Disclaimer: Don't own Shadow Hearts or Beauty and the Beast.

**

I held the candle--Keith, I reminded myself--high in the air. His flame burned brighter than I'd ever seen any candle's, but the hall was still full of shadows, dancing and flickering around the light.

"So you all live in this castle?"

"Oui, mademoiselle. We are all servants here."

"And the de--that man, he's your master?"

"Oui," Keith said again.

Zhuzhen and Yuria were walking along the ground, matching my small steps with quick paces. There was a question I wanted to ask so badly but I held it in, afraid of offending them somehow. Instead I was trying to start a conversation that might lead into it.

"I didn't know there was a castle here," I said finally. "I moved here about five years ago, but none of the villagers ever told us about a castle."

"It's been a long time since it's had any real influence." This time Zhuzhen had answered my question. "Nearly twenty-five years…"

"Why?" I asked. "What happened here?" The last question was blurted out before I could stop it, but that was what I wanted to know. What had happened to change a magnificent castle…into this?

"You should ask the master that," he said, with a cool tone.

I knew I shouldn't have asked.

"Oh! It's the girl!"

A small teacup had bounced towards us and was now looking up at me. "Hi miss!" He yelled up to me. The voice sounded like that of a young boy.

"Hello," I replied uncertainly.

"Joshua, where are you?!" Another teacup hopped into the hallway, first looking at the teacup and then at me. "Oh wow! There really is a girl!"

"See, I told you," the first said in a smug voice.

The girl beamed up at me. "Hi. My name is Sharon. I'm Joshua's wife."

"His wife?"

"I said no! I'm not playing house!"

"But you have to Joshua! The baby needs a daddy."

"Nuh uh!" The boy teacup ran off, making the girl chase after him, shouting for him to come back.

While I wasn't shocked as before, I was still surprised. They were both children…they seemed so innocent. What were they doing in this castle?

"You haven't seen them, have you?"

This was said by a teapot, who had also entered from the door. I was guessing it probably led to the kitchen. She had an expression of long-suffering.

"They went that way," Zhuzhen said, pointing in the direction we had come from.

The teapot sighed, then turned back to the open door and yelled, "Halley, you take care of things for our guest. Get some food from the pantry."

"Sure thing."

"I'll go round those two up and see if I can get them to sleep while some of the night's still left," she muttered as she hopped off in pursuit. I wondered if she was their mother and had the odd image of teacups popping out of teapots.

"Well…let's go in," Keith said, startling me. Looking down, I saw that Zhuzhen and Yuria were already entering the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen was chaos, seeming like out of a dream. The oven was cooking something inside while at least two dozen forks and knives were trying (rather unsuccessfully) to straighten a dusty tablecloth on top of an even dustier tabletop while a teacup directed them. A plate laid out on the table was shrieking as it swerved dangerously close to each side. Zhuzhen was yelling for all utensils to stop tugging so hard, then directed a group of chatting spoons to help.

"Here, let me help," I said, marching over to the table and setting Keith down. In a few seconds, I had the tablecloth straightened out. Then I gave it a few quick swipes to get the dust off; it flew into the air and I started coughing.

"Sorry," the directing teacup said. "Everything's a little dusty. We've gotten too lax."

"That's true," Keith said. "We haven't had a reason to clean, really, in…almost ten years now." He frowned, looking at me, and then said, "We'll have to fix that now."

"Oh, is she here?" A voice called from the pantry. "I got some cheese--aah!" There was a sound of china hitting the floor, and giggles.

"You've still got two left feet, and you don't even have legs."

"Shove off," an irritated teacup told Yuria. With the help of a spoon and knife, he carried the food into the kitchen. Once he had given the load to Zhuzhen, I could see his rim, full of tiny cracks.

Yuria noticed me looking and announced, "This is Chip."

The teacup made an odd growling noise. "Call me that one more time, and you'll be chipped…name's Halley."

"I'm Alice."

He looked at me curiously. "Well…she is pretty."

Yuria scoffed. "You can't judge by that alone, Halley."

Halley rolled his eyes and then called out to the other teacup, "Hey, Chris! What do you think?"

She also looked me up and down. I got the strange feeling that I was the object here, not them. "I think she's nice. What's that book you got?" she asked.

"My bible." I took the book in both hands and showed it to her.

"…oh."

I sat down at the table and nibbled at the cheese little by little. It was a strong cheese, but tasted good. Finally the meal was done, and I began my supper--or breakfast, as the sun was beginning to rise.

Between bites, I asked Keith, "Do you think you could show me around the castle?" The candle exchanged glances with Zhuzhen, seeming a bit apprehensive. "Or should I ask someone else…?"

"No, but…the West wing is-"

"Forbidden, I know."

He sighed. "The master already told you?"

I nodded, but feeling curious again, asked, "What's in there? Do you know?"

"Hm…I remember the piano in there," Keith said. "Really, there wasn't much. Although it's been ten years, so it could have changed."

Zhuzhen snorted. "It's probably gotten dustier…Margarete will have quite a bit of work to do."

**

Author's Note: ::blows the dust off and coughs:: o.o

**

Reviewers:

Kupo Stiltzkin: Uh, well this wasn't exactly timely…::cringes::

Chibi Hime: Ah, we haven't gotten around to Alice and Yuri yet. Though it should be in the next chapter.

Gutterfiend: I can't either.

Milia: I could see them dancing if this was a parody. But as it is…It would be very odd if they were dancing.

Greyfriars: o.o Right now, I am tempted to agree with Bacon.

Araschid: I think you can get the black panties from Old Carl if your bestiary is complete…for anyone who cares…