Chapter XXI ~ The Black Swan

 Once again, being trapped in waiting, their hearts could hardly take it anymore. Odette pressed her wings against both Ida and Eleonor, rousing them awake with her wings. Jiminy gasped and had to leap away for a second at the startle. Even he was on suspicion of something going on, and was able to see how wild and sad her eyes were. A strange but dark force was currently lurking within these trees that were potentially keeping the men few separated from them. She, as well as her flock, were suspicious and were fairly on edge about this poisonous quiet surrounding them that intended to steal the poor cricket from them. 

All right, this has gone far enough! Eleonor soon flared out her feathers at once when a terrible shadow was sneaking along in some sort of form of a snake. She opened her wings set before her friends with a sharp hiss at the hidden creature, having to have been listening to it approaching them. 

In the best way that they could, even Odette had to try and do her part, they stuck close to each other with opened wings. Even with their limited attempts, their came the presence of the other dwarfs who have come with their weapons as the whispers and hisses of these shadows continued to become louder. All the worst, there were shrieks in the night that followed. As this was drawing close, Odette had taken notice of the Diamond’s glow soon going bright star white. The light of the jewel captivated Jiminy as those deep creatures of night seemed to recoil from it, and swirled around above them. 

Odette arched her wings in order to protect Jiminy, who had no other alternative, for his own survival. Covering his arms over his head, he could only pray right then, as he felt the brilliant glow warm him over. 

“Dear, sweet lady, as we live through this, keeping guarding their hearts… As we come ever closer to hope, it’s always viciously yanked away from us. Bring them back, please~ I beg of you… If we were to lose him too, what are we to do…?” were the softly wept out words that came across Odette’s ears, as well as Ida’s own.

Besides the clashing of swords, and the grunts of strain and ache, the issue was hardly behind any of them. A dark enchantment was laced within the mountain alone, dashing all hope of ever remaining hidden from the enemy because she was present, absolutely. With his heart breaking and cold from that vision, Quasimodo kept Grumpy closely beside him. Keeping their eyes downcast, and squinted at best, they kept searching for their missing comrade… Granted, Quasimodo had to look over his shoulder when he discovered Claude had followed afar, hearing a battle ensue. In a way, it was in their favor in the moment, as afraid as he felt for his father. In a great cold sweat, Quasimodo pressured on, scaling a climb as soon as he got his comrade upward first, knowing Doc was taken at this rate. Above all else this was to bring harm to Odette’s close and new found family, it was angering him.

Especially after learning that her mind was slowly being broken down, as were their spirits as a whole, there wasn’t a single second worth losing. With a gruff elbow, he chose to violently shove a Born aside after it came bellowing like a banshee at both him and Grumpy, sparing his life once again… Together, they climbed higher to where the crystals met another ledge. Both men were able to get to safety when this ledge bled into another path that dug deeper into the rocks. With his heart hardened by that threatening vision, the man beside the Dwarf passionately shoved aside struck rocks with a mere shove with his elbow, creating a new way out before more of the undead would attempt on their lives. Something was seeing to keep them barred. It was the same magic that was taking Odette’s memories, and earned the anger of the swans. 

“This’n was no lie what y’showed me before~!” Grumpy panted as soon as he believed they were safe.

“If only there was a different way to prove it further - Grumpy, I am so sorry!” Quasimodo’s cracked voice was invited within the darkness. The poor, dizzy dwarf was still guided by the man’s hand.

As soon as they got a moment, kneeling down in the shadows as soon as they could, the two men were bombarded when one orange gnome had fallen down right beside them, gasping from his own panic ~ Faer, in his natural way, was so glad to see the face of the Woodsman. 

“Faer~ whatever are you doing?” Quasimodo stressed highly, finding his rescued gnome all fluffed up on the ground before them.

“Sorry-sorry-sorry~ oh flarps!” Faer coughed as he got up from his fall, patting the dust off of himself.  “The girls - th’men are trying to fight’em off, sir!”

“Fighting what off, Faer!?” worried the Woodsman. The hurt in his voice made Faer’s eyes water up, his lower lip trembled.

“Shadows! They’ve come in the dark! Oh, I hate the dark~” the poor creature trembled, his irises sporting a sharp green, and then to blue as he blinked his fear away. He hugged himself, the fur on his back rising. He felt Quasimodo’s arms about him.

“Don’t be afraid. The trick is to not be afraid…” he told him before Faer formed back into a robin, however… he remained as a ball of fluff in Quasimodo’s hand. “Where you came, please remember… because one of us has been taken inside this place, Fear. Doc has been lured in, and a vision tortured me…”

That alerted the magical little creature, who looked into Grumpy’s strained, heartbroken eyes before he took the air again. “It-Never-Hurts-To help, righ’it, Quasi?”

*

As much as the Maidens could help it, they huddled about each other as these shadows drew closer and surrounded them. While this was ensuing with the men distracted further by an army of vicious undead bodies… Jiminy could not find it in his heart to abandon the girls, not in any shape or form. With a sob, he dived down from Odette’s back and stayed under her wings…

“Do not let them take him!” Odette heard Eleonor hiss aloud and she could not see anymore. 

“Don’t you dare worry about me, girls - keep yourselves together! For my sake, please! I don’t think my heart can take it…” they all heard their Voice break apart. 

“You mean so much to us! Don’t put yourself down, like I have!” Odette begged him, hoping he would shelter under her feathers. “A foolish girl with foolish dreams before, now I can’t recall why I had them in the first place… We want you to see your Villagio again, so please, don’t move anymore!” she begged him to calm himself during this great danger above their heads, as it seemed to begin to leak into their very minds. 

Setting his hat aside, as it got in the way, Jiminy listened to her and stayed beneath a set of feathers, knowing how powerless it was to even try. His spirit was screaming at him to do something. Little did he know that the swan he was underneath of was feeling mentally off. Odette shook her head, feeling a strange lightness in her mind. She did not know where it was coming from… It did bode well when Ida was first to notice her acting strangely, even further when she laid her head down, having craned her neck downward.

*

That faintness of their voices faded away into the night, and her head swam into that single moment of bliss… as if she were to sleep. Cassandra found herself on a golden tile floor, hunched over and gazing down at her hands, leaning forward. Her hair hung down, over her face and eyes as she groggily rose her head up, not yet fully realizing that she was a woman again… As she was a woman, she was graced in a beautiful white gown. Deep within this place, she could pick up the voices of her newfound loved ones crying for her…

“Don’t close your eyes!” was Jiminy’s wail.

“— Odette - Please! —“ Happy’s voice wept for her.

“Fair Maiden of white, eyes of the doe… How have I heard so much about you.” came a milky, silvery voice that made Odette turn her head away from the voices. It sounded like her own voice. 

She was indeed elsewhere, not only was she human again in this moment. Odette slowly stood up, finding herself no longer in a forest by the riverside. It was darkened above her, however, she figured there were high arches as she seemed to stand in the middle of a vast ballroom, covered in gold and silver tiles. The gown, it graced her like the fresh morning sun, the hemline barely trailing along the tiles with gentle white slippers on her feet… Slant sleeves with a feathery design along the silhouette, with light gold lace along the bodice and waist. However, the distaste she endured as she gazed it over… all the while the Diamond glowed a sharp bright gleam before she began to look around for the voice calling her.

When she did look though, she saw nobody… Not even a familiar face. There were distant pillars and arches far from her, and yet they surrounded her. It looked to be a castle, that glimmered with darkened stones, and deep amethyst. Even in this new attire, the first thing she thought of when she stood up was to feel for the Rosery that remained tucked beneath the golden necklace gifted at the beginning… Naturally, she gripped it tight with tears overwhelming her eyes. This had to be another spell coming down onto her head. For all she knew, it was taking them all down…

She feared a great deal of what could have happened to her girls, Quasimodo, and Claude Frollo - the entire family… Was she taken away to a new world once again? How was she currently human when their chance to be so was dashed? 

In spite of this, she was surrounded by beauty. Her gown glimmered like distant stars amidst the darkness, as an array of candles and torches lit up all around her. Spooked, she turned to each direction, to see great portraits hung above in golden frames that seemed to loom down at her. Of Princes and Princesses, with their respective partners all appeared to focus on her, much to her unease…

Delicately arched windows radiated in a soft blue hue from the twilight sun outside yonder struck her as strange. That was before she heard … her own voice once again coo behind her ~ echoing through this vast chamber.

“Look at yourself now,” was the cool statement as Odette turned to see another woman, her face shrouded in black garment.

They wore a similar gown to hers, only that it was purely pitch black as hers was all white as snow. They saundered towards her with confidence, all Odette could do was stare at them. 

“A Diamond in the Rough.”

“Who a-are you…?” Odette timidly asked them, unnerved that their voice sounded just like hers. As soon as she asked that, this woman lightly took off the shard from over her face. With a single hand, she made it fly right off and it seemed to disappear into the air, to reveal Odette’s own face - directly in front of her very eyes.

“I am who you always wanted to be…” they spoke in a fairly flirtatious manner. 

It was as though Odette was looking straight into a mirror. Everything around her seemed to go out of focus the more she stared at this doppelganger as something seemed to drape over her mind. Even as this other offered a graceful hand for her to take, Odette felt an odd compelling to take it… She failed to fully notice the corner of this vision’s lip curve upwards into a dark smirk. A deep violet sheen shimmered in the vision’s eyes as she took Odette with her, bringing her into a sort of dance. 

As they have gone, the brilliant ballroom began to be illuminated in more light ~ from each torch - in order tp burn away the darkness that overtook the poor white swan’s heart only moments ago. By taking her hand, the spectre pulled her more outward into the center of the room, dizzying her even more. When Odette looked back to them, she found them twirling gracefully about her, that pitch dark gown beautifully gracing her form so naturally, only confusing poor Odette more.

What was all this? Why was she here… ~ Where were her friends? Her mind sparked after Quasimodo, given their last conversation… His warmness towards her even with her own mind being shrunk by the day. She tried to shake off that strange feeling as she tried to avert her eyes from the spectre as they waltzed about her. 

“You have journeyed far, protected and led, like the foolery bird you are… A stranger from the outside, taken for a lust for blood.” her own voice held a sort of malice in it, and she heard it as clear as day. “You believe he would stay for you, he was never for you. Those men had faced death for a bird that cannot even remember her own name…”

“What do you want?” Odette tearfully asked with these doubtful words being put into her head. “This isn’t —“

“And she who has given you that accursed jewel, where do you suppose she is now?”

Odette shook her head, picked up the front of her dress and tried to run from the spectre, whose face was leering directly after her.

“Of course, you would run!” she heard them cry after her, before she found her hand caught. She had taken her into a fast waltz around, as the ballroom glowed from a light unseen as more spectres appeared around them, of beautiful men and women in gorgeous dress robes and gowns of every shade of color one could imagine. 

“Wait! This isn’t right!” Odette cried out, trying her best to fight but the spectre had both hands clasped into hers. “Let go of me! Who are you!?”

“I am what you have covetted for years long, all you never had before you were ever cursed. Look at what you see, as this could be all yours~ A new land to call your home. Isn’t it dazzling?” her doppelganger began to laugh before throwing Odette out of the fray amidst dancers, where she landed on her knees onto the tile. 

Odette fought to catch her breath before she gazed up to find a brightly familiar hand offered towards her… Quasimodo’s strong hand, of which she took… She rose up to her feet while gazing into his eyes. Not even a second later, he vanished into a sway of enchanted glamour, much to her horror.

“Quasimodo!” Odette cried, reaching out to it but all she grabbed was air. In heartache, she clutched her chest. She shut her eyes, doubting what her eyes were seeing, and what she was hearing.

“You are falling in love. Such delight, such hope… Such beauty… when it all will be folly.”

Odette paled, as she opened her bright brown eyes wide, terrified at the very idea of it. With great courage, she looked at the other woman who wore her face.

“What are you talking about!? Who ARE you!?” she demanded, even as she felt tears begin to sting her eyes. The spectre only chuckled deeply before mocking a bow to her, as the rest followed suit like puppets on strings. The beautiful vision around her all began to fall apart, little by little… and confusingly she twisted around until everything she was offered was gone. A mirror appeared at the end of the room, grabbing her attention… Not noticing one subtle little thing about herself was that her own eyes reflected that violet hue for only a second before he shoulders fell slack as she seemed to turn and face this mirror. Inside, she was able to see the man on the other side of it, a brown eyed, brown haired man. He stood before her, reaching out to touch the glass, an eerie glow reflected in his eyes… and he looked so hurt.

“All of this can be yours, my dear. You have gone far enough, why suffer more? Go back to that man you called father…” that mimicry continued to comfort in her ear, even inside her own thoughts. “… why endure that Starfae’s pathetic ways, when she has so much power? You thought so yourself. You could have gone back home, and yet you chose to stay.”

Odette slowly approached the beautifully ornate framed mirror, sorrowfully looking into it — even though it may have been something she should not have done, but her mind was overcome.

“Dad…”

At once when her fingers traced the glass, another vision rippled before her, as she now stood alone. She saw that mundane modern city, of endless streets and bustle, vehicles going to and fro with endless abandon, like restless bees going in and out of their hives. The stress of work, but the stable life she had - Her dear home provided by a man’s love, her decision to remain alone after the arguments with a past flame fell on her heart. Her memory sparked for a moment, when she saw a past gathering of ladies about her, who shared the love for children… The sight of a brown eyed man driving her somewhere, his face warm and caring. Until a flash of light hit her, a spark of emerald.

Odette began to blink out of it and shook her head in denial before this vision of another car hitting hers with such a force… 

“You have chosen to stay for a dream, my dear…” were the scathing words she heard behind her. “Near death you were thrown, in burning heat you were found… numb and still. You left him alone, just as he was meant to be so. After you promised, you begged him not to leave you and yet… here you are, selfish and uncaring!”

The last thing she saw was herself again, plastered on a bed in a hospital room, with her face masked and IV’s connected to each arm. That once smiling man terrified at her bedside, just purely full of tears as he squeezed her hand.

“No… How can that be!?” Odette began to choke up as she grasp her chest. “I don’t remember any of that  — It all feels just as real as him… How I feel - how can all this be a lie…?” she rightfully questioned, herself, and this voyage alone. “He… he’s my father — What have you done!?”

“Of course, you would still remember! This spell you are under is hindering your mind the longer you remain in it… You have flown through the mirror scried… It has taken it all from you. Soon, you will be a shell of your former self. A mere trophy within a dark fortress, as you were destined to be…”

The love she was surrounded with here and there, she realized…  if it was all fabricated all along, it had to be the cruellest trick of all. Quasimodo’s devotion to her after her own father’s attempts, as her heart was beginning to open up to him… His voice, his warmth, his touch… Jiminy’s loyalty, the Seven’s courage for her and the ladies. Her flock… All trapped with her. All of them just mere puppets!? No, she cannot believe this — she will not!

As she pulled away from the lull of the mirror, Odette began to turn to run from it before her hand was caught again. Her doppelganger held a solemn gaze before Odette laxed a little more.

“Abandon this, we both know you want to. The longer you stay here, the more you forget about him, when it should be the other way around… Wouldn’t you agree?”

Odette’s face slowly sunken more as she listened.

“That gold encrusted brooch you wear about your throat was given by a liar when she simply could have taken you back whence you came - awoken from this nightmare. Allow me to do this favor for you…” the black adorned vision offered a softened look to the white. “Let me put your poor mind to rest…”

Odette had tears in her eyes at this point. As they fell, she took an honest step closer before she heard another voice… Happy… Happy was sobbing out her name… When her doppelganger heard it as well, her face twisted into an angry snarl and her grip tightened on Odette’s hand. Yet being stronger in spirit, Odette yanked her hand away.

“I-I don’t believe you. You are nothing like me… I chose to stay, just as Richard had for me - He chose to stay, and then they chose! I don’t believe you! They all did!” Odette cried out against this mask ~ this face that resembled hers however, she was speaking to a stranger. Then, as quick as she was able, she began to run as soon as she turned, as fast as her legs could go… She trusted him, and the Fairy, more than ever, in this moment. When she made this choice, that diamond glowed so brilliantly that the dark seemed to burn away. As to how she felt towards Quasimodo was a deep rooted emotion~ as scared as she was that she may have been falling in love, the hope of freedom regardless… A new fear still ignited inside her…

*

Happy cradled the Diamond Swan’s body, simply crying into her feathers much to the horror of the others.

“She won’t wake up - she won’t wake up …” he sobbed. 

“They’ve been bewitched! Look, she’s breathin’!” Bashful choked.

“What are we going to do!?” Happy despaired as the shadows seemed to disperse away. “… someone’s trying to take her away too…”

Eleonor was in a fright, speechless when they were all attacked and bewitched right when the shadows touched their heads. Each swan awoke from something, except her. Odette. Something had gone on, having been overcome by the shadows… Ida shook her head in a teary fray, only to find the Dwarfs in despair. When they all started to wake, the Diamond about Odette’s chest began to glow… It began to glow so bright that it lit up the forest entirely, in pure starlight. 

“Please - you just gotta wake up ~ Odette, please!” Sneezy wept, even when Bashful softly held her tiny head in his palm. 

A soft spirit seemed to enter inside them, a sort of calm… even in the soldiers trying to protect the troupe, however… even they had no power strong enough to fight against another spell. All the while with them, it was just the same with Quasimodo, and Grumpy… with Faer seeing the light above first. 

“Look!” the bird cried, changing back into his elvish way as he peered through the rocks for the light on the other side. Quasimodo had come behind him to help him move the rocks. With his eyes misty and stressed, Quasimodo delivered a single shove against those rocks, knocking them down to reveal another passage. Right then the light became a brilliance to their eyes, and when they peered in they found Doc, lying in a mere heap, within a crystal filled chamber. Grumpy charged in, first… in a protective shift to get to his brother’s side. Doc’s face was nestled in the nook of his arm, positively exhausted from whatever plagued his own mind. They were all in the same boat as the Flock… a horror settled into the men’s hearts, right then. 

The mere shattering of the rocks alerted the undead Cauldron Born, earning the Minister just the right moment to behead the final rush of them, causing their bones to shatter and fall apart, tumbling down deeper in the cavern. Even though they have won this physical battle, a wave of dread tortured them all, and it only drove Frollo to run quick in order to find his son, primarily. Whom was positively focused on rousing Doc, knowing he was trapped just the same as he was ~ a dark spell had come over them, to keep them separated. Stroking over Doc’s brow, he kept the movement flowing until Doc began to open his eyes to find them hovering over him.  A greenish haze swirled over the edges of his sight before he blinked it all away, feeling the comfort of the three who found him.

“…m-my bed - my head~” the poor Dwarf groaned, with his spectacles lost somewhere after being somewhat kidnapped by whatever or whoever initiated this. Those with him looked absolutely horrified, tired and heartbroken, but with ease Doc was helped up. “I couldn’t see… They told me you left, that I wasn’t ~ It was all true? No, no - no, it wasn’t —“

“Told you it was all stupid, y’fool!” croaked Grumpy, who was so relieved to have his brother back again in one peace. “Scared us all to no end - thought we saw the last of ya — Get up, lad!” 

Quasimodo looked completely spent even with the relief of finding Doc, but something felt sickening, all the way in his heart. Even as this glow that led them to him, this brilliance took the form of a white bird, hence truly entrancing Faer with its sheer brightness. An orb was trying to goad them to follow it… Amidst his memory of the pure blue Lady,  Quasimodo’s eyes turned ice cold just before it began to flow directly before him, in such gentleness. 

Upon seeing those eyes soften, the Blue Fairy had come to the stunned men, just before the Curse would spread even more so than before. It was something she had predicted, but this was not a victory for their enemy. “Broken the spell of dispair, you all have — such strength of heart. Come with me, be quick ~ a danger loomed and she follows closely. As we must endure to a better end.”

“Please do not insinuate what I think you are….” Quasimodo begged, in a quivering voice.

“The women! All the more reason to keep us in this place!” Doc gasped, as soon as his mind was sharp once more. “Something has bound to have happened!”

“Not only over them… Odette has escaped, but Sir Jiminy has been snatched away by the sweeping shadows…” that orb of light announced in deep sorrow.

“What!?” Quasimodo deeply gasped out just as Faer reformed himself back into a bird, and fluttered high above their heads.

“They have attempted to stifle me, however they have dispersed… the power against mine grows ever stronger, the more our despair grows. She waits until we are lame… Come follow me as I am able to- Hurry now, my courageous ones!” as though tearfully she told them before Quasimodo ushered the three to go before him in order to reunite with the Knighthood.

“What has happened to our Jiminy!?” Doc panicked. “He has not—“

“Do not even say it!” Grumpy held a hint of denial in his tone.

“Be quick! Return to the flock as they awake just the same as you have~ I will be swift to make sure he is sound…”

Quasimodo was outraged at this, as they were entirely assaulted by dark magic by simply leaving the safety of the protected forests of Mondfall. Their hearts broke deeply that this separation had led to one of them being taken. 

“If somethin’ ever happens to those girls, I’ll never be the same again! Never again!” Grumpy angrily snarled during their run.

Quasimodo had to keep his tongue bitten as a cold stab erupted through his heart… They have come from across the chasm, from where they could see Claude take on more with his own, Quasimodo froze in terror… With a knowing shove from Grumpy himself, Quasimod bolted and climbed high, as quick as he could to get to his father’s side. It was a chance to make a safeway back out, along with the light of the Fairy, the last of the bone soldiers seemed to shiver in its presence. Claude couldn’t hold it up for long, but when his eyes caught onto the sight of the bright orb, he did not expect someone forceful and angry to come leaping over the rocks after it. 

With one strong arm, Quasimodo was able to bound over with such force. He landed harsh enough to startle the stragglers, eyeing each one with deep wrath with his dagger set up to do some well earned damage. Claude gasped in sheer relief of his son’s opportune appearance. The younger man looked beyond wrathful when he took it out on an uncoming Born, with enough strength to decapitate it instantly. Reunited as a unit, both the Minister and his son went in full force to finish them off — Diving into a roll when he had been jumped from behind, Quasimodo showed no mercy to it as he gripped its throat and threw it aside, so hard that it fell off the ledge into the darkened crevice below. Claude Frollo having been thin in frame, but agile for his old age was able to cut the feet from underneath another before kicking it briskly and fast that its jaw flung off like crumbling bread. 

Doc and Grumpy both climbed up lastly and rose to see the fight go underway with a newfound spirit relit in their eyes… These beasts remained in their way, and after what they have just been through, the Flock had to be kept safe above all. Learning of the possible theft of one cricket, their anger was rightfully placed, after all. With one grunt and growl, the two powered forward, giving their best shoves against the last of the stragglers, being small enough to make them trip over and topple off to the side of the ledge. They went until they came right beside the son and father. 

Something about the presence of the darting orb upset them, forcing them to recoil away from the brave men… 

“Best set eyes on that horizon, beloveds!” Frollo spoke, even with his sword set and ready. “The horror of which we find ourselves in could very well mean the same to the Swan Maidens… I fear what has fetched your wrath, my son — Dash, run quick — Retreat! Wasting the seafire cannot be an option in this moment - Hurry!” he ordered them, and the poor Knights behind all began to back off and flee to get out of the chamber, whilst never turning their backs on the monsters. Quasimodo held his arms out to keep them and his father well behind him as the ranks pulled out before they would flee with them, at last. That orb sparked like a flame one last time, and they were free~