficent is going to kill our parents! Our families!"

"Ariel!"

"We have get there first!"

Ariel!"

"We have to find Headmaster Mickey!"

"Ariel! Stop!"

"Wart!"

Ariel fell. Snow stung her cheeks as Wart rolled over her, tackling her to the ground.

"Wart!" Ariel hissed, kicking him off. "Wart! Are you crazy – "

"Ariel!" Wart whispered, pushing her shoulders down. His eyes were wide and urgent. "Ariel! Look!"

Ariel turned. Brushing away snow, she peered through the trees. Sunlight shifted through the black nettles and clawed branches. Suddenly, she saw what Wart was pointing at.

"Graves." Wart whispered, sinking into the snow. Holding her arm, he breathed a long icy breath. "Graves. We made it. Ariel…this is Petrified Forest."

Ariel held her breath. Above, the vortex constricted, blackening the sky.

"Come on." Ariel whispered, raising her head. Ears pricked like a fox, she stepped into Petrified Forest. "We have until sunset."

The way was dark. And short. Like the blade of a dirk. Creeping from tombstone to tombstone, Ariel and Wart wove through Petrified Forest.

Wart held his breath. Ariel bit her lip until it bled, afraid to make a noise.

It was quiet. And calm. Deathly calm.

Then, they heard it.

The laughter.