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The Journey Begins

Running through the darkness was a scared little child.

They did not know why they were there or where they were. They did not even know their own name. This little child was lost in both place and memory. All they knew of the world was this darkness that seemed to have no end.

Suddenly an echo came from the endless void, one they’d not heard before. Often they would hear the feint sounds of something in the distance. They were never sure if it was real, an imagination, or just a tick caused by this darkness that almost seemed alive at times. But this was something new. It sounded like people singing, or something close to singing.
They tried to run towards it as fast as they could. They did not know what to expect, only that they needed to know if there was anyone else here who could help.

But as soon as they’d reached where they thought the source was there was nothing. No sound and no trace. Just more darkness. Another failed attempt at escaping or at least figuring out who they were or having, at the very least, some form of company.

From the darkness they heard something else, something they hated hearing. A laughter echoed through the air. It sounded as if it came from a person or thing that was ancient with age. But it was the laugh alone that bothered them, it was the taunting manner in which it was done.

There were time when the child thought whoever it was laughing was the one responsible for all of this, yet they could not be sure. They’d never seen anyone or anything so, for all they knew, this was just a great madness set upon them. Maybe they were not even alive anymore, and this was the hell set for them.

Feeling all hope lost, the child fell to the ground and wept alone in the darkness.

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

The horn had sounded as the DunBroch ship had spotted Castle Disney on the horizon.

“Land ahoy!” one of the sailors called out loud enough for all to hear.

From her cabin princess Merida heard this and, without a moment’s hesitation, rushed her way out to the deck to see for herself. She’d been in such a hurry she didn’t see her mother, father, brothers, and even Mary Poppins had already been up on deck as the ship’s men still rowed their way closer towards the shore.

Sure enough there it was, Castle Disney. It had not been in the same location as Merida had remembered. Instead of resting in the middle of a village it was close to the shore where the docks were. Already a large amount of ships were either docked or leaving port. Despite that it didn’t look at that different which was a relief to the princess as she’d hoped not too much more was different.

What had almost felt like a lifetime ago Merida had been swept up in a great battle with a number of heroes from different worlds far from her own. After being attacked by a phantom called the Headless Horseman only to be saved by King Mickey and his friends, she’d been introduced to a whole slur of heroes of different abilities and backgrounds. With her involvement she’d tried to help them stop the Horseman and his apparent ruler, a being called the Master of Worlds, from kidnapping extraordinary people and things known as “Alpha Beings and Objects”. However none of them had been made aware that the true plot was to use the power of all the assembled Alphas in order to combine all the worlds together into a new One World, where everyone’s history had been altered both greatly and small. Thanks to a magic medicine provided by the magical nanny Mary Poppins Merida still retained her memories of before but, fearing if the effects would last, wrote a list of things to remind herself of what was the right history of the worlds. And now, after having recruited the altered Mary Poppins to her cause, the princess of the DunBroch lands had intended to do what she could to make as many other heroes remember and try to undo the spell holding all the worlds together. And to stat it off they’d all been invited to a royal party held at Castle Disney where other rulers of the lands, and hopefully the heroes Merida recalled, would be present.

As Merida stood at the bow of the ship, watching as they slowly came closer and closer, her mother came walking up behind while saying “Always a grand sight to see, isn’t it?”

Merida, with her mind still set on the histories of the past and her mission of the future, answered “Aye. Grand indeed.”

Noticing her less enthusiastic tone Elinor asked “Are you still a bit uppity today? Still not sleeping well and all that?”

In order to continue avoiding getting her mother concerned and involved in what she wouldn’t understand, Merida sighed a little and said “A little. But it’s fine. Maybe I just need to stop having haggis before bed is all.”

Elinor sighed before looking back and commenting “Maybe you should ask Mary Poppins to help you sleep, like she does with your brothers.”

Merida looked back to see as her brothers were, as always, being rascals aboard the ship. The three of them were either scurrying about and fiddling or messing with the sailors and things on the ship like the roaring oars. There did come a point where, as they were swinging on one of the ropes attached to the mass, they smacked into the back of their father King Fergus and knocked his helmet off. However when the boys passed Mary Poppins, who’d been reading a book while sitting on a chair provided to her with her famous carpet bag and umbrella sitting near her, she’d gave them a look which set the boys straight. They stopped what they were doing and hung their heads as they walked off while Mary Poppins went back to reading.

Elinor shook her head while smiling as she commented “They behave so much better around her. Though she did teach them this odd word…oh what was it? Oh, never mind. In any case I don’t know how she does it, but I’m starting to wish we’d hired her a long time ago.”

Merida, thinking on this, commented “Maybe things would’ve been a lot more different then they are now.” With a bit of a hardened tone.

Hearing that Elinor commented “Everyone changes, Merida. I think you and I know that best.”

Merida looked to her mother and nodded as she thought on that. It was true that the events where Merida had to cure her mother when she was changed into a bear had done a great deal to bring both of them together, but even then Merida wondered how much of that reality was left in this one. While it had been confirmed that it had happened Merida wondered if it had gone the same way as it did for her originally. This only added to her mix of concern as to what else was changed and how urgent it was to turn everything back to normal.

As Elinor walked off Mary Poppins stopped her reading and rose from her chair. The two passed and Mary Poppins bowed to the queen, who gave a small crusty in return, before she made her way towards Merida. As she approached the two nodded to each other before looking towards Castle Disney.

When Merida had awoken to the new One World the first thing she did, as ordered by the Mary Poppins of her history, was to find this Mary Poppins by any means necessary. On the better hand she’d managed to summon her to her lands the very next day, but on the worse this Mary Poppins was like everyone else and did not remember the history from before; which had annoyed Merida since she’d hoped for answers as to why she was chosen as opposed to everyone else to be given the medicine. Thankfully she was willing to accept Merida’s story of an altered history of the worlds and agreed to help her with restoring everything to the natural order.

Breaking the moment of silence between them Mary Poppins asked “So, is there any difference between this Castle Disney and the one from your history?”

“So far it looks the same. Mostly.” Merida answered. “But it’s not the castle I’m worried about. Even if Minnie is still the queen, there’s still no way of knowing where everyone else is. Mickey, Goofy, Max, Donald. For all we know they could be in land far away from here.”

Mary Poppins merely responded with “Then if for nothing else, we may be able to find out where they are and track them down later. For the time being, I suggest we stay focused on those who will be present at the party.” Merida nodded at this before she asked “What about your list? Does it give any ideas as to who we might meet?”

From a pocket on her dress Merida pulled out the list of things she kept memorized before saying “Well a lot of the people I met were royalty. Snow White. Adam and Belle. The two who were turned into frogs.” Folding the list back up she said “But who knows if they’ll still be royalty in this history. They could be….I don’t know. Poor or still have their curses. Maybe some of them might not even exist. Some of them might even be evil…”

Thinking on this Mary Poppins said “Well from the stories I know from this history, I’ve not heard of any evil people with dwarves for friends or originally being mermaids and so on. The best thing to do is to wait and see, princess.” Merida bit her lip as she tried to think that way but, of course, looked more anxiously towards the castle as it was so much closer now. This made Mary Poppins comment “But maybe it’s not just the heroes you’re worried about, is it?”

Seemed a bit worried to say it, Merida rubbed her arm as she said “The Master of Worlds is still out there. The real one I mean. And I have no idea who it is. For all I know they could be at this party too.” She looked back towards everyone on the ship and continued “He could be standing right next to me and I’d never know.” Looking back to Mary Poppins she said “If we do find him there’s no telling what will be waiting for us. Whoever he is, he had the fake master under his wing and even he was tough to beat.”

Mary Poppins, giving a curious look to her when she finished, asked “And what is it that frightens you more? Finding him in time….or the idea that it might be someone you know?”

Merida was hesitant to answer that question. She licked her lips as she tried to think what the right answer was. It was true that while she was worried about how powerful the real master of worlds was, there was also the possibility it was one of her friends who’d been working behind the scenes the entire time. And if that were the case, would she be able to do what would be needed to stop them?

Finally she spoke and said “I guess it’s a bit of both actually.”

Smirking at this Mary Poppins said “No matter what we may find, princess Merida, you may take heart in knowing I will be there to help however I can.” With a little comfort in knowing that Merida thanked her before she said “We’ll be reaching port any moment now. I suggest we prepare ourselves.”

As Mary Poppins walked off Merida watched her for a moment before looking back to the castle. What she’d said was true but Merida felt it as a more a need to prepare for what they were about to see, both the good and the bad. The princess just hoped she had the stomach for whatever it may be.

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

Within fifteen minutes the DunBroch ship had finally made port.

The sailors tossed the mooring lines to the dock hands waiting for them, which helped them tie the ship to the docks. Once the plank was pushed out some of the men began to unload the belongings of the DunBroch royal family. Mary Poppins, when offered to have her bags carried, insisted on carrying her things herself.

When Merida and her family walked onto the stone docks all of them were looking around and admiring the site of the castle close by. Even Merida had to look up and give a low whistle at how impressive it all looked from the outside, especially because she’d spent most of her time inside in her history. Though, when taking a closer look, she did not how some parts of it seemed a bit more fortified than others.

Suddenly Queen Elinor had said “Isn’t it amazing, Fergus? All the stone work. And it looks so much more fortified than our castle.”

Fergus, frowning and crossing his arms, responded with “Oh aye, it’s grand and all. But I’d like to see it withstand a siege from Romans and manage to stay in one piece. You remember that time, Elinor? When we….” Elinor gave him a look that basically told him not to act so jealous, to which she sighed and said “Yes, dear.”

After shaking her head at this Elinor looked over before pointing out “Look! The other highland lords are here.”

Everyone else looked to see the ships bearing the symbols of the clans Dingwall, MacGuffin and Macintosh were already boarded at the docks. There was a small group of men assembled nearby as well with the lords themselves standing nearby. Fergus called over to them before he and the three princes ran off to meet with them, the boys mainly trying to get away from the women for a little bit.

Elinor began to walk over before stopping and asking “Don’t you want to say hello, Merida?”

She answered with “In a wee bit, mum. I just…need to talk with Mary Poppins about something.” Elinor nodded before walking off at which point Merida waited until she was far enough before looking back to the nanny and saying “Okay, so I thought about it. I think the first person we should find is King Mickey. Or at least whatever he is in this world.”

Mary Poppins nodded before commenting “Well given what you said about him from your own history, he does seem the best choice. Though the question is where would we start?”

Merida thought for a moment before saying “I remember the story about him and his friends. Apparently they used to live in some village where they actually killed a giant.”

Hearing that Mary Poppins commented “I certainly hope that part of their story is still intact.”

Merida continued with “After that they came to this kingdom and they joined some order of knight or protectors. Something like that.”

As Merida tried to think on the name Mary Poppins said “The Musketeers.”

“Aye! That’s it.” Merida said, pointing it out.

Mary Poppins however responded with “That wasn’t what I was referring to, princess.” Before pointing to something behind her.

She looked and realized a small group of men, all dressed in matching uniforms, were approaching them. Merida figured these must’ve been the musketeers she’d heard about, given that they all had the same red shirts, feathered hats, boots, pants and blue robes with matching cross symbols on the front. She could also see they had thin fencing swords on their belts as well. They were all people from Minnie’s kingdom which, at first, calmed Merida but then she wondered if they were here for good reasons or not.

When they reached the two, the lead musketeer bowed and said “Princess Merida of DunBroch, we’ve come as massagers from Queen Minnie herself to welcome you to the castle.”

Merida looked oddly to Mary Poppins before saying “Uh, thanks for that. Uh…and you can tell the queen we’re happy to be here.”

The leader then asked “Might we know where the king and queen are? Our commander wishes to speak with them?”

“And who might your commander be? If you pardon my asking.” Mary Poppins said.

From the back of the group someone cleared his throat and said “Uh, that’ be me.”

After hearing the voice Merida’s eyes went wide with surprise. The musketeers then parted so their commander could be seen, given that he was so short compared to them. And sure enough there he was, dressed like the others but still with the same face and round ears and all as Merida had remembered.

“Commander Mickey, at your service.” The mouse said as he took off his hat and bowed to the two ladies.

Seeing this Mary Poppins only commented to Merida “Well isn’t this fortuitous.”