Zero to Nothing
(The Realm of Hercules)
(The Realm of Hercules)
It had been
quite some time since Jacqueline stepped foot in the Hercules realm. It was one of the many worlds in the Disneyverse
that just did not interest her that much, until that day. Following on the
advice of her “spirit mother,” Jacqueline found herself walking through Thebes
and hoping to run into the girl named “Genevieve,” whose voice she and Joanie
heard. Before she arrived, Jacqueline figured it would be a difficult task,
since there were so many people in the ancient Greek city. But, upon arriving
there, the first thing they noticed was how lacking the city was in citizens.
It was rather odd to them, since Thebes normally bustled with activity.
(Authorial Note: Livingston was hesitant in featuring Hercules in World of Disney after incorporating elements of the 1997 Disney classic into his Disney Ghostbusters series, in which Hades was one of the main villains. Eventually, this hesitation passed by production of World of Disney 3, as Livingston wrote in Hercules as one of the leading Disney characters.)
“Where is everyone?” Joanie questioned.
Jacqueline
already knew before Joanie even asked. “They’ve been erased…by the rift.”
Joanie
looked to her in shock. “I thought it only tore up worlds, but it can erase the people in them, too?”
“That’s
just the first step – the ‘tearing up’ part comes much later, if there are any lucky enough to have
been cleared before it happens.”
Joanie
shook her head, disgusted. “This is horrible.”
“This is
science.” Jacqueline said. “Courtesy of Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.”
“Hey, over
there!” A voice called out to them (or, more precisely, Jacqueline). They
followed it to see a woman in the distance, standing at the base of the
towering bronze statue of Hercules.
Joanie put
on a hopeful smile. “Well, looks like one’s still around.”
Curiously,
Jacqueline walked towards the woman. As she got closer to her, she noticed something
rather familiar about her. Then, half a distance from her, Jacqueline stopped
cold. “Oh, no.”
The woman
standing there – donned in a gray sleeveless military crop top, black pleather
leggings, and black knee-high heeled boots beneath a red overcoat and complete
with a pointed blue sorcerer hat with a “white crescent moon and stars” design
– was Sheryl, her previous incarnation. She looked exactly the way Jacqueline
remembered shortly before Sheryl reincarnated into her. Joanie sensed how unsettled Jacqueline was near her
predecessor and knew the reasons why. “Don’t let your personal feelings get in
the way of what we’re doing.”
(Character Note: This story marks Sheryl's second official appearance in the series, following her introduction in The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2. The events of this miniseries happen after a year following Sheryl's adventure in the Marvel Universe. They also lead into her role with Jacqueline in Marvel Mayhem.)
“I don’t
want to have anything to do with her.” Jacqueline whispered, not wanting Sheryl
to see her talking to thin air from sixteen feet away. “She is the physical
embodiment of my greatest failure!”
“I know,
sweetie. I know.” Joanie said, her tone sounding much like her elder self but
slightly off with her younger self speaking in it. “But you must put that aside
for the sake of the Disneyverse. We need
her.”
Jacqueline
took a few slow deep breaths. Gathering courage as well as confidence, she continued
approaching her predecessor. First thing Joanie noted about Sheryl was the
woman’s astounding height. Compared with Jacqueline, Sheryl was like an Amazon.
(Biographical Note: Sheryl Lau's Twitter and Instagram usernames both feature "amazon," reflecting in her real-life tall stature.)
“Hello,
Wonder Woman,” exclaimed the impressed Joanie, whose compliment was only heard
by an annoyed Jacqueline. “It’s not very difficult to tell that she used to be
you. My goodness, she’s a big one!” Her attention then shifted to another part
of the woman. “And those clothes – Pam Grier would be proud of that look. It literally suits the body. How did you pick it out? There aren’t
many JCP’s in the Disneyverse.”
Jacqueline
was ready to find a way to mute Joanie; she had forgotten how “chatty” her
mother was, especially in spirit form. It was another reason why she spent
minimal time conversing with her. “She
is the one who picked it out. With each new body I take on, I have a
different…fashion sense.”
(Character Note: Each reincarnation featured in World of Disney has a unique fashion style fitted to them. Most often it depends on the personality of the reincarnation herself or himself. Livingston chooses the look himself based on the inspiration of the character; other times he allows the inspiration to choose for the character.)
Joanie gave
a slight nod and a smile. “I see.”
As soon as
they finally walked up to Sheryl, they spotted her holding a baby wrapped in
silk purple cloth. Surprised, Jacqueline asked, “How did you come to find this?”
“I was just
as amazed as you when I found him in this empty city.” Sheryl said. “The only
Theban left.”
“Oh, poor
little thing.” Joanie said – her motherly side showing to Jacqueline.
Sheryl
glanced at the massive Greek buildings that surrounded them. “I don’t
understand. Why is this place so unpopulated? There aren’t any monsters or
titans attacking. And, if it were, how despicable is it to abandon a baby of
all people?”
Jacqueline
heard the child cooing in Sheryl’s arms; his eyes were closed, signifying that
he had been sleeping the entire time Sheryl had him. She looked left and right
between her previous incarnation and her spirit mother looking down at the
baby, both smiling and giggling. It surprised (and even troubled) her not to
have felt similar to them in the child’s presence. She should have been glad
the baby survived the rift’s effects, yet she coldly questioned out loud, “Why
did you even bother saving him?”
(Authorial Note: Livingston felt strange in writing this line for Jacqueline, who - at the time this tale was written - had just recently given birth to her first child.)
Her
question surprised both Sheryl and, most of all, Joanie. “Sean,” she yelled the
name of her original self again – something she wished badly that she would
stop doing, since she was no longer that person she knew.
“I couldn’t
just abandon this sweet little one while he was crying out for someone to take
care of him!” Sheryl defensively remarked.
“But what’s
the point in saving a life that was never technically real to begin with?” Jacqueline inquired.
Shocked by
her words and the cold way in which she delivered them, Joanie dejectedly shook
her head. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing!”
(Spoiler Note: The callous nature of Jacqueline stems from the sense of failure she feels from the loss of Sheryl and Fantasia, two events that she witnesses firsthand in the two reincarnations. Sheryl's reincarnation into Sheryl occurs in the midst of Fantasia's demise, shortly after her sacrifice at the hands of Yve Ette, an act that Jacqueline failed to prevent.)
“Who are
you?” Sheryl asked of the callous brunette in front of her, who she had grown
greatly suspicious of.
It was time
for the moment of truth. With a heavy sigh, she told her, “I’m what you’ll one
day become…what you’ll reincarnate
into.”
Sheryl was
staggered by this revelation. “Really?”
Jacqueline
was offended by the tone of her remark. “Yes, really. Look, I know it seems like I’ve got a bug in my butt, but
it’s for good reason. There are things that happen to you that you must…” She
stopped – she already said too much as it was. “I’m just you, alright?”
Sheryl
looked up and down at Jacqueline with her glistening emerald-colored eyes.
“But…how is it possible? I thought, after I died, this life – the one I’m
living now – was the only one I got… like a ‘second chance’ sort of thing.”
(Narrative Note: "Second Chance" is the title of the first tale in the Tales of the Guardians miniseries, which centers on the reincarnation of Sheryl.)
Jacqueline
shrugged. “Well, you’ll get many more now. The Guardian job seems to go on
forever.”
“How many
more of us will there be?” Sheryl asked.
“I don’t
know.” Jacqueline replied.
Sheryl
swallowed hard while she noted one revealing fact about her successor. “And I
still get stuck as a female, eh?”
Jacqueline
sighed and nodded. “It’s the clause in the contract we ‘signed’ when we were
born: the Guardian of the Disneyverse can only
be a woman.”
Sheryl
snickered, finding humor in something that otherwise disappointed her. “That
sucks.”
“Yeah, tell
me about it,” said Jacqueline, who fired an evil-eyed look at Joanie. Joanie
merely shrugged with innocence over the matter.
(Narrative Note: It has been led to believe that this "Guardian Rule" was established automatically with Joanie's establishment to the title in the climax to World of Disney. However, later installments of the series prove this not to be the actual case.)
“Well,
since you are me – or I will be you – then we share the same
morals and principles.” Sheryl stated.
Jacqueline
rolled her eyes; she already had this lecture from her mother – she certainly
did not need it from herself. “Morals and principles, huh? Lemme guess…on being
a Guardian?”
Sheryl
shook her head. “On being a parent.”
Jacqueline’s
body straightened. Something was triggered in her that Joanie felt – memories
of Sean Thomas’s life in parenthood flashed between them both. Some of these
memories Joanie recalled herself being present in. Smiling from the warm
moments, Joanie looked to Jacqueline and said, “This girl’s finally talked some
sense into you.”
Jacqueline
frowned in frustration. “No! She didn’t! Brandy was something real to me! She wasn’t something that
manifested because of an invention made by two Muppets!”
(Character Note: The memories of the life of Sean Thomas has been a focal point in the character study of his reincarnations. In many of their appearance throughout the World of Disney series, it has been these memories that have helped certain incarnations come to their senses when they have forgotten who they once were.)
“A life is
still a life regardless of how it was
made!” Sheryl told her. “I’ve spent over a hundred years finding out how real the Disneyverse is. How’ve you
already forgotten all that?”
Jacqueline
paused for a moment and then grimly remarked, “I came to my senses.”
Joanie
shook her head, scowling at Jacqueline in disappointment. “You’re letting what
happened to Fantasia get the best of you.”
“NO, I’M NOT!”
Jacqueline lashed at her invisible mother, inadvertently waking the baby and
causing him to cry.
Sheryl
tried to calm the crying child, all while scolding Jacqueline. “Nice goin’.”
“It won’t
matter much longer how much he cries.” Jacqueline said.
“Stop!
Just…stop it!” The aggravated Sheryl demanded.
Her
frustration growing, Jacqueline moved in closer to Sheryl, looking at her with
fire in her eyes. “Do you even realize what’s happening here? Why all of
Thebes’s citizens have gone missing? It’s because of what’s happening to the
Disneyverse itself. There’s a rift that
has opened somewhere, and it’s tearing the worlds apart by merging them. We can
try to close them, but more will
continue to open – even the ones that were closed will try to reopen again.”
Sheryl
shook her head. “That sounds insane.”
Jacqueline
chuckled, amused from the response. “You’re right. It is. That’s the
Disneyverse for ya – crazy things happening every
day. But it is happening, Sheryl,
and everyone and everything is in danger… including the baby that you held.”
Following
on the verb tense Jacqueline used, Sheryl was puzzled at first, then realized
that the baby had stopped crying and was unnaturally still in her arms. Looking
down, she discovered that the child had disappeared and left her only holding
the cloth, much to her distress.
(UP NEXT: Bring Out the Tissues!)
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