Disney Fan Fiction - A Herculean Effort Ch 2

“How…how is that possible?” asked Elsa, who was still in shock to see Rumpelstiltskin revert back to a regular man.

“Hades,” he answered darkly. “He’s got ways to take away people’s powers even a god’s.”

Hercules nodded, knowing the last time that Hades had done so.

“The real question is,” continued Rumpel. “What does he have planned for all of that power? He doesn’t really need it because he’s a god.” He looked at Hercules. “That’s a job for you.”

“I’m not going to leave you here defenseless,” objected the hero.

“I didn’t say that I was,” said the ex-wizard, pulling out his curved knife from his belt. “But I need my powers back, and you’re the only one who’s able to reach Mount Olympus and defeat Hades.”

Hercules hung his head in defeat.

“It’s okay. I’ll stay with him,” said Elsa, standing next to Rumpel, who cocked an eyebrow questionably at her.

“Come on, kid, we don’t have all day,” encouraged Phil still on Pegasus’ back.

“All right, I’ll do it,” agreed Hercules as he mounted his horse and they flew off in the direction of the two demons.
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Hades sat on his dark throne in the great hall of Olympus. It was a lot like his old hideout in the Underworld but while that had been deathly look to it, Olympus looked like a combination of that along with its former appearance. The various gods of Olympus were chained in between pillars all around and the remaining titans were standing guard. He hadn’t ruled from here since the first time that he tried to take over the world but it had only lasted for a brief moment before that whelp flew in on his horse. For eighteen years he had planned for that moment and it all blew in his face (some of it literally) in less than five minutes. He even tried to get revenge by agreeing to Wonder Boy’s deal in trading his place with Meg’s but that also backfired when that sacrifice made Hercules a god. He did try to get something at the end result only to anger Hercules, who sent him into the River Styx.

He wasn’t sure how long he had stayed in there but the next thing he knew was that he was with a large gathering of other villains, including a particularly attractive, green skinned, horned witch. Within a short time everyone was getting their happily ever afters and evil had grown unchallenged across the realm.

When Hades felt the death of one of the villains, he was one of the few people who didn’t think too much on it and was content on using his titans to continue to wreck havoc. It wasn’t until he felt the death of another, and Maleficent had revealed the appearance of Rumpelstiltskin, did he realize that his rule was threatened. While some villains tried to face him head on, he knew that one day the little imp would make a move against him. And he would be ready to meet him with a few surprises.

As he watched the glowing forms of Pain and Panic fly through the columns and past the molten mound that imprisoned the former king of the gods and his brother, Zeus, he knew that one of his plans had succeeded. Pain was the first to land but he was immediately knocked down by Panic when he stumbled. Hades rolled his eyes and sighed as the two of them tried to untangle themselves from each other.

“Pain!” saluted the pink demon.

“And Panic!” saluted the green one.

“Reporting for duty!” they shouted together.

“Please tell me it worked, boys,” said Hades as he stood from his throne.

“We’ve got it!” they both said proudly holding out their hands.

“Excellent! Top mark to the both of you,” he congratulated as he conjured an urn out of thin air. Instructing his servants to put their arms in, he watched as all of the power from the two of them entered into the vessel. Soon it began to glow with a dark aura.

“Strange,” he contemplated as the last of the magic was entered. “All that Dark Magic and he didn’t become corrupted by it. Waste of potential, I’ll say. Now I’ve got a pressing date with a certain dark and deadly.”

“Not today, Hades!” shouted Hercules as he and Phil flew in on Pegasus.
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Rumpelstiltskin had moved into the city, not taking the time to watch Hercules head in the direction of Mount Olympus. Frustrated that he now had to resort to walking and climbing, he kept silent.

When they traveled through one of the ruins they found that the other half had been demolished. Smiling at Rumpel, Elsa created an ice slide that traversed over the rubble to an area where it was smoother. Looking over she saw that Rumpel instead had begun to walk to an area that was easier to climb and began to lower himself down. Reaching him, she raised her hands to prepare to use her powers again.

“Here, let me help,” she said gently, making a stairway of ice like the one from her ice castle.

“I’ve got it,” he retorted, ignoring the stairway, and jumping down to the ground.

Elsa’s face fell at seeing his reaction and went down the staircase to catch up to him. Rumpel was already climbing the other side by the time that she reached him, so she continued the staircase to rise up to the top. Again she was disappointed to see that the former wizard ignored it, instead preferring to continue to climb.

“Rumpel, are you all right?” she asked as she reached him near the top, but again, she got no response. When they went through another building and found themselves on another deserted street she decided to try again.

“Rumpel, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you act this way before. Is it because you’ve lost your powers? Is it because-“

“I’m normal?!” he finished for her, turning to face her. “Is it because I’m now back to square one? Is it because I’ve forgotten what it felt like to be like everyone else? To be normal? Yes, that is the reason. When I woke up in that Man Village in the jungle long ago, I was just like everybody else. Obscure. And it still feels like that. It wasn’t until after I killed Jafar, and took his power, that I found out that I was in fact special. And despite what I said, I secretly enjoyed in the fact that I was different. What about you? Did you enjoy the fact that you were the only one who could harness the powers of winter?” Elsa was dumbfounded at his reaction and shook her head sadly. “I didn’t think so. Just as I secretly wanted to not be like everyone else, you wanted the opposite. I didn’t defeat all those villains just to bring back everyone’s happiness. I did it to gain their powers and be independent from everyone else.  That was a price that I was most willing to pay.”

“But you don’t need it to be Rumpelstiltskin,” she consoled.

“Maybe not,” he looked down at his hands before balling them into a fist. “But after using magic all this time, it has become a crutch. One I can’t live without. I may not be a coward but I’m certainly not a hero.”

Seeing his helplessness, Elsa approached him and took hold of his hand with both of her own.

“No matter if you have magic or if you don’t,” she spoke to him, smiling gently. “You’re a hero to me.”

He met her gaze and slowly smiled back. However, it faded as he let go of her hand and looked around. His eyes began to sweep through the city.

“What is it?” Elsa asked.

“Hush,” he silenced her, pressing a finger to her lips, closing his eyes as if to listen. She also began to focus on her senses but didn’t hear anything. She was about to say something when she heard something odd that she didn’t acknowledge before. Slow and heavy footsteps followed by low rattling, as if something was being dragged. Rumpel’s eyes went wide with recognition.

“Oh, no,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Run!”

The two them ran down the cobblestone street before turning a corner onto another. They continued to do this, sometimes going through buildings, other times slipping into alleys. If they heard the sound, they turned around and went a different direction. Despite their best efforts to avoid whatever was in the city with them, it soon became apparent that there were more of them than the two companions. They were pushed toward one of the main streets and hearing the thing that was chasing them was a lot closer now than before, Rumpelstiltskin pulled Elsa behind a abandoned cart

They held their breath as they listened to the approaching footsteps. Now that it was close, Elsa could hear that the rattling sounded like armor and there was a tapping sound like something hard was being struck against the ground with each step. They were even close enough to detect a scent. Elsa couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose slightly at the aroma, which smelled like something decaying. She moved as if to take a peek above the cart, when Rumpel pressed his hand on her shoulder. He pointed down, and she nodded in understanding. Crouching down, she looked underneath the cart to see a few pairs of worn boots go past them. At first it was rather odd but then she noticed something else that frightened her. Following the boots were several pairs of feet. Except that these feet were bare with no skin or tissue. Wooden ends of spears were making the hard, striking sounds. A green mist wafted through them all increasing the eeriness of the sight. Not bearing to watch anymore, she looked up at Rumpel, who mouthed, “Cauldron Born.”

She nodded back, remembering what he told her about them and how each encounter he narrowly survived. She wondered, without his powers, how could they possibly escape now. Hearing the company of Cauldron Born continue down the road, Rumpel motioned her to follow him and the two of them crept into another alley. They followed it until they came to a storehouse near the harbor. Hiding behind a stack of boxes, they rested, listening for any sign of approaching undead. Satisfied that they had escaped for the time being, Rumpelstiltskin breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hades must have called for them,” he said in a low voice. “I bet he had planned for this to happen. If I survive I’ll be sure to congratulate him.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Elsa commented in a similar low voice. “You like being this close to death?”

“No, but I always admire a well thought out plan,” he replied. “Besides if this wasn’t meant for me, and Hercules had his powers taken away, then the Cauldron Born would be sent to kill him. That’ll be Hades’ revenge.”

Elsa could only roll her eyes at this. “Well, how are we going to survive? You don’t have your powers.”

“So far, we’ve been doing a pretty good job.”

“I doubt our luck is going to last that long.”

“Agreed. It’s going to take us forever to get out of here and these things don’t need to eat or rest.”

“Isn’t there some way we can kill them? Cut off their heads?”

Rumpel shook his head. “No, their magic is just too powerful. Trust me, I’ve tried only to find out later that they can rebuild themselves. And whatever they kill, it’ll join them as one of them. Probably explains why there is no one in Thebes.”

“That’s horrible.”

He nodded his head in agreement and the two of them were silent as they listened for sounds that indicated the approaching undead. There was none. Not even in the distance, which the ex-wizard found strange. Just when he was about to question the silence, a sword smashed through the crate between them, making them scramble away, Elsa shrieking in fright. Without warning the middle of the stack began to collapse revealing a squad of the dreaded skeletal soldiers. It quickly became apparent that they were separating the two of them.

“Rumpel!” shouted Elsa as she began to unleash the more dangerous side of her powers. Skeletons began to break apart as icicles stabbed through their bodies, but still their numbers were too great and Elsa was forced to back away.

Rumpelstiltskin wished that he had at least his enhanced reflexes as he narrowly dodged a swing from a battle-axe that would’ve cut him in two. Like Elsa, more and more of the Cauldron Born were converging on him and he only had his curved knife from Cassim as his weapon. Well, that wasn’t entirely true.

When one of the skeletons jabbed with a sword, he swerved through its defenses. With all of his might he swung the knife down, cutting off the limb like he had before only this time he took the sword from the disconnected hand.

“You know, I think you’re the same guy that I last did this to,” he commented, testing the sword’s balance. “But I can’t tell because you all look the same: faceless, bloodless, green misty, skeletons. And in case if you are…” He kicked the arm some distance away. The soldier didn’t seem to take notice at the loss of its limb and weapon and instead proceeded to try and grab at the ex-wizard. Rumpelstiltskin took off the other arm before stabbing his knife into the skull.

“Got your nose!” he joked as he sliced off the head with the blade of his sword. The body crumbled down to its knees but it still stayed together and only seemed to sway back and forth as if it didn’t know what else to do.

“Who’s next?” he taunted before attacking one of the closer ones. “How about ugly number one?” He blocked a chop, stumbling a bit, but jabbed his knife underneath to flip the soldier on its back. “Or ugly number two?” He dodged another axe, kicking the soldier in its ribcage, forcing it to stumble back. He knew that he couldn’t keep this up for long. He shivered, his breath appearing in front of him. Yes, he definitely couldn’t keep up for long. He wasn’t sure how a rapid change of weather would affect the Cauldron Born but he didn’t want to be dead to find out. He could still hear Elsa’s shouts over the growing crowd but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from and even if he could answer, the pressing undead warriors were keeping him busy from responding. After forcing another one back to give him some breathing room, he began to see a growing snow storm a dozen meters away.

“Uh-oh,” he said to himself, knowing that Elsa was in danger. He needed to get to her and hopefully calm her down before she could get killed. However, wherever he looked there didn’t seem to be any way to reach her or at least quickly. The numbers were just too great to fight through.

Then he noticed the stack of crates that still rose above them. Blocking more swings from various weapons, he made his way over and began to climb up the crates. Once he reached the top, he noticed the Cauldron Born had surrounded the Snow Queen and were preparing to overwhelm her. The snowstorm had turned into a fierce blizzard with heavy winds that spun the snow to the point where even Rumpel couldn’t see the form of Elsa within. Then he realized what was about to happen as Elsa was losing control, succumbing to her fear, and he jumped down just as she unleashed her power. A blast burst out of her like when she had frozen Anna’s heart.
Rumpel patted his chest, making sure that he hadn’t been blasted as well before looking up to see an incredible sight. All of the Cauldron Born that was about to pass through the breach had been turned into complete ice sculptures. Peeking through he could see that every one of the skeletal soldiers had been turned as well in various poses, with the majority slouching over.

“Elsa?” he called out, unsure of what had just happened.

“Rumpel!” she replied in the midst of all of the lifelike statues. He squeezed himself between two soldiers before he saw Elsa doing the same and they embraced each other.

He gave a little laugh at her reaction, “Wow…I didn’t know…”

“Neither did I. That was the first time that I ever did something like that,” she told him. “I didn’t even succumb to fear.”

“What did you use?” he asked, confused.

“I thought that they had killed you. And I thought what would happen if I died here and what if they were to come to Arendelle and kill Anna? I couldn’t let that happen, so I got angry and I guess I used it to do all of this,” she explained, both proud and surprised at the result. “I still don’t know all of the specifics.”

“So, you turned fear into anger,” concluded the ex-wizard looking around as well. “Effective. Just a bit of advice: don’t use it often because that’s Dark Magic. You wouldn’t like the path that it will lead you. Believe me, such a path will consume you.”

“Okay,” smiled Elsa. “I’m glad that you’re okay.”

“I’m glad that I’m okay too,” he said, earning an annoyed noise from her. He added, “I’m glad that you’re okay.”

She smiled again before it faded as they heard the sound of more of the Cauldron Born.

“Time to go,” stated Rumpelstiltskin and the two of them maneuvered themselves through the forest of ice statues and into the city.