Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 27: Found Love in a Hopeless Place

Chapter 27: Found Love in a Hopeless Place

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Jim inhaled.

The smoke from his cigarette was caught by the wind and thrown over the steel dumpster.

Exhaling, Jim put his head against the metal. The dumpster lid was clanging in the wind. Cued by the noise, Jim looked into the grey sky. He could smell the garbage. Greasy particles floated in the air, coating his lungs. Grimly, Jim sucked on his cigarette. Figured.

Slumping down, Jim glanced at Fantasia School for the Magically Skewed. The students had been dismissed. Safe-guarded by the school dumpsters, Jim watched the students spread from the castle steps.

Magical items glittered in the hands of frightened children. Those with magical powers were subdued. Even Peter Pan was weighted to the earth by unhappy thoughts. Numb in the repercussions of the assembly, the students took their first steps into a frightening future.

Fingering the cigarette, he tried to ignore the battle of anxieties wrestling inside his mind. Jim closed his eyes. He wished he could throw his emotions into the dumpster. But it was impossible; so much had happened.

The Benbow destroyed. Billy Bone's murder. Wendy brutally treated. Pan's leering grin. The deceitful cyborg. The metallic orb. The mysterious headmaster. Attacks on the castle. Attacks on the students. The Magic Bag of Tricks. The dark prophesy. A hopeless, hopeless future.

Jim gripped his chest. "No." he commanded. His voice was hoarse. "No. Not this time."

But it was too late. Emotions broke through the refuge of Jim's mind. And helplessly, Jim thought of that man.

His father.

Jim clenched the cigarette into his palm. His first shook, but the pain underwhelmed the memory of a little boy screaming for his father to turn around. To listen. To please, just please, look back one more time.

"Piece of shit!"

The cigarette flew from Jim's hand.

It fell. And it hit a girl, hidden behind a green dumpster. Startled, the girl turned, capturing Jim with a tear stained face.

Jim couldn't move. He couldn't breath. He could only stare; entranced by the haunting, sea blue eyes.

Ariel.

Rain fell breathlessly. The cigarette butt pulsed orange as ash and smoke curled over Ariel's face like a veil. For a moment, the girl's eyes widened. Then, as she studied Jim – disregarding the dumpster, ratty clothes, and burning cigarette – recognition calmed her misunderstanding.

Slowly, she smiled.

Jim's heart stopped. Then, it caved, squeezing out every ounce of bitterness poisoning his soul. And, for the first time in his life, Jim was utterly at peace.

And that, more than anything else, was scariest of all.

"Ariel! Ariel! Ariel!"

Jim's head snapped up.

Admiral Triton, an unfamiliar, pristine figure, had intruded the dumpster barricade. A boy, with ebony waves and crystal blue eyes directed the admiral. The boy pointed, courageously. Admiral Triton assumed command. Obediently, the boy followed.

"She comes here when she's upset, Admiral."

"You're certain, Eric?

"Yes, Sir. I've...seen her. Watched her. Many times."

"Indeed." Filth cringed, folding in the admiral's wake. "Ariel! Ariel!"

Jim turned.

Ariel caught him, trapped him with only her sea blue gaze.

It took herculean strength for Jim to run away. It took greater strength not to look back as Admiral Triton and Eric embraced the most beautiful girl Jim had ever seen.