Last Ditch Effort
(The Realm of Fantasia)
(The Realm of Fantasia)
Scrooge
McDuck entered the dungeon of Yen Sid’s castle to the animalistic screams of
its current resident, Michael. The dungeon, a large, wide-spaced catacomb lit
only by torches holstered upon a dozen pillars that ran parallel across the
room, was where Donald and Goofy had been keeping watch over Michael ever since
he was brought in by Adrienne. Michael was chained to a damp stone wall by his
wrists and ankles with enchanted shackles that were meant to hinder his
powerful magic. Between his barbaric, crazed nature and the sinister glare he
would give them every ten seconds, Donald and Goofy were absolutely terrified. But what scared them the most were his attempts in lunging at them, only
for his chains to restrain him.
“RELEASE
ME!” He screamed the moment Scrooge entered.
“Oh, shut
up!” Scrooge barked back, walking right in between Donald and Goofy and staring
down Michael straight in the eye. “You have no say in this matter, lad! You are
a monster that must be kept locked away!”
There
suddenly was a bright flash that shined over the shoulders of Scrooge, Donald,
and Goofy; none of them noticed but Michael did, driving him further into rage
as he saw someone from behind them. Noting his increase in attitude and the
direction his eyes were looking, Scrooge, Donald, and Goofy turned to see what
the subject of Michael’s growing fury was. They found a young woman with long
brown hair, some of it covering her forehead and stunning blue eyes, wearing a
paperboy-styled blue cap with a white crescent moon and stars design over it.
She appeared in the dungeon seemingly from nowhere, leaning against the wall
near the entrance with her arms folded and a buoyant smile on her face.
Her
presence heavily agitated Michael, which Scrooge quickly took notice in.
“Whoever you are, young lady, you have no business bein’ here! Now be gone with
ya!”
“Just give
me five minutes with him, Scrooge.” The young woman requested.
“How do you
know my—” Scrooge was cut short from his question once he heard Michael’s
chains violently jingle behind him, as well as his roar of anger in this young
woman’s presence. “No! I cannae allow you to even go near him! Trust me – it’s
for your own good!”
The young
woman nodded. “M’kay. How ‘bout this? Would you still deny my request if you knew it came from Yen Sid himself?”
Scrooge
swallowed hard as he heard this; he hesitantly conceded. “You got just five minutes. After that, you must
leave this monster alone.”
“I am not a monster.” Michael defiantly said
through gritted teeth.
(Character Note: Michael's personality was mostly inspired by Beast of Beauty and the Beast and the titular character Tarzan, particularly the side of Beast that's prone to fury and violent outbursts and Tarzan's "wild man" persona.)
“No, you’re
not.” The young woman acknowledged. “You’re a Guardian like me.”
Hearing this,
Donald and Goofy – and especially Scrooge – were finally clued in on the
importance of the mysterious visitor. “You’re the Guardian?” McDuck exclaimed.
“But we
just met the Guardian earlier!” Donald said.
“Yeah, and
she was really scary.” Goofy added.
“This girl ain’t so scary.”
“Aww.
Thanks, Goofy…I think.” The young woman remarked. “That scary woman you met
earlier was another version of me named Adrienne – she’s got a few loose
screws, but she’s somewhat harmless.
My name’s Theresa, and I’m – as far as I know – completely harmless.”
Scrooge
felt his head spinning from all that was transpiring there in the dungeon.
Looking towards Michael, he asked, “So…he’s…you?”
Theresa did
not answer Scrooge straightaway; instead, she slowly moved in closer to
Michael, an action that Donald spoke against: “Careful! He’s vicious!”
“He won’t
hurt me.” Theresa calmly assured Donald, keeping her sights on Michael as she
addressed the duck. “And that’s not because he’s chained up – I know that he won’t. In his heart,
there’s the soul of a good man who would do anything for those he loves, no
matter what the cost or sacrifice. He once even put his life on the line for
his grandmother.”
(Narrative Note: Theresa refers to the moment in the final chapter of World of Disney in which Sean Thomas was killed in an attempt to save Diana Navarro. This occurred during the cataclysmic setting of the Snow White realm's near-destruction.)
Michael
eyed her suspiciously and callously at the same time. “Who…are you?”
“I’m
Theresa – the sixth one of us. It’s O.K. that you don’t remember, with all that
you’ve been through.”
There was a
moment of silence between them that Michael had spent looking long and hard at
Theresa. Then, without caution, he moved fast on her, appearing as if he was
lunging for her. The hasty action
from the untamed man put Scrooge, Donald, and Goofy on guard. However, as it
turned out, he only moved his face an inch closer to Theresa’s merely to
“study” it. Donald, Scrooge, and Goofy watched the unusual scene unfold as
Michael moved his head to the left and then to right, analyzing all of
Theresa’s flawless features. Theresa kept herself still the entire time,
realizing why he had to scout every detail of her face; her eyes were all that
she moved, tracking his movements. Her nostrils flared as she breathed in his
scent – he certainly smelled as wild
as he acted, reeking of what Theresa could have only guessed to be a cross
between smoke and his own B.O.
(Disney Note: Much as the Michael character himself, this scene between him and Theresa has much inspiration from Tarzan's first up close interaction with Jane. That scene was reenacted between Tarzan himself and Gigi, the first reincarnation of Joanie Navarro, in Chapter Nine of The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2.)
“Your
face,” Michael said after just three minutes of analysis, “it doesn’t make
sense to me.”
Curious and
even a bit amused, Theresa queried, “How so?”
Michael
backed away from her by a couple of feet, confusion registered on his face as
he continued to stare upon hers. “I’m seeing… two separate people…all at once.”
This
statement brought confusion over her. She lightly touched the right side of her
face, wondering what other person Michael saw. She then noticed him crouching
down low, scooping up some of the dirt that covered every portion of the
dungeon floor. What he did next took her completely by surprise: he smeared the
dirt over her face. Witnessing this uncouth display, Scrooge, Donald, and Goofy
attempted to stop him; but they were stopped, however, by Theresa herself when
she held them off, holding up one hand in protest. She could not verbally order
them to stop due to Michael smearing some of the dirt over her mouth, which she
kept shut tight along with her eyes.
Her nose,
on the other hand, suffered the brunt of the coating, as some of the dirt
clogged her nostrils. She did not dare to breath in fear of sucking it in and
getting it caught in the back of her throat. It immediately became unbearable
having the cold, wet dirt all over her face and being forced to hold her breath
for nearly two whole minutes as Michael used it like a mud sculpture. She felt
the dirt cover every inch of her face and, as she continued keeping her eyes
shut, wondered what she looked like with it all on there. Michael did not make
it known to her that he was finished until she no longer felt his rough hands
pressing down on her face.
Slowly, she
lifted her dirt-coated eyelids to see his somewhat satisfied face looking
directly at hers. In addition to this satisfaction he had, there was also a
sense of familiarity, which made Theresa even more curious. “This is it,” he
said. “This is the other one I see.”
Casually blowing
out the bits of dirt from her nose, Theresa focused on conjuring up a compact
mirror from her right hand, bringing it up near her face to see what it had
looked like with all the mud. A slight gasp escaped from her mouth – the face
she saw reflecting hers had startled her. With the exception of her pale blue
eyes and long bangs, she discovered how much she resembled Sean Thomas from the
“makeover” Michael gave her. The look was almost spot-on – a dismaying reminder
of who she once was.
(Authorial Note: This scene, which Livingston refers as the "mud mask" scene, was a favorite of his to write as it was the first instance of the miniseries that one of the reincarnations - Theresa, in this case - is literally used as a model for recreating the face of her original identity. He was careful not to have it feel like "blackface" to the readers but merely a moment of reflection in one's past life.)
“Who does
this face belong to?” Michael asked her.
Preoccupied
with the reflection of her dirt-covered face, Theresa barely heard his
question. Through melancholic tears, she told him, “It belongs…” She caught
herself on the tense, nearly losing focus on her current surroundings. “It belonged to that good man I was talking
about. He’s who we once were…who we still
are, if we choose to be him.”
Michael
despondently looked down at the ground. “I don’t know this man, but I do have
all his memories. They make me feel…happy.”
(Narrative Note: Not counting their violent encounter earlier in the fourteenth tale, this is the first real scene between Michael and Theresa, which - in reflection to the real-life married couple their characters are based on - is the first real scene between husband and wife.)
A smile
emerged from Michael’s face – the first one Theresa had seen on the untamed
man, who had proven through their interaction that he could be tamed. He does
have a reasonable side to him, just like the rest of us, she jubilantly
thought. With the flick of her left wrist, Theresa mystically feed Michael of
his bonds, an action that greatly alarmed Scrooge, Donald, and Goofy.
“W-What are
ya doin’?” McDuck cried. “Have ya lost your mind?”
“All of the Guardians are needed to save
the Disneyverse – including this one.” She gestured to Michael. “I have faith
in him, because I have faith in myself.”
Goofy found
her assertion confusing. “But he is
you…or, uh, you are him.”
(UP NEXT: A Dangerous World of Disney Foe Returns!)
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