Thunder rumbled in the heavens as he trudged stiffly through the back alleys toward the very place he'd wanted so badly to stay away from. He kept his head down and hands in his pockets, shuffling along, attempting to come off as just another poor villain's kid. One hand remained permanently around the Dragonfire. He was determined not to let it out of his sight. Evie would already kill him for leaving her behind. He didn't want to give her another reason to bury him six feet under.
The streets seemed to grow more deserted the closer he got to the Evil Queen's castle. He supposed this was due to the overall terror factor of the new ruler of the Isle. He knew he'd be running in the opposite direction if he had the option. But he didn't. Evie was counting on him. Auradon was counting on him. This was normally something that Ben or Mal would do. They were the real heroes. But they weren't here right now. It was only Evie and him. And Evie wasn't able to complete the trial. That left him. The dwarf. The band geek. The very non-hero.
If he was all that was left, Auradon was doomed.
Even the air seemed to grow heavier as he trudged through the rain. It seemed like it was now as heavily filled with dread as his footsteps (which were progressively getting slower and slower and had almost reached a stop). He could feel the painful thud of his heart beating against his rib cage. He'd never been so terrified of anything before. Not even when Audrey had tried to take over Auradon and turned half of its residents to stone. This was Evil Queen. The worst villain on all of the Isle, next to Maleficent of course.
He knew he had to be walking straight into a trap. Unarmed and unprotected. And neither Mal nor Evie were around to help him. This was one quest he would have to complete on his own. To prove his worth to Evie. And to the others. He could be a hero too.
But that didn't mean he wasn't terrified to death.
If Evie's mother was even one-tenth as dangerous as Evie had made her out to be, he wasn't sure he'd even make it through the front door safely. This was not a good plan. He didn't expect to walk back out of it. He just needed to get the Dragonfire...get it to Evie...and find some way not to die in the process.
The rain seemed to let up as he reached the front stoop of the castle and stared up at its looming figure. He didn't want to go in through the front door. The villains would be expecting that. What about the balcony he'd seen earlier? Could he climb up and enter through the window? It was certainly a less predictable course of action. But could he do it?
He looked down at his hands and then back up at the relatively smooth side of the castle. It was possible to scale. He'd seen it done on television before. But he wasn't a rock climber. He lacked all types of strength (as Uma had so kindly pointed out). The climb would potentially wear him out and leave him nothing to fight any lurking villains with.
Could he do it? Scale such a tremendous object? Maybe. Did he really have any other option? No.
He fingered the Dragonfire nervously, feeling it warm against his fingertips. What would his father do in a situation like this? What would Snow White do? This wasn't like some hunter chasing a fourteen-year-old girl through the forest, though. This was more like walking right into the lion's den and trying to steal a cub from them while they were all still awake. It was bound to go downhill fast.
Taking a deep breath, he glanced around to make sure no one was waiting, hitched up his backpack, and then promptly threw himself at the wall, jumping up as high as he could before grabbing into a group of loose bricks. His handholds were slick from the rain and he struggled to hold on, grit his teeth, and set his mind on ascending instead. A few steps up and already his arms were burning. His glasses slid uncomfortably down his nose but he didn't have a free hand to push them back up. After a few moments of struggling, he allowed himself to look down...and immediately wished he hadn't. He found himself staring at a dizzying fifty-foot drop and the world started to spin around him.
He buried his face into the bricks with a gasp, squeezing his eyes shut, struggling to breathe. This was a bad idea! This was a terrible idea! He screamed at himself. He felt his body quivering and his grip strength already beginning to fail him. To fall now would mean certain death...or at least some serious injuries.
I can't do this...I can't do...I'm not good enough...Why am I here...I'm not a hero. Evie. Evie's the hero...I'm just the dopey sidekick... The panic attack came on hard and fast. He felt his brain shutting down entirely. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. Dopey had warned him about these attacks. They were rare, but they were dangerous. That was why Doug was supposed to stay out of confrontations...exactly like this one.
Get it together, Doug! he snapped at himself, trying to soothe his racing mind. You can't quit! Not now! Auradon needs you! Evie's counting on you!
He glanced up at the looming window. It was still a good distance away. He needed to keep climbing. His arms shook and his hands felt like fire. He could feel the energy just being zapped from him the longer he hung there. And his backpack was beginning to grow heavier and heavier.
There was a flash of light and Doug felt the sky and ground swirling around him and he knew immediately that the Dragonfire was trying to draw him into another dream. He shook his head weakly, struggling to hold it back. The last one still scared him. Mal said it had the power to show the future. Did that mean what he saw was going to happen? Auradon...his home...destroyed? His family...gone? And the dragon...Maleficent or Mal? And what about the first dream...in the mines. Was Evie really going to become evil? Was she actually going to kill him? And what about the others? Why was he all alone?
"No," he groaned as the pain in his head intensified and he felt sweat forming on his forehead. "I don't...have time for this!" With a great burst of effort, Doug shoved the vision out of his head and focused once more on climbing the last leg of the tower.
He clambered over the railing onto the deck, breathing a sigh of relief as he ducked down next to the window, just in case someone was inside. He wasn't much of a thief, but he'd seen Jay at work when the villains first arrived at school and he'd picked up a few things. (They came in handy later when Chad's homework, which he'd cheated on, disappeared the morning of the test and were found on Fairy Godmother's desk later that day with a note explaining how the boy had cheated. No one suspected Doug and Chad was still trying to figure out who tipped FG off.)
The window was locked from the inside. Doug frowned, cautiously running a hand over it, wrinkling his nose slightly at all of the dust and grim that flew off. So...unlocking the door wasn't going to be an option. Was there another way?
He dared a glance through the window, squinting. The room before him was dark. It did not seem like anyone was there. So, that only left the question of the latch. And, he honestly had no idea how to go about it. If only he'd thought to bring a magnet or something metallic to draw the lock up. But he didn't. Some poor excuse he made for a Boy Scout now.
He sighed, running a hand across the pane near the latch. It jiggled, and, as his hand passed before it, the latch slid up and out of its holder, falling uselessly to the ground. Doug stared. But he didn't take the time to try and work out what had happened. He pulled his backpack up tighter on his shoulders and slowly pushed the window open, wincing at the loud creak.
Once it was far enough open, he removed his backpack and lightly tossed it through, counting how long it took to hit the ground. One...two...three. That meant the floor couldn't have been too far away from the window. So, taking a deep breath and fixing his glasses, he readied himself for whatever he might find waiting for him. Doug pulled himself through with a grunt, sliding down the opposite side, using the frame as a monkey bar to hold himself up until he got a chance to look down and could see his backpack lying a few feet below him.
Closing his eyes and inhaling slowly, he let go.
The moment his feet hit the ground, his knees crumpled and his face hit the concrete.
The window slammed shut behind him.
Owwwww. Doug groaned, struggling up quickly, rubbing a sore cheek and taking off his glasses to look them over. Even through the blurriness, he could see an unusual line through the left lens. Great. Now I have to buy another pair of glasses. Dad's gonna kill me.
His dad wouldn't be doing anything, the dwarf reminded himself, if he couldn't get the Dragonfire from the Queen's castle and use the magic mirror to find the others.
Replacing his now cracked lenses, he blinked, scanning the room around him. It was nearly pitch black, the only light source being the window that he had just come through. Dust and cobwebs clung to everything. He wondered how long it had been since this room had been used.
The dust filled his nose and he sneezed.
And it wasn't a quiet sneeze, the kind that would go unnoticed by all but the most observant of people. It was the loud, giant sneeze that echoed a thousand times louder in these types of rooms. He cringed, his heart racing, praying no one had heard it.
He waited.
Silence.
Once he was satisfied that his mistake hadn't been overheard, he quickly headed for the door, leaving his backpack behind but securing the Dragonfire more firmly in his pocket. As quietly as he could, he opened the door and stepped out into a dimly lit hallway. The only light source seemed to be a series of torches that lined the walls. A railing was right before him. He crouched down and moved towards this railing, peering down at the open floor plan below him. He could hear voices.
"Have you heard anything from Maleficent?" came a cold voice from somewhere on that first floor. Doug's eyes moved from one side of the room to the other. He could see four figures standing there. One, the red-head, he recognized immediately as Queenie. She was standing near an old table, arms crossed. Beside her was a man dressed in attire that Doug had only ever seen in one place. Agrabah. That must be Jafar, he realized.
"Nothing yet," Queenie spoke tonelessly. "But I have reason to believe that she is closing in on her daughter and Auradon's precious king. It shouldn't be too long now. And if those fools have found their Dragonfires by now, well, it shouldn't be too hard to take them away from them."
I have to warn Ben and Mal! He backed away from the railing and looked up and down the hallway. But first, he needed to find the magic mirror. There had to be at least a dozen doors though! How was he supposed to guess which one was right?
He felt the heat in his pocket again. This time, he took out the gem, feeling it pulse with fire. It glowed with unusual light and he had to keep a hand over it, hoping the villains wouldn't notice the silver glow as he hurried down the corridor at the quickest speed he dared.
The light grew brighter and brighter as he neared the end of the hall. It crackled and faded when he came face to face with the last door in the hall, the one that faced towards him instead of off to the side. Taking a deep breath and steadying his shaking hands, he reached for the handle and carefully pulled the door open, revealing a circular tower of stairs. Great. Stairs. Goodbye stamina.
Doug hurried up them, forgetting to shut the door behind him in his haste. His footsteps echoed off of the solid concrete walls as he flew up the steps. In one hand, he held the Dragonfire. In the other, he hastily brought up Ben's name on his phone and began to text him before remembering...
Oh. Right. There's no service here.
He couldn't warn Ben. He'd just have to hope the King could handle himself. What was he talking about? Ben was by far one of the strongest people Doug knew. He'd be fine. Besides, he had Mal with him. Those two were an unstoppable team.
Evie...
He reached the top a minute later and quickly pushed the door open, closing it gently behind him.
He found himself standing in a room somehow flooded with light. And near the back, almost buried underneath a mound of junk and old furniture...
The Magic Mirror!
Doug gasped and hurried towards it, ripping off the cloth that was covering it. It was just as he'd always imagined it. It was huge. At least three times the size of him. It glowed with a weird blue light. Doug swallowed hard, moving forwards to touch it. This is how Evie's mom found Snow White, he realized with a sense of dread. This mirror knows everything.
As though it could sense his presence, the inside of the mirror suddenly faded to all black. Doug frowned and took a step back. Is it broken? he wondered. His question was answered seconds later when the color suddenly swirled back into the frame and a face appeared before him.
Doug let out a yelp and sprang backward.
The face stared at him, as though reading his very being. "I see a new villain rising..." The voice thundered, though it seemed to be mostly inside his head. "The offspring of two worlds...a child who should never have been...with powers even beyond reality."
Doug frowned. A new villain? What was it talking about? "I'm here to find Maleficent!" he told it bravely, hearing his voice shaking slightly.
"A war..." the mirror droned on as though it couldn't hear him. "To end all wars...a great evil...a darkness...a hero...turned by the hunger of greed...a villain...dreaming of being a hero...two worlds colliding...death..."
Doug paled. "How do I stop it?" he pleaded with it. "Please tell me how!"
The face flickered towards him now, as though just now acknowledging that he was there. "You must be willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice..." it whispered.
"What? What is it? Whatever it is, I'll do it!"
"True love..." the voice whispered. "It is the answer to all your questions...inside you...secrets will be revealed...blood will turn against blood and brother against brother for the future of Auradon..."
"But how do I stop it?" Doug demanded. "Is this about Maleficent? Is she behind all of this? Where is she? Show me, Maleficent!"
The mirror remained impassive.
"You want to see Maleficent?" came a cackle from behind him.
Doug's heart stopped. He didn't recognize the voice. But there was really only one person that could sound this cruel and heartless in five simple words. He turned, dreading who he knew he'd see. "Evil Queen," he breathed.
The queen glared at him with faint bemusement. She was dressed just as Snow White had described her when she used to tell her story to him, Derek, and his cousins when they were little. She definitely wasn't the fairest in the land. And he wasn't just talking about her heart. "Dwarf," she snarled. "I knew I sensed something foul."
Doug cringed back, already searching for a way out. There were no windows in the room. The only way out was through the same door he'd come through. And Evie's mother was blocking that only means of escape.
And she wasn't alone.
There was a shuffle from the steps and, a moment later, the familiar girl appeared at Evil Queen's side, grinning wickedly. "Hello again, Auradon Boy," she sneered.
Doug didn't answer. He was too busy planning his next move.
"So, what's your plan now?" Queenie questioned. "You're here. Evie's clearly not with you and sent you to do her dirty work. But she was a fool. You never had a chance. We caught you the second you tried to climb the tower."
"How--"
"We're villains," came the simple response. "Do you really think there's anything on this island that we don't know about?" With that, Queenie held up the blue Dragonfire. "This is what you came for. So sorry that it was all in vain. Queen?" She glanced over at Evil Queen who smiled. It was a terrible smile.
Doug stumbled backward in fright. His foot hit a box and he fell onto his back...hard. He stared up at the two villains in terror. He was trapped. He knew it too. This was the end of the line. There was nowhere to run.
"The Dragonfire," EQ snapped, holding out her hand. "Give it to me. NOW!"
"The...w-what?"
"Don't play stupid with me, boy!" Evil Queen screeched. "You have a Dragonfire! That is the only way you could have known where we were! So...I'll tell you again...give the stone to me!" Her gaze narrowed. She was done playing around.
"I'll get it," Queenie threatened.
"No!" Evil Queen help up her hand. "Thank you. But, dwarf or no, I need him alive."
"Why? We have him. Evie will surely come running soon enough."
"Because," Evil Queen laughed, staring down venomously at Doug who was too petrified to move and could only stare up at them in horror. "He can lead us to the other Dragonfires."