Just when you think you have overcome the worst, the shadows swallow you back into their darkness. They seep into your skin, causing you to shiver by the chill and tremble from the fear of what is to become of your very being. How could this happen to you? How could this happen to anyone who didn't reflect evil? Why should this happen to a hopeless dreamer with a love for all and such luck which is defined by a glass slipper? How could a jolly holiday go from a magical transportation into a chalk picture to leaving a nanny lost and left in angst, making her doubt her worth? What could come of a young girl whose sanity is tested by the dark doings of the ones ripping her and her wonderland apart? It all happens in an abandoned castle far, far away, protected by a an enchanted dome-shaped cage which no one can escape from or enter in except for those who control it. Those people were villains who had been defeated once before, and have decided to seek revenge by all coming together and kidnapping their enemies to hold them hostage in the castle.

There was nothing like that first night, the night where the heroes thought they were living their happily ever after and their world came crumbling down in a mere blink of an eye. The enemy snuck up and fought them into submission before dragging them to the castle and throwing them with the other captives. Some captives blacked out, some were wide awake, while others fell asleep due to brutal exhaustion. The castle was cold, dark. In the middle of the night, blue green eyes fluttered open. Aches and pains cushioned around the bones of Nala Amani. With the impression that she had suffered from a nightmare, the image she saw upon waking up made her realize that it was in fact...real. She tried to move her head, but it was difficult. Her head throbbed and felt heavy. She tried not to groan in annoyance, because she could see many sleeping bodies surrounding her in the same room; she didn't want any of them to wake up. Where are we? Who are all these people? Were they kidnapped and brought to this place just like my family and I were?

Nala's thoughts went to her family, and she snapped her head in sudden fear to look to her side. There, she saw her sleeping husband, Simba, and she then felt a slight relief. Half of her was glad that he was fine, at least he appeared to be, but the other half was furious. Why did this happen? They didn't deserve this. Nala glanced around the room to get an idea of what the place was, which didn't do much good. It was nearly pitch black inside. The only light that shone was a moonbeam through a glassless window. It was still nighttime, most likely two or three o'clock in the morning. Nala tried her best to make out what she could of the area: stone ground, brick wall, cold air, the eerie silence. She could see the shapes of dozens of bodies throughout the ground. Some were awake, she could tell, for they were standing. Others were sitting against the wall just the way she had woken up doing, and then there were the bodies lying down. She thought she could hear the faint sound of someone crying. A child, perhaps? How awful it would be if there were children here. Nala forced herself to collect as much strength and energy as she possibly could so she could rise to her feet. It wasn't easy; she planted her palms on the ground to push herself up. Then, one at a time, she placed each palm against the brick wall to help her keep her balance until she was standing completely straight up. Her back was sore, but she ignored it. She turned her attention to Simba. He was merely a foot away from Nala; she didn't have to worry about stepping over anyone to get to him. Simba was in the same position she was in, sitting on the hard, stone ground with his back against the wall. His head was tilted back just the slightest, arching his neck off the wall. He looked so peaceful, from what Nala could see of him, though she knew better. He was anything but at peace just a few hours ago, after the enemies had forced them to be where they were. Nala reach a hand down and ever so gingerly ran her fingers through Simba's blond hair, careful not to wake him. Worry never left her from the moment they were all captured. It was sickening her. She rolled her eyes over to scan the room once more. Where was her daughter, Kiara?

Where is my little girl?

Was she with her grandmother? Panic waved through Nala's chest as she frantically looked over the dark room. She couldn't see most faces, therefore she didn't know if Kiara was in the room with her and Simba or not. Nala feared for Kiara the most. It was Nala's job to protect her as well as it was Simba's. Nala couldn't promise to do that here, but she damn well could promise to try. She would fight until she took her very last breath to protect her family, for she had a gut-wrenching feeling that they were going to be put through something only pure evil could have the heart to put people through. She didn't know what would become of her family and herself, but one thing she was sure of, was that all of the other people there with them were there for the same reason—to endure fear, trauma, and most likely pain, all things that none of them deserved.

At the other end of the room lie a young woman whose hair was black as coal and lips as red as blood. The light of the moon reflected off of her pure white skin. Her name was Snow White. Tired like everyone else, she sat with her knees held close to her chest as tears fell from her eyes. Her love, Prince Nicholas Florian had his strong arms wrapped around her. "What's going to happen to us?" Snow asked in a hushed tone of voice as she stared emotionlessly at the wall. "I don't know," Nicholas whispered in her ear, holding her tighter. As if on cue, a scream of terror echoed through the wall, coming from another room. "There must be others held in this building somewhere," Nicholas said. "I wonder why," Snow spoke up, finally turning her stiff neck to look at Nicholas. "The queen is supposed to be dead. This just doesn't make sense. Why would she capture all these other people?"

"She's not the only one."

Snow and Nicholas turned their heads to the new voice, a woman with dark hair and a slender figure stood against the wall to their side. It was too dark to make out certain features on her face. "I thought the same thing about my enemy. His name is Hades; he rules the Underworld. I thought he was recruiting souls to drag back down with him.

A jolt of fear took Snow's breath away. Knowing that they were dealing with the Lord of The Dead as well as with the evil queen caused Snow White to tremble. How many more villains were there? "What are we supposed to do?" Snow asked. "I don't know about you two, but I plan on finding my partner and getting the hell out of here. If only I knew where he was." Looking around, the woman searched for the man she was looking for. She couldn't see much of the people surrounding her, except for a few people the moonlight shone down on. Only one of those people, a woman, was awake. "Hey, you. What's your name?" The brunette whom was being spoken to lifted her head up off of the shoulder of the man sleeping beside her. "Who's asking?"

"My name is Megara. I'm a hostage here just like you and all these other people."

"I'm Nala," the woman replied.

"Nala, have you seen a man over there who has muscles practically the size of tree trunks?"

Nala shook her head gently. "I'm sorry. Have you see a young blonde girl over there?" Megara began searching around, spotting a few who fit the small description Nala gave her. "Yeah, there are a few, actually. They're all asleep, though; at least they look like they're sleeping. For all we know, some people in here may be dead. Snow white swallowed hard from hearing that, and Nala tensed up. "Why would you say that?"

"Look. This is obviously a dangerous place to be. I highly doubt any one of us skipped gleefully on our way here. Is that your man?" Megara nodded to Simba, who was still sleeping. Nala had her arms hooked around one of his. "He's my husband. Why?"

"Because he's got quite the nasty cut on his lip. He looks bad. Don't tell me he didn't come here without a fight. Some may just have lost their lives fighting against the enemy." Nala and Snow were both breathing heavy by now. Kiara wasn't dead. She just couldn't be. "If anyone is dead, I'm sure they wouldn't be piled up here with us. Don't you think their bodies would have been disposed of?"

"Good point, but I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Snow White could no longer hold it in, and started to softly sob, trying not to make any noise. With his arms remaining tightly around her, Nicholas spoke up. "This isn't the right time to be discussing these things. There are other people in this room who would like to not have more fear pressed into them."

"He's right," Nala noted. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions so easily."

"It's better to be prepared for the worst than to get your hopes up."

"Then you go right ahead and think that way, Megara. I'm keeping a positive mind. Sometimes that's all that keeps us going. I'm not going to throw that away, especially not now."

"Fine, but while you all are just sitting here doing nothing, I'm going to go search and see what I can find around here." Stepping over sleeping bodies, Megara felt the wall on her way to finding a door. It didn't take long to find it. The door was thick and felt molded. Megara half-expected it to be locked, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't. Upon swinging the heavy door open, she strutted out and down the hall.

"Nicholas," Snow started, "do you think we'll get out of here?" She was still shaken up, overtired. "Of course we will. We defeated our enemies once before, we can do it again, right?" Snow nodded lightly with the slightest hint of a smile. "I just really hate this. I'm the one the queen wants, but you've been forced into this as well because of me. You have no idea how awful that makes me feel."

"Hey… Your problems are my problems now. We may not be married yet, but we can still be partners, can't we?" With another nod, Snow closed her eyes to push back the new tears which welled up in them. Nicholas pressed his lips to her forehead and kissed it before looking behind him, to see Nala had fallen asleep. Almost everyone in that cold, dirty-smelling room gave the impression they were asleep. Nicholas moved away from Snow and scooted himself to the wall in front of them. "Here," he said. "We can't fight off any villain with tired bodies." He was right. Snow White could barely keep her eyes open. With her tear-stained face, she managed to pull a smile along it in adoration of her fiancé before crawling over to him and snuggling against his abdomen. Nicholas wrapped his arms around Snow and locked them there protectively. "It's all going to be all right; just you wait and see."

No one in the castle knew that not far beyond it was a cabin. In that cabin resided a magic mirror which every enemy of the captured ones could keep their eyes on their victims. Sipping wine from glasses, three evil witches watched the hostages. One witch, whose name was Adele Grimhilde, pulled a smirk onto her face as she listened in on Nicholas as he comforted Snow. "How sweet. Everything will be all right, darling," she mocked before releasing a mischievous chuckle. "I hope these fools are prepared for what they have coming to them."

"Ha," another witch chimed in. "Adele, they have no idea. That just makes it all the more fun."

"Of course, Maleficent, of course. Oh, Ursula! Would you care for more wine?" The third witch, one from the sea who transformed herself into a beautiful brunette human with brown eyes, circled the rim of her glass with her finger. "Better not. We have much work to do tomorrow."

"Very well, then."

Each witch stood up and roamed about in different directions of the cabin which was two stories high, and luxurious: a fireplace, Persian rugs, beautiful white curtains on each window. There were large, soft beds in each bedroom and lovely bathtubs for cleansing. The cabin was full of vengeful villains hungry with the desire for getting even with their enemies. It would be thrilling to see defeat on the hostages' faces, to hear them beg for mercy. It would be even better to see them dead. However, there was nothing wrong with playing with the captives a bit and torturing them to the villains' likings. In fact, that was what would make this plan even more enjoyable. Things were finally going the villains' way.