SpeechBubbleMe: To be fair, I don't think they were present in the original story.
I am a burglar: Yeah, sure.
LilactheDryad: Well, I've seen a couple adaptations of it. However, this story will deviate from the source material (as you can plainly see).
Before they set out to find Kai, the Beast took the two girls to the castle stables behind the fortress.
"If we're going to be walking all the way to the witch's castle, you may need a steed," The Beast said as they entered the stables. He appeared to be trying to sound gentlemanly to the girls, a stark contrast to his earlier demeanor.
As they entered the stables, Gerda and Belle were struck with a vomit-induing stench. "Oh goodness!" The latter shouted, clapping her hands over her nose to block out the stench. "What is that smell?"
"Don't ask," The Beast said. From the tone of his voice, it wasn't a request, so neither girls chose to pursue the topic any further.
Reaching a stall near the end of the stables, the Beast halted the girls. Stepping forward towards the stall, he said, in an unnaturally gentle voice, "Wynter. Come out, now."
The three heard a rustling coming from within the stalls. As the stall doors began to open, Gerda instinctively backed away, somewhat afraid of what was going to appear. Was it another beast?
Gerda's fears were removed, however, when she saw the animal step into view.
It was not a beast, Gerda saw, but rather a reindeer, and a magnificent one, at that. It was covered in a thick brown-and-white coat, and it had massive horns, the largest Gerda had ever seen. It was tall, as well, almost as tall as the Beast. And its eyes were a deep blue, the color of winter.
The Beast ran its paw along the reindeer's back tenderly. "My reindeer Wynter will carry you," He said to the girls, leading the large reindeer out of the stables.
"What about you?" Belle asked.
"I can walk myself," The Beast reassured the two.
Once they were outside the stables, Gerda pulled herself onto Wynter's back, along with Belle. "Where do we go, now?" Gerda asked.
"The gem will lead the way," Belle explained to her quickly. "It's how I managed to find you out here."
"Really?" Gerda asked, stunned at her gem's strange abilities. "That's odd."
"We'll talk about it later," Belle said to her. "Right now, we just have to focus on reaching the Snow Queen's castle and rescuing Kai." Turning over her shoulder to face the cursed prince, she asked, "Are you ready, Beast?"
The Beast stood near the stables, a look of discomfort on his face. For a moment, he seemed to be reconsidering joining to two on their quest.
After a few moments, he finally shook his head and said, "Yes, I am. Let's get a move on."
With that, the four set off through the forest, Gerda holding up her gem to guide them.
Within the confines of his icy cellar in the Snow Queen's fortress, Kai had given up his struggles of trying to escape. Though he had tried to break through the ice spikes that blocked his only exit from the cellar, they had proven futile; the Snow Queen's ice, he had learned, was much harder than normal ice, far too hard for him to break. Thus, he had refined himself to his fate.
Even as he sat alone in the dark cell, a glimmer of hope still shined in his mind. He reasoned to himself that when the Snow Queen completed her mirror, she would see that he wasn't her child, and she would realize that kidnapping him would be all for nothing.
But at the same time, he did wonder what would happen to him once that happened. He entertained the thought that she would let him go, but what if she was not so merciful?
Before he could decipher things further, the ice spikes forming a barrier in front of the cell exit suddenly retracted right before Kai's eyes, leaving an exit for Kai.
The boy let out a gasp of shock. Why had the Snow Queen decided to release him?
"No matter," He said to himself. At the very least, he could leave the dreaded cell.
Dashing out the door, Kai rushed down the hallway to try and find the exit out of the ice castle. However, in his excitement, Kai forgot that everything in the castle, including the ground, was made out of pure ice. Before he knew what was happening, he had slipped on the flat ice and landed on his back, skidding down the icy hallway while making a futile attempt to stop himself.
Sliding into a massive room, Kai finally came to a stop as he slid into a wall. Struggling to his knees, it was then that Kai saw the massive mirror adorning the wall. He could see that nearly every piece of the mirror had been restored to its rightful place. However, there was still an empty section in the center of the mirror, stymying it's completion.
"Kai," A voice said from behind him. The boy whipped his head behind him to see the Snow Queen, standing in a dark area of the room. He had arrived in the room so quickly, he hadn't even noticed her.
"I pride myself on being a patient woman, Kai" The Snow Queen said to Kai as he struggled to his feet. Seeing that the child was having trouble, the Snow Queen waved her arm, and a burst of winter winds pulled Kai to his feet in an instant.
"For over a decade, I have scavenged the world for the shards of my mirror," The Snow Queen continued. "Collecting every piece until it would near perfection. But now, the mirror is nearly complete, and my patience is running out."
"But you took my gem," Kai said to her. "You told me that was the final piece."
"I thought it was," The Snow Queen replied, grimacing. "But I was wrong. I restored the shard into my mirror, but there is still another piece missing."
Kai looked at the mirror, and noticed the empty space in the center of it. Turning back to the Snow Queen, he said, "Well that's not my problem."
"When the mirror shard summoned me to your kingdom, it was whole," The Snow Queen snarled, approaching Kai slowly. "But before I arrived, it must have been broken in two somehow. Thus, the other piece is still out there. And if you had one piece of the shard, then you must know who has the other."
Cornering Kai against the wall, The Snow Queen bellowed, "Tell me who has it!"
Kai knew right away who had the other shard. Gerda. As her name entered his mind, he very nearly blurted it out, but he kept his mouth shut.
If he told the Snow Queen, she would come after his best friend, and hurt, or possibly even kill, anyone who attempted to stop her. He didn't want to put his friend in danger.
"I. . . can't tell you," He said, hesitating.
The Snow Queen's blue eyes twinged in fury. "You will!" She roared. Her beautiful face was now twisted with rage.
Kai nearly broke under the monarch's voice and stare. But he remained silent, refusing to put his friend, and all of Grimm, in harm's way.
"No," He said firmly.
The Snow Queen bared her teeth in anger, her nails biting into the walls. Spikes of ice began to sprout from the grounds and walls around the two, and for a brief moment, Kai thought he was going to die, right there.
But for whatever reason, the Snow Queen calmed down. Backing away from Kai, the Snow Queen waved her arms, and the ice spikes retracted. Then, she turned and began to leave the room.
Turning back to face Kai, the Snow Queen pointed a finger at him and warned, "You can't hide the truth from me forever, Kai. I will have my answer soon."
With that, she vanished from the room.
The moment she was gone, Kai broke down, breathing heavily. He felt like he had just escaped Death's embrace.
But even with the immediate danger having subsided, he could only wonder: for how long?
Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.
