The Final Adventure: Disney Crossover Finale Ch.11

The Little Girl behind the Curtain

Earlier, while Merida was still being flow off to the Master’s Base, everyone had regrouped onto the Black Pearl, including some of the Lost Children.

“How do you expect us to follow them?” Flynn asked as he and the others were trying to figure out how to rescue Merida. “They’re miles away by now and the Pearl’s not fast enough to chase after something that flies.”

“Do we even WANT to go to the place where a scary headless guy on a flying horse would be?” Aladdin asked sarcastically.

“If it’s where Princess Merida is, then absolutely.” Mulan had insisted.

Jack then stepped in and said “Hate to be the bringer of news that’s otherwise unpleasant, but Mr. Flynn’s right. We’ve not the means to catch up with them and even if we do there’s no knowing of what oddly macabre we might be up against.”

“Then we’ll just deal with it as we go.” Elsa retorted. “Mary Poppins is right. We can’t just abandon Merida. Look at what’s she’s done for us.”

“If it comes to it I’ll take the boat and row there myself if I have to.” Mickey then insisted.

The whole time they’d spoke among themselves Peter Pan was to the side with the gathered forces of the Lost Children. He had his back turned from the, Tinkerbell hover near him, others while his child forces kept their eye on all the adults present.

The fox skinned boy had leaned over and whispered “Maybe we should try and take the ship now, Peter. While they’re all distracted.”

“Quiet.” Pan snapped at him. “We’re not doing anything like that.”

“Why not?” the bear skinned boy asked. “They’re grownups. We don’t want them here.”

Tink had added with something she said to him in fairy speech, Peter responding “Enough! I just…I just need time to think.”

“Some distention among the ranks?” someone asked, everyone looking to see Mary Poppins standing there with Jiminy Cricket on her shoulder.

The children all tensed when they saw her before Lilo asked “What do you want?” pointing her spear at her.

Mary Poppins gave an annoyed look before saying “Put that thing away, child, before you hurt yourself.”

Peter stepped forward, saying “Stand down.” Before looking to the nanny and saying “Shouldn’t you be talking with the rest of them?”

“Because you and I both know there is a way.” She responded, making Peter look away with annoyance. “I can tell you’re obviously troubled. Why? Don’t feel like working with adults?” He only glanced back at her before looking away again, the Lost Children seeing this looked confused. “Very well. Don’t say it then. However there is something else someone would like to speak with you about.”

At that she held out her hand in front of Peter’s face before Jiminy hoped down into her pam, Pan saying “Wait…I remember you.”

The cricket had a more annoyed look as he said “Good that you do. ‘Cause I want to know where Pinocchio is. You remember him. The little wooden boy you stopped from going to school and being a good boy just so he could play around with you and your friends all day. Where is he?”

Knowing who he meant Peter and Tink, as well as some of the other children, gave disheartened looked to each other before Pan had answered “He….turned back into a puppet. I don’t know why. One day he just stopped and fell over on the ground.”

Upon hearing that Jiminy gave a hurt reaction, saying “Oh….poor Pinoch.”

Mary Poppins drew him back and said “I am truly sorry, Mr. Cricket.” He looked up to her and nodded before she placed him back on her shoulder, now looking to Pan and saying “I know you don’t like me, Mr. Pan, but a matter of liking someone does not mean that we cannot reach a compromise. It’s time you started by helping now.”

At first he seemed to consider it but then backed down and responded “Why should I? This is your problem anyways.”

“It’s a lot more than that.” Mary Poppins retorted. “You may not be aware of it but the person that kidnapped Merida intends to do far worse to the rest of us if he has the chance. Even then you won’t be able to hide away on your island. You’ll either stand with us and deal with this now or continue to play your games until someone worse comes along to spoil everything. Think about them.” She added, indicating the children.

“I am!” he retorted. “That’s why we’re staying here.”

Jiminy, hoping on Mary Poppins’ shoulder, said “Fine. If that’s the way you’re going to be about it, then you can stay here and act like a coward.”

After hearing that all the children gasped before looking to Peter, he giving a frustrated look to Jiminy before saying “No one calls Pan a coward.”

“Really?” Mary Poppins asked, crossing her arms just as Jiminy did. “Then prove it.”

Peter kept his angered look on both of them as they gave coy smiles. He then looked to the children, who all looked worried as to what he would do, before Pan eventually walked off to talk with the others. At this Mary Poppins and Jiminy Cricket looked to each other and nodded, showing how both had managed to trick Pan into their little scheme.

“Hey!” he called to get everyone’s attention. “I have a way of getting us there faster.”

“Really?” Elsa asked, obviously no convinced and showing a little resentment towards Peter.

He nodded before looking over his shoulder and saying “Tink, get as many of your friends together as you can. We need some speed behind us.” She nodded and flew off towards Neverland, Pan saying “She’ll be back.”

“Ever if whatever you have in mind works, there’s still the matter of finding them.” Mickey pointed out. “They headed east but there’s no telling how far they went.”

Mulan looked over to Jack, who seemed to be trying to hide something as his fingers trailed around his compass, before she elbowed him and said “Captain!”

He gave a pained noise before rubbing his arm and saying “Oh all bloody right. I know a way.” He held up his compass to them and explained “This little compass of mine dose not in-fact point north.”

“And that helps….how?” Mickey asked.

“Because what it truly does is point to the thing you want most. You want to know where a certain treasure is, this little knick-knack points you to it. Trying to find a missing pair of trousers, compass will lead you to the brothel you left them at.”

A little stunned by this Elsa asked “And you didn’t say anything before, why?”

“You really think I want word of me having something as handy as this going around?” Jack asked while waving the compass in the air. “In the wrong hands no telling what it could do. Granted mine aren’t exactly all that clean but that’s beside the point.”

Elsa groaned a little before saying “Fine. So once whatever Peter has in store shows up, then we’ll be one our way.”

“Not yet.” Mary Poppins interjected, everyone looking to her. “There’s one more matter to settle.”

She nodded her head to the side, everyone seeing what she was indicating, before Mickey asked “The children? What about them?”

Peter, sensing what this was about, stood in front of her and said “Hang on, if this is about taking them away then forget it. I’m in charge of them and I’m not about to let them leave just because you say so.”

The nanny looked to him and retorted “Mr. Pan, these children have families who are worrying about them. And believe it or not, I fear a great conflict will be coming soon. So ask yourself this: are you still going to pretend that it doesn’t matter to you, or are you prepared to do the one thing you fear the most?”

“I told you, I’m not a coward.” He retorted with an angered tone.

“Then truly prove it this time.” Jiminy now said. “Go on and ask them what THEY want.”

Peter, and some of the others, were a bit surprised by this, before he turned to them. All of the Lost Children at first seemed sure of their answer, yet slowly they seemed a little more reluctant.

Anna, who was among them, stepped forward and said “I know where I’m going.” She then walked over and took Elsa’s hand before saying “Wherever my family is.”

Peter looked back to the others, as they seemed to be conflicted as well, before Lilo said “I….I think I have a sister too. And….if that’s true….then maybe I should see her at least one more time.”

The other Lost Children began to agree with her which made Peter look hurt by their answer. Seeing this Mary Poppins and Jiminy looked to each other before she nodded to him, the cricket hopping from her shoulder onto his.

“You know there’s no such thing as being a boy who never grows up, don’t you?” he asked him. “You can pretend to be one for as long as you want, but eventually even Peter Pan has to grow up.”

Hearing those words again, and this time from Jiminy, Peter realized that Merida may have had a point to him needing to “grow up”. He looked around to the others, some he knew still resented him while other were a little more sympathetic. Regardless of that Peter did realize things had grown out of his control at this point. Eventually he removed both his Indian head dress and Hook’s old coat. After that he reached into his pocket and revealed his old cap, even with the red feather in it, which he straightened out before putting it on his head.

“Well….I guess this game was fun while it lasted.” He said with a small smile. He looked back to Mary Poppins and agreed “They’ll all go back. Every one of them.”

“Good.” She responded. “Then I assume we’ll pick them up on the way.”

“On the way?” Mickey asked.

As if in response a small noise began to buzz in the distance. It started small but slowly began to build and build loud enough until they knew what it sounded like.

Elsa had even said aloud “Bells…” before one of the sailors pointed out something in the distance.

Everyone looked to see as small tinkles of light were coming from the forests of Neverland. They watched as they grew brighter, almost like stars caught among the leaves and branches. But by the time they’d been revealed everyone had figured out that they were in-fact an entire swarm of pixies all being led by Tinkerbell. She directed the swarm all around the Black Pearl, the dust from their wings sprinkling all over both the ship and her crew.

As ever brushed dust off of them or caught it in their hands Jack had commented “That’s interesting.”

Peter, with a bold grin, commented “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Just as Tink flew next to him and had the same expression.

With that everyone felt as the ship began to move on its own. As they looked around, wondering if it was going to steer itself, they realized they weren’t moving in any direction via North, South, East or West. Instead they were going a complete different direction. Up.

As Rapunzel sat at the window of Pan’s tree house, Pascal in her hands while the rest of the Lost Children were down below and waiting for the others to return, she sighed with concern. Not just of her friends but of the idea that she had a real family out there who was looking for her for so long. That everything she’d know of her life in the tower was a lie and she was stuck here, on Neverland, with no way of reaching them.

She looked away from the window and curled into a ball. Pascal, however, had spotted something that made him gasp before trying to get Rapunzel’s attention. He tried jumping in front of her but she waved him off, not wanting to be bothered. He then tried pulling her hair which didn’t help, given that she had so much. Finally he had one final solution which proved to be the most effective: sticking his tongue in her ear.

She jumped before looking herself as she and all the other children saw something massive flying in the air, even to where the best reaction she could muster was simply “Whoa…”

********************

“You….You’re not Alice.” Merida insisted while still reeling in the idea that Alice was the Master of Worlds. “You can’t be! I know the real Alice.”

“Do you?” Alice asked with a coy tone. “You think you knew her, just like the rest of them. They saw Alice as an innocent little girl with a great power she didn’t fully understand. Well maybe I understood it a lot more than they thought. After all, looked at what I’ve accomplished.” She indicated everything around them.

“This? You can all of this an accomplishment? For what?”

“To do what you and the other ‘heroes’ always try to do. Save the world of course.”

Save? It? By kidnapping Alpha Beings and then using them in some spell that forced all the worlds together just so you could take over? You call that ‘saving the world’?”

Alice shrugged before turning around and saying “I’ll admit it’s not the typical way of doing things but by the end you’ll see…..everyone will.” She moved behind the large chair in the room and pushed it towards Merida, stopping a few feet in front of her before sitting down and making herself comfortable. “Now then, since we’re here, how about some tea?”

She snapped her fingers loud enough that, within a few seconds, the door to the room opened. Instead of the Headless Horseman or Lord Arawn it was a ghost butler that had arrived. In his hand was a tray of tea that he brought over to a small table, which he then moved next to Alice. He poured two glasses and waited until Alice waved him away. After giving a low bow he vanished in a puff of smoke just as Alice asked Merida if she wanted any tea casually.

“The Haunted Mansion….” Merida realized “We’re back in the mansion.”

“Oh yes.” She replied after sipping more tea. “It’s such a lovely place, isn’t it? A little dreary I’ll admit but with a little touching up it’s rather pleasant. And all the ghosts here make for excellent help.”

Shaking her head Merida asked “Alice….why? Why are doing all of this? You used to be like everyone else, and-”

“I was NEVER like everyone else!” she spat, cutting her off and slamming her cup of tea on the table. “All the other Alpha Beings could only grant wishes and silly things like that. But I could bend reality to my whim. I could shape entire worlds with a thought. I had more in my little finger than any of them!”

“And that makes you think you can rule over everyone? My god, Alice, what did this to you?”

Leaning back in her seat Alice sighed and started with “Well….I suppose it all started back when I was a prisoner of the Horned King. I’m sure you’ve heard that part in the story.”

The princess nodded while saying “I did. They said he tried to use your powers for his own. He tried to…” She stopped and gasped, realizing something, before saying “He took over your mind. He used his magic on you and made you a slave. Alice, don’t you see? It’s that spell, it’s still inside your head. It’s trying to take you over!”

“Take me over?” she asked before giggling. “Oh poor Merida, how could it do that? The king is dead, remember? No, the spell did more that take me over. It had opened my mind. I could see that power was the one thing everyone in all the worlds would respect. Power is the key to success.”

Merida shook her response while saying “No! That’s not you talking, Alice. That…that must be the Horned King. He still has some sort of grip on you.”

Alice scoffed at this before stopping. She gave a mild groan before rubbing her head, Merida seeing and remembering. She’d seen Alice do this before, when they first met.

“Those headaches!” Merida pointed out. “Don’t you see, Alice? That’s still you in there. You’re still trying to fight him off!”

“Don’t be foolish.” She spat turning away while rubbing her temple more. “It’s only…side effects. All of this power within me isn’t easy, as you may or may not know. Some things are easy but when you put your mind to it, well…suffice to say that it does take a little out of you. It’s worse after that One World was created…perhaps some unforeseen effect because of working through Arawn.”

“Working through him?” Merida asked. “What’s that supposed to mean? And who is he to you anyway?”

She huffed before saying “Simple really. I created him. He’s just another construction of my own imagination, like the disappearing cat or the dodo bird.”

As Merida took this in she said to herself “That’s what Mary Poppins meant….he wasn’t real.”

“I needed a scapegoat to keep all of your busy and away from any idea that I was behind it.” Alice explained. “So what better way than with a new villain of unknown origin with some grand scheme to take over the worlds and gathering up former foes as part of their master plan.”

“But how is he so powerful? And why is he so loyal to you?”

“Simple: I made him that way.”

Hearing that Merida began to recount everything said by both Mary Poppins and Lord Arawn in both this world and the last. How he said he was ‘as real as he needed to be’ and Mary Poppins claiming how ‘no one comes out of nothing’. It all began to make more and more sense, but that only deepened Merida’s heart.

Alice then continued with “I knew that if I told anyone else about the plan they wouldn’t agree with it. They all prefer to follow Master Yen Sid’s reasoning of leaving things as they are. But what if we could stop anything bad from ever happening? A new world is formed and we make sure nothing bad ever come from it. No more Horned King’s. Imagine it!” She seemed so excited and sure about this before calming and continuing “But no. None of you would have agreed to it. That’s what I needed to know what sort of plans you had in mind. So I used Arawn to stage the Horseman’s attack on you.”

Merida was shocked and stated “You sent him after me?”

“He was mainly there for the sake of the wisps. But I knew that the others would respond eventually, so I took what opportunity I could. After that it was a matter of having Arawn gain the spell book and using the imaginative mind I made for him to concoct this spell. And from there it was just a matter of ‘staying behind the curtain’, as it were, and letting everything fall into place.”

“One thing I still don’t understand.” Merida said, trying to get more information out of Alice and a matter of stalling for time. “Why do you still remember? Everyone else forgot who they were and yet you still remember everything like me.”

“Yes.” She retorted with a curious tone. “Odd isn’t it? For me I suppose it’s because, in a sense, I am the one who cast the spell.” When Merida questioned this she explained “Lord Arawn may have been the one to create the spell, but he’s not truly real. Remember? I created him and I was working through him. I suppose the One World, being my creation, allowed me to retain what I knew. Something I’d learned in Yen Sid’s book of spells is that those that are sustained can only be stopped by one thing: the source.”

“You…” Merida stated. After Alice confirmed this she asked “But what about all the things that’ve changed because of your One World spell? Don’t you care about what you did to some of these people? You changed their lives. Some for the worse.”

She merely shrugged and answered “Not ever plan is flawless. Side effects were bound to occur one way or another. I, on the other hand, played things a little smarter. Having Arawn provide the more potential allies.”

“Like Pete?” Merida asked. “You’re a hero and yet you side with villains?”

“You think too broadly.” Alice retorted with a smile. “Good and evil are only perspectives. And when I’ve finished what I needed to with this world, those words won’t even exists.”

Merida still shook her head, her face a mix of anger and confusion, as she said “Alice….you’ve gone mad.”

She chuckled at that before responding “What you see as madness, I see as inspiration. But I’m tired of talking about all of these things. It does bore me ever so. I think you should start from here on. Starting with how exactly you still remember.” Merida gave a reluctant gesture before Alice said “Come, come, Merida. I’ve told you everything. You could at least do me a small kindness and tell me something.” When Merida defiantly looked away Alice shrugged and said “Very well. I suppose it won’t make any difference anyway.”

She took a step back before clapping her hands twice. Merida jumped at this, wondering what she would do, before the doors to the room opened revealing the Headless Horseman walking in. He looked to the princess before looking to Alice, who gave a nod which indicated him to draw his sword.

As Merida began to panic, asking what he would do, Alice answered “Well I can’t have too many people in this world running around, trying to make everyone remember. And since you won’t tell me how you know, I’m afraid I’ll just have to make sure you can’t remember anymore. So, Horseman…off with her head!”

As the Horseman approached her Merida tried to fight her way out of her shackles. This proved useless and she resorted to rearing her head back as far as possible, only for the Horseman to grab her hair to hold her still as he brought the blade closer to her.

As Merida closed her eyes, expecting the end, Alice had noticed that it had started to grow darker in the room. This was due to the light from the windows becoming eclipsed by something outside. Just as Alice looked away, wondering what it was, Arawn had burst through the door and interrupted the Horseman.

“Master!” he exclaimed after spotting Alice. “It’s the-”

Before he could finish a sudden burst of cold air found its way into the room via the fireplace. It was powerful enough to blow the fire out and freeze the wood. The force of it sent a chill through the air while giving enough force to make the capes of Alice and the Horseman flap. By the time it stopped the Horseman had moved to his true Master’s defense while Arawn moved closer to both of them.

Just then the windows gave a loud crash as people began to break through them and swing in on ropes from something above. Captain Jack was the first, rolling into the room and drawing his sword before looking to everyone present.

“No better way to make an entrance, aye?” he asked sarcastically before more busted in.

Flynn, Aladdin and several of the Arendelle sailors came in through the windows in the same fashion Jack had. And then, from the door, Mulan had kicked it open to reveal herself, Mickey, Peter Pan, Elsa, and several of the Lost Children warriors including Lilo. As Merida perked with excitement and the villains realized they were surrounded, someone made their way down through the chimney of the fireplace, eventually stepping out to reveal Mary Poppins.

Looking over she asked “Princess? Are you alright?” After Merida confirmed this, before being helped out of her bonds by Mickey and Mulan. She said “Good. Now then, oh Master of Worlds, we…” She stopped, seeing Alice, before asking “Merida…is this…?”

“She is!” the princess answered as soon as she was freed. “But please, don’t hurt her. She’s…she’s influenced.”

Seeing that the Master of Worlds was only a little girl Flynn leaned over to Aladdin and commented “Wow. Really wasn’t expecting that.”

“Alice, it’s over.” Merida continued. “You’re surrounded. Just stand down and we’ll find a way to fix all of this.”

Alice, looking angered over all of this, looked around to all of the heroes who had her and her two servants surrounded. When she looked back to Merida, who had given her more sympathetic eyes, Alice whimpered before covering her hands and crying. But soon that crying had turned into laughter, Alice reveal her face and how giddy it was. She snapped her fingers and, in a sudden burst, a circle of fire had blocked everyone from reaching her, Arawn and the Horseman. Arawn, sensing this as a sign, used his own magical skills and created a portal behind them.

Alice looked and exclaimed “This hasn’t even begun!” before all three of them slipped through, both the portal and the ring of fire eventually disappearing.

The whole time Merida had exclaimed for someone to stop them, but by then it was too late. The last thing Merida could see was Alice shooting her a sinister look back before disappearing through the portal. She’d run to the center in a fruitless attempt to follow before falling to her knees in defeat. Not only had she discovered the horrible truth about her friend but now felt she may have been too far gone to be saved.

********************

The portal had brought Alice, Arawn and the Horseman to another secret base which the Master had established in the One World.

As they exited into what seemed like the main hall of some large castle Arawn asked “Master? What do we do now? Your secret is discovered! And now they’ll have the Mirror! If they remember then…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Alice said, removing her cloak to let it drop to the floor. “Let them see the truth that they won’t so badly. We’ve more than enough allies to call on.”

“But Master, what about your plan?”

“Nothing’s changed, Lord Arawn. Only...altered.” She began to walk towards a throne that had been set in the room before saying “Horseman, go and send word to Shan Yu and the Huns. Call upon Pegasus if you must, but go as soon as possible. I want as many of my forces as possible brought here.” The Horseman bowed before walking off. “The princess wants to spoil my fun, so I’ll answer with war.”

“I…suppose you’ll want the forces of Prydain present as well, Master?” Arawn asked.

“Indeed.” She said, taking a seat at the throne. As he walked off she said “And Arawn, try not to look too distressed. We will still have our victory, one way or another. Until then, try to smile more. Like a cat.”

He gave a small bow and walked off, creating a portal to Prydain to move through. Now alone Alice sat in her throne and took a deep breath, taking in the events of the day with a smile. Obviously she wasn’t worried about what should’ve been considered a bad turn of events for her. Instead she sat calmly and waited.

She looked over to a smaller mirror hanging on the wall nearby and saw her own reflection. As she took a closer look she realized her eyes had changed. Now instead of blue they’d become green. She looked curiously at this, even to where she touched under her eyes to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light, before waving this off and leaning back.

Meanwhile the Horseman, outside of what was revealed to be a fortress, held up his hand and kept it in the air while waiting for something. Even without a head it was clear he was scanning the area for whatever it was he’d called. Within a few minutes he saw it approaching from the skies, his flying steed from before. This was Pegasus, now corrupted and altered into the demonic steed of the horseman. When it landed he patted it’s snout before hoping on and taking flight for the east.

He flew away from where Alice’s secondary base was, the old fortress situated at the base of none other than Bald Mountain.