Walt's Princess: Chapter Six

Rachel could hear Retlaw’s voice clearly; it sounded familiar. She could feel his hand petting her head. It was firm, but very gentle. The past few hours of being held in strong delicate arms made Rachel feel like she was far away from all the troubles and nightmares she had faced. She finally became conscious enough to feel the comfort of the bed Terrance placed her in. It was either like sleeping on a cloud or on a pile of large cushioned pillows she could just jump onto. Rachel could imagine the soft bed cuddling her with great embrace; so warm… so very soft and warm. For sure, Rachel thought she was on a cloud! She could still feel Retlaw’s pettings on her head and she continued falling deeper and deeper and deeper into her almost endless coma. She was lifting, she was falling, she was still, and she was swaying back and forth; alluring her like she was hypnotized by a magician, maybe a spirit, just like magic! As much as she wanted to wake up to see what was going on, she didn’t want to. She would much rather stay there and not face any more realistic disputes. Sadly, the Dream dust doesn’t last long; sooner or later, she has to wake up.

The snow globe finally stopped playing its soft song as the last of the bird flakes inside sank back down to the bottom. Retlaw opened his eyes when he noticed that there wasn’t any more sound, stood up from the bed, and left the room. Down the elevator, he could almost picture her smiling for once after a while and remembered back during the time when he used to be alive. He had a family who loved him dearly as much as he loved them; many people around him admired him for his many great deeds and all the work he had accomplished, his life may not have been perfect, but it was a life worth living in. Now, his death has separated him from the real world and there was nothing more he could do about it. He loved his new life being with his Disney character family in the Disney Worlds, but if there was one thing he wished for more than anything, it would, somehow, return to real world, speak to the newer generations who have come to know him even though they had never met him because of his death, and tell them that everything was alright. He was happy here and that was all that mattered. But how was he going to explain all of this to Rachel, to Terrance and to all the Disney characters? What would they say? At least Rachel wasn’t the only one who had fear in her, but since he’s older and has had more experience, he knows better than to keep it all in him. He faced the giants that stood in his way from his goals before and he was not going to let them overthrow him. He may have been dead for a while, but he’s still the man he was when he died and he knew that. With all that in mind, only one tear fell from his eye. There was a reason he had to leave the real world and he wasn’t going to let that down.

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There was still a little blood on the towel from the cut on Yen Sid’s face. With a new wet towel in hand, his face began to sting a little, but at least he was doing alright. He took some deep sighs and fogged the mirror in front of him. Suddenly, when Yen Sid wiped off the fog, he saw Olin in room behind him! He quickly turned around, but he wasn’t there. He turned back to the mirror and he was still gone. Yen Sid began to tremble a little, but he kept his cool. Despite that, he felt unsure if Rachel was truly safe from Olin. Knowing Olin, whenever there is an obstacle that seemed impossible to pass through, he would always find a way in and get what he wants. This worried Yen Sid a lot; if Olin finds his way into Disney Worlds, then there’s a chance that he would decide to invade the castle and take out Rachel’s life! Of course Yen Sid could confront Olin and settle out the situation… physically and magically, and he would have to watch over the princess just as he promised her parents; with all the power he has, Yen Sid was not going to let the next silver spirit perish under Olin hand. Not like the last time that happened Clara.

He could remember the day he first met Clara; he and Merlin were best friends at the time. They were young, about over twenty years of age, and they were still in their last year of wizard’s school. Merlin had just come up with the brilliant idea of traveling back and forth in time while Yen Sid was learning how to bring life to an animate object. At that time, Yen Sid had dreamed of seeing what was outside his world; the culture, the music, the people, the great histories of what came about throughout the Earth. He had the urge to sneak away from his island-village home, but he always got caught by the head sorcerers and was always warned not to go out there. They always kept their sorcery a secret from the world since there wasn’t much magic left. One day, Merlin ran to Yen Sid’s bedroom in the east wing wearing an unusual outfit and announced that he just got back from Bermuda of the year 1987; right from the future! There was still a time portal opened in Merlin’s room, but his room was on the other side of the school in the west wing! The two of them ran as fast as they could to get a good look inside, but as they turned a corner, Yen Sid accidently bumped and fell over onto a girl, knocking off her books. Luckily, the girl knew an anti-gravity spell, so they stopped falling from about half a foot off the ground. Yen Sid and the girl opened their eyes and stared at each other. He’s seen this girl before, but he didn’t expect to greet her this way.

The girl had a somewhat childlike-grown up-elegant face with a small mouth, cute straight nose, pink blushed cheeks, and brown eyes. She had pale pink colored hair, she wore a hot pink robe with red violet edged onto the ends of the sleeves and she was about a quarter foot shorter than Yen Sid was. Yen Sid had brown hair, a short one-inch lengthen beard, he wore his signature blue robes, his eyes were small and black like little marbles, and his face always looked intimidating to look at, but that was normal about him.

Not knowing what to say, Yen Sid just gave a little embarrassed smile, he excused her, lifted her up, collected all her books for her, and went on his way. He got to see the portal in time and he was indeed fascinated of what the world will soon come to be, but strangely he couldn’t stop thinking about that girl he bumped into. Something seemed strange to him that there was a large outburst in his heart telling him there was something missing in his life and he had just come across it.

That night, there was a party for the school where all the students perform their magic for their audiences and earn school credit for the semester. Yen Sid was on his way inside when he noticed something rustling in the bushes. In the bush there was a small glow that caught up to Yen Sid’s curiosity. He followed the glow deep into the forest. Finally, he found the glow only to see the glow was a silver spirit. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before in his life! The silver spirit quickly turned and found Yen Sid standing there in awe. Frightened as she could be, she stood back cautiously. Yen Sid felt bad for scaring her when he didn’t mean to. He stepped forward trying to get closer when all of a sudden, he tripped and fell in thicket of thorns. The thorns scratched his face and blood fell down from his cheeks. The silver spirit swiftly floated to Yen Sid; she held his face in her hands and healed the scratches. There was no more blood coming out, almost as if his face was made new once more. When Yen Sid opened his eyes, the silver spirit was gone and he suddenly remembered that he had to attend the party; Yen Sid ran faster and faster back to the school almost out of breath, but he made it in time for his role of the entertainment.

For his magic trick of the semester, he brought out a broomstick and made it walk and do some short simple chores. The crowd cheered loudly as Yen Sid and the broomstick gave a bow. As soon as he stepped off the stage, it was the girl’s, whom he had just met that afternoon, turn to perform her magic. She had three volunteers come up the stage: a blind woman, a little boy who had recently died of an incurable disease, and an old man who had no legs. When the girl walked beside the blind woman, Yen Sid noticed a few strands of silver hair flowing out into the breeze. He blinked. He started to think that this girl was the same girl who healed his scratches from the thorns; a silver spirit! If so, then how come the rest of the girl’s hair was still pale pink? He watched her rub her thumbs onto the eyes of the blind woman. She stood back and all at once, the blind woman opened her eyes; she could see! The crowd applauded. Curing the blind became almost uncommon for many sorcerers. The girl then came to the little dead boy with his mother and father at his side. She placed her palm on the boy’s head, the palm glowed (into the same color that Yen Sid saw earlier in the bushes), and finally the boy woke up! The crowd began to cheer a little louder as the boy’s parents, with tears in their eyes, hugged their son tightly. Some people couldn’t believe it, but to the parent’s it was nothing more than a miracle! Yen Sid couldn’t help but shed a little tear at the sight. Finally, the girl came towards the legless old man; she softly gripped both her hands onto the old man’s hips and began to pull carefully. There were strands of light illuminating from the old man’s hips. The light strands began to take form into actual legs. Yen Sid couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he had never seen a sorcerer or a sorceress conjure up this sort of magic! This girl and her magic must be for real! The light disappeared and showed the old man’s new legs! The girl took the old man’s hands, lifted him up, and got him to walk. The old man erupted in tears and threw his fists in the air! The crowd roared with great amazement! Yen Sid, with his jaws dropped down burst into tears; nothing has ever made him so convinced of the impossible in his life. He was about to fall onto his knees when the girl took a bow and walked off the stage.

She was the last performer for the night so everyone continued to celebrate the night away. Meanwhile, Yen Sid, with flowers in his hands, he walked to the table where the girl was sitting at and asked her to dance with him. She accepted. The both of them danced across the dance floor as in such a way they were about to fly. The girl revealed her name as Clara and she explained how she was a silver spirit. It turned out that the reason why most of her hair was pink instead being silver for the night was because she was wearing a temporary wig; it was quite a likeness with the same color tone and the style. She would wear the wig only at night when she was around other people. She would only let her hair turn silver when she would either be with friends she could trust or when she would be alone. Everything astounded Yen Sid far more than he ever expected. Clara, however, was intrigued when she watched him bring the broomstick to life. He then explained that it was his father that who taught him best about animation with magic; and since his father had died during a battle, everything he would bring to life, Yen Sid would think of him and remember everything he taught him. Everything he did concerning animation he did to commemorate his memory. Clara declared her sympathy for him.

They were close, they felt close; it soon came to both their senses that they both fell in love. They shared each other’s dreams and passions and within two months, they were married and had a daughter, Sidyna. Later on, Yen Sid was announced that he would be the great master of their people! Being a great master meant he/she, when the present master sorcerer would pass his life away, would take their predecessor’s place as their leader. There could only be one master and that position could only go to someone who would be worthy of it; but no one, not even present leaders would know who it would be until it was time. Yen Sid was chosen for his strength, his honesty, his compassion, but mostly his attitude for pursuing more on his dreams. This shocked him very deeply; he was suddenly ranked to the highest level of any sorcerer, he was married to a silver spirit and he had just started a family! Nothing could’ve made them any happier. Unfortunately, Olin, not being a sorcerer but still a smart young man like his brother, wanted this position for he knew he would lead the sorcerers into his own vision of greatness. But instead, his own brother was given the role. Nothing could have made him any angrier! Olin always hid his wrath and hatred from Yen Sid, Clara, and everyone else at home and pretended to be in his good side. He almost did become good… up until the end.

One day, the entire island village found that Olin was missing! Everyone searched high and low, but couldn’t find him. Yen Sid had already had enough of losing his family members; his father, his mother (who died from a plague), and his brother. But he stood his ground and hoped Olin would one day return home safely.

That was up until a disaster came along when invaders, mistaking the sorcerers as German Nazis, attacked their home. That was when Yen Sid realized Olin’s return and his jealousy when he saw the dagger in one hand that contained Clara’s blood and on his other hand was her long silver hair. He was petrified at the sight. Olin told Yen Sid that he left the island to convince the outside world, in this case North America, that there was an island filled with Nazis planning their attack on their country! This angered Yen Sid greatly; after all the times he spent with him and poured out his love for him as one of his closest relatives. But he was too upset to fight him, so with Clara and their five-year-old Sidyna in his arms, Yen Sid ran for dear life over a suspension bridge; suddenly, the bridge broke beneath them and they fell off. Yen Sid quickly grabbed a rope and held tightly with Clara on his shoulder and Sidyna hanging and holding her father’s hand tightly. Tragically, Sidyna’s hand slipped off and she fell into tides that were fifty feet below them. Yen Sid screamed for her daughter and was suddenly lifted up by Merlin. The two of them ran for cover from the invaders into the caves right by the beaches. They were never spotted and they waited until this nightmare was over. That next morning, all there was was silence. Yen Sid with Clara in his arms and Merlin beside him crept out onto the mainland of the island and found dead bodies everywhere! All men, women, children, young and old were dead. Blood was shed everywhere, not a living soul in sight! Their entire village, their school, their home were all burnt down to ashes. Yen Sid was about ready to scream to the sky and they heard a cher-chank sound.

A man with a gun pointed at them stood them, ready to shoot if they two ‘Nazis’ were about to attack. Neither Yen Sid nor Merlin knew what Nazis, which made the invaders begin to truly understand what had happened. They were set up. They felt so ashamed for what they had done they wanted to make it up to them both. Merlin gladly accepted the offer, but Yen Sid was too devastated at the sight he was seeing including his dead wife. He asked only one thing out of them; if he could help him build a fire to burn Clara’s body. As it is told about silver spirits: ‘If a death fallen silver spirit is burnt to ashes under the full moon, the next silver spirit will be reincarnated into a new host.’ They were glad to help. They built the alter and placed Clara on top, threw the fire into the wood, Yen Sid spoke in the incantation, and Clara’s ashes flew up high into the sky. That was the last he ever saw his beloved Clara.

The years rolled by; as soon as Clara was burnt, Yen Sid and Merlin were brought to the United States of America so they could reestablish themselves. They both lived in the same apartment building, both they were both separate jobs. Merlin worked as an apprentice professor of UCLA while Yen Sid began work as an animator. That was when he first met Retlaw. When he first saw Yen Sid ‘animate,’ it was not the kind of animation he had in mind. Still, he was very astounded at what Yen Sid could do and agreed to keep the secret of him being a sorcerer from the world. Their friendship had lasted all of Retlaw’s lifetime and so on.

It all felt like yesterday when all of this had happened. Now, Yen Sid was blessed to see the next silver spirit come to life and watch over her. For sure, he wasn’t going to let the same fate happen to Rachel so long as he was still standing. If he had made a promise to watch over someone’s children, it was definitely one promise he would never wish to break, even if it would cost his life.

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The next morning, Rachel’s eyes began to open from the sunlight that illuminated from the windows. She gave out a big yawn and stretched out high above her. Finally, she noticed that she wasn’t in the same spot as she was back in the Disneyland Park. The last thing she remembered was that she was cornered by three hooded figures. One of them stood where he was, one tried to walk up to her, and the third one knelt at her, kissed her hand and spoke softly to her. And all the time she was asleep, she felt so warm and cold all the time with nightmares torturing her mind and very few sweet dreams caressing her soul.

She sat up with her long brown hair and dressed in her silver long flowing night gown and noticed a boy coming back inside from window balcony. She gasped a little as the boy gave in a smile.

“How long have I been in here?” Rachel asked.

“One day.” The boy replied.

“Where am I?”

“You’re home.”

“Home? This isn't my home. Where am I really?”

“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure this is your home and this must be your bedroom.”

Rachel couldn't say another word; she was too scared to speak. At least she wasn’t willing to show it.

“I do like this room.” The boy remarked, “Nice clothes, fresh water, the furniture, the detail on the floor and the wallpaper, cozy bed fit for a queen. Oh, and I forgot: the girl!”

Rachel gave in a small weak smile and hardly chuckled. She had to admit, this room was by far lovelier than how Olin decorated back at the warehouse headquarters and she was comfortable in her bed right here. The boy walked up to her, but Rachel tried to crawl back away from him.

“Don’t be afraid, Rachel.” He spoke softly as he held her chin gently. “I’m not going to harm you. I didn’t mean to frighten you back at the Skyway.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Terrance. I also live here in this castle. Well, I was assigned to stay here to watch you, but I guess you can say that I live here.”

“Seriously, though, where am I?”

“You’re only in a place that not that many people ever get to see. Come, I’ll show you.”

Terrance held out his hand. Rachel didn’t know whether or not she wanted to take it, but how else was she going to know. Wouldn’t be easier for him to just tell her? For Terrance, she probably wouldn’t believe a word he’d say; it would be better to just show her. Rachel decisively took Terrance’s hand and got off of bed with her hair and her night gown dragging across the floor and barefoot. He led her out onto the balcony outside with an immense view of new world in front of them.

“Oh my gosh!” Rachel exclaimed.

“You like the view?” Terrance asked.

“It’s beautiful! But how did- how did I get here? I don’t remember being here.”

“You were never here, unfortunately. But I truly wish you were; you really missed out on a lot here in the Disney Worlds.”

“The what?” said a confused Rachel.

“The Disney Worlds; Rachel, you’re in the happiest place on earth inside the happiest place on earth! Everything you see here and out there is all magic, all Disney, and as far as your conscious is concerned, all real.”

Terrance looked at her blissfully from head to toe. She was beautiful, he thought. The sight of Rachel by his side has made him light on his feet. The closer he was to her, the more he craved for her.

“Now that you’re here,” said Terrance as his fingers brushed through Rachel long brown silky hair, “I believe this kingdom will become much happier. So long as you are here with us, this Disney World will no longer be the same.”

Rachel turned her head to Terrance and blushed without knowing. The sort of attitude he was showing her was making her nerves a little quirky. She stepped back a foot.

“Forgive me, Rachel. I just, I’m just glad you’re here. I promise you, you won’t have to face Olin or anyone from outside this world again.”

“Olin; I totally forgot about him. How-“

“Good.” He interrupted, “Let’s keep it that way.”

Rachel suddenly felt speechless. And with that, Terrance blew out a great big whistle with his fingers, which startled Rachel quite a bit. All at once, something flew right towards them from a distance in the sky. Its shaped looked somewhat like a rectangle, but she couldn’t tell by how it was moving so fast. When it came closer, Rachel finally saw that it was a flying carpet! The design on it was recognizable with its colors of blue, lavender, red, and gold.

“Isn’t this Aladdin’s carpet?” asked Rachel.

“Yep, he said we could borrow him for our little tour. Isn’t that right carpet?” Terrance replied.

The magic carpet got excited, did a couple backflips and swiftly circled around Rachel. Rachel couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“So, there’s a tour?”

“Yeah, you can’t be a princess without getting to know more about your kingdom.”

“Princess? Wait, you don’t mean me, do you?”

“Oh yes, I do. You’ve been brought here to be Disney World’s new and permanent princess. That’s pretty amazing for a silver spirit.”

“Oh my God, you know?” Rachel cried.

“Of course; how else could I tell other than the long hair and the long silver night gown?”

Rachel looked at herself; she had totally forgotten about her silver spirit form at night! She wondered if while she was asleep, she had almost forgotten her entire life. If she did, she would’ve forgotten she had faced and escaped from Olin from the warehouse, she would’ve forgotten more about herself and what her life brought her, or worse; she would’ve forgotten about Rodney! Rachel took fast breaths; so many she almost couldn’t breathe anymore, like having a heart attack.

“Rachel?”

“No, stay back. Stay away from me!” Rachel cried.

“Rachel, what’s wrong? Take a deep breath and tell me. Please don’t panic. Just tell me.”

“I just- I mean- Did I-“

Terrance hushed her softly. Rachel was just about ready to cry.

“Why am I here?” Rachel cried continually. “Why am I here?”

“Oh Rachel,” Terrance spoke while caressing her cheek, “So much fear. So much, you can’t contain it in you anymore. Look at me Rachel.”

Rachel looked up with streaks of tears falling down.

“I know that this all seems so strange and out of the ordinary, and I know you’re scared about what’s going to happen, you think you might have forgotten everything about you and what happened in your life, but you haven’t.” Hearing that relieved Rachel greatly and took the deepest breath she could take. “I promise you that everyone here and I, we will give the happiest of all lives. I will personally see to it. Please Rachel, come take the tour with me and I’m sure you will calm down soon.”

Finally, Rachel accepted. Then Terrance suddenly picked her up and carried her onto the carpet. And off they flew to the highest skies and all over the castle!