Chapter XXIX~ The Lord of the Mountains

 Happy gasped at the sound of their Maidens weeping out and gasping for air from outside the tarp. Grumpy, after eyeing the second the sun vanished low, dropped the knife he was sharpening and dashed towards the tent. Odette and Eleonor gazed up when they each heard the tarp shift only to see the wide, dark brown eyes of the guarding dwarf looking as though he had just suffered the same shift. Grumpy held this rare honest haze in his eyes as he came to the gaggle of women with Happy following inside, to see how they were faring.

“Ida… You- are you all right?” Dorothea spoke between breaths.

“Forgive me, but I am… I am just so very tired.” Ida replied.

“Can’t get a good honest rest in with this going on.” Eleonor dryly spoke as she shifted, while holding Odette’s hand while she was still sitting, lost in her thoughts.

“Breathe, ladies, breathe~” Happy chimed in, offering a wool to Ida who was shivering from the shock of it. 

“ ‘Ette. Woman.” Grumpy gravelly called to Odette, who seemed distant for a moment. Even as to soothing his palm over her cheek to wake her up. She blinked her clear brown eyes.

“Grumpy…” she sighed before gazing over at the group. “I’m here, I’m present… I- …” she stammered before she soon got the strength to stand. With his brow furrowed, Grumpy offered his hand to her, to which she took in order to get to her sore feet.

She had done so as the other four, save for the missing Doc had entered the tent with deep respect to the rising women, as their diamond wearer had a look of clarity in her new glowing brown eyes. That haze was firmly gone. Her cloak was gone, having been gifted to the missing one of their ranks. Happy’s eyes glistened with a renewed hope of seeing her as her whole self again. He was seeing the very woman he had seen fall directly into this realm, risen from the grave, as it were. Grumpy’s eyes glistened, which was a rare luxery… That same vulnerability he had shown after his own horrific vision of having to watch these souls wither away in the darkness. Before his eyes now, they were rising from the darkness. 

Eleonor massaged her wrists and Ida rubbed the back of her neck. Mary held her arms around herself as Antoinette tried to tie her hair back, her dirtied but luxorious locks tucked into her hood. Odette watched them all as she turned from the men towards them, almost hugging herself as her revelations boiled and churned within her mind. “Forgive me, girls… Please forgive me. I have been lost for so long, and I find that I’m thankful that you kept nipping my feathers, Elle.” she remarked to Eleonor, who smirked slowly. 

“That monster, she had been trying to suck me dry… isolate me from all of you. Tried to take me from the very hands who tried to help me on, had loved me, without asking for anything in return. Ida… you were the first swan I laid eyes on when I was chained down in that dungeon.” she spoke as she soothed a hand along Ida’s arm. “She was sucking all of us dry, until there was nothing left. If Happy had never been on that path… We would not be here tonight…”

Happy’s deep amber brown eyes widened before he emotionally closed them in an effort to hide the rush of tears pooling in them. It was purely in vain when Odette had wrapped her arms around him. “… ‘ette. Oh please, ‘Ette…” he sniffled, even when he wrapped his arms as around her as he could in return. 

After giving her very first friend in this world a firm and brave squeeze along his upper arms, she had to part away in order to share the truth she had just been gifted. Her family was to remain together, in one way or another, despite the horror she knew Quasimodo had gone through mere moments ago as they had shifted from feather to skin. His was from skin to fur. Even as she stayed kneeling, locking her eyes with Grumpy’s and then to Ida’s, lastly landing on Eleonor who was at the head of the troupe, Odette drew in a breath.

“The Blue Fairy came back… as we were sleeping.” she began, her voice slightly shaky but tremendously decided. Softly, she rose herself up, gripping the side of her woolen hose.

“Are you certain it was she, Odette?” Eleonor asked. 

“Was it not just another lie?” Mary worried.

“… no. No, this was… this was nothing like … before.” Odette denied, as she almost trailed off as she remembered the details. “… it felt so real. I stood in the middle of my childhood home. The place he took me to after months of observing and planning…”

“… who?” Happy asked.

“My father.” Odette turned after she paced about the tent for a moment, as she began to hold her own arms about herself. The group all fell quiet before glancing at each other in debate. “… my father was there. She… the Star Fairy… she appeared, seeming faded like… like an old painting. She waved that off and just took my h-hand. She took my hand and led me up the stairs…”

“Odette…”

“I only ask that you listen, Ida… Please… Because she led me to the hallway. She led me right to the door of his room. He’s there, and he’s alive. I saw him, I touched him and I heard him… Remember what Maleficent tried to show me… She showed me experiencing a car accident. I was laying comatose somewhere, his face faded off as if someone wiped it away. But there, there in that room where it all began, I saw his face. I heard his voice.”

Odette wound up standing before Claude Frollo’s desk, which was in disarray with maps and rank symbols. After staring at that, she clenched her eyes shut before turning to face them all.

“He whispered the name he called me when I was a child.” she muttered with a tight lump in her throat. “I was able to see him - I miss him so much…”

Hearing Odette’s voice begin to chip and crack down, Eleonor slowly unfolded her arms as her face fell with concern. Ida slowly wiped her own cheek. Grumpy slowly took his pick in hand with his brow hardening as he respectfully neared her, having not spoken a word since the transformation.

“He’s livin’, lass. It can’t get better than that…” he mentioned, as it was his own way of consolation.

“… it’s not only that.” Odette found herself again. “… the diamond. Our Diamond, the one she gave me, the one that granted Jiminy the magic to hear us… My father has been fighting along with us, ever since we left Mondfall.”

“… what?” Dorothea gaped. “How could that be so?”

“It burned those thorns, and it lit the night — and currently it’s keeping Doc and Jiminy warm.” Odette went on. “… The Fairy had intervened some… some time ago as we were journeying far from the prisms. She had put him to sleep — A sleep unlike any other — because his heart was wavering, it was going to break. One of my grandest fears almost came true! But she intervened, and all the while I dared to insult her in front of all of you…”

“You have to know — ‘Ette — is that no one in this place blames you for that. And as it seems, not even she, yes?” Eleonor pointed out. “I had my own doubts back on that lake, nipping at you when I thought you had false hopes… however, you never held back. Even with your head spinning and being condensed then, you stayed faithful to her.”

“Eleonor. I have a memory… It is why my father may have been entrusted as well as I in this realm. Maleficent — she was always there. When I was only six years old, she was looking around in my world. She was always watching, yet so was Evangeline.” Odette noted aloud, for all of them to hear. “… Maleficent attacked my father one night. I awoke, after feeling safe for once ~ I awoke, and I found him still on the floor. The air was thick with that emerald disease that surrounds us every day and every night. She had locked him under her spell, and he wasn’t moving.”

The others were intrigued and slowly drew themselves closer as she went on.

 “We had a ritual, or rather it was something he came up with to help me, because I had - I had a nesting habit as a child. I’d hide in closets. So, he gave me a key and this promise that I had the right to either lock my door which would let him know I wasn’t ready to come out. And he had his own key, so he could open it so he could reach me. Maleficent had tried to - to either turn him into a trophy, and force me to despair… because I was not in a good headspace then. But someone was there, a shadowed figure, and he told me that Richard was locked in a closet but he didn’t have the key…”

Grumpy’s brow furrowed, while the ladies all circled Odette as the story grew thicker and thicker, and it began to make more sense. 

“… at this, something clicked. I knew what that meant.” Odette stated after snapping her fingers. “Even for a dumb, shaken six year old, that was her whole world. What would you do if didn’t have a key? You’re trapped… but I was on the other side of that door and I had a key.”

“And that figure… Do you know who it was?” Ida asked.

“No… He - he resembled a - a man. An old man, with a long beard, and he was tall. Extraordinarily tall.”

“That’s interesting…” Eleonor narrowed her eyes. “This points to the Tower that held the clues, and where we found your cloak… Could it be that this figure has been in shadow, watching us?”

Odette blinked her tears aside, having them latch to her lashes as she breathed deep and still. Dopey’s blue eyes were wide and watered but he was tuned in deeply to the tale. 

“My kidnapping was not… random. Richard’s assault was not… random.” Odette slowly calculated. Soon she began to comb her fingers through her hair as the wind slowly began to die down outside the tarp. “Our entrapment was never random.”

Her vanguard watched her before a specific gleam sparked in her brown eyes. “The Mirror. I remember the story, the mirror only would tell the Queen what she wanted to hear, and it was the truth. It was never capable of stealing lives from other worlds. That was never a thing in the animated stories…” she uttered. “She is using it. It’s not the Queen using it, it’s her and she is powering it with something.”

“Like what…?” Sneezy asked.

“Anything, a stone? Her staff? Whatever conduit that can manipulate an artifact that powerful. She can turn it into anything… Listen, there’s a thing that happens in my world. We live with what we call technology, where it can do so many things but there is always an imperfection. These things can be manipulated, hijacked or repurposed. We call it hacking.” she explained. “The artifacts, here in this world, are similar in a way, if not more powerful. The Diamond is one ~ it has been turned into a source of information that can be felt here as well as back at that bedroom. The Mirror, the same thing… It’s been turned into a door but it steals information, like a hack. That’s what happened to me. I went through the door, and it took my memory as payment.”

After all that debriefing, Odette soon shook out of it to regain some of her footing. The ladies all began to kneel to the matted ground at this revelation, but Odette’s eyes had gone wide and distant as she was far from finished. Although she felt her hand being held, she followed them by kneeling almost flat to the floor with them, as it seemed that her breathing was ragged.

“M’lady, however it is in your kingdom, like wha’ you once told us… that the castles there were used not palaces but as places for only people to labor or stay in… There are magics there that seem so close to what we’re feeling now?” Happy asked, trying to piece together the similarities that were shared. 

“I would not compare it to magic.” Odette replied. “But people live the same, but there are so many people living in one place in some areas, so these castles are necessary needs. It isn’t so pretty though. It’s just a basic need in our kingdom. I wouldn’t call it a kingdom either…”

“As you seem to know enough, you truly are from another land…” Mary began to speak. Odette closed her eyes as she fought long and hard to keep the tears from spilling over. 

“I truly am… and I was able to see my father tonight. The Star lady was so gracious to allow me.” Odette’s voice was deepened and broken, slowly looking at their faces. Bashful used the tip of his own beard to dab at his own tears from his eyes. “Magic has touched our lives, both the bad… and the good. Because after I was able to speak to him, to my father — she told me something else.”

“What had she told you, ‘Ette?”

“Quasimodo… He’s - he’s alive~” Odette went on with the most important news. Before she could see their eyes brighten too much, she held a cold demeanor over hers.

“Odette! That is wonderful!” Ida genuinely smiled with such glee! “… but why do you not ~?” she trailed off, sighting Eleonor slowly beginning to shake her head. Grumpy’s eyes slowly widened.

“… speak, lady swan.” Grumpy told her, which had her lock her eyes directly on his. She held a very watery smirk before she wiped her eye.

“He’s coming, a-and he isn’t alone… but under the moonlight, we’re not going to see him … as a man.”

“… not as a man? You do not mean — You cannot be saying —“ Carol Anne gasped between her words. Odette tearfully shuddered as she had to nod as the words could no longer be formed in her mouth.

“That’s not even half of it, because the Fairy… she - she called him… The Lord of the Mountains…” Odette’s voice sounded as light as clouds.

There were gasps of reverence and whispers from their throats until it was deeply quiet with only the wind blowing being the only sound to their ears.

“You are stating… that he is currently… a bear.” Eleonor came to that thought. “That is the lore behind the King of the Forest…” she noted, seeing the glow in Odette’s deep brown eyes. “… who is able to take the shape of a man at will…”

Odette soon let her hands to lower from her face, coming to the thought of seeing the face of this new Lord of the Mountain. As she was a Swan Queen, by every meaning of the title if the ballet held anything more over her head, there was a Bear King sauntering through all that snow right now. She gazed at the opening of the tent that was the only path out to return them all on their perilous journey. Her heart sung for the man who gave his humanity for her, and for the father who stayed guarded for her sake, for her story… The time was now. 

“And we were given a time, ladies and gentlemen.” Odette stated. “… this voyage will end.” she announced.

A few of the girls knelt down, in prayer and thanks… even as she herself nodded at this, with tears trailing her cheeks. “We are one in this, as you well know. These men did not sacrifice themselves for nothing, and I am going to make sure of that. In four months time, or so… there will be only one night when the curse can be lifted.”

“Our Fairy had told you?” Eleonor nearly choked out as she grasped her hands close to her chest. Ida took Odette’s. 

“The Sunrise that ends the Winter Solstice,” she softened, yet each ear heard her as clear as day. “… and even before that light peeks over the horizon, Quasimodo and I… we must gaze into each other’s eyes.”

After being a silent listener, Grumpy gripped Happy’s shoulder in a certain reassurance as he used his pick axe strongly to stand up. His focused eyes were glossy but sharpened. “… and when we do, my father will wake up… and we’ll all be finally free~” the Dwarfs heard as they gathered. 

“An’ it seems that we’ve got comrades to gather, men~” Grumpy sounded off to his brothers before he began a march toward the opening of the tent. “Gather as many bucks you can find…”

“We’ll ride along with you,” Mary stated as the flock began to follow. Odette began to cover her hands with a pair of gloves. 

A gleam of pride shot out from Grumpy’s eyes directly into hers as they all began to move forward together. There was no fear reaching their eyes, and no doubts as Odette knew what her heart was seeing, and she strode forth with her maidens at hand.  The sheer child of stepping back into the cold world of the Voyage — the time of rest was over. 

Guardian of the Night

Meanwhile, the chill of the night had shifted to day, as a shift had seemed to enter each of the knight’s spirits the deeper they had gone into the snow drowned woods. Claude Frollo had he drove his great horse forward had not spoken a word since their departure from the encampment. Snow powered through until his hooves had struck a path that was not tormented by brambles, just the same. It was safer for his ranks to follow close. His own spirit was leading him on, not yet in the know of Odette’s current truth as she was able to touch the cheek of her enchanted father as of this moment… In his formerly calloused heart would not stall until the entire family was returned to its absolute fullness again, ever since the near losses at the ancient mines. As well intentioned as it all seemed to be, it made them so vulnerable for this current attack of wills. His well placed hatred was enough to drive his own steed to pure exhaustion. The ground shook from mere might of him to the duo huddled in that lonesome hallow. Doc was still tenderly wrapped in Odette’s cloak, holding that pouch with a warmed Jiminy Cricket at his chest. The stone held a natural glow that occupied the warmth that happened to stem from the love of a father. 

“I shan’t - I can’t - believe I don’ remember ever goin’ in that mine…” Doc hummed as he hugged the woven pouch closer to his chest. Jiminy felt the stone against him, feeling like the warm kiss of a firelight’s heat through his torn jacket. He sighed, truly feeling ultimately sleepy.

“… I thought I was thrown back into… that very same nightmare,” Jiminy softly began. “The one that had trapped me and the folk back home…” he sleepily explained, finding it harder to open his eyes at this point. 

“Jim…?”

The poor Voice gave a small hum of acknowledgement, yet those eyes were shut. “Just - just for a moment…? I don’t I… I don’t …” he soon sighed out, in a doze.

“Aye…” Doc lowly sighed, seeing their rescued voice of reason and connection succumb to a bone deep exhaustion that could not be helped. The Diamond’s touch may have been the root of that temptation. “… take it easy, then… I got the witch — I, erm — the-the watch.”

Tucked right by the stone, Jiminy fell into a true sleep, resting slightly side angled over his right arm as his hat laid astray away from his head. Doc cupped the pouch by having it open just enough that he could see his friend. Doc huddled and curled himself to become as small as possible by wrapping the cloak around himself further, whilst spying the knitted love at the edges.

“… you’re … you’re so kind…” was Jiminy’s final sigh as he peeked one eye open for merely a second, before sleep claimed him entirely.

Doc remained that way as minutes stretched on as the storm outside slowly soothed by allowing the moonlight to pour from above. He peeked out slightly when there came a shuffling of weight through the snow out there which caused his shoulders to tighten and his feet shifted and honed up to bolt while holding preciousness close to his heart. When those shuffles got louder, there came a lingering shadow that came with them. Then again, it stopped, ending its trek with one final thrum against the snow covered ground. Doc gasped and slowly pinned himself deeper into the hollow. He had no other choice but to listen to this deep ‘chuffing’ sort of breath right outside, with a hot huff spewing hot hair into the chilled world. 

Doc tightly blinked his eyes just to be absolutely sure that there was no snag or trick to this, but he was terrified. Jiminy shifted in his rest even as Doc had tried his best to remain silent. That shadow did not move, it only hovered. After an eternity of staring out, Doc saw a mighty, thick mass of fur and bristle stomp down lower onto the path. A massive auborn paw, with thick long dark claws settled there as a mass brought its head forth into Doc’s line of sight. That back held an arch, like the silhouette of a distant mountain at twilight… A flash of deep auborn and thick brown seemed devastastingly black at first until he had to blink. He felt a huff of hot air hit against his face.

That head, with those swishing tufts of ears beside the awkward mop of fur atop the head, there was a nearly smashed in nose that thickened as it sniffed the warm air of the hallow. Two glints could be seen on each side. Doc could see it blinking in the dark. One shuffle, followed by another deep one, the might of him entered the space, blocking out the chill of the night, as though meaning to curiously see to them. Jiminy’s brow furrowed as he felt his guardian shift before he blinked his eyes open… In his natural way, he gave a silent gasp and backed against the fabric upon seeing the great bear.

He seemed to watch them for a moment as though he could sense their natural fear of him. There was this unique bow of his grand head, a slight puff from his snout before he gave a soft, wooshing moan… Hearing that, Jiminy mouth hung ajar before he settled a glove against the Diamond and slowly pushed himself up, unblinkingly staring. His brow etched with worry and realization as that thick snout hovered over him — With one tender motion, Jiminy raised up his hand and was able to graze his fingers along the dry folds of that black nose. There was a profound hum that thrummed through their very marrow as that great head lowered down in respect. Doc breath shook as soon as the beast slowly laid down beside them, his beefy arm extended out in rest and giving off a deep warmth by blocking out the wintery bite just beyond the hollow. 

The bear remained idle, as though incredibly spent, and focused on taking deep, steady breaths as the two were merely trying to process.

“… jim?” Doc’s voice was small.

Jiminy did not answer right away because his eyes were slowly adjusting, he was studying this brilliant guardian closely - taking in each rounded side and lopsided form on the bear’s resting face. Those eyes were softly closing and opening as he breathed… Jiminy had to keep back from sobbing, as much as he wanted to when he saw a crimson moisture overtake the thick fur nearest to them, below his flank that shivered in pain.

“… he’s hurt - my stars, you’re hurt…” Jiminy’s voice tensed and shattered. “… Quasimodo…”

“… it can’t - oh~ oh no…” Doc’s heart began to break just the same.

“It is him! Look at him!” Jiminy’s voice sprung high, a sniffling mess as he gestured toward that snout and that familiar mound over the left eye. The bear softly leaned his head more towards them. “… and those eyes, don’t you see those eyes?”

“He had Odette, and Fidele and they got tripped over and split…” Doc recalled.

“Look at his eyes, Doc.” Jiminy ordered, in a firmer tone amidst the tears. Doc shook out of it and listened, looking deep into the bear’s one right eye.

In its depths was not the typical brown or black of a witlesss beast, but there was the reddened and wet glimmer of a teal like iris deep under those thickened lashes and blackened lids. Doc reached out to try and touch him but he couldn’t bring himself to before he shrunk away to bury his face into his hands, as he knew the truth as well. 

“What’re we to do? What’re we to tell them? Frollo. Odette… They will be… They’ll be~” Doc broke apart.

“We tell ‘em the truth.” Jiminy stated. “The intent now is to come back together, one way or another. Ain’t that right?” he reminded. “He’s here now. He’s here, and he is whole. Appearance isn’t a factor, as far as we know now. Chin up, come on~” Jiminy’s voice strengthened despite how much this hurt him to witness. “I saw Odette’s father, the Lady is keeping her post and we can’t let our own eyes deceive us. That’s been a thing since that mine.”

Doc began to wipe his eyes as he took in breaths as even as the resting auburn bear’s, whilst clutching the precious Diamond closer. 

“Our job now is to get him back to Odette… and I got a feeling that she’s gonna know…” Jiminy’s voice dropped deeper as Doc gathered himself. He settled his palm into that hot arm of thick fur. It was though he were touching sunlight.