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A Call to Arms

Only a day had passed since everyone returned from the voyage from Neverland to the Haunted Mansion and back to Castle Disney; and in that time the very first course of action had been informing the parents and guardians of the Lost Children of their safe return.

The Black pearl, still floating in the air, had been anchored at the docks among the other ships. It was there, at the docks itself, that the children were being ferried off the ship via a large boarding plank to the ground where the waiting parents greeted them so affectionately. Peter Pan, along with the older members of the Lost Children and even Lilo, had been the one helping them down along with Jiminy Cricket, Elsa and Anna, and Jack Sparrow’s crew of Mulan, Flynn and Aladdin. Even Max Goof, the second command to the Musketeers, had been doing his part.

So many children and parents, upon seeing each other, had run to the others arms and hugged and kissed greatly. Some had been surprised that the parents had aged while the children had not changed at all from when last seeing them.

Among them were the king and queen from Corona, who searched so intently among the group of children for their own daughter. Sure enough the king spotted someone walking through the crowd with a young blonde-haired girl with extremely long hair and a chameleon perched on her shoulder. Eugene had carried Rapunzel over to them while cutting his way through the scattering crowd of children and adults.

Upon seeing the two, the king pointing her out to his wife, Rapunzel had leapt from Eugen’s arms and exclaimed “Mom! Daddy!”

The king and queen hurried towards her before the young princess leapt into their arms. They were all so happy to the point of crying. Even Pascal had cuddled up among their shoulders at the feeling of embracing family. Eugene stood there and tried to hold back tears, wiping them away as fast as he could, even though Aladdin could see them from the deck of the Pearl.

After a moment Rapunzel said “Mom, dad, I want you to meet someone.” The little princess ran over and took her friend’s hand before saying “This is Eugene. He’s a pirate but don’t let that worry you. See, we’re going to be married someday!”

Both the king and queen and Eugene looked aghast before the former looked to the latter, obviously giving an aggravated look, before he awkwardly laughed and said “It’s not what it sounds like!”

Meanwhile Lilo had been below, saying little goodbyes or giving brief and quick gestures of reassurance to other children upon seeing their parents. Many of them she knew for over a year, thinking of them as family. And knowing what was to come meant the Lost Children would be disbanded and that meant not seeing them again. It was still nice to see them going off and being reunited with family.

It wasn’t until she heard a familiar voice call “Lilo?” that she herself realized she wasn’t the only one who needed to reconnect.

Knowing the source of the voice was behind her Lilo slowly turned to see, as she both hoped and feared, Nani standing there. She was still dressed as a servant of the castle, something Lilo didn’t fully realize at first, but upon seeing her lost little sister she couldn’t help but crack a tear.

“Lilo!” Nani had said, dropping to her knees and making her sister, finally starting to cry, run to her and jump in her arms. Upon embracing Nani kept kissing her sister’s head while saying “Thank you! Oh thank you, all above. Thank you.”

Lilo, amidst her crying, sniffled out “I’m sorry I ran away, Nani! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, sweetie.” Nani replied, dropping t her bottom and sitting in the same spot. “You’re home now. You’re home…”

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

From above, in Castle Disney, Merida was looking down at the docks and seeing all the children being reunited; especially Lilo and Nani.

She was sitting at one of the windows in Queen Minnie’s personal chamber where many of the other heroes were assembled and discussing the situation with her. Even Merida’s parents, Queen Merida and King Fergus, had been present as well; along with Master Scrooge, Daisy and Mickey, Jack Sparrow, Madame Leota, who was currently hanging on the nearest wall, and of course Mary Poppins.

She, in fact, upon seeing Merida’s distracted face, had tapped her with her umbrella to bring her attention back to the conversation among the assembled heroes. She nodded, trying to catch up on whatever she may have missed.

Minnie, sitting at a chair with Mickey and Daisy nearby, looked shocked as she said “I still can’t believe it. To think that all of our lives would’ve been different if we’d all been brought together like this. Through some dark spell.”

“We know what you mean.” King Fergus added. “Though I’m still glad we didn’t change that much.” Elinor, hearing this, shot him an annoyed look before he asked “What? I mean aside from you still being a bear, my darling.”

“At least it can’t get much worse from here, right?” Daisy asked.

“I wouldn’t think too much on that, my dear.” Mary Poppins retorted. “In fact I fear that we still have a larger concern on our hands.”

“That’s right.” Merida stood and added. “Alice is still out there and by now she’s getting together anyone who’s willing to stay on her side.”

“And that includes those such as Sultan Jafar and Maleficent herself.” Mary Poppins added.

Jack Sparrow then added “So basically we’ve managed our way out of a hurricane only to go sailing straight into a maelstrom. Only this one is blonde and wears a blue dress.”

Hearing all of this Master Scrooge asked “So what do you suppose we do?”

“We take the fight to her of course!” Mickey said. “If we’re going to have any hope of setting everything back to normal, that means dealing with Alice first.”

“Oh aye?” Scrooge began. “And how you plan to do that when she’s got an army between you and her? Not to mention the fact she’s all the way at Bald Mountain. Hope you don’t mind dealing with that little excursion.”

“Did you forget the fact that we have a flying ship on our side?” Jack began. “A very nice little enchantment I might add.”

“One ship isn’t exactly safe in the skies against an entire army.” Queen Elinor pointed out.

“Exactly!” Scrooge said. “And if what you’re saying is true, that this Alice girl has help from placed like the Hun Lands, then they’ll be thousands of soldiers waiting for you when you get there. You’ll be dead and buried before you can say ‘Oops’.”

“But that’s what we’re trying to discuss here and now.” Mary Poppins began. “In order to deal with one army, the best solution is to have one of your own. Which is the main reason why we’ve come to you, Queen Minnie.” She turned and said. “With your political and metrical power, you could easily help us call upon our own allies to confront Alice and her insidious horde.”

Hearing this Minnie reluctantly looked away before saying “Are you sure this is the best way? So many lands have suffered from enough wars. I don’t think they’d be keen to charge into another.”

“They would if they knew what was at stake.” Merida retorted. “If they knew what we knew we…” she stopped and thought before looking to Madame Leota, still trapped in the Magic Mirror, and asked “Could you show this to more people? If we gathered them together we-”

Leota stopped her and said “I’m afraid that would be too much….even for me.” She still sounded slightly in pain while trapped in the mirror. “Even now I would have trouble…showing it to a few dozen. Too much exertion can have….horrible side effects.”

Merida turned, knowing it was pointless to ask anymore, before saying “We still have a chance. Queen Elsa has promised her army from Arendelle to help us.”

“Small as it is.” Jack added.

“And what about Corona?” she continued. “We just helped the king and queen reunite with their daughter who’s been missing for years. I’m sure as a sign of gratitude they’d help us and throw in their forces.”

“Still the same problem.” Scrooge retorted. “Corona’s forces aren’t enough to invade a few hundred acers of land, let alone an entire fortress.”

“Then we’ll throw in out lot as well.” Queen Elinor said, standing from her seat. “If it means bringing things back to the way they should be, we’ll call on any and all lords of the highlands to our cause.”

“Aye!” Fergus exclaimed, standing beside her. “And I’ll kick the backsides of any squanders who take their sweet time deciding.”

Merida, eager by her parents’ response, stood with them as well. While some were a little encouraged by this gesture, others were not as so.

“As noble as that all is, you’re still grossly outnumbered.” Scrooge pointed out. “The Huns alone number in the thousands. And with all you’ve got gathered from what you’ve got now, it’s only a few hundred. They’d swarm you like bees to honey!”

“And there is more to fear…” Leota spoke up. “The forces of the Master of Worlds are more…than man and steel. There are forces…dark and powerful…that she will call to her aid.”

“That means magic.” Daisy pointed out in a grimed tone.

“Something else we seem to be lacking.” Jack pointed out.

“There’s always the Magician’s School.” Mickey suggested. “There’s lots of magic users there. And I’m sure Donald wouldn’t mind helping out if we asked.”

Daisy seemed to perk at the idea before Scrooge said “You can’t be honesty suggesting we ask a bunch of untrained students to go marching into battle are you? We might end up blowing ourselves up if they get a spell wrong or mix the wrong incantation.”

Merida, annoyed by his constant comments, looked to Scrooge and asked “Why do you have to be so negative about it? Don’t you want to bring everything back together?”

Scrooge scoffed at this before saying “I’m being practical, my dear. Don’t you understand that if we start a fight that we could very well lose how much we’ll suffer for it? Yes I know this is about putting things back together, but what about this world? It has a history too you know? One we’ve all lived uninterrupted up until now. And what about those who don’t know the truth? Should they risk their lives just to have everything they’ve ever known gone like that?”

Mickey, looking annoyed by this, asked “Are you suggesting it’s better to live a lie?”

“It’s not a lie to all of us!” Scrooge retorted. “For some it’s all we’ve ever known.” He then turned to and said “Your majesty, Queen Minnie, you need to consider this. For the good of your people, we should-”

“Who are you to decide what’s good for the people?” Mickey retorted.

The two suddenly began to argue, Daisy trying to quell them, before Minnie stood and exclaimed “Enough!”

Then, to the surprise of many, when she blurted this out it was followed by a sudden burst of energy. It had taken a moment for everyone to realize what it was. Magic!
When everything calmed Scrooge was aghast and blurted out “Your majesty! I thought you we had that under control!”

Everyone else was a little surprised to the point of Mickey asking “You….you’re a magic user?”

Minnie shied away from anyone seeing her before she said “Only in this world….I think.”

Mickey, still trying to let this sink in, said “You never told anyone?”

Mickey turned back to his supposed-to-be wife and queen before, finally, Minnie looked back to him and said “I was worried they might disapprove, Mickey. It started to show sometime after I was crowned. I…I don’t know where it comes from exactly, but maybe it has to do with how the One World was created. From what I’ve seen you had magic before in our world. But here you don’t have any.”

Mickey was a little stunned by this before asking “But you kept yours a secret here. Why?”

“Because she’s the queen of one of the greater kingdoms in the world.” Scrooge began to explain. “As a magic user she’d have been forced to go to the Magician’s School and worry about her teachings there when she should be focusing on ruling a kingdom. That’s why she appointed me her official tutor.”

Mickey then turned to Daisy who answered for him with “Yes, I knew too. She had to tell someone, right? Actually…I knew before too, in our own world.”

Now looking back to Minnie, Mickey had reached out before she recoiled and said “I’m sorry I lied to you, Mickey. And to everyone. I just….didn’t want anyone to worry.”

Instead of recoiling himself he grabbed her hand and said “How can I not be? Minnie I love you. I’m always going to worry about you. In this world or the next, I’ll never stop doing whatever I can however I can to make sure I never have to worry about you. Even then, I doubt it’ll be enough. You know you never have to hide anything from me.”

Touched by his words Minnie smiled, a tear breaking in her eye, before she reached out and hugged him, saying “Oh Mickey!”

Everyone around smiled at this, even Scrooge who had been so negative before. Merida, however, smiled but then realized that this wasn’t getting them anywhere. As much as she wanted to she said nothing else on the matter but still had the need to address the grander issue.

She reached over to Mary Poppins and whispered “Happy as this is, we can’t get away from the fact we need to get an army together. And right now I don’t know what will convince the queen to change her mind.”

Before she could say anything Mary Poppins, and everyone else for that matter, heard the sound of hour calling somewhere in the castle. Everyone looked around, some knowing it was a warning call of someone approaching. It was then that Mary Poppins saw something flying in the distance towards the castle. A large black form with widespread wings that she began to figure who it was.

“I think your answer is currently flying this way.” Mary Poppins pointed out to Merida, she gasping at the sight of the Headless Horseman’s approach.

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

As the Headless Horseman drew close to the docks, were many were still gathered, all nearby guards had aimed their arrows and drew their swords at the ready for a fight.

It wasn’t until Captain Mickey, who’d arrived along with the others, told them to stand down that it was clear the Horseman wasn’t here for a conformation. They still kept their weapons ready in case he’d tried anything.

As the Horseman had landed the other nearby heroes, including Elsa and Max and Peter Pan and Jack Sparrow with his crew, arrived and surrounded the phantom rider. Merida, Mary Poppins, Queen Minnie, and the others had stood in front of where he’d landed before seeing the Horseman dismount and carrying something under his arm. Upon holding it out it was clearly an envelope.

The heroes had a wary eye on the Horseman before Max, taking the risk, slowly walked over to take the message from him. Tension was clear as no one was sure if the Horseman would make some surprise move and try to slay him where he stood. Thankfully, for everyone’s sake, he didn’t. He only handed him the message and stood awaiting the response after the heroes would read it.

Max brought it back to, surprisingly, Merida since the message was addressed to her. Even she found it a surprise before taking it and opening it. She read the first few line in silence before, seeing as it went on, it was clear she needed to read it aloud.

“To Princess Merida, the self-proclaimed hero of the revolution. I send you this word to congratulate you and your friends for putting up a valiant effort in attempting to “save the world”. And to tell you that your actions are unneeded and a waste of both yours and everyone else’s time and energy. What you fail to see I intend to make real as I bring the much needed order to this the One World that I have created. However, being that I can assume you will disagree to the notion of letting things be, I instead intend to prove to you and everyone else why any attempt against me is folly. I will give you three days to amass whatever forces you can find, as I will myself, before we both meet on the field of battle. Once I’ve proven my superiority over you and your cohorts I shall try to be merciful to all of you as I begin the final days for when complete and utter order shall be brought to all the peoples of the world. Until we meet. Signed Alice, Master of the One World.”

Elsa said aloud. “She hasn’t even tried yet and already she acts like she’s won.”

“It’s a trick. It has to be.” Flynn stated.

“Not at all.” Mary Poppins retorted. “It’s her way of trying to frighten us. She wants to show how confident she is just to demeanor us.”

Jack Sparrow had added with a modest “Is it wrong that I think it’s working?”

Minnie, looking at the letter herself, looked back to Mickey and asked “What should we do?”

Before Mickey could think of an answer Mary Poppins spoke up and said “Perhaps we should leave that to who the letter was actually addressed to.”

With that she indicated Merida who was a little surprised by the suggestion. She was speechless at first when suddenly everyone looked to her, waiting to hear her answer. Looking over the faces of all those who were anxious to hear her answer Merida seemed a little under pressure at first. Her gaze finally went to Mary Poppins, who gave her a small confident wink and smile, before taking a deep breath and turning to the still waiting Horseman.

“Three days. We’ll be there.” She stated.

That was enough of an answer for the Horseman as he instantly got back onto his corrupted flying steed that was once Pegasus. With a great flap of his wings and a heavy push with his hooves the horse was up in the air and he and his rider were already soaring through the air. Everyone watched as he eventually, the guards still keeping their arrows aimed at him until he was out of range.

As he and some of the others continued to watch Mickey walked up next to Merida and said “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Funny. I was going to say that to you when I asked how we were going to get a big enough army together.” She retorted. After that she asked “Any ideas?”

Mickey, thinking for a second, looked up to her and snapped “I think I know where to start.”

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

At the request of Merida and Captain Mickey, the Black Pearl had been rode through the skies towards the Magician’s School.

The school itself was more of a giant mansion with a grand tower in the center of it, standing up to two-hundred feet high. It was grand in both scale and color, a mix of marble white with dark blue roofs. The tower itself was a finely smoothed cylinder shape with a number of windows poked in at every level. A path leading from a large high gate that surrounded the school, as well as a large acers worth of a backyard, to the front door was laid out. And all about the corners on the school were carved gargoyle statues looking down and around the area.

The Black Pearl flew over the gates altogether and stopped just at the front of the school where a few lines of ropes were thrown down. Sliding down them came Merida, Mickey, Scrooge and Max Goof.

“I still think this is a terrible idea.” Scrooge said as they approached the front door.

“Aye, you’ve been saying that the whole trip.” Merida pointed out.

“Well I still think we’re all off our rockers to go asking these magicians to help us. Half of them aren’t fully trained.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Max pointed out before everyone reached the door. “Besides, if Queen Minnie thinks it’s a good idea-”

“She thinks it’s a good idea because he does.” Scrooge interrupted before pointing to Mickey. After Max knocked on the door Scrooge sighed and said “I just really don’t want to have to deal with…”

When the door finally opened the first thing everyone saw were three small figures bust out and declared “Uncle Scrooge!”

Before the old duck wizard knew it he was tackled by three smaller ones. All had clung to him as they hugged him, even though Scrooge was now rolling on his back to try and get the off. Each one wore a different colored robe, one blue, one red and the last green.

“Huey! Dewey! Louie!” he shouted as they still clamored over him. “Get off me right now! You whipper-snappers!”

“How’ve you been, Uncle Scrooge?” Dewey asked.

“You come to visit?” Huey added.

“Did you bring us presents?” Louie added too.

The others, watching this, had laughed at the sight. The high and mighty High Sorcerer Scrooge McDuck was being bested by his nephews who were, from what they could tell, magic users themselves. Interesting, as Merida though, that magic seemed to run in the family.

Suddenly another voice, one familiar to Merida, had called “Guys! You know the rules. We’re not supposed to...”

Everyone, except the ducks, looked to see someone else walking standing in the doorway. He was dressed more in common robes, indicating he wasn’t so much a magic user but a servant. As he stepped out the first person he looked to was the young second-in-command musketeer.

“Max?” P.J. Pete had said, stepping out to have a better look.

Giving a weak smile Max said “Hey, P.J...”

Merida noticed something off about the two. Before Max and P.J. seemed like good friends, despite P.J. working against the heroes in the previous history of the worlds. Here it was hard to tell. There was almost an underlying sense of discontent between the two.

After P.J. looked about at the other heroes he looked back to Max and asked “What are you doing here?”

Mickey was the one to answer with “We’re here to see the Head Master. You think you can fetch him for us?”

A moment of silence before P.J. nodded and said “Yeah, I’ll get him. Just give me a sec.”

With that he backed up into the school while the others waited. By this point Scrooge’s nephews had finally gotten off of him to let him stand while he dusted himself off. Merida, however, had something else on her mind.

Looking to Max she asked “Are you alright?” noting how he looked.

Mickey was the one to answer first, leaning over and saying “Bit of bad history between Max’s family and Pete’s. After…well…”

It dawned on Merida what he’d meant, referring to the fact that Pete had apparently been responsible for the death of Goofy in this world. Given the feeling she had when Max and P.J. had seen each other she had a feeling it was this event that had turned two friends apart from each other. If things were this bad between them Merida had wondered how much more they would need to deal with once they met with…

Almost as soon as she’d thought about her the familiar sound of Peggy Pete’s voice called out “Mickey? Max?” from inside.

She stepped into the doorway to fully reveal herself before them. Unlike P.J. Peggy was dressed more like a magic user as the Duck nephews were. Long and flowing, even the sleeves were hanging pretty far. Behind her was, as Merida could see, Pistol Pete as well; the youngest member of the Pete family even in this world. Much like P.J. she was dressed in more common robes, but hers were a little brighter in color.

Seeing both of them Max gave a little smile and said “Hi, Peg…”

Before he knew it she rushed over and hugged the young boy while saying “Oh, it’s been so long! Look at you. You’re so much older, and handsome. Just like your father.” She kissed all over his face a few times before adding “And look. You’re a musketeer too. Oh I’m so happy for you, Maxie.”

The way she spoke was sort of like an aunt who’d not seen her nephew in so long. It was something of a surprise to everyone but at the same time relieving to know that whatever history there was it didn’t effect Peggy as much; at least not on the surface.

After that Peg looked over and said “And nice to see you too, Mickey.” Glancing over to Scrooge she added. “You too, windbag.” While the old wizard gave a little offended sound she paid no attention as she said “P.J. told us you were here, but I didn’t believe unless I saw it for myself. And I see you brought some friends along too.”

“We’re here to talk to Donald is all.” Mickey pointed out before looking down to the little Pete. “Hi, Pistol. Taking care of your brother like always?”

With a little confident smile she said “Yeah. Otherwise he’d be lost without me. I may the youngest but I’m the more mature.”

Rolling his eyes Dewey whispered to his brothers “And yet she still sleeps with a teddy bear.”

The other two laughed at this before Pistol had shot them an angry look. Seeing it all three of them shrunk into silence. Seeing this Merida had to huff a little smile. To think that both she and Peg, as well as P.J., had been in enemies in the history of the others worlds. Yet now they were so much more friendly and kind in this one. Some bit of good that came from the creation of the One World at least.

Peg, noting the appearance of Merida and the large flying pirate ship behind them, gave a questioning look before asking “You’re here to see Donald? About what?”

Mickey shrugged before Merida, this time, answered “It’s a bit of a long story. Really…really long story.”

Before Peggy could question any further the doors to the school opened up and sure enough walked out P.J. Pete along with the familiar face of Donald Duck. He was dressed in more elaborate sorcerer robes along with a large hat, similar to Scrooge’s yet not as large.

Seeing both Mickey and Max Donald proclaimed “Mickey! Max!” before hurrying over to the two.

All three of them embraced each other as old friend who’d not seen each other in years; which was actually the case. They laughed and hugged while the others watched, Peg and the Pete children a little more happy about this. Even Scrooge and the nephews had to smile at how nice it was to see all of them. Merida felt it as well, though more for all of gathered old friend together and not just the three currently asking each other how they were.

“It’s great to see you guys.” Donald said. “But what’d you come all the way out here for?”

At that everyone who knew had grown a little quiet before Merida, stepping forward, had said “Well, to be honest, we need you and as many mages as you can to come with us to take on an evil magical little girl and her army from taking over the world.” After a moment of silence she added “Simple really.”

There was a collective sense of shock from Donald, his nephews, and all the Petes. Given how blunt she was it would be a bit of a surprise to anyone that a situation as grand as that was what they were here for. Even Donald seemed disbelieving at first before he wound up chuckling.

“Aw, phooey.” He said, waving it off. “You could’ve just sent a letter if that’s all it is."

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

Within her fortress at the base of Bald Mountain, Alice, the self-proclaimed Master of Worlds, looked out to her expanding army.

Assembled outside the fortress was an impressive force of her assembled allied forces. The majority of them were the Huns, ranging from six to seven thousand altogether. Then there were the forces from Prydain, curtesy of Lord Arawn. Then there was the assembled forces from Agrabah, from Sultan Jafar, and a small army of Man-Beasts given by Maleficent coddled together. These armies, along with the villains assembled within them, were Alice’s answer to whatever forces Merida and the others were to gather.

As she continued to look out the large window of the fortress to oversee everything the door to the room had knocked. She called for whoever it was to enter and soon walked in Lord Arawn. He was accompanied by Shan Yu, the leader of the Hun army and ruler of the Hun Lands, Maleficent, Sultan Jafar, Dr. Facilier also known as the voodoo master the Shadow Man, and finally the Headless Horseman’ who had returned from his visit with the heroes.

As they approached her altogether Arawn had bowed and said “Master, word’s arrived from Castle Disney. They’ve agreed to your terms.”

“See?” she smirked, not looking back to them. “Just as I said. And now all we need do is wait.”

“But you’re actually letting them have a chance to muster a big enough force against us?” Shan Yu blurted out. “We should strike now, while they’re weak.”

She only retorted with “What you and they fail to realize, Shan Yu, is that they’ve already lost. But of course it’s not a matter of telling them, but showing them.”

At that Alice turned and looked to the other side of the room, the villains looking as well. There was a large cage that seemed to be held with magic. Something was inside it. Something snarling and banging at the sides in anger. The villains, knowing what it was, took a step back in fear. Alice, however, only smiled at the prospect of unleashing it against the heroes.

Looking to her villainous team she asked “Lord Arawn, I heard along with your forces you brought Lady Eilonwey here. Why?”

He stammered the answer of “For our own sakes, Master. I fear she’s becoming a little more liberal with her words and has started question me and the men about….well the events of the cauldron and Master Yen Sid. Instead of leaving her in Prydain where she might cause civil tension, I thought it best she be here with us.”

Alice huffed before comment “Her woman’s intuition is faring better than you so-called rule it seems.” Arawn only lowered his head before Alice said “Very well. Just keep her under better control, Lord Arawn. I’d hate to have to resort to barbaric measures and introduce both you and her to my little friend.”

She gestured to the cage where the creature inside caused more of a stir. At the idea of being fed to the beast, or even disappointing his master, the great and powerful Lord Arawn gulped before leaving the room with sweat covering his brow. While he had faith in his master’s plan, he knew that he was as expendable as the rest. That meant trying to put on as much of a show of force from his forces as possible.