AN: A loving parody of most of our childhoods and adulthoods.

Update 4/9/20: I merge both parts. Scroll down if you already read the first half.

Our Snow White trudges out of her converted bedroom, jaded. Not that she has anywhere to go during the current state of the world.

"Hey, readers. Welcome to day who-the-hell-is-keeping-track-now of the apocalypse. Welcome to day who-the-hell-is-keeping-track of the apocalypse. Everything's shut down. Everyone is required to stay home until further notice. To a kid, that's a great idea on paper. But it's boring nowadays!"

The second-oldest brother heard her bellowing and enters the hallway in a bathrobe. "Linka, you could always do something for yourself. Take my example. I'm taking a self-health care day for my hair." He goes into the bathroom.

"Isn't this your third one this week?"

"Don't judge me. Try and be productive yourself instead of wondering when will your life resume?" Loni advises then he shuts the door.

"You know he's got a point." Linka jumps at the new voice. It's just Lynn doing pull-ups on a silver bar attached in between the door frame. "Take this time off to get ripped!"

"But you always exercise."

"But I got an extra six hours a day now that I'm not in school." He lets go and lands his hands and knees.

"Just think," he begins, straightening himself. "Once we get back to school and I'm back in the game, the crowds will cheer when they see my face. And my teammates will say, "this is where you're meant to be". Now if you'll excuse me, I have a record to beat for my full house sprint." He starts the timer on his phone and runs so fast by Linka, her hair sways behind her.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that." She sees that Loni left the door open to his bedroom. She lets herself in and wordlessly walks next to Loki talking to Bebe on FaceTime.

"You're right about one thing. These online classes ain't it." He now notices his sister and yelps impulsively.

"Linka! There's only one rule in this house: stay out-"

"Of your bedroom, I know, I know. I just got bored."

"Go play in traffic or something!"

"Even if I wanted to try that, there are no cars in the street, dumbass!"

Before Loki blows up again, Bebe speaks to Linka through the screen.

"Hey, Snow White!"

"Hi, Bebe! How you been?"

"My quarantine is about as fun as yours. I haven't seen my dad for days, the Mercado has gotten more hectic, and now I have to do online course work?! I can see why the Beast has a temper after 10 years of isolation. I'm getting pretty mad too!"

"Don't put yourself down like that, babe. Everyone knows you're the beauty in our relationship." Loki says.

"Aww, Loki-Bear." She coos. Linka chokes down her lunch after the loving exchange and takes her cue to leave. She knocks on the door across the hall.

"Hey guys," she lets herself in. "What are you- AH!" After she opened the door, a bucket full of pieces of food landed on top of her. The self-proclaimed King of Pranks laughs boisterously.

"Awesome! My Feast of Fools prank worked!" Lane boasts, removing the bucket from his sister's head.

"Feast of what?"

Lane plucks a piece of meat from her hair. "Dinner leftovers. A feast landed on the fool! Get it? I'm gonna spend my quarantine updating my blog with new prank videos." He gestures to his camera recording in the corner.

Linka internally blames herself for not seeing this coming. Meanwhile, Luke is sitting at his keyboard, furiously erasing at sheet music.

"And what are you up to?"

"I've been wanting to write a ballad. But I'm wicked blocked." The rocker explains. "I can't find the voice for it!" He groans irritated and slams his head onto the keyboard.

"But you know your style of music. You don't need anything new."

"True. But there's always gonna be part of me that longs to go into the unknown."

Linka nods in understanding. "Well, tell me how that goes. I gotta go hose this shit off." She made sure she gives a side glare at Lane, which he grinned at, as she leaves.

Linka walks into the kitchen where her parents were already settled in.

"Hi, baby!" Rita greets. "What's with the-"

"Lane pranked me."

"Ah."

Linka reaches over the sink and grabs the little hose. She points at her face and sprays water all over herself.

"So what are you doing, Dad?"

"Like you don't know already. I've been trying new recipes I found online."

"And I've been helping." Rita comments. "So far, the new things are amazing!"

The oven dings and Lynn Sr. quickly put on his oven mitts to take out his latest creation. He shows the dish to his daughter.

"Here sweetheart, try a Spinach Puff." Linka cringed at the word spinach. Her mom was behind Lynn Sr. drawing a line on her neck with her finger.

"No thanks, Dad. I'm not hungry." He shrugs in response and sets it down on the island.

"Everything's amazing except for that." His mom whispers next to her. Just then, Lexx enters.

"Hey, Dad! Can you make me a smoothie?"

"Your usual poison?"

"Yep!" The little prince sits at the island in a relaxed manner as watches his father put bananas, strawberries, and milk in the blender.

"Lexx, you're taking this whole quarantine well." Linka tells him. She expected him to throw a tantrum about the situation.

"I never knew what a break from school and theater could do for me. I mean, I was upset about not being in theater at first. But then I started thinking, why should I worry? And if I'm bored, I can improvise."

With a smoothie of her own, Linka ventures to the living room. Where she's almost knocked over by the family dog running in between her legs. She's in hot pursuit of the little plumber boy holding a dog biscuit. He runs behind the couch, jumps on top of it before bouncing off and landing by the stairs.

"Just a little snack, girl." Leif attempts to reason with her. He jumps up and holds onto the stair railing as Charlie jumps and bites at him.

"Okay! Down girl!" He chuckles and squeezes in between the railing and sits on the stair. He breaks the biscuit in half and throws one half to the dog, who graciously catches in her mouth. Leif eats his half content and looks down at his weirded-out big sister.

"What? It was the last cheddar-bacon."

Linka shakes his head at him and notices their baby brother despondent in a kiddie pool.

"And what's wrong with Leon?"

Leif slides down the railing and lands next to her before explaining. "Oh, he wanted to go on the swing outside but I told him he couldn't and he started crying. So I inflated the kiddie pool to keep him occupied. At least, he stopped crying."

Leon wade in the water to get a full front view of the front door, he sighs sadly. Linka kneels next to him and strokes his tiny tuft of hair.

"It's ok, Leon. We'll get out there again."

"Don't act like we didn't need a break from the rat race." Both kids jump at the new, grim voice. Surprise surprise, it's Lars, with Levi behind him. Both carrying a stack of books.

"But it does feel like a curse has been placed upon the world," Lars adds on. "Like in how in this book, a dragon cursed a princess into a deep sleep and she was left alone in a tower."

"And I've been reading the works of Shakespeare," Levi says. "Care to join us, Linka?"

"I prefer my books with pictures."

"Well, some people use their imaginations for non-picture books." Lars says.

"No thanks, guys. I'm not that desperate to find something to do." She turns and walks up the stairs with that. But her little brothers' disapproving stares says otherwise.

"How come everyone but me has situated themselves into their quarantine?" She asks herself once she reaches the second floor. "Readers, I'm not asking for much. Just something interesting for me to do to get my mind off everything."

In the corner of the hallway, she sees a ball of white fur.

"Mary?"

Said bunny turns her head towards her but she remains in place.

"What are you doing out of your cage? Come on, let's get you back to Lane." She takes one step towards the animal and when she did, Mary quickly hops into Linka's room; she left her door open a crack.

"Mary!" She followed her into the room. No sign of the white rabbit.

Just a big, deep rabbit hole in the center of the room. She'll question the possibility about that later.

"Mary?" She leans her head down the hole. "Come on out! If anything happened to you, Lane will be heartbro-keeeeen!" She screams after she leaned in too far and fell in.

As she's falling, she feels like time has slowed down for her. It feels as if she's a leaf falling gently from a tree instead of plummeting to her death. She floats next to a table with a lamp. After turning on the switch, she finds that she's surrounded floating furniture. Linka passes by a mirror and her reflection is upside down and going in the opposite direction. She lands on a rocking chair and continues to go down in comfort.

"I take this over the elevator any day." She comments. She spots a brown satchel from an upside-down coat hanger and takes it. Before she can even flip open the flap, time caught with her and she plummets to the bottom. The chair breaks upon impact underneath her.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." She hisses standing up shakily. She looks up at a bright blue sky; no trace of the rabbit's hole. Her new environment is a fertile, green forest. And a couple of miles away is a lone tower.

"Curiouser and curiouser." She comments. Linka then calls out for Mary while walking around. The satchel is hanging around her shoulders.

"I don't get it. If she fell through that rabbit hole, then where is she?" She suddenly stops in her tracks. "Unless she's still in my room and I fell in that hole for no reason! Oh, I'm such an idiot! And I don't have my phone! What am I going to do?"

She looks back at the tower. Maybe there's someone inside who could help her. She jogs to it; upon closer inspection, Linka finds that there is no entry except for a big window at the top.

"Hello! Hello! Is anyone up there?" No answer.

Whether or not there are people in there, this could be the only shelter for miles. With that in mind, she climbs up the 40 foot home with her bare hands. "Man, I need to lose a few pounds." She comments as she pushes herself through the window and lands with a thud. Upon impact, the satchel flipped open by itself and the object inside falls out.

It's a shiny gold crown adorned with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. It gives off a luminous glow in the sunlight.

She holds it up. "How did this get here?"

Without warning, she's experiences a hard blow to the head. Then she's snuff out like a light.

-/-

I can't move! Why can't I move! The white-haired girls internally panic when she comes to in a dark room with the only source of light was through an open little window above her. She's tied down to a chair from chest to ankles. The material tying her down is hanging all over the place.

"Wait, is this hair?"

"Struggling is pointless!" A male voice tells her in the shadows.

"Who are you?"

"I'm asking the questions here!" Her captor steps into the light and Linka had to shut her mouth from exclaiming. It's Loni: not in his usual attire, instead of wearing purple pants, a pink shirt opened at the top of his chest and an opened purple vest. He's wielding a frying pan. And above all, 70 feet of shiny, golden hair hang from his scalp.

"Who are you and how did you find me?" He demands in a menacing tone.

"Are- are you serious? It's me, Linka! Your sister."

"Now I know you're lying! I have never seen you before in my life. But Mother did say that people would try anything to steal my hair."

"Why would I want your hair? It shouldn't even be this long! Look, Loni-"

"Raphael. How are you gonna say you're related to me when you don't know my name?"

"Oh, so now you're Italian? Anyway, I fell down this rabbit hole and I landed here. I was looking for a white rabbit. I saw your tower and I climbed it. I even have the satchel I – wait. Wait! Where's my satchel?"

"You mean this?" Raphael holds it up with his other hand. "I gotta say, the crown is nice. Almost too nice to be in the possession of someone like you. You're a common thief, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not! I don't even know how the crown got in there! Please, you have to help me out! To get out of this forest! And help find the white rabbit! It belongs to our brother."

"Why should I help you?"

"Even if you don't believe I'm your sister, do you wanna see a little girl locked up?"

Raphael searches her face for any sign of lying, but the desperate look on her face says otherwise. Yet, she's crazy for not wanting a priceless jewel and raving about white rabbits. Then again, this may be his only chance of escaping the tower.

"Fine! I'll help you out!" He submits. "But only if you return me to my tower soon afterward. If you try anything, I will pan you!"

"Done!" Linka assures him and he smiles at that.

"Good. Now, follow my lead."

Moments later, the duo descends the tower using Raphael's hair like a vine.

"Ya-hooo!" Linka cheers as she slides down the hair. Raphael laughs alongside with her. He's carrying the satchel. The white-haired girl sticks the land when she reaches the bottom. But Raphael freezes, hovering above the ground. He's never walked on grass before. Gingerly, he places his bare foot down then the other. Chuckling at the feeling of the warm earth below him.

Just smell the grass! The dirt! Just like I dreamed they'd be!

He sings, taking in every moment

Just feel that summer breeze - the way it's calling me

For like the first time ever, I'm completely free!

He runs through the landscape, going faster and faster as his excitement grows.

I could go running

And racing

And dancing

And chasing

And leaping

And bounding

Hair flying

Heart pounding

And splashing

And reeling

And finally feeling

He sings the last line toward the sun.

That's when my life begins!

"I can't believe I did this!" He screams joyously. "But still, Mother would be so furious!" He adds on dreadfully.

"Blondie!" Linka whines.

"Right. I'm coming!" He follows her north. They begin their search for the white rabbit. Loni spots something white on a lily pad in a lake.

"Is that it?"

"Yes! I'll just swim to her and grab her." Before she makes one step, Raphael grabs her by the shoulder.

"Wait!" He takes some of his hair and wraps it around her waist. "As a lifeline." Even in a different world, her brothers still have her back. She steps into the water and wades her way to Mary.

"Nice bunny, hold still. Gotcha!" She triumphantly grabs her.

"Linka, watch out!" Raphael screams. A whirlpool appears next to her without warning. Linka yelps and tries to swim away while Raphael pulls on her lifeline. The current is stronger than both of them and soon after, it tears Linka loose from her lifeline and pulls her and Mary down with it.

"LINKA!"

"LONI!"

Deep in the abyss, Linka felt herself becoming weightless as she was sinking. She didn't feel her lungs crush under the water pressure. She is still screaming underwater, which made her more terrified. She finally felt the ocean floor underneath her. Unfortunately, Mary isn't next to her anymore.

"I can… I can breathe?" She questions. Next to her is a shiny vase. She screams at her reflection; she's a white-haired crab now!

"What?! How?!" She panics, snapping her claws. She looks around for some kind of answer. Our heroine is trapped in a small picturesque cave filled to the brim with books, culinary tools, paintings, toys. About every little trinket and gadget from the surface world.

"Someone's got a hoarding problem." That's not her concern now, as she sees light above the grotto. "Perfect." But then, she hears someone entering and quickly hides on a high shelf.

A merman in a blonde ponytail and a lavender tail enters with his tropical fish sidekick. The merman is carrying a bag, he takes out a fork and places it in the candle holder of a chandelier. He doesn't look like a doppelgänger of one of her brothers, at first glance. But then she saw those wide baby-blue eyes and associated them to her youngest brother.

"That is Leon!" Linka starts to suspect if that whirlpool was a time portal because Leon is much older here; eleven years old like her. And he looks so downhearted.

"Avery, are you ok?" The fish asks him.

"I just don't see things the way my father does." The little merman answers. "He says that the human world is dangerous. But I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things, could be bad?"

"Right! I mean, look at your collection! It's amazing! You have everything!"

"Sure. I got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. Whozits and whatzits galore. Thingamabobs? I got 20. But who cares? No big deal." He leans on a globe and looks up. "I want more." Linka leans in to hear.

I want to be where the people are

I want to see

want to see 'em dancin'

Walkin' around on those

"What do you call them?" His fish friend shown him his bottom fins. "Oh, feet."

Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far

Legs are required for jumpin', dancin'

Strollin' along down a

"What's that word again? Street." Avery sings as he swims up. A group of fish swims by him as he twirls around, looking up at the light.

Up where they walk

Up where they run

Up where they stay all day in the sun

Wanderin' free

Wish I could be

Part of that world

What would I give

If I could live

Out of this prison?

He floats down and stretches on the ocean floor.

What would I pay

To spend a day

Warm on the sand?

He sits up as he contemplates the possibility that humans could be fairer than his father.

Betcha on land

They understand

Bet they don't reprimand their children

Bright and strong men

Sick of swimmin'

Ready to stand

Avery swims up again, doing a back flip on the way.

And ready to know what the people know

Ask 'em my questions

And get some answers

What's a fire and why does it

What's the word? Burn?

When's it my turn?

Wouldn't I love

Love to explore that shore above?

Out of the sea

Wish I could be

Part of that world

Linka awes at the song, then she loses her footing (or whatever crabs have) and falls onto the ocean floor, taking some of the things with her. Catching the little merman and his fish's attention.

"Sebastiana!" Avery cries.

"Sebastiana? Oh! You're talking to me!"

"How'd you get here?"

"I have no idea. What is all this?" She asks, straightening herself out.

"It's um, my collection." He answers nervously.

"Does anyone know about this?"

"No! And please don't tell the king about this!" The fish pleads.

"Please, Sebastiana! He wouldn't understand!" Avery adds on.

"Not even your brothers?"

"Brothers? I don't have any brothers, I have sisters."

Linka sighs tiredly. "Ok, this may not make sense, but we're related. Your real name is Leon. We have nine other brothers and you're the youngest. I was just with one of them but he had extremely long hair and lived in a tower in a forest for some reason."

"Forest?" Avery and his fish repeats, baffled.

"That means-" Avery begins before his eyes grow wide with excitement. "You've been up to the surface!"

"Yes, but that's not the real issue here!"

He picks her up in his hands and smiles down at her. "Here I thought you were just a goody-two claws, but you're just as mischievous as me! You must know a lot about humans and their stuff, like-." A big shadow overcast the grotto stealing the merman's attention.

"Like what is that?" He swims up and out of the grotto with Linka and this fish at his tail.

At the surface, the three of them are speechless at the sight of the ship shooting off fireworks in every color. Avery is completely bewildered by it. He follows it with Linka pinching onto his tail with her claw. He climbs up a ladder on the side of the ship and peeks at the celebration through a small window. Sailors playing instruments, dancing, drinking without a worry about tomorrow. Linka scurries up his back and sets herself upon his shoulder.

"What you make of that, Sebastiana?"

"A sailor's birthday party?" Linka then sees Mary about her business beneath the dancing sailors. But how'd she went from under the sea into the ship is beyond her.

"Mary!"

"Who's Mary?"

"Her! The white rabbit!" She points at the fluffy creature.

"Aww, it's kinda cute."

"Avery, get me on board! I must catch that rabbit." The merman grabs the white-haired crab and, stretches his hand inside and releases her with no questions asked.

"Good luck." He says.

Linka nods at him then scurries up to Lane's bunny. But before she can get a word in edgewise in, disaster cuts the celebration. The ship is trapped in a raging hurricane. The rain and the winds torture everyone. The waves rise with a vengeance. The sailors do everything in their power to navigate the storm. Avery is shoved off the ladder by the winds into the water.

"Sebastiana!" He cries out.

Linka couldn't respond in time for she is thrown off in the opposite direction as Avery as the ship is rocked back and forth. Mary didn't go down with her.

This time, it's harder to breathe underwater. She holds her breath and swims back up. She takes a deep breath as soon as she did. No wonder she couldn't breathe underwater, she's human again.

Again she's in a new environment. She's in a river next to a castle underneath a midnight blue starry sky. Linka swims over to land and sits on the grass. She breathes deeply to let out a frustrated groan but instead, she sings "oohh" in an operatic, hypnotizing, soprano voice involuntary.

She slaps a hand over mouth. "Was that my voice?" After clearing her throat, she asks again. "Was that my voice?" She waits a moment for it to happen again and sure enough, it does.

Linka quickly rises. "Someone's bound to hear me and help me out!" She cups her hands over her mouth and lets her new voice call out into the night.

However, only one person can hear her. An insecure ice king (no, not that one) King Ellis. He tosses and turns in his bed. He puts a pillow to his head to try and block out his siren's calls. Yet, he can't push down the feeling that the voice is telling him to venture out into the world. He rises from his bed and closes his bedroom door gently. He sings back to his siren.

I can hear you, but I won't

Some look for trouble while others don't

There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day

And ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away, oh

He walks down the hallway as the voice sings to him again. "Oh" he sings back.

You're not a voice, you're just a ringing in my ear

And if I heard you, which I don't, I'm spoken for, I fear

Everyone I've ever loved is here within these walls

I'm sorry, secret siren, but I'm blocking out your calls

I've had my adventure, I don't need something new

I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you

He goes out to the balcony and belts his voice out in the chorus. Finally, Linka sees him. "It's Luke! Luke! Down here!"

Into the unknown

Into the unknown

Into the unknown

Linka's siren voice calls out to him. He steps outside to the fields and Linka runs up to him. "Bro, I'm here!" She cries but he ignores her completely. He can't see her but he can only hear her siren voice.

What do you want? 'Cause you've been keeping me awake

Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake?

Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me?

He contemplates as he looks at his reflection in the water.

Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be?

Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow

Ellis creates swirls of ice with his power in the air. Ice shoots off like a rocket pass to create other images. He follows them with Linka behind him.

Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go

Into the unknown?

Into the unknown

Into the unknown

Ellis is in awe of what his ice created. But as for Linka, she's knocked over when the reindeer gallop passes her. And shoved to the side when the two children are chasing each other. All the while, she's freezing.

"If I'm invisible to him, how come I can feel his ice powers?" She repeats the siren's song which is starting to annoy her.

In the bridge, he shoots ice magic into the sky after every line as Linka desperately tries to reason with him.

Oh oh oh

Are you out there?

"Yes!"

Do you know me?

"Luke!"

Can you feel me?

"Stop!"

Can you show me?

"Listen!"

Linka feels the siren's voice coming so she slaps her hand over her mouth. It overwhelms her through as she belts out and Ellis harmonizes with it. The ice he just released takes the shape of the spirits of the four elements. Which is not good for Linka. She somehow gets burned by the fire spirit. The water horse gallops under her and is taken on an unasked-for ride before being thrown off. She's scared to death by the giant rock trolls. And lastly, she's lifted up 2 feet by the air spirit then dropped carelessly.

"When is this song over?" She groans.

He chases the magic to the cliff where more of her ice extends it at the edge. It extinguishes after he made it.

Where are you going?

Don't leave me alone

How do I follow you (Ah)

Into the unknown? (Oh, oh)

After the last note, millions of ice crystals with symbols of the four elements surround him. Linka is hit in the head with a couple of crystals and is out cold.

"Phyllis! Phyllis! Get up!" Linka can faintly hear someone calling. Before she can even open her eyes, she feels someone muscular lifting her up then placing her on top of a rock. She properly gets a look at him. It's Lynn but dressed as an athletic Greek hero.

"One of the rocks from the slide must have hit your head pretty hard." He tells her.

She realizes that they're in a shadowed gouge with a crowd in the hundreds watching them. Her legs felt bent out of shape. She gasped cause her legs are those of a goat's with white fur! She felt two horns on the top of her head.

But that's the least of her worries.

A low growl came from the shadows. Causing the crowd to shake in the sandals. "Hercules!" One woman cried as a warning.

Two yellow eyes shine from the dark. "Oh, baaah!" Linka exclaimed in a goat's bleat.

A Hydra emerged challenging Hercules. It was a 50-foot serpent-like creature with an incredibly long neck, razor-sharp teeth, acidic blood, and toxic breath. Luckily, Hercules knew about that last factoid and ripped off a piece of his cape and tied it around his nose and mouth. It stalks toward him while Hercules puts his sword up. He jumps every time it tries to bite at him.

"You got this! Dance around it! Watch the teeth! Watch the teeth!" Linka pep-talks him. She and the crowd were just far enough so that the poisonous fumes wouldn't reach them.

The Hydra lunges its whole neck at Hercules and he responded by swinging his sword and slicing the head clean off. The crowd gave him golf applause and Linka was cheering "Alright! Alright! You're bad." But that celebration is very short-lived. In the neck stub, two more heads were produced. Our hero was baffled but swung his sword to cut off its head again and again. Hercules's jaw drops behind his mask when the once one-headed Hydra is now a ten-headed spawn of the underworld.

"Would you forget the head-slicing thing?!" Linka screams at him.

The crowd is terror-stricken when the Hydra picks the hero and squeezes him within its grasp. Hercules grunts through his teeth. As long as this thing has the power to regenerate, it's unbeatable. There's got to be a way to take that power away from it. He grins when he thinks of a strategy but he's gonna need assistance. With the little movement he can muster, he uses his sword to slit the wrist of the Hydra. It immediately howls in pain and drops him; Hercules jumps away from the acidic blood as it drips from its wrist.

He sprints to the satyress. "Phyllis! You have to help me!"

"Why?! You're the wonder boy!"

"Phyllis, there's literally no time to argue!" Hercules tells her his plan as the monster draws near to both of them. Hercules rips another piece of his cape to give to her before running toward the Hydra to distract it from attacking Phyllis.

After tying the cloth to her face, Linka runs in the opposite direction and gathers together wood and rocks and a separate pile of wooden stakes. She strikes a match and lights the pile of wood and rocks ablaze. Hercules mentioned that he carried his bows and arrows with him before the Hydra showed up but it was by the rock Linka once stood. Linka groans but runs back to her spot before to pick up the bow. It was then the ten-headed Hydra spotted her. She gulps in fear then sprints back to the bonfire.

"Get ready, Phyllis!" Hercules screams.

"You better be right!" Linka screams back, lighting a wooden stake on fire.

As the monster was charging at the white-haired satyress, Hercules sprints next to it, jump high in the air, and slices one of the heads off again. Once he did that, Linka aims and shoots off the flaming stake at the neck stub so no more heads can grow out of it. The demon screeches in pain at the burns but focused its energy at the mighty Hercules. That's just what Hercules wanted as he cuts off another head when it leaned down and Linka proceeds to cauterize the wound again. They continue this strategy until all ten heads are gone. The Hydra, severely injured by the first-degree burns, lost its power to grow heads. It falls to the earth with a monstrous thud, presumably dead.

Hercules, taking an extra precaution, uses his godlike strength to cause a massive rockslide by punching the gorge. Heavy boulders rain and crush the Hydra where it laid. Hercules running back a few feet to get out of the way. The crowd erupted in cheers. Linka runs back to the Lynn doppelgänger with the bow and arrows in hand. They both rip off their masks before embracing.

"Phyllis! Thank you! You were great!"

"Oh, please! I was just taking orders." They both high-five then Hercules gets the idea to take his arrows and dip them in the acidic blood under the pile of boulders.

"Why are you-"

"You never know when I'm going to need it."

The citizens make their way toward Hercules and lift him them up on their shoulders. Singing his praises as they carry them out of the gorge. And amidst the excitement, he sings for himself.

I will beat the odds

I can go the distance

I will face the world

Fearless, proud and strong

I will please the gods

I can go the distance

'Till I hear my hero's welcome

Right where I belong

Linka can't join in the celebration though because that pesky white rabbit appeared behind the crowd.

"You!" She cries angrily. "I'm gonna nail your cottontail to the floor!" Mary yelps and hops away from her with Linka running behind her as fast as her new goat legs can carry her. Mary hops up onto a cliff and Linka absentmindedly lunges her whole body toward her to catch her. Mary moves out of the way but Linka falls.

Linka landed on a rooftop and regains her human legs on impact. Looking below, it's not an Ancient Greek-style city anymore. It's a bustling Middle-Eastern marketplace. Warm colors from the scenery popped under the scorching hot sun.

From the rooftop across from her, there's a very little Arab peasant boy carrying a loaf of bread. And if you were paying attention, you know he looks like Leif.

"Stop, thief!" He hears from behind him. Three guards come up from behind him with swords.

"All this for a loaf of bread?"

Linka watches as he jumps off the rooftop, bouncing off one roof tapestry to another diagonal before landing on his hands and knees on the sand below. He runs in the opposite direction but runs into one of the guards.

Gotta keep

One jump ahead of the breadline

The Leif doppelgänger dodges his sword and the guard opens up a barrel of fish instead. And just for fun, Leif takes away his sash so his pants would fall before running away.

One swing ahead of the sword

I steal only what I can't afford

And that's everything!

The peasant meets another guard at an unfinished building. Again, he ducks at his attempt to cut his head off. He sticks out his tongue then climbs up the construction to the top.

One jump ahead of the lawmen

That's all, and that's no joke

These guys don't appreciate I'm broke

He kicks a pile of barrels out of place when two more guards show up and they trample them temporarily.

Riffraff!

Street rat!

Scoundrel!

Take that!

The guards scream in rhythm to him as they throw fruit and weapons on the unarmed boy. He attempts to reason with them.

Just a little snack, guys

They were not hearing it through as they use their swords to break the foundation of the building

Rip him open! Take it back, guys!

Thankfully, the young thief purposefully fell off before the construction collapsed. He grabs onto a well-placed mini-pole sticking out from the side of a building, swings his whole body up and around before landing.

I can take a hint, gotta face the facts

I could use a friend or two

Unbeknownst to the peasant, a guard was sneaking up behind him, knife in hand.

"Leif!" Taking initiative, Linka jumps off her rooftop, grabs onto a clothing line in mid-air and uses it as a vine. She swings toward the duo and grabs the peasant in the nick of time. But, the guard throws his knife at the clothesline, breaking it. Linka throws the peasant boy through a nearby window so he wouldn't fall then she plummets. The clothes descend in a pile on top of her. She's covered in a bedsheet and it acts as a makeshift dress and hijab. Back with Leif's doppelgänger, he's in a room of harem girls who are all displeased at his entry.

Who?

Oh, it's sad Aladdin's hit the bottom

He's become a one-man rise in crime

An older woman stares at him in disgusts and swings her broom at him, which she misses.

I'd blame parents except he hasn't got 'em

Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat

Tell you all about it when I got the time!

Aladdin sings to them before exiting the same way he came in. He bounces off a roof tapestry before landing. Linka rides up to him in a horse and he gets on with no questions asked. The guards are still chasing the duo on foot.

One jump ahead of the slowpokes

One skip ahead of my doom

Next time gonna use a nom de plume

One jump ahead of the hitmen

One hit ahead of the flock

I think I'll take a stroll around the block

The peasant boy points to an ally way that's too small for the horse to fit through. The duo jumps off and runs through the ally as they reach the other side of town. Hearing citizens' cries of outrage towards them.

Stop, thief!

Vandal!

Outrage!

Scandal!

More guards meet them in front of a house and corner them.

Let's not be too hasty

A girl about the same age as Aladdin opens the door and fawns over him.

Still, I think he's rather tasty!

Linka laughs at the mildly disgusted look on his face. But it was just the distraction he needed to duck and roll away from the guards.

Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat

Otherwise, we'd get along

Wrong!

The guards all tackle him at once on "wrong!" But he escapes with Linka following. The two climb up a flight of stairs and onto a rooftop. They see guards coming up their way. They're only chance of escaping is to the rooftop across.

"The poles!" Aladdin cries. They each grab a long pole and back up a few feet.

"What are we-"

"Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

Linka hesitates before answering "Yes." This is a version of her little brother after all.

"THEN JUMP!" They both run to the edge and pole vaulted their way to the other rooftop.

"Nicely done." Aladdin compliments.

"Thanks."

But guards surprise them at that rooftop. The two engage them in a game of parkour, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with the heat behind them. Gotta love the determination of these guards!

One jump ahead of the hoofbeats

(Vandal!)

One hop ahead of the hump

(Street rat!)

One trick ahead of disaster

(Scoundrel!)

They're quick, but I'm much faster

(Take that!)

Aladdin takes a rug from the rooftop they're currently standing on and tells Linka to grab him from the waist behind him.

Here goes, better throw my hand in

Wish me happy landin'

All I gotta do is jump!

He puts the rug under both of them to use as a fake magic carpet as they jump off the roof together into another dark alley. During the fall, they use the rug as a makeshift parachute before roughly landing. They continue to lie still until they couldn't hear the guards' shouts.

Linka lets out a sigh of relief and sits up. "I wish you could have timed that fall better."

"I know, I know, but I never had a partner to do it with before. Saved the bread through." He holds it up triumphantly then breaking it in half.

"By the way, thank you. For helping me." He gives her half.

"Don't mention it." Linka says, accepting his offering. Before Aladdin could take a bit of his, he locks eyes with an orphan girl the same age as him and her baby brother. They were digging through the trash for their breakfast. Aladdin smiles sadly at them and makes their way towards them. He offers them his half of the bread which they take with thankfulness.

Linka emailed proudly at him when he makes his way back to her. "Come on, I know a place where we can lie low." He tells her. She follows him out but not before she gave up her bread to the orphan siblings.

Aladdin takes her to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.

"You live here?"

"I live wherever I want. I come and go as I please. This may not be much but it's got a great view." He pulls the curtains and reveals a breathtaking view of his hometown and the palace.

"Awesome." She comments. "So, does that happen often?" Linka then asks. "You being chased by guards?"

"Every day. But no one understands that I'm just trying to survive. I've been called riff-raff, street rat, worthless." He grimaced at that last word. It tugs at Linka's heartstrings.

He sits down on the floor. "They don't see a poor boy or that's there so much more to me."

Linka sits down next to him and wraps an arm around his shoulders. "I see that in you. And in the time that I've known you, you have proven yourself anything but worthless." Aladdin smiles at that and lays his head on her shoulders.

Some time as passed as indicated by the warm-colored sky. The two have long since passed out, still in that same position. A soft weight on Linka's leg stirs her awake. She gasps that the white rabbit is so close within her grasp again. She gently pushes the sleeping boy off of her, lays him down and tucks him in with a blanket that was beside him; though she feels the tiniest bit guilty for abandoning him.

She quickly grabs the rabbit by her body before she could have the chance to escape again. Snow White looks into its beady eyes and scowls.

"I have literally been everywhere looking for you!" She whispers-shouts. "I've fallen out of a tower, been in a hurricane, almost froze to death, fought a monster, and got chased by guards! Worst yet, I keep meeting my brothers, or doppelgängers, whatever! And they don't know who I am!" And she can't tell right now, but Mary's glare was matching hers.

She tip-toes toward the exit. "Lane better appreciate me for this! I am going home and I'm taking you with me!"

Unfortunately, during her rant, she forgot that she was on the top story of the building. When she stepped out, she fell ungracefully. She screams for her life, clinging onto Mary as the rabbit did to her.

They didn't crash on the hard ground as expected. Instead, the earth suddenly opens up in the shape of another rabbit's hole and both girls fall through.

On the other side, Linka's and Mary's bodies slams onto a golden balcony. "Are you OK, Mary?" Linka asks. Mary twitches her nose in response. No bruises on her anywhere.

Where she's laying down, small springs and a gear wheel are spread about. Looking down at the shiny ground, an orange pendulum clock stares down at her. She groans frustrated. "This has got to be my lamest transformation."

Linka stands up on her new little wooden clock legs. "And why a…clock… of…all things?" Her speech got slower as she was more amazed at the room. It's a ballroom; it looks like it was built entirely out of gold. The floors, the walls, the columns, everything was shimmering in the moonlight from the huge opened windows. There's another balcony the same as theirs across the room and the blue curtains on them compliment quite nicely. And the pièce de résistance, a substantial crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"It's beautiful." She whispers. "I wonder who owes this?"

The doors of the ballroom open causing Linka to duck down. A couple walks in arm in arm, and a very strange looking couple at that. The woman is a Hispanic maiden in an elegant yellow ball gown and satin gloves. And her man was frankly, a monster: mane of a lion, beard and head of a buffalo, brow of a gorilla, tusks of a boar, body of a bear, and the legs and tail of a wolf. If all of that wasn't weird enough, he had yellow fur and in a blue tailcoat.

"I know that's Bebe, so that has to be…Loki? Man," she chuckles. "He's looked worst." Following the couple is a teapot's singing, who has the voice of her mother.

Ever just the same

Ever a surprise

Ever as before and ever just as sure as the sun will rise

Beauty gets them both into the dancing position while the Beast gulps nervously. She gives him a reassuring smile through and they glide together on the dance floor, with her leading.

Tale as old as time

Tune as old as song

Bittersweet and strange

Finding you can change

Learning you were wrong

Beast smiles, getting the hang of it. And with a boost of confidence, takes the lead. They look at each other lovingly, Beauty snuggles her head on his chest. Both completely unaware of the curious clock above.

"Well if that is Loki, he's gonna maul me if I interrupt this moment. No pun intended. Come on, Mary. Let's find a way down." She grabs onto her paw, but Mary refuses her. What, you think Linka was the only one tired of this wild goose chase?

"Mary!" She takes a step towards her, but the rabbit bares her claws as a warning. "Mary, relax! I know you're tired of running around. I am too! But fighting isn't gonna-". She's interrupted by Mary scratching her face, it didn't hurt because her face was made of glass, but she was taken back by it.

"You wanna be that way? Fine!" Linka gets into a scuffle with the rabbit. Linka is dodging Mary's claws and Linka is pulling on her ears and shoving her with her mini wooden hands.

All while the love song plays on. Yes, readers, the author is that much of an immature dick that she wrote in a clock wrestling a rabbit during one of the most romantic moments ever.

Certain as the sun

Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the beast

At some point, Mary jumps off the balcony's railing and onto the chandelier, landing on the top circle of candles. Linka wasn't afraid to follow her, especially after her time with the Aladdin Leif. She jumps off the railing toward the chandelier. She misses her original mark, although, and quickly grabs on a candle at the bottom circle. Linka breathes out a sigh of relief when the couple continues to be undisturbed. She climbs up to the rabbit, candle by candle.

On the ceiling, paintings of angels were looking down at the couple. Then they notice the strange clock and rabbit on the chandelier. Linka notices them and rudely replies "what the hell are you staring at?" They quickly advert their eyes from her, as if to say they don't want any trouble.

She's almost at the top but then, the ceiling cracks.

"Ah, shit."

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the-

"MASTER! LOOK OUT!" The teapot cries as the chandelier was coming down on them. On instinct, the beast pushes the girl down and they both roll out of the way. The chandelier smashes into a thousand pieces.

"Cogsworth?" They both exclaim, shocked.

Linka looks behind her then realizes that's her. "I can explain! The white rabbit climbed onto the chandelier and I followed!" She looks at the top but Mary's disappeared again!

"We don't own a rabbit! For God's sake Cogsworth, you could have killed us!" The Beast yells.

Annoyed at the babbling clock, Beauty takes her leave. "I'll be in my room. I think I got broken glass in my arm." She picks up her dress as she walks across the destruction.

"Sorry!" Linka screams after her and she comes face to face with a snarling beast. She chuckles nervously at that face before bolting out of there as fast as her little wooden legs could carry her. Needing a place to hide, she finds an opened closet door at the end of the corridor. She foolishly thinks that's her ticket home.

"This has to work! My room is a converted linen closet!" She prays. She goes inside and shuts the door.

In an ally, a garbage can shake and falls over. Linka struggles to stand in the pile of garbage.

"There goes my theory of closet doors leading to my room. Now, where am I?" She goes to scratch her head but as it turns out, her hand is now a paw. She looks down at her new four legs with snow-white fur. And if that didn't convince her, she involuntarily lets out a mewl.

"Great." She carefully walks on all fours, out of the ally and into the hustle and bustle of New York City. Just her damn luck to land in one of the most vibrant and busiest cities in the world. She's never been alone in the city before; even on trips to Great Lakes City, she had Loki, Robbie Dan, or a parent with her.

"This is gonna be like finding a needle in a haystack!" She groans but proceeds to enter the foot traffic. Already off the bat, she gets her tail stepped on and she screeches in pain. The guy curses at her when he scared her. Linka had to walk right on a couple's feet to get past them. She turns around but someone was walking toward her, blocking her path. She walks in the opposite direction but the same problem. Eventually, she says "screw it" and goes into the street. Only to run back onto the sidewalk when she hears several horns coming her way.

"How do people live here?"

A guy pushing a hot dog cart walks past her. And inside the cracked open compartment door, she sees a tuff of white fur.

"That's either Mary or mold on "NY's Best Hot Dogs". She jokes, reading the sign off the cart. She sneaks up to the cart anyway.

"Hot dogs! Step right up folks!" He says through his deep Italian accent and a cigar in his mouth. She opens the door a tiny bit and thankfully that is Mary, but she had her back turned.

"Hey!" The man scolds down at her. "Get out of here, cat! Scram!" He waves her off. Linka hisses at him and jumps up onto the cart. "Why you little-!" He grabs onto her to make her let go but she stuck her claws into it.

Across the street, a mongrel-terrier hybrid puppy missing his lateral incisors watches the scene in amusement from the top of a taxi. He had blonde fur all over and sandy-brown fur from the top of his head to his eyes, and a pink scarf around his neck.

"Well, looks like ol'Louie found himself a new friend." He says. "Perhaps it's time for old Dodger to turn this into a total cat-astrophe." He hops across the taxis and makes his way to them.

Louie eventually breaks Linka free and throws her at a trash can.

"Boy, you sure pick the wrong guy to take hot dogs from, kitten." The puppy calls her, despite him being younger. He's sitting on top of another trash can.

"Lexx?"

"Lexx? You must have me mistaken for another good looking pup. Name's Dodger. I've been watching you and you're in serious need of some guidance from a professional. What do you say we team up and convince ol'Louie into sharing some of his hot dogs?"

"I don't want no hot dogs! There's a rabbit in his cart and I've been hunting her down for the longest time."

"Huh. Now there's a sentence. Ok, how about I scratch your back, you scratch mine?"

"Promise?"

"Absitively posolutely. Now that man over there is a common enemy of the four-legged community: ol'Louie. Our mission is to liberate those all-beef franks and your rabbit from his cart."

"Ok, but what's the plan?"

"This." Dodger barks loudly at her, which spooks her and begins a classic dog-cat chase in Louie's direction. Linka climbs into Louie's shirt to hide. While he's distracted, Dodger steals a chain and wraps it around his neck. The cat struggles to escape Louie's sweaty shirt but frees herself through the shirt hole and follows Dodger into a construction site.

"I'll get you!" She hears behind her and hides inside a pipe.

"Excellent job, kitten!" Dodger congratulates her. "You got the city's rhythm."

"That was kinda fun. Ok, you got your franks, now what about my rabbit?"

"Your rabbit? Well, that sounds like a personal problem." Dodger says, walking away.

"But you promised!" Linka says, following him.

"Gee, I did, didn't I?" He says with false guilt.

"Hate to break it to ya, but our partnership is herewith dissolved." He steps onto a pipe that was being lifted by a crane. "Consider it a lesson in street savior-faire. See ya!" When the crane lowers the pipe, he jumps off it onto a backhoe loader, then jumps down on the ground.

"Get back here, you traitor!" She chases after him through the site. What was she expecting? It's Lexx, he was an untrustworthy backstabber straight outta their mother's womb!

"Come and get me, Snowdrop!" Dodger howls in a rhythmic tone. He proceeds to hop across the roofs of cars that are stuck in traffic. "But I'm warning you."

One minute I'm in Central Park

Then I'm down on Delancey Street

Linka hops from car to car as well. The last car she jumps on had the sunroof opened. She's the carelessly thrown out by the driver. Dodger lands on a concrete mixer truck. He walks across it while the mixer is turning without a problem.

Said from the Bowery to St Mark's

Heh, there's a syncopated beat

Alright

Said whoo-hoo-whoo-hoo-hoo

I'm streetwise, I can improvise

Linka catches up with him on the mixer. Unfortunately, she's not as skilled on the mixer and falls in the wet cement. Dodger looks down at her with a smug smirk on his face. He slides down the discharging system into the wet cement and swaggers across.

Said whoo-hoo-whoo-hoo-hoo

I'm street smart, I've got New York City heart

He stops in front of an open fire hydrant to clean himself off. All while there's a bounce in his step.

Why should I worry?

Why should I care?

I may not have a dime

But I got street savoir-faire

Dodger takes his paw off the water and lets Linka get blown away by the pressure of the water. He sings the next verse while walking through an air vent below him.

Why should I worry?

Why should I care?

It's just bebop-ulation

And I got street savoir-faire

Mhm-mm

He's nice and clean after that, but then there's Linka, looking like a white fuzzball.

The rhythm of the city

Boy, once you get it down

Linka spots the chain of franks from under the table of a street sunglasses vendor. She runs toward it with no hesitation. In actuality, Dodger is behind said vendor and pulls the chain once Linka gets close enough. It causes Linka to collide headfirst into the table. The sunglasses went airborne. A pair landed on Dodger and he saunters off.

Said you can own this town

You can wear the crown

Why should I worry?

Why should I-

In front of him, Linka puts a sharp paw to his chest to ultimately stop his singing. She's breathing heavily through her teeth.

"Uh, do you mind? You're throwing off my groove."

"Listen to me! I don't play games! I want to go home and I can't leave my rabbit here! Now you're gonna keep your promise, or so help me, I'll skin you alive!"

Dodger takes off the glasses. "Whoa! No need to resort to violence! Alright, I'll help you find that rabbit." He obliges.

Linka's anger melts away and she lets out a squeal. "Thank you!" Then she runs back in the direction of the hot dog stand.

Dodger blows hair out of his face, exasperated. "Women." He states then follows.

They both meet up at the corner where ol'Louie stood but he's gone.

"What the?!"

"Must be his third lunch break." The puppy causally comments.

"Now, what!"

"Well, don't look at me! You're the one-" He stops and looks behind Linka. "Uh, kitten? Is your rabbit white?"

"Yeah." Dodger turns her chin in his direction. Turns out Mary escaped the hot dog cart a while ago and now is just chilling under a mailbox.

"Mary!" She sprints off.

"Snowdrop, wait! Don't startle it!" Dodger warns her.

Mary from her spot sees the cat running towards her. Now she didn't know that was her owner's sister and in her mind, it looks like she's ready to attack. Mary crouches, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Linka lunges toward the mailbox when she's close enough. Mary responds by jumping at her and sinking her teeth into her leg. Linka bawls in pain; Mary's eyes widen as she knew that voice and releases her. But the damage was already done, Mary bit through her skin and her blood was gushing out. Linka is crying and mewling in pain.

"Snowdrop!" Dodger cries, running over to her. He was afraid that this was gonna happen. He growls at the rabbit, demanding her to back off. Mary obliges out of guilt. She would never do this on purpose, no matter how annoying Linka might be for chasing her. Dodger proceeds to take off his scarf and wraps it around the wound, Linka hisses at the sudden pressure. "Shh, shh, I'm here. You'll be ok."

The scene causes a small crowd of people to gather around her. Dodger growls at them too. "Get away! Don't touch her!" He screams though they can't understand him. Linka's pain engulfs and gets ready to succumb to darkness. She faintly hears Dodger's calling her "kitten" once more before passing out.

Linka walks up on the steps outside Notre-Dame. She's a human again and she's wearing a cape that's covering her face. She stands up but hisses in pain, that wound is still there on her calf. She ties the scarf around it tighter.

From a distance, there's cheering and singing. Curious, Linka clumsily picks herself up and follows it, walking like a cripple. Yet, she wonders why her back feels bent and why the vision in her right eye is blurry.

Come one, come all!

Leave your loops and milking stools

Coop the hens and pen the mules

As it turns out, it's a parade! With a choir leading the celebration. Linka manages to push her way to the front of the crowd.

Come one, come all!

Close the churches and the schools

It's the day for breaking rules

Come and join the feast of ...

"Fools!" A Lane doppelgänger finishes as he slides out on his knees from under the choir. The crowd cheers and throws confetti at him. This Lane is a Gypsy, he has on violet and yellow jester-like costume, fitted with a fuchsia mask and hat. He has an earring on his right ear and his hair is shoulder-length. He still has his buck-teeth and braces through.

"What is the Feast of Fools?" Linka asks out loud. Amidst the excitement, "Lane" hears her question and does a cartwheel towards her.

"Clopin will tell you!" He grabs her arm and leads her to the heart of the excitement and dances with her.

Once a year we throw a party here in town

Once a year we turn all Paris upside down

An acrobat dressed as a king appears. He then does a handstand and another one dressed as a clown stands himself up on his feet.

Ev'ry man's a king and ev'ry king's a clown

Once again it's Topsy Turvy Day

Clopin hands Linka a bouquet of balloons and she floats up. "Help!"

It's the day the devil in us gets released

Groups of misfits throw darts at Linka's balloons, popping them. She plummets to the ground in front of a puppet theater box. Clopin's the puppeteer and his puppet of the priest hits Linka on the head with a mini-bat.

It's the day we mock the prig and shock the priest

Ev'rything is topsy turvy at the Feast of Fools!

Clopin grabs Linka again and leads her on a run through the parade. Linka's trying her best to keep up. "Everybody!" He screams.

Topsy turvy!

On each syllable, the crowd throws four people into the air. Each doing an air split or a flip before being caught.

Ev'rything is upsy daisy!

Topsy turvy!

Flame dancers enter the scene. One does that trick where she swallows the flames and blows out the flames. Linka jumps back from it.

Ev'ryone is acting crazy

Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet

That's the way on Topsy Turvy Day

Clopin and Linka join a kick line, Linka's the only one not kicking cause she can't stand on her bad leg alone. They pass by the band.

Beat the drums and blow the trumpets

Topsy Turvy!

Join the bums and thieves and strumpets

The groups Clopin mentions form three big circles in the town square with him and Linka dancing in the dead center. She's gotta admit, this is her most fun setting yet. And if hadn't been for the wound in her leg, she would have been jumping around. It honestly feels like a knife is slicing through her skin right now. She finds a discarded hanky and ties it top of the pink scarf. The extra padding is nice, but it does not improve her walking through.

Streaming in from Chartres to Calais

Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy

On the sixth of "Januervy"

All because it's Topy Turvy Day!

Just then, a gated carriage enters the scene. Out steps another Loki double, with a sinister stare plastered on his face. He takes his seat in his personalized tent. He despised going to this peasant festival every year, but he is a public official, he must attend. He's accompanied by an army of soldiers in black armor but the one in golden armor is their captain, another Lynn Jr. double.

"So there are more doubles that can live in other worlds. Interesting." Linka says.

They're just in time for a special surprise. The crowd turns their attention to Clopin on a small stage.

Come one, come all!

Hurry, hurry, here's your chance

See the myst'ry and romance

Come one, come all

See the finest girl in France

Make an entrance to entrance

Dance la Esmeralda

Dance!

Clopin throws a pink smoke bomb. He disappears in the smoke and Esmeralda replaces him.

"Claudia?!" Linka screams surprised then covers her mouth embarrassed. That is indeed a copy of her best friend. A Gypsy just like Clopin, dressed in a flowing silky crimson dress and bejeweled in gold. Behind her glasses are a fitting pair of emerald green eyes. She's hitting her tambourine and moving in a sensual manner. She gets her own verse.

Flash of an ankle

Flip of a skirt

Feel them excite

Inflame and inspire

Come see me dance

Hey, what can it hurt

It's just a dance

To the rhythm of the tambourine

Esmeralda throws her tambourine to Linka, which she accepts and bangs it to the beat. She takes out two scarfs and twirls them around.

"Look at that disgusting display." The Loki doppelgänger sneers.

"Yes, sir!" The captain says, amazed at the show.

The dancer jumps off the stage makes her way to the aforementioned men and throws her scarfs at them. She then turns back to the stage, Linka throws her tambourine back, and she ends her dance with a split. The crowd hollers and throws coins at her. Linka applauds too, her Claudia could never be this confident and flashy. Clopin stands on stage and sings again.

Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for

Here it is, you know exactly what's in store

Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore

Now's the time we crown

"The King of Fools!" The crowd responds.

So make a face that's horrible and frightening

Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing

For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools!

Why?

Topsy turvy!

Ugly folk, forget your shyness

Topsy turvy!

You could soon be called Your Highness!

Put your foulest features on display

Be the king of Topsy Turvy Day!

The two Gypsies pick out masked men as their contestants. Esmeralda then reaches out for Linka.

"What are you doing?"

"Come on. Why not take advantage of what you got?" Linka doesn't understand what she means by that but allows her to pull her up on the stage.

One by one, Esmeralda takes off each of the contestant's mask and they make their best "monster" faces. The crowd rejects each of them through and they're booed off the stage. Once she gets to Linka, she takes off her cape and pulls on her cheeks. She gasps when she realizes it's not a mask. The whole parade is taken back.

"That's no mask! That's her face!" A woman shouts.

"She's hideous!" Another woman cries.

"It's the bell-ringer of Notre Dame!" A man answers.

"Archdeacon Frollo's pet!" Another man points at the Loki double and laughs. The archdeacon stands up surprised and angry at the discovery.

Now Linka's hopelessly confused. "What are you all shocked at? Is it the white hair? I'm fine, I was born with it."

"Girl, what? Hold on." Esmerelda hands her a compact mirror. Linka practically screams at her misshapen triangular reflection. She had a big nose and a huge wart growing on top of her right eye, which explains her vision problems. She pats her own back and finally realizes that she has a hunch. And her crippled walk didn't make her appearance any better. She truly was a monster. The white-haired girl drops the compact and cries in her hands.

Clopin steps in. "People! Weren't you listening! We asked for the ugliest face in Paris and we found her!" He puts a crown and robe on her. "Congratulations, uh-"

"Linka?"

"Linka! The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Our first Queen of Fools!" The crowd, Esmeralda, and Clopin carry her on their shoulders around the square. She's followed by laud and applause. The return of the excitement does make Linka feel a bit better about her appearance.

Once a year we throw a party here in town

Hail to the queen!

Once a year we turn all Paris upside down

Oh, what a queen!

Once a year, the ugliest will wear a crown

We all adore

Once a year on Topsy Turvy Day

We've never had a queen before

And it's the day we do the things that we deplore

On the other three hundred and sixty-four

Once a year we love to drop in

Where the beer is never stoppin

For the chance to pop some popinjay

And here's a queen who puts the "top" in

Topsy Turvy Day!

Mad and crazy, upsy-daisy, Topsy Turvy Day!

The crowd carries Linka back on the stage and explodes in cheers. Nearby, a soldier has a rotten tomato in his grasp.

"You think she's ugly now?" He asks the crowd. "Watch this!" He throws the fruit at her face. "Now that's ugly!"

Some laugh and follow his example. "Hail to the queen!" A man says before throwing another at her.

"Bon appétit, my lady!" A woman says before doing the same thing.

Linka furiously wipes her face. Her tears mixing with the tomato juice in her eyes. Esmeralda and the captain were taken back by the crowd's 180 too; they have never done this before at the Feast of Fools. But they never saw a creature like Linka either.

Linka attempts to escape the stage, but several men seize her and tie ropes around wrists. They pull her apart to hold her in place. The crowd continues to mock and throw rotten fruit at her; rocks were added to the mix. A rock hit where her wound is and she immediately drops down.

Among the crowd, she sees her brothers' doubles. "HELP!" But Clopin was laughing along with the crowd.

"Your Grace, permission to stop this cruelty?" The captain asks Frollo.

"Not just yet, Captain Phoebus. A lesson needs to be learned here."

Esmeralda decides enough is enough. "Stop it!" She runs toward the stage but Clopin grabs her.

"What are you doing?! If you stop this, they'll turn against us!"

"Let go of me!" She releases herself and runs onstage. "Stop!" She yells at the crowd, causing everything to stand still. The rope people let go. Turning toward the hunchback, the kind Gypsy girl bends down and takes out a scarf to wipe her face. Linka flinches at her touch.

"Don't be afraid," Esmerelda whispers. Linka looks up at her like the helpless child that she is. "I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Linka flinches again when she takes out a knife. Esmeralda cuts the ropes from her wrists. "Run!" She begs her. Linka didn't need to be told twice as she exits the stage. The audience was very displeased by this.

"What have you done?!"

"The Gypsy whore ruined our fun!"

Before they have a chance to take their anger out on her, Clopin joins her onstage. "I told you!" He condemns her before throwing another pink smoke bomb. The crowd gasped as both Gypsies vanished into thin air.

"Witchcraft!" Frollo exclaims.

"There she is!" Someone pointed to the hunchback a couple of yards away. "Get her!" The crowd darts toward her. Phoebus was faster through; he stands in front of Linka and shields her from their grabs.

"Enough of this!" The archdeacon demands from the sides and the crowd goes quiet. He makes his way towards Linka but stops when he's a couple of feet next to her.

"We must show kindness to this … creature." He hesitated before saying "creature". Like he didn't know what to call her but didn't want to call her a person either. "Like how our Savior did when He healed the lepers. The celebration is over, return to your homes!"

"That was an order, not a suggestion!" Phoebus commands. He and the other soldiers escort the crowd out of the square. Linka wanted to ask why he didn't help her earlier but all that came from her mouth were sobs. Frollo makes no move to comfort her.

See how it's cruel, see how it's wicked

See how I've sheltered you from having to go through this,

How could you do this, to me...?

Now, girl, you see you don't belong with normal men

You are happy when, you're in your sanct-u-ary

He gestures towards Notre-Dame. Linka clumsily stands and hurries in the direction the cathedral, furiously wiping the tears away. Not because he told her, she's betting on the chance that she'll go into a different environment if she does.

Anywhere's better than here! She says in her head before entering.

Linka stands back erect before a scrumptious buffet. "I wonder who this is for?"

"Why, it's for you, dear Empress. We were just awaiting your arrival." A wrinkly-Rita lookalike with lavender skin tells her. She's wearing a long black dress. Next to her was a version of her father but with huge biceps and was wearing an apron over a short robe.

"Thank you!" She says graciously, taking a seat. "After what I've been through, this is just what I needed." But wait, she called her Empress. She looks at the shiny gold plate: a face full of makeup with no warts, and a crown symbolizing the rising sun on her head. She smooths out the red dress she had on. An upgrade from her previous stages.

"Kronk, get her Highness a drink." The purple woman commands.

"Right. Riiight." He repeats knowingly. He takes three glasses of wine on a tray over to a corner behind Linka. He laces one of the glasses with a poison. He walks over to Linka and places the spiked cup in front of her.

Linka sniffs the air. "Is something burning?"

"My spinach puffs!" He darts out of the dining room.

"Did he say "spinach puffs"?" She asks her mom's doppelgänger.

"Yup."

"Are they… are they any good?"

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Oh." They sit there in awkward silence until Kronk returns.

"Save them! Careful, they're still hot." He sets the puff on the table. Rita's doppelgänger clears her throat.

"Kronk, the Empress still needs her drink."

"Right. Riiight." He says in the same manner as before. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember which cup is laced, so he takes the whole tray to the corner. Which "Rita" facepalms at.

"Kronk, is it? Is everything ok?" Linka asks.

Kronk internally panics when he sees that the poison's vial is empty. "Oh, yeah! The drinks are on the uh, warm side." Quickly, he dumps out the water and flowers from a pot. He pours all three glasses into the pot, shakes it, and pours contaminated wine in each cup.

"Here you go!" He exclaims, bringing the tray to the table. He hands Linka a cup.

The older woman gets a cup. "A toast to the Empress! Long may you reign!" Linka helps herself after she said that. The wrinkly woman sees Kronk gesturing to the cup and drawing a line on his neck, so she dumps her drink in a nearby pot. Kronk pours his drink behind his head.

Linka chokes on her drink when she has a sudden epiphany. "Wait a minute!" Both adults freeze on the spot. "Is this wine? I'm underage!" Then her face falls on the table, presumably dead.

"Finally! Good work, Kronk! Now to get rid of the body!"

Linka picks herself up just as spontaneous as she fell. "Whew! I guess one cup couldn't kill me! But in all honesty, I do appreciate you guys doing all this for me. You wouldn't believe the time I've had." A round pair of ears grow on the side of her face. "Rita" looks at Kronk but he's just as confused as her.

"Uh, go on." She tells her. She side-glances Kronk and grabs two broccolis and hits one on top of the other like a hammer.

"Oh man, where do I start?" She shrinks in size. "Well, recently I was a hunchback and I was tortured in public." The bridge of her nose grows and white fur appears on her face. "Thankfully, a Gypsy girl who looked like my best friend saved me. Anyone else hot?" Her fangs become sharper.

Kronk is confused at the broccoli gestures. "Hit her on the head!" She says through her teeth.

"More broccoli?" He holds up the plate. The purple woman shakes her head and hits her fist on her hand.

"By the way, have you seen a white rabbit around?" That's the last thing she says before Kronk hits her over the head with the plate. Knocking her out for real.

"What?! A lion?! She's supposed to be dead!" The woman exclaims.

"Uh, the correct term is "lioness"."

"Let me see that vial!" He hands it to her and she examines it closely. "This isn't poison! This is an extract of a lion!" She throws the vial at his face, frustrated. And of all creatures, why a lion? The Empress could have mauled them if she was paying attention.

"In my defense, Yzma, your potions all look the same. You might wanna relabel some of them."

"Take her out of town and finish the job!"

"But Yzma, are we making the right choice.? You heard her giving thanks. It's like she's unaware of being a petty tyrant!"

Yzma grabs him by the collar and pulls him in close. "Remember what's waiting for us, Kronk! Power, riches, respect! And we can't have that if she's still alive!" She lets go of him.

"What about dessert?"

"I- well, I supposed there's time for dessert."

"And coffee?"

"Ok, a quick cup of coffee. THEN TAKE HER OUT OF TOWN AND FINISH THE JOB!" She demands, face blushing a darker purple.

-/-

Later, Lynn Sr.'s doppelgänger is carrying a burlap sack down the steps of the castle. All while humming his own theme music, off-key. Big, dumb, and tone-deaf? Thank God Linka was unconscious of this.

Speaking of which, the sack comes alive just when Kronk stops by the fountain connected to a river that flows out of the city. A hole is ripped open and the white lioness kitten plops out next to Kronk.

"Ow! What happened?"

"You want me to explain the sack or how I turned you into a lioness?"

"What?!" She looks down her paws to confirm it; a cat again! "Why would you-" She looks down at the river and puts two and two again.

"Oh! Your Majesty, I can explain…better!"

She looks at him in disgust before turning around and running down the last flights of stairs. She runs out of the city as fast as her three good legs can carry her, not paying mind to the turned heads she received.

"One more minute and I could have-! Why didn't I transport to another world when I was knocked out?"

Well, she does have a point. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

Outside the Inca empire was a wide gorge in Kenya? "Whatever, I'm not in danger anymore." She says to no one then she walks around for any other animals.

"Hello! Can anyone hear me!" Then she hits herself on the head. "Idiot, I'm a lion!" She musters up her strength to let out a loud, childish roar. It resonates off the rocks in the gorge.

Suddenly, the ground trembles below her. She hears birds cry almost as a warning to her. The trembling increases in volume. To her right, a stampede of wildebeests in the thousands was running down the wall, leaving behind clouds of dust. Her face drops in absolute horror. She runs away from them when they reach the ground.

If only she knew that this stampede wasn't her fault, as indicated by the three hyenas chasing the wildebeests into the gorge.

Outside of the gorge was an adult male lion with a mane as black as midnight. Some of the hair covered his eyes. On his shoulder was a female African red-billed hornbill with brown feathers and oddly enough, glasses.

"Oh look, sire. The heard is on the move."

"Now?" The lion king asks confused.

Running up to him is the lion's younger brother. Also an adult here and in contrast to the other's dark mane, this one had a brown one. He wore glasses like the bird but underneath them, he had a noticeable scar on his right eye.

"Mufasa! Quick! Stampede in the gorge! Kimba is down there!"

"Kimba!" Fearful for their sister's life, Mufasa follows his brother to the gorge with the bird flying in tow. Back with the white lioness, the stampede inch closer and closer to her until she's right underneath them. She seeks temporary protection by climbing up a crooked leafless tree.

The 2 lions stop at on top of a rock overlooking the panic while the hornbill dives down in search of their sister. She and the lioness make eye contact through the dust and she flies to her.

"Get help!" The lioness cries.

"Your brother is on the way! Hold on!" She flies back.

"Hurry!" She grips the tree tighter with her claws.

"Zazu, where is she?" Mufasa exclaims when he sees her.

"There! On that tree!" Zazu points. A wildebeest bumps into Kimba's tree, uprooting it from the ground a bit. She screams terrified. On instinct, Mufasa jumps into the crowd and runs in the same direction toward Kimba.

"Scar, this is awful!" Zazu tells the other lion. "What to do?! Help! I'll go back for help! I'll go back-" Scar slaps the bird to the ground to shut her up. Effectively knocking her out.

Meanwhile, the Lars lion makes a sharp turn around when he passes the tree. A wildebeest runs him over, temporarily stunning him. Seconds after, Kimba's tree breaks from the force the stampede and she's sent flying in the air. Thankfully, Mufasa jumps up and catches her in his mouth then runs. The Levi lion watches on menacingly.

Mufasa jumps up and places Kimba on a rock above the stampede. Then he is swept away from the rock by the force of the stampede and thrown into the gorge again.

"LARS!" She fearfully searches below for any trace of him. Suddenly, the king leaps onto the side of the cliff, using his claws to stay in place. Linka sees him climbing up through the dust and travels up and around the rock to help him.

Levi's doppelgänger appears on top of the cliff and sees his brother struggling.

"Scar!" Mufasa cries desperately. "Brother, help me!"

Instead, his brother digs his claws into his paws. "Long live the king." Scar said in a slimy voice, looking into his dread-filled eyes. He throws him into his demise. The white-haired lioness appeared at the moment he fell. She could do nothing but hear his screams.

-/-

The herd had passed on, giving Linka the chance to find her brother in the gorge. She finds a motionless mass next to the broken tree. She gingerly walks toward it and makes it out to be Lars. She gently parts the mane from his eyes, they're both closed.

Not ready to assume the worse, she shakes him awake. "Lars? Lars, come on! It's-It's Linka! I'm right here, get up! Please." Her voice cracks on that plea as there is still no response.

"Help!" She calls out to the empty gorge. "Someone! Anybody! Help." She lets the tears fall freely. Doppelgänger or not, he still risked his life to save her. And the thought of any of her brothers died because of her…

Linka crawls up to the body and rests her head into the mane, crying into it. From the dust, Scar appears at the scene.

"Kimba." She turns around, immediately intimidated by the Levi double. "Our brother. What have you done?"

Linka stands up. "I-I was lost. And there were wildebeests! He saved me. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Of course. Of course." He pulls her in close and she clings to his leg. "I know you wouldn't do this on purpose. But the king is dead. And if it weren't for you, he'd still be alive." Scar's words are heavy on Linka as she lets the guilt consume her. In all her world-hopping, she had never been responsible for a tragedy such as this.

"Oh, what will our mother think?"

"What am I gonna do?"

"Run away, Kimba." Linka backs up frightened at that request. "Run away and never return." She does just that. With nothing left to lose, she does just that.

Shortly afterward, the three hyenas from the beginning chase after her, not knowing because Scar commanded them. Linka reaches a dead end, and the hyenas stalk closer to her, teeth bared. Baring her claws, she climbs up the wall and reaches the top. It's a long fall into a cactus pit, yet she doesn't have a choice. Linka dives into the pit, thorns picking at her but wound but she stifles her cries and keeps going. Out of the pit and out of the territory.

The hyenas stop at the top of the cliff and see her running off. Now how a wounded lioness kitten was able to outrun them was beyond them. But they figured that she's as good as dead out there any, and they didn't want to go into the cactus pit, so they let her go.

Linka didn't find Timon and Pumbaa; instead, she reaches a dark forest. And from her heightened state of mind, the forest appeared scarier than it is. She passes by a cave and a group of bloodthirsty bats swarms her. She runs in the opposite direction and gets tangled up in some vines. They seamlessly wrap around her neck; she screams and uses her claws to break free.

She stumbles into a dead tree. It's branch-like hands grab at her, Linka trashes in their hold then runs away. Then she falls into a pit of water and snapping driftwood alligators. Linka swims to shore away from them and sprints away. She faces a monster in the shape of a dead tree, she screams at it and runs away. The night is getting darker, the wind howls, she hears wolves and bats nearby yet there is no way out!

The white lioness reaches the heart of the forest, where she's met with more fearsome faces. They surround her, they all have hungry, creepily yellow eyes. They inch closer and closer to her. Powerless, our heroine releases a blood-curdling scream before collapsing on the dirt.

She lets out all her confusion, stress, and pain into uncontrollable sobs. The faces disappear, leaving Linka alone in the night. Alone with the white rabbit, that is. Mary carefully crawls up to the lioness and rubs her nose against her head. Yet, Linka is too distraught to even acknowledge the reason why her old life is gone.

"I just want to go home." She chokes out. Mary instantly feels remorse for her.

Just then, a siren sings for the crying girl. "Linka Loud." It's as gentle as the seraph's lullaby. Yet, unlike Linka's siren song from before, this one has a malicious undertone to it. From a couple of miles away, a ball of lime green light forms out of thin air.

"Linka Loud. Linka Loud." The omnipresent voice cries.

Said girl stops crying and picks her head up slowly. Her eyes match the green of the light she's focusing on. A flash of light surrounds her and transforms her back into her normal human self, back to the orange blouse and blue skirt.

"Linka Loud." The white-haired girl silently walks toward the light. Walking normally as if her bite wound isn't there. Mary pulls on her sock with her teeth to halt her, but she remains in her trance.

"Linka Loud." The voice sings louder. She takes another step, causing a piece of her sock to rip off and walk faster. Seeing the girl in danger, the faces from before reappears. As it turns out, they're harmless woodland critters. They step out of the shadows and surround the girl. Owls pull at her hair. A deer grabs the back of her collar with its teeth. Raccoons grab her hands. Squirrels and chipmunks jump up and down and birds chirp to get her attention. Nothing works.

She finally reaches the green light. Blindly shoving the animals away from her. Before her eyes, it transforms into a lime green luminescent spinning wheel.

"Touch the spindle." A deep male voice echoes in her mind. "Touch it I say!" She obeys, pricking her finger.

As soon as she does that, another flash of light occurs. Taking the place of the wheel stands an evil wingless fairy; another Lars doppelgänger. With horns on top of his head and the same bangs covering his eyes. He's dressed in a black and purple robe and is carrying a scepter.

"You disgusting vermin!" He spits at Mary. "What made you think you could have stopped me?! Maleficent! Master of all Evil! Well, you can have your owner back!" He moves his robe out of the way to reveal a lifeless Linka.

Maleficent laughs in a sinister manner as he transforms himself into green fire. Mary watches as it travels itself westward to a castle on a high mountain, leaving burning grasslands in its path. The woodland critters weep over Linka's body, no one harder than Mary.

During their sorrow, the dawn breaks. Mary looks up and sees a shining white castle with a tower eastbound. She thumps her foot against the ground rapidly to get the others' attention. She points toward the tower. Catching on, the owls lift Linka by the arms and carry her to the crouching deer's back. Squirrels get on the deer's back to balance her. The deer gently lifts himself up and carries Linka to the castle with all the animals following.

Mary, feeling responsible for bringing Linka into this mess, heads West alone for some answers.

-/-

Mary arrives and uses her claws to climb herself up the stone wall and pulls herself through the nearest window.

At first, she made it through without being noticed. Then she hears "Stop!" One of Maleficent's goblin-minions sees her and starts running towards her. He's a wizard to some degree and the only one at that. With his wand, shoots lightning at the rabbit. She dodges his attack, and giving no warning, runs up to him, jumps at his neck and bites it. He yelps in pain and shakes her off, but Mary doesn't let go until he falls. Mary spits out his blood on his body when he does.

Thinking that it would do her some good (plus it would be stupid if she didn't take it), Mary picks up the discarded wand with her mouth and goes on her way.

None of the other goblins were aware of the recent death for they were all celebrating the downfall of Linka in Maleficent's throne room.

"It's a shame that our noble guest couldn't join us for the celebration." The evil fairy says aloud. "I'll see how he's doing in the dungeon." He gets up and leaves.

Curious, Mary falls into the castle and gingerly follows him. She ducks and hides in every nook and cranny as she does. Maleficent goes down to the lowest level of his castle where there's only a door. He unlocks it then closes it slowly behind him. Mary rushes in as its closing and hides in a corner.

On a bench chained to the wall is a Robbie Dan doppelgänger. Wearing a brown tunic over a black shirt, brown pants, a red cape, and black riding boots. He glares daggers at his visitor.

"Oh come now, Prince Philip. Why so desolate?"

"Why have you brought me here?"

"It's all part of the fairy tale." His scepter creates images. It first shows Linka on a bed with the animals from before keeping watch. "Behold the castle to the East. And in the highest tower is Princess Aurora, sleeping in peace. Though she is unsure of where or when she hopes that she'll return to her old life as Linka Loud again."

His scepter creates a slideshow of her previous adventures. "She's lived quite the adventure, hasn't she? From fighting a Hydra to New York City."

"The seasons change. But a hundred years is a day to the girl in the repose stage." A future image of Philip, old and depressed, leaving Maleficent's castle on his horse. "And the gates of the dungeon part. And our prince is free to go to his sweetheart. A lionhearted young boy, straight and tall, to wake her up with an act of selfless sacrifice." He states sarcastically.

"And prove that true love conquers all!" Hearing enough of his taunting, Philip lunges forward at him, despite being restrained. Maleficent laughs at his antics. Mary growls quietly at the sinister creature.

"I swear to you, Maleficent! When I get out of here, I'll kill you!"

"Oh, I'm sure you would, my boy. But that's ages away. Pleasant dreams." He turns and leaves the dungeon, locking the door behind it.

Mary hops out of the shadows in front of Philip. "What? A rabbit?" The rabbit puts a paw on her mouth to shush him. Then she uses her teeth to bite off the shackles on his wrists and ankles.

Philip stands up. "You came to help me?" Mary nods. "You know, under different circumstances, being saved by a bunny would bruise my ego." Mary just rolls her eyes.

He takes one step towards the door but Mary steps in front of him. Knowing the road ahead is treacherous, Mary waves the wand and grants him the Shield of Faith and the silver Sword of the Spirit.

Philip stares at the weapons amazed than he pauses and shoots a perplexing look at Mary. "Wait, where did you get that wand?"

Mary headbutts him in the shin as if to tell him to stop asking questions. "Ow! Alright! Let's go! My horse is outside!" Mary then uses the wand to zap the lock away. She jumps on his shoulder and they escape. They travel up a flight of stairs but along the way, they run into a goblin patrolling the stairs. He screeches and sounds the alarm. Robbie Dan's doppelgänger cuts his cry for help short by stabbing it in the throat.

Our heroes continue upward. Soon after, a party of minions comes rushing down the stairs, weapons in hand. They turn around and run toward an open window. The prince protects himself from his blows with his shield. He swings his sword and limbs and blood start flying every which way. He jumps out of the window with Mary in tow. Mary uses the wand to lift above the ground when they were just about to plummet and places them down gently. Philip hears his horse whinnies to his right and runs to him. He's chained to the ground.

Goblins from on top of the west wall throw boulders on him. The horse neighs loudly as a warning. Mary gasps and uses the wand to transform the rocks to confetti.

Goblins from on top of the east wall shoot flaming arrows him. Philip immediately raises his shield but the arrows are now flowers raining down.

"That's a very plot convenient wand, isn't it?" Philip comments. He then breaks the chain off his horse with his sword. He pulls himself and the rabbit on top of it and they ride off. But the minions aren't done with them yet for above the castle's exit, pots of molted lead are poured out. Philip keeps a straight face, knowing he's protected. An iron umbrella appears over the three of them and they safely get through the gates.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Maleficent demands, coming out of his tower. He gasps when he sees the prince and the rabbit escaping. "No!" The drawbridge is pulling up as they are leaving. Mary is frightful of the outcome, but the horse jumps over the edge successfully and gallops East.

With his magic, the evil fairy waves his scepter and creates a dark cloud over his head. "A forest of thorns shall be his tomb! Borne through the skies on a fog of doom!" He sends the spell to the East castle. From it, lightning strikes the earth and thick bushes of prickly thorns block the road.

The three of them are dumbfounded by the new barrier. The horse stops in front of the thorns just in time. Philip swings his sword around to cut the branches. Mary uses the wand to make the thorns disappear below so that path is wider for the horse. Philip's cape gets hooked on some thorns, causing him to choke and forcing him to discard it. They finally make a clear path to the castle.

"No! It cannot be!" The Lars doppelgänger transforms himself into green fire again and travels East. Like a bomb, he explodes on impact in front of the prince. Maleficent stands before him with flames behind him.

"What was it you said? That you'll kill me once you are free? Let's see how you will deal with me now, O Prince! And all of the powers of Hell!" With a thunderous boom and green and purple smoke and flames surrounding him, his final transformation is revealed to be a 70-foot black, fire-breathing dragon.

Needless to say, the boy and the rabbit are scared shitless. Remember when this chapter was about Linka and her world-hopping? This guy was introduced a couple of pages ago and he has to face a dragon?!

Nevertheless, Philip commands the horse to charge. The dragon breathes fire, throwing him and the rabbit off the horse. He breathes fire again at the boy, but Mary jumps up and takes the hit for him, leaving her stunned and dropping the wand.

"Rabbit!" Philip exclaims, concerned. He growls at the dragon. When it lunges toward him, he slits the bridge of his nose. He screeches in pain, giving him time to climb up to the edge of a cliff. Maleficent meets him there and snaps his teeth at him, he swings his sword at him rapidly demanding that he get back. Green flames dance and grow below him.

With another fireball, Maleficent blasts the weapons out of Philip's hands. They fall into the pit.

Maleficent chuckles darkly. "Poor boy, no one can save you!" He sneers.

The boy braces himself for impact. Suddenly, he hears another man tell off the dragon.

"That's what you think, you overgrown lizard!"

From above, Raphael swoops into the scene by his hair and snatches the Latino boy up.

"What?!" The dragon exclaims as Raphael swings them around the flames and lands them both safely on the ground.

"I'm so glad I left my tower!" He boasts. "Where's Linka?"

"Back there in that white tower! We have to save the rabbit too!" He points to the thick layers of thorns.

"I'm on it! But someone has to distract that lizard!" He whistles for backup. From the heavens, Hercules flies in on his pegasus. The creature gets just close enough for Hercules to make his shot. He readies his bow and shoots an acidic arrow into the arm of the dragon. Maleficent panics when his arm becomes paralyzed. The Greek god smirks at this and shoots another arrow into his other arm.

"That's how we do it on Olympus!"

A cloud of pink smoke appears behind the dragon. From it is Clopin running up to him and climbing up his scaly back. The dragon feels his weight and attempts to shake it off. While holding onto a scale, the Gypsy takes out a ridiculously long chain of hankies from his collar. He throws it to Hercules, who grabs one end and wraps it around the long neck. Then he throws it back to Clopin, who pulls back both ends to hold him in place. He digs his feet into the dragon's wings.

"Steady, boy! Down!" Clopin commands as it thrashes and howls around.

Leaving his mouth unhinged gave the perfect opportunity for someone else to throw a flying object into his mouth. The dragon chokes on it.

"Spinach puffs! Get them while they're hot!" Kronk declares as he flies with Aladdin and Yzma on Aladdin's magic carpet. A real one this time. Kronk throws another one into his mouth.

Aladdin brings them up close to the side of his face. And with his sword, he swings and slices his right ear clean off.

"Is that all you got, you cowardly snake?!" He exclaims. Yzma takes a potion out from her chest and drinks it all. She transforms into an adult lioness and jumps off the carpet onto the dragon's head.

"If anyone is gonna kill that girl, it's gonna be me!" She then bites off a chunk of his left ear. The dragons howl in pain again but Kronk keeps throwing puffs into his mouth to choke it.

From below, Scar, Beast, and Dodger run through the thorn bushes and up the cliff. They stop and stand in front of the dragon.

"Not if I get to her first!" Scar yells as a rebuttal. "Beast! Dodger! Go for the legs!" They each give their war cries and charge at the legs. They bite chunks off the scaly skin off and scratch and claw. Leaving the legs a bruised, bloody mess. Maleficent's stance has gone wobbly; he has had enough of this nonsense.

Forcing the food in his throat out, he screeches angrily and shakes the three animals off his leg. They fall on the ground below the cliff. The tremblings cause Yzma and Clopin to fall off the dragon. Luckily, Hercules caught them on his pegasus.

"I'm out of Spinach puffs!" Kronk panics.

"Kronk, this is no time to panic!" Aladdin scolds. The two on the carpet barely fly out of the way of Maleficent's fireball. "Start panicking!"

Once they heard that, everyone on the battle field gets out of range of Maleficent's firepower. During all this, Raphael and Philip crawl through the thorns to find the white rabbit. Raphael sees her first and reaches out for her. Her fur is too hot to touch, so he wraps his hair around her.

"I found her! Pull back!" He commands the other boy and they both crawl out of the thorn pit. As he moves back, Raphael finds the wand and picks it up.

"She's barely breathing!" The young prince exclaims. He looks up and sees the other doppelgängers dodging fireballs. "And as long he's breathing, we're all gonna end up like her!"

"We have a plan for that!" The blonde looks off into the horizon. "And here they come now!"

Coming toward the battle is a giant tidal wave. It extinguishes the green flames below them as it moves. Swimming and controlling the wave from the inside was the little merman, his father's golden trident in his grasp. And surfing on top of the wave on his solid ice board was Ellis.

"Not exactly how I pictured the human world." Avery comments.

"It's a bigger mess than this, dude!" Ellis tells him.

"What kept you?!" The Beast yells.

"You try controlling a giant wave out of the ocean with your father's trident that you have never touched before!" Avery yells back.

The pair move up to the dragon. Ellis jumps off his board and into the air. Avery concentrates on him and suspends him in the air with a golden ray from the trident. Ellis gathers up a flurry of ice and blasts it into Maleficent's face. He freezes the dragon's mouth, sealing it shut. Avery moves his trident and returns him on the top of the wave. The ice king creates an frozen sheet below his feet so he stands perfectly on the water.

"Ok, whoever has a plan, do it now. Cause I don't know how long that ice will last!"

Raphael hears his warning and wraps more of his hair around the charred bunny.

"What are you doing?" Philip questions.

"Just watch." Raphael takes a breath and sings. And despite the pressure around him, he keeps his voice soothing and calm. Philip takes a step back as he watches as his hair glows a bright yellow, from root to tip. And not just Philip, everyone is speechless.

Flower, gleam, and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine

Heal what has been hurt

Change the Fates' design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

What once was mine

Raphael unwraps his hair from the rabbit, Mary rises to her feet, good as new. She sees the dragon and frantically looks around for something.

"Is this what you want?" Raphael hands her the wand from before. Mary takes it back and grants Philip a new Sword of the Spirit. This one is sharper and brighter than the last one. Mary makes a throwing motion with her arm. The Robbie Dan doppelgänger nods in understanding.

"Someone get his attention! Merman, bring me close to him!"

Raphael takes out his frying pan and throws it like a frisbee at the creature. It hits him on the neck and he abruptly turns his head. "He did it!" He cries, pointing at Philip and getting out of range.

Avery uses the same magic he used on Ellis and carries him a few feet in front of the dragon. The dragon is so furious to see him that his eyes glow red with hate. He tries his flaming breath again, causing the ice to crack and melt away.

But before his mouth becomes free again, Philip readies his weapon. "Now, Sword of the Spirit, fly swift and sure! That evil die and good endure!" He says before hurling the sword; it's a direct hit at the dragon's heart. Maleficent wails horrifically at the impact. Avery moves his trident so Philip would move out of the way of Maleficent's fall. He drops below with a monstrous thud and there he lies, bleeding out.

Everyone else rejoices and regroup on the bridge. Avery sets Philip down and shrinks the wave to his size to be among them. Ellis jumps down when he does. Kronk hands Yzma another potion for her to drink and she's back into a human.

"That was awesome, Prince Charming!" Clopin tells him.

"It's Philip. And yeah, I just did that! But wait, if you had the wand Blondie, why didn't you make me a sword yourself?" Mary headbutts him in the shin again.

"Ow! I know, I know! Stop asking questions." He picks up the rabbit and hugs her as his way of showing thanks.

"So, where's the girl?" Aladdin asks.

"Up in that tower." Raphael points to it.

"Well, let's save ourselves the trip." Ellis sends a gale of ice to the tower. It goes inside through the window and carries out the sleeping maiden. Ellis pulls back his hands, the wind follows the motion and lays her out in the center of the group. Upon closer inspection, all the color have been drained from her face.

Mary leaves Robbie Dan's arms and onto Linka's chest. She is overwhelmed by guilt again and lets her tears spill on her body. Then, the color in Linka returns as she takes her first breath. "Mary?" She whispers.

"Wait, what happened? Aren't you supposed to kiss her?" Raphael asks Philip.

"Nope. Maleficent said an act of selfless sacrifice will wake her up. And I think helping me along on my journey and getting fried in the process, all to help me save Linka, counts as such an act. And give yourselves some credit, guys. You all came from God-knows-where and teamed up against a motherfucking dragon. Admit it, you guys care for her too, even you two." He points to the lion and the purple lady.

"Don't get used to it." They say in unison.

"Is that true?" Linka asks, sitting up.

"We were worried about you, kitten, er- Linka," Dodger says. "It's weird to see you as a human." Half of them agree.

"And I love you guys." Linka says. Mary licks her face happily. "Haha, I love you, too, Mary!"

"Now, wake up, Linka." The Beast tells her.

"What?"

"Linka! Wake up!"

"Wake up, Linka! Wake up!" Loki tells his sister, shaking her.

Linka jolts up awake, disrupting the rabbit on her chest. "Mary! You're OK!" She hugs the rabbit close to her chest. She takes a good look around, she's back in her living room on her couch. There's no bite wound on her leg. She's surrounded by her brothers, all back to normal. She looks at the TV, her laptop was plugged into the TV by the HDMI cable and Disney+ was on display.

"I'm home!" She cries happily.

"What do you mean, "you're home"?" Lynn asks. "You've been sleeping like a bum since this morning. You have a bed, you know."

"Don't you remember? This was after you asked us how we've been doing in our quarantine." Loni adds.

"And it's hard to watch TV here cause you toss and turn and snore!" Lexx complains.

"Then what about Mary?" Linka asks.

"She escaped her cage this morning," Lane explains. "I was looking for her then I found her on your chest so I left you two be." Linka hugs her a little tighter.

"I understand, but guys! My dream was wild! We were living out Disney stories and you guys, Claudia, Robbie Dan, Bebe, and Mom and Dad were in it! And I was chasing Mary all over the place! Then you all team up and killed Lars the dragon!"

"Well, thank you for that comforting thought." The goth says sarcastically.

"Kids! Dinner!" Lynn Sr. calls out. "Wait till you try my Spinach puffs!"

"Did he say Spinach puffs?" Levi asks.

"Are they any good?" Luke wonders.

"I wouldn't count on it." Linka animatedly jumps off the couch, still carrying Mary. "Come on, I'll tell you all about my dream at the table." She leaves with that. The ten brothers look at each other confused at her chipper attitude. Yet, they would be lying if they said they weren't curious. They follow their sister to the dining table.

AN: Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it. Walt Disney

Congratulations! You made it to the end! 53 pages, over 18,000 words! Ah, Disney, you-big-cooperation-who-doesn't-feel-like-it-has-to-try-anymore-but-I-keep-giving-money-to-you-because-you-have-childhood-and-teenhood-by-the-balls, you keep me entertained during this pandemic. If any of you wanted to make fan art out of any of my chapters, it's this one I want to see the most as an illustration.

Leave a review telling me which is your favorite! My personal favorites were Lynn's and Lane's. Because that's how Hercules defeated the Hydra (not with Phil of course) in the myth and I was following the Hunchback stage musical (which is very good), respectively. Stay safe and stay home!