Chapter Eleven: Realm Zone – 1991 (After Temporal Displacement)
Rain as cold as ice began to fall as Joanie, Sean, Rizzo, and Robin exited the forest and came upon the front gate of the castle. Sean could practically feel the drops hitting sections of his face and chilling him to the bone. He was not so much as worried for Robin and Rizzo as he was for Joanie, who was walking across the ground with one bare foot. Between the chilly winds and frozen rain, there was a strong possibility that she would suffer from pneumonia in such weather conditions.
Before the group reached the gate, Sean stopped and stood on one foot, while placing the other over his knee, balancing himself as he started untying one of his hiking boots. Joanie took notice of his action and stopped in her tracks, right before Robin and Rizzo had done the same. Raising a confused eyebrow, she asked him, “What’re you doing?”
“Your foot is going to freeze itself off, if you don’t get a shoe over it right now,” he said, and as soon as his right shoe came off, he handed it over to her. “Mine are pretty big, so it should be plenty warm.”
She took the shoe into her hands and marveled over its incredible size with a grin. “Pretty big, eh?”
“Lookin’ at da size of dat thing, dat’s quite da understatement, pal.” Rizzo complimented, which got him a real dirty look from Sean.
“Well, something’s better than nothing.” Robin indicated.
Joanie nodded with that sentiment from the little frog. “True. Very true.” She then placed the oversized shoe over her cold, bare right foot, making sure to double-knot it to keep it securely fastened to her foot. In just two seconds of wearing it, she already felt her foot becoming a lot warmer. However, when she looked to Sean’s right foot, she felt bad to see him wearing nothing more than a black sock over it. “Are you sure that you’re not uncomfortable without one?”
Sean waved her concern off with a smile. “Nah! It’s only temporary.” He gestured to the castle ahead of them and added, “Once we get inside there, we can
both walk around barefoot.”
Joanie chuckled. “It’ll be like Woodstock all over again for me.”
Rizzo did a double-take on her words. “Whoa, whoa! Hold da phone!
You were at Woodstock?”
“Just before I started eighth grade I did. Of course, my mother wasn’t aware that I was even there. To this very day, she still doesn’t.”
Shaking his head in amusement, Sean smiled over her story. It was a highly intriguing fact that he had never known about his mother until that very moment. He never knew she was so independent at that age, considering how much she became the overprotective parent in her latter years. As much as he wanted to know more of the “Woodstock” story, the chilly wind and cold rain reminded him that there was a castle they needed to be in.
“C’mon, everybody. Let’s stay focused on…”
He stopped and heard what could only be the sound of a jet passing by. But that seemed too impossible, considering there were no jet planes in
Beauty and the Beast. Joanie, Robin, and Rizzo heard it as well and looked up along with Sean to see where it was coming from. Finally, Robin noticed a figure rocketing across the dark cloudy sky and pointed to it. “Look! Up in the sky!”
Joanie spotted it as well. “Is that a bird?”
“It’s a plane!” Rizzo guessed.
“No,” uttered Sean, “it’s…” He squinted hard to make out what it was that was headed in their direction, and when he could finally see a few details, his eyes went from squinting to widening in surprise. “…Buzz Lightyear?”
It was even surprising to hear Joanie sound so relieved when she saw him and said, “Thank goodness! I was starting to think he was gone for good!” She waved her arms in the air to get Buzz’s attention, which seemed to have worked as soon as the rocketing space ranger started descending their way.
The closer he got, the better they could see who else was accompanying the space ranger, clinging frantically onto his wings. Even Robin noticed one familiar passenger whom he excitedly indicated. “Hey, Uncle Kermit’s with him!”
“And is that Pepe?” Rizzo inquired.
“And Ciciley?” Sean indicated, also spotting a familiar (and yet petrified) face. “She has a fear of heights, there’s no way she could…” Of course it was quickly verified that she was in fact one of Buzz’s passengers, as she was screaming hysterically, even upon landing.
Once Buzz got near land, his body switched from horizontal to vertical position, while the boosters from his wings simmered down. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Ciciley, Kermit, and Pepe each slowly and carefully climbed off Buzz’s wings, which folded back into its “backpack” form. Noticing Joanie right in front of him, Buzz saluted and said, “It is a pleasure regrouping with you again, young humanoid. I thought surely you were gone for good when that wormhole sucked us all up.”
“I’m fine, Buzz. Everything’s groovy now.” Joanie assured.
Sean’s bewilderment appeared to have increased upon asking Joanie, “You two
know each other?”
Joanie grinned and answered, “I…guess you can say that.”
Staring at the space ranger, Rizzo shook his head in disbelief. “Please tell me I’m not da only one
actually seeing this!”
A shaken Pepe walked right up to the rat and stated, “Believe it,
mi amigo. He is
definitely de real deals, okay.”
Sean approached his sister, Ciciley, who looked just as visibly shaken as Pepe had, kneeling down on the ground and taking deep breaths. He calmly asked her, “You okay?”
“I’ll let you know when my heart gets out of my throat,” she answered with a very hoarse voice. “We’ve gotta get outta here. There’s a mob coming this way!”
Kermit, who was sharing a warm embrace with his nephew – reuniting with him again after being so harshly separated, added on Ciciley’s news, “They’re coming to kill the beast that lives in this castle!”
Joanie’s ears perked on one word out of Kermit’s information. “Beast? What beast?” She turned and looked to the castle, gazing upon every inch of it. “Unless you’re talking about the Evil Queen from
Snow White, ‘beast’ is too nice of a description for
her.”
Pepe glanced over at Sean and Rizzo in total shock. “Jou mean dat jou haven’t told dem?”
“Wait!
You knew about this!” Joanie exclaimed to Sean, seeming both surprised and angry that he had been keeping secrets about the castle from her.
Buzz shook his head at the young man. “Bad move classifying important details like that from personnel, my friend.”
“Okay, first off –
you aren’t even supposed to be here, Mister Lightyear.” Sean remarked, before turning to Joanie and adding, “I was going to let you know, but I didn’t want you giving up hope at the same time that your mother might be in there. How was I supposed to know she is in a totally different cartoon?” Just hearing himself talk about such details made it all sound crazier than he deemed it to be. But it was all happening just the way his mother (the
older version of her) described it.
Joanie glared at him and was about to give a retort to his statement, until she and the others heard a crowd of people chanting from afar. Everyone turned and looked past the woods to see a mob of villagers led by Gaston heading through an alternate route into the castle via a bridge that led straight to another entrance. Seeing them arrive, disbelief registered on Ciciley’s face. “How is that possible? They didn’t even know where to find the castle in the first place!”
“Maybe dey followed da flyin’ space ranger?” Rizzo sarcastically reputed.
“Are you implying that I was responsible for this blunder, rodent?” Buzz hastily asked Rizzo.
“If da rocket pack fits!”
“Knock it off, you two!” Joanie brashly told them. “It’s because of
all of us that they’re here. Our presence in this world has changed things – possibly for the worse! We have to get out of here while we still can!”
“Wait a sec!” Sean spoke up in an urgent manner. “There might be a ferocious beast in that castle, but there are a lot of innocent people in there also, and they might fall victim to this mob’s attack, unless we help them.”
None of the others were accepting this idea of his. “
Oh, muchacho! Dey are just fictional characters, okay.”
“I’m with him, Sean. It’s not like it’ll be the end of the world if something happens to them.” Joanie said.
“What if it is? What if it’s not the end of
their world, but ours?” Sean inquired. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m not gonna take that risk.” With that being established, he moved away from the group and headed to the gate, walking through it and heading straight for the front door of the castle.
Joanie and the others watched and were flabbergasted over his sudden actions. She sighed in frustration and turned to Ciciley, asking her, “Is he
always this determined?”
Noticing the young brunette for the first time since her arrival, Ciciley smiled upon the realization of who she was. Jokingly, she responded to her inquiry, “Guess he gets it from you.”
Joanie shot her a confused glance. “Me?” She chuckled over her comment and added, “I’ve only met him just a few or so minutes ago.”
Her response confused Ciciley, who thought by that moment her brother would have alerted the personal connection between them and the young brunette. As much as she wanted to tell her about it herself, she was quickly reminded of their current situation when Kermit brought their attention back to it. “We have to go in there and get him out, before things
really get out of hand.”
Joanie nodded in agreement before leading everyone through the opened gate and straight into the castle. They followed Sean into a large room that they could only guess was the foyer of the castle. While inside of the enormous, perfectly-decorated room, Sean called out the names of a few particular characters that lived there. “Lumière! Cogsworth! Mrs. Potts!”
“Shh, man! Do you
want the beast to hear us?” Joanie whispered to him.
“What difference does it make with da mob comin’ anyway?” Rizzo asked.
Sean attempted to call out the names again, but then he and everyone else heard a slight clinking noise, followed by clumping and clomping ones. They then heard the voice a Frenchman say to them, “Bonjour, invités!” At first, they did not see anyone in the room addressing them – not a single soul was there except for them. It was not until they looked down at the floor and noticed three
lively household objects moving and talking entirely on their own. One was a candelabra, another was a pendulum clock, and the third one was a teapot.
Joanie, Kermit, and Robin blinked repeatedly to ensure that they were not just seeing things. But they were in fact seeing three household objects actually talking to them. Kermit shook his head and looked as if he was on the verge of fainting. “I-I’m gonna need some serious therapy after this,” the frog uttered.
“What in the world…?” Joanie tried to question about the reason behind the existence of these enchanted items, but Sean was quick to interrupt her before she could have finished.
Skipping the introductions, Sean went straight to alerting these objects of their oncoming dilemma. “Listen, you all have got to ready yourself for an attack that’s coming to this castle. There is a mob on their way here, and they are going to try and kill your master…the Beast!”
“Oh, dear! We are all doomed!” The talking clock known as Cogsworth exclaimed.
“But our master
isn’t here in the castle, I’m afraid.” Mrs. Potts, the talking teapot, informed.
That information befuddled Sean and the others. “What?”
“We cannot find him anywhere.” Lumière, the talking candelabra, stated. “He has vanished!”
“Maybe he knew da mob was comin’ and high-tailed it outta here.” Rizzo assumed, but no one seemed to have taken his assumption seriously.
“It’s probably for the best that he
isn’t here, right?” Ciciley inquired.
“That maybe so, but that mob will be expecting to annihilate a beast one way or another.” Sean remarked. “If they don’t find him, then they’ll just burn this whole place to the ground.”
Lumière lifted one of his candled hands high, presumably to mimic a fist raised in defiance. “They will have to fight us first before they do!”
“Absolutely, Lumière!” Cogsworth bravely acknowledged. “Gather whatever brave souls within the castle you can to evict these encroachers once they’ve breached! If it’s a fight they want, we’ll be ready for them!”
Buzz was immediately enlightened by Cogsworth’s gung-ho attitude. “That’s the spirit, sentient clock being! I shall assist you in your preparation for battle!”
“Hold up, Buzz.” Sean told the enthusiastic space ranger. “I’ve actually got something
better you could do.”
Seeing the scheming expression on Sean’s face, Joanie curiously asked, “What’s on your mind, dude?”
“If Gaston’s expecting to take on a beast, then we’ll give him one to face.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Belle rushed back home as fast as she could, once Gaston and his mob departed from the village. The once pleasant and sunny day quickly turned into a dreary one, especially with the approach of a rainstorm. Before she could get caught in it, she was already well within her home, looking all over for her father, Maurice. However, just as she had arrived, her father – a short, mustached inventor with white hair that was balding at the top – was already greeting her at the door.
“Belle, I’m so happy you’re back early!” Maurice exclaimed.
“Papa,” Belle worriedly said – her attitude being a stark contrast to her father’s, “I found out something terr…”
Maurice barely gave her enough of an opportunity in giving much of the details, being so excited that he abruptly interrupted her. “We have the most wonderful guest with us right now! She is a queen from another far away land!”
That news sounded so intriguing to Belle that she nearly forgot the situation that happened in the village earlier. “A q-queen?”
“Hello, Belle.”
She heard a voice that sounded very enthralling yet slightly daunting – possibly due in part to its unexpectedness. Belle turned her attention to the next room from which a woman dressed in royal dark purple robes and wearing a glittering golden crown emerged. The expression on her face attempted to be welcoming but – to Belle – it just seemed very awkward, lacking any sort of proper expression. This woman was undoubtedly the queen whom her father was referring to.
“I am Queen Grimhilde. I have come very far to look for a maiden who is as fair as you are to join me in my kingdom.”
Belle went from intrigued to captivated in less than a second. “You…Y-You have?”
“Most certainly.” Grimhilde said.
“T-This is quite an honor, Your Majesty.” Belle remarked. “But i-if you don’t mind me asking, is t-there a special purpose behind my invitation?”
Half of a smile emerged from the queen’s face. “My son…the prince of my kingdom…is to find a bride, in order to accept his place as ruler. When he discovered your existence, he was more than delighted in wanting to take you as his wife.” The Queen approached Belle, taking Belle’s hands into hers. Her touch felt extremely cold to Belle, who just figured it was because of the dropping temperature outside. “Belle, it would be the highest esteem if you were to become my successor as queen of my kingdom.”
It was impossible for Belle to reject such a remarkable proposition. But her thoughts continued to drift to her father, whose well-being mattered more to her than anything else. Generously, she told Queen Grimhilde, “It’s
very gracious of you to present such a proposal, Your Highness. But…my father…”
Maurice chuckled, waving off Belle’s concern with a huge smile. “Oh, don’t you worry about
me, Belle. As long as you are happy, I’m happy myself.”
Belle smiled, going right to her father and giving him a hug. “I promise that I’ll be back, Papa.” Once she let him go, she looked at his face once more, remembering every detail of it to keep within her memory for however long she would be away from him.
As soon as Belle’s attention was on the queen again, Grimhilde immediately went to business. “We must not keep my kingdom waiting. They will be expecting us soon.”
Belle’s eyes suddenly went to the window, seeing the collective drops of rain tapping and streaming down the glass. It was a reminder to her of the huge storm that was approaching the area. “Your Majesty, t-the rainstorm…I completely forgot.”
“It is of no bother, Belle. There is another means of reaching my kingdom that we shall partake.” Grimhilde declared as she took Belle by the hand and led her to a mirror that hung by the door. Letting go of Belle’s hand, she outstretched both of hers while addressing the mirror itself. “Forces of the mystic beyond, hear my command! Transport these two forms from where they stand!”
There were flashes of light from all around, accompanied by a series of loud, fierce thunderclaps. Maurice, who observed the scene in confusion, was forced to shut his eyes tight from the flashes and cover his ears over the thunderclaps, finding it all very overwhelming to his old senses. At the moment everything had ceased, he opened his eyes and uncovered his ears, finding the atmosphere calm just as it was before. Although the only difference was that Belle and Queen Grimhilde were no longer inside the home. A huge cloud of multi-colored smoke was left in their place, much to the shock of Maurice.
“Astounding!”
END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN