A World of Disney Christmas 2

Part Three: Feel, Don't Conceal

With as many people standing around between her living room and kitchen (with the exception of Leanna), Brandy might as well have thought herself and Jatniel to be throwing a late-night Christmas party. The sudden arrival of two other reincarnations of her father, KaeLeigh and Alissa, left her feeling disgruntled.

She kept asking herself why they were there but knew the answer had to be this "Merlock" fellow, who was apparently dangerous enough to take down one Guardian. KaeLeigh, the tall blonde with the sparkling blue eyes, kept watch at the front door – literally standing there and watching it like a pet waiting for its master to return.

At least she was not raiding their fridge like her companion, Alissa. Neither Brandy nor Jatniel could believe it when she took out a carton of milk and drank out of it. From her loud gulps, they could practically hear the milk poured down her throat and into her stomach, gurgling behind her bare, super-tight abdomen. Between gulps, she would move the carton from her lips, a perfect milk moustache on her face, and give a loud belch.

"Oh, dear lord," a dismayed Brandy muttered beside her husband.

Jatniel smirked. "Look on the bright side, babe, at least the other half of them are Disney characters."

He was right. Hercules, Elsa, and Anna balanced out the number of "Sean Thomas" reincarnations in their home. As awesome as it was seeing the classic characters in true-to-life form right in front of them, the circumstances of their visit – and how long it would last – unsettled Brandy.

"Hey, where's Elsa?" She asked, noticing the absence of the Snow Queen in the adjoining areas, particularly in the living room where Hercules and Anna tended to the still-unconscious Leanna.

"Oh, she's in Benji's bedroom. She wanted to see him." Jatniel answered, to Brandy's surprise. "Can't figure why though – something about meeting him before on Fantasia. Do you know what she's talking about?"

Brandy in fact did. On the night that Genevieve first came into their lives, a literal touch of magic sparked a series of visions she experienced over the incarnations of her father and each of their adventures. One of them introduced Benji to Elsa during the Fantasia War.

"I'll be right back," she told her husband. "You keep an eye on all of them...and that goes triple for her." She pointed directly to the milk-chugging Alissa, who she could no longer stand to watch (though Jatniel seemed unable to take his eyes off her).

She headed into Benji's bedroom, finding Elsa sitting at the foot of his bed and smiling. Her crystal blue, off-the-shoulder dress glittered in the dimmed area, thanks mostly to the nightlight plugged nearby that illuminated the room in a twinkling starry cluster.

Seeing Elsa with Benji was a sight that reminded Brandy all too much of Genevieve in the time she once spent in this very room, sitting the same way Elsa was. For a brief second, she saw the reincarnation of her father herself there in the Snow Queen's place, even when she looked towards her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Brandy shifted back to reality, wiping a tear that escaped from her left eye, as Elsa stood up from the bed in attention of her presence.

"I didn't mean to...It's just that he's so..." The Snow Queen stammered for an explanation.

Brandy saved her the trouble by saying, "It's alright. Really."

Elsa smiled in relief, returning her gaze on Benji. "He's so beautiful, even while he's asleep. I met him before the war on Fantasia. Of course, he wouldn't remember that. It hasn't happened for him yet." She lovingly sighed. "He was the sweetest boy I'd ever seen. Genevieve must be so proud to be his grandmother."

"Grandfather." Brandy amended.

Elsa giggled. "Right. I forget." Her smile dropped slightly in asking, "Where is she anyway?"

Brandy looked to the floor despondently. "She...used to live with us...until she did something so horrible that she had to leave us."

A hand went to Elsa's chest, shocked. "Oh, no. What horrible thing could she have possibly done?"

"One that involved her special powers."

Elsa frowned with awareness. "It was an accident, wasn't it?"

Brandy nodded. "It just made her feel so guilty. She didn't want to place us in any danger, so she shut herself away."

"Well, that certainly sounds familiar." Elsa gloomily reflected. "I once thought, after trapping Arendelle in a near-endless winter, how right it felt to close myself from the rest of the world...to live in seclusion...to let it go. But I was so wrong. It was love that I needed to feel to control my power. When I reunited with Anna, when the war broke out on Fantasia, I learned to let go of my fear and use what I have to fight for love."

She took Brandy's hands into hers. At first, they were ice-cold to the touch, but then they quickly warmed.

"I know that Genevieve will come around to the same conclusion." Elsa assured. "It's humanity that tethers people like us."

Brandy took her words to heart. It was the most comfort she had in the last month over the recent state of affairs.

"YOU MADE IT!"

The voice exclaimed from outside the bedroom. By its enthusiastic register, Brandy guessed it to have come from Alissa. She ventured back into the adjoining living room/kitchen area to see everyone gathered around a short, barefooted young blonde wearing a black sleeveless top and tight leather pants. Alissa welcomed her with an enormous hug that momentarily lifted the young blonde off her feet.

Overstressed at the thought of yet another surprise guest, Brandy stepped in and yelled, "Now who is this?!"

"Her name's Penz." Alissa introduced. "She's another one of us."

"Genevieve sent me." Penz noted, alarming Jatniel and Brandy with the reference to their respective father and father-in-law. "Apparently, this is the safest place for me from Merlock."

Jatniel scoffed. "There goes that name again. How bad of a dude is this Merlock to bring all of you here?"

Suddenly, a flash of green light erupted within the room, briefly blinding them all, and another figure soon materialized – one donned in a hooded blue robe and a talisman with an emerald gem that glowed on his entrance. In his left hand, he gripped an odd golden scepter; in the other, the back collar of a battered Genevieve, whose right eye was heavily bruised and discolored.

Jatniel's jaw dropped in the presence of this menacing sorcerer and his captive. "O.K. He's a pretty bad dude."