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The sound of the moonlit waves was almost loud enough to drown out the collective snores from Kronk and Frollo. Bagheera lay undisturbed next to the fading embers of the campfire. Tarzan prodded them gently with his spear to awaken the flame.
Satisfied that the heat would carry on for another half hour or so, the Lord of the Jungle turned his attention to the thick brush that clearly wasn't his domain. He surveyed it for any unexpected movement. But the jungle was patient and gave away nothing.
The soft footsteps in the sand behind him were masked by the rhythm of the ocean, but Tarzan felt the presence. He twisted with animal reflexes, spear ready.
"I'm sorry," whispered Elsa. "I didn't mean to startle you."
Tarzan grunted and relaxed his spear.
"You can't sleep either?"
"Not safe," said Tarzan.
"You feel that too? Like we're being watched?" Elsa paused for Tarzan to respond, but he only gave her a blank look. "Eyes." She used hand movements to indicate her own eyes before gesturing to the foliage. "In the jungle."
"Eyes." Tarzan repeated. "Jungle." The ape-man scurried over to where Elsa was standing, forcing her to take a few apprehensive steps backwards. "You feel?"
"I feel."
Tarzan stood a few feet away from Elsa. Arendelle's queen held her hands in front of her trying to indicate polite boundaries. Her fingers noticeably trembled.
"Elsa cold?" asked Tarzan.
"No. Just," she smiled awkwardly, "this may have been a bad idea."
"Bad. I-de-a?" He carefully sounded out the syllables, taking more of an interest in what Elsa was saying than she was comfortable with. He reached out a hand to mirror hers.
"Please!" She pulled her them both away. "Not safe."
The ape-man peered at her. "Elsa not safe?"
"No. Elsa not safe."
Tarzan gave her a reassuring grin. "Tarzan protect Elsa."
He reached out to take her hand again but she jolted at the movement. There was a flash of blue. One disorienting moment later Tarzan found a layer of frost on his face, a substance with which he was unfamiliar. Elsa had fallen backwards to the ground with terror in her eyes. Tarzan shook the frost off and stared blankly at her.
"I'm sorry," said Elsa. She glanced at the fire, making certain no one else had woken up. Tarzan still seemed unclear as to what had happened. The Ice Queen jumped up and ran back to the hut where she'd come from. "This was such a bad idea," she repeated to herself.
And miles away, someone was laughing.
"Elsa, is it? How intriguing."
The imposing figure turned attention to the recently acquired slave of the Underworld. Meg's hand hovered in the air, reaching out to the glowing wisp in front of her but frozen like a statue.
"Now then," came the voice of the shadow, "You were saying?"
"Look!" Meg sprung to life, replaying a significant point in her life. "I know what I did was wrong, but this isn't about me. It's about him!"
The shadow froze her again, disinterested in the direction her narrative was going. Memories poured through her backwards. And then she was free to speak again.
"What are you doing? Without your strength, you'll be killed!"
"Further back, Megara," the figure commanded.
Meg squirmed like she was entwined in a serpent. "Hercules! Don't listen to him-" and her voice was cut off. Somewhere in the distance she heard him. Hades. Bargaining her life for Hercules's strength. And she couldn't stop it. She tried screaming but her body was paralyzed.
"Meg," She could recognize his sneer anywhere. "A deal's a deal. You're off the hook."
But nothing happened. She remained in stasis.
"You're of no use to me," the shadow's voice told her.
Hades continued, revealing Meg's role in the scheme to rid the son of Zeus of his power, and Meg could only bear witness to it. She heard her name spoken by a different voice, a kinder one, but the memories were too strong for her. She watched as Hercules sauntered away, broken and defeated.
And she wanted nothing more than to run after him.
"Miss Megara! Please! Wake up!"
Meg felt herself being gently rocked. The coliseum dissolved into a darkened chamber. The only thing Meg's eyes could make out was a glowing crystal orb sitting on a table in the middle of the room. From within played the image of Hades's imps tormenting Hercules in his lowest hour.
"Hades!" Meg growled, stepping towards the ball.
"No Miss Meg!" Alice grabbed her arm before she could fall through a huge gap in the floor. Somewhere below was the sound of a large creature's jaw snapping.
"What was that?" screeched Meg.
Alice poked her head over the edge. "I believe it's a crocodile." She moved back over to where Meg was pressed against the wall and gave her an embrace to try calming her. Meg held on tightly. "Are you all right?"
Meg had to take a moment to steady her erratic breathing. "No," she said. "No I'm not." On top of her second brush with falling to her death in the same day, she'd just had to relive one of the most painful moments of her life. "And I won't take it lying down."
A second later Meg was on her feet, running out of the room with Alice trailing. The passageway opened up onto a long balcony overlooking some long out of use ballroom.
"Miss Meg, where are we going?"
"No idea, kid."
Alice ran as fast as she could, but her legs were no match for Megara's. "Then how will you know where to look?" she called out.
"Gut instinct!" came the response as Meg disappeared around the corner.
Alice reached the same spot and hopped up a small set of stairs. She found herself in an attic cluttered with boxes and paintings. Meg was still in this room because she called out to someone to stop where they were. Alice scrambled around an old chair covered in a cloth and nearly ran into Meg from behind.
The being Meg was addressing was quite tall, draped in black robes, with a pair of dark horns either as a headdress or actual skull protrusions. All things being equal, Alice would prefer to have left the figure alone, but her friend was understandably angry and hurt, and that tended to create a contagious aura of courage.
"You almost got me killed!" Shouted Meg.
The figure refused to face them. "And what concern is it to me what becomes of either of you?"
"Because I know your kind! Pure ego, no sense! You could have just asked me!"
"Me?" The figure spun around revealing the green face of a stern woman, perhaps a witch. "Ask? Like a common sheep? I am Maleficent! The mistress of all evil!"
Meg was clearly about to say the wrong thing when Alice jumped into the conversation. "Pleased to meet you." She curtseyed. "You must be very important."
Maleficent gave Alice a suspicious glare, like she was dissecting her. "I am."
"Well, my name is Alice. And this is my good friend Miss Megara. I believe you'll find us quite unimportant."
Maleficent smirked. "Quite."
"Your majesty," Alice curtseyed a second time on reflex. "Perhaps it's a presumptuous inquiry, but can you tell us why we have both been brought to this strange land?"
Maleficent slid across the floor toward Alice. "Yes, child. It is presumptuous. And you are unimportant." She stared down at the girl for a moment before waving a dismissive hand. "Go. Off with the pair of you, while I'm feeling generous."
"Of course, your grace." As soon as the mistress of all evil's back was to them, Alice's pleasant expression changed to one of pleading as she gently tugged on Meg's hand to leave. But Meg ignored it.
"You don't know, do you?" said Meg.
Her challenging tone rekindled Maleficent's glare. Despite every impulse she had to run, Alice couldn't help but admire the older woman's audaciousness.
"That's why you were in my head. Looking for answers."
"Miss Meg," Alice gave her an awkward grimace.
"No. I'm right, aren't I? You're as confused as we are."
"How dare you!" A stiff current swirled through the attic, blowing every loose bit of cloth and strand of hair in all directions. "I am the m-"
"Mistress of all evil," interrupted Meg. "Yes, I'm sure that counts for something. But not so much here, does it?"
"Disrespecting me is a dangerous choice."
"That," Meg shifted her weight to one hip, "is why I'm not disrespecting you."
She and Maleficent locked gazes while the flow of wind softened to stillness. The sorceress laughed. "You have conviction."
"Megara. Former pawn of the dead. And the lexicon of syllables here is convinced that she's dreaming all of this."
"Contrariwise-" began Alice, but no one was listening to her.
"And you, Megara, "said Maleficent. "What do you believe?"
Meg drew in a breath before answering. "I haven't decided yet."
"But you have an idea that has been gnawing at you."
Meg glanced at Alice, debating whether or not she should speak her mind in front of the innocent girl. But Meg figured that keeping Alice in the dark would only make it worse in the long run. "I think we all may be dead."
Maleficent laughed harder now. It was unclear to Meg whether it was a way-off-base laugh or a delighted confirmation. Maleficent ran her hand over the ball at the end of her staff and the image of Meg and Alice's journey through the woods from several hours prior played through it. Meg watched as she tried to insult Hades into appearing. From an outside viewpoint, it was embarrassing.
"I think it's fair to say your Hades is not coming for you." The image faded to blackness. "Does that comfort you, or set you at unease?"
"It doesn't answer anything."
"Observe," said Maleficent. Images of Kronk, Jasmine, and the rest appeared in the ball.
"Who are they?"
"Others." The images vanished again.
"What's the connection?" asked Alice.
"It's a mortal failing, searching for connections where there may be none. I've searched this entire land for answers." An overhead view of the Headless Horseman galloping across the meadow appeared, and the image pulled back revealing a large land mass surrounded by ocean. "Up close and from afar. And I have learned two things about it. This world in which we find ourselves is both finite and incongruous."
"What does that mean?" asked Meg.
Alice spoke up. "It means ill-harmonious. Discordant."
"I know," Meg huffed, before regaining her composure, "what the word means, sweetie."
Maleficent chuckled to herself. "It means this has all been prearranged." Maleficent waited to see how the two young ladies reacted to the conclusion. Megara had to catch her own jaw from opening, whereas Alice's eyes seemed to wander in thought. "Tell me, does that comfort you?"
"I guess it depends on who has prearranged it."
"For that, you're going to have to seek answers elsewhere." Maleficent glided away from them and a green flame appeared around her silhouette. "Farewell for now," she exclaimed as the glow flared and shrunk into a tiny dot before disappearing entirely.
For a moment Alice and Meg were blinded by the change in lighting, and they felt for each other's hand. As soon as they could make out vague details of the attic they started walking back toward the doorway they'd come through.
"Come on kid," said Meg. "This place has a ballroom. Let's see if it has a kitchen as well."
Continued in Chapter Seven.
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