Mickey's Halfway House

Exit Door?

"You just threw an elderly woman to the floor," were Maleficent's first words upon approaching Magnifico.

"Don't let that old peddler's disguise fool you," the king retorted.

Maleficent shrugged. "If you ask any of us, the fair queen was that hag's disguise - you should see me in my true form."

Magnifico was quiet. He watched the old woman hobble over to a bar stool and offer a bright red apple to a refusing Kronk. However, one of the Siamese cats leapt onto the empty stool next to the hag and sunk its teeth into the apple's rosy flesh. A second later, the feline fell to the floor, its feet in the air and unmoving. Magnifico stiffened at the sight. 

Maleficent snickered. "Oh, don't fret about the cat. After all, there's another one just like her."

Magnifico sighed. How terrible. But then he looked down at the foot that had almost crushed the life out of an elder. That sickness had not left him. "Perhaps . . . . Perhaps I am evil."

Maleficent laughed. "Oh, honey, you really believe that? The old hag had it coming for nearly a century now."

The king didn't respond - he just held his mirror. Its glass still emitted a green glow.

"I will give you this much," Maleficent continued. "You are indeed a mighty sorcerer." She shook her head. "Alas, even with all that power, you still let your subjects walk all over you."

"I nearly destroyed them," Magnifico said. "I tried so hard to protect them, yet I could have destroyed them all!" He looked at the Evil fairy, and his blue eyes moistened. "What kind of a king does that? An evil one." He narrowed his eyes at Maleficent. "You ought to know that."

The Evil fairy laughed again. "Why, thank you, your most powerful majesty! But - no, actually I don't know," she mused. "If you had all that power, why didn't you rule with an iron fist from the very beginning?"

"I've told you," the king replied. "I wanted to protect - "

"Bah!" Maleficent threw her hands in the air. "A true master of Evil would have demanded respect with the blood of his enemies. But you . . . . " She smirked. "You're no master of Evil. You're not even an amateur." 

It was an insult, but Magnifico pondered her words with hope. "I don't wish to be," he said softly.

"Then I have one question for you," Maleficent said. "Why are you here - really?"

Magnifico glanced down at his mirror. "Because . . . . " His words and breath came slowly as a new realization was accepted. "I made a terrible mistake."

Two new tears travelled down the king's cheeks. Maleficent shuddered at the weeping of Goodness. "What, do you really miss that rotten kingdom of yours so much? Perhaps it's best that you're gone! Let them all fall into disarray and misery - don't you want vengeance for it all?"

"No!" Magnifico ran a hand over his face and took a breath. "Vengeance has never been my wish. All I want is to get out of here and restore my kingdom! And - " He thrust a hand at the old hag who was now sipping a new drink and morphing back into her queenly appearance. "I want to find my queen and keep her from turning into that! Which could happen to her if Rosas falls into disarray!" 

"Hmmm . . . . " Maleficent pondered. "And what if I told you there was, in fact, a way to leave this place?"

Magnifico hesitated. "Then why are you all still here?"

"If you knew the way out, you'd understand why none of us have lowered ourselves to such humiliation," the Evil fairy responded. "But you are desperate enough to leave and see your precious queen again, are you not?"

Magnifico lowered his eyes. "It wouldn't be mutual - she abandoned me."

"She made a mistake," Maleficent said. Magnifico looked up, and the Evil fairy continued, "So make your choice - stay here and mope about it, or escape and give it another chance." She shrugged. "That is, if you can handle the exit process."

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