SpeechBubbleMe: Hm...

Antha1: Oh. Fancy seeing you around here.


Within the lower sections of the Snow Queen's fortress, the queen kept a number of large, white wolves confined deep within. The Snow Queen fed these wolves any animal that strayed too close to her castle or, in some cases, an unlucky man or woman who had the misfortune of angering her too severely.

On the occasion that the Snow Queen was troubled by a far-off issue, but was too occupied to handle it herself, she would release the wolves and whisk them off to the location of this "issue", whether to scare off people who strayed too close, or to do away with potential robbers or thieves.

Now was one of those occasions.

As the first rays of sunlight began to shine above the the largest tower of the Snow Queen's castle, the gates were opened, and the wolves poured out of their confines. The Snow Queen awaited them at the gate's entrance, and the wolves swarmed towards her, ready to do their master's bidding.

The Snow Queen pointed a pale finger at the wolves. "You will go to the forests surrounding the Kingdom of Grimm!" She commanded to them. "Let no outsiders come to my kingdom until I have found the final piece of my mirror! Especially a cursed beast and two peasant girls!"

The wolves began howling and snapping their fangs. The Snow Queen waved her arm, and immediately, the wolves vanished into a flurry of white mist. As soon as the mist cleared, the wolves had vanished.


The number of trees had began to decrease the longer Gerda, Belle, and the prince tread through the woods. The forestry began to thin out and the trees became more sparse, and it soon became apparent to the three that they were reaching the outskirts of the woods.

"We're getting closer to the Snow Queen's territory," Gerda said to the others as she held up the gem, letting it continue to guide the small group. "If we continue on like this, we should be able to reach her castle in a few days time."

As she spoke, she turned to face the Beast, causing the gem to reflect in his direction. Immediately, the Beast covered his face with his paw to shield himself from the gem.

"Keep that thing away from me," He hissed at her.

Gerda frowned. "Why does this gem bother you?" She questioned, pulling the gem away. "It's a very lovely necklace."

The Beast removed his paw from his face to shoot a glare at the young girl, baring his teeth at her. Gerda froze, unnerved by the Beast's sudden hostility, before slowly turning around and staring ahead of her. She rose the gem, continuing to use it to guide the group.

Belle turned to the Beast, shaking her head crossly. The Beast grimaced at her, then turned his head away from the girls.

"Prince," Belle suddenly said.

"What?" The Beast asked, clearly agitated.

"What do you plan to do once you actually meet the Snow Queen?" Belle questioned.

The Beast's shoulders tensed up. "That's not a relevant question at the time," He replied.

"Well eventually, you're going to have to meet her face-to-face," Belle pointed out to him.

The Beast grumbled. "I hope that doesn't end up happening," He muttered to Belle. "But never mind that! Let's just focus on reaching the queen's castle. We're only wasting time standing around doing nothing."

Belle rolled her eyes, then turned down and held onto Gerda's shoulders. "Come on, the prince is right," She whispered to her. "We have to get Kai and return to the town before our neighbors all panic."

Gerda nodded, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath, and whispered, "Alright, let's get a move on."

Before the group could continue on, however, Wynter suddenly halted in his tracks. The large reindeer stiffened, his head raised as he began sniffing the air. His head darted left to right, a panicked expression on his face.

"What's going on?" Gerda asked, confused.

The Beast rushed over to his reindeer. "Wynter, calm down," He said, resting a paw on the reindeer's neck and snout. "We can't stay around here."

At that moment, Gerda's gem began flashing in her hand. The young girl pulled her arm back and stared into it, confused as to why it was flickering again.

"Gerda, what's happening to your gem?" Belle asked, noticing the gem flashing as well.

Gerda stared closely into the gem. "I'm not sure. . ." She whispered, squinting her eyes at the center of the necklace. As she stared at it, a face began to form in the core of the gem. Gerda's eyes widened as the face materialized within the gem.

Once Gerda could see the face clearly, she let out a horrified gasp.

"We have to get out of here!" She shouted in a panicked voice, her face contorting into sheer terror.

"What is it?" Belle asked, startled at Gerda's sudden show of fear.

Gerda didn't speak. She just turned to Belle and showed the gem to her, allowing her to see the face in it. When Belle saw it, she understood.

Materialized in the gem's core was the face of a large, white wolf.

No more words had to be spoken. Gerda pulled the reigns on Wynter, and the reindeer bolted through the woods with Gerda and Belle on his back, the Beast following close behind. As they ran, the howls and snarls of hungry wolves began to echo through the forest, accompanied by the sound of fast running trailing the group.

The group didn't know where they were going. All they knew was that they couldn't stay outside with the wild predators. They had to find shelter.

Gerda turned to look over her shoulder, and in the darkness, she could just barely make out the shadows of large wolves racing through the forest after the group. "They're coming!" She screamed, and urged Wynter to run faster.

The longer they ran, the more wolves joined the chase. There seemed to be dozens of them, all of them pursuing the small group through the woods. And the more they ran, the further the group strayed from the original path.

Eventually, by some sheer stroke of luck, Belle caught sight of a cabin in the distance. "Turn to the left!" She shouted. Immediately, Wynter whirled around and bolted in the direction of the cabin. Some of the wolves were thrown off by the reindeer's sudden change in direction, and collided with one another in their attempts to follow suit.

The group dashed towards the cabin. When they were close enough, Gerda leaped off of Wynter's back and bolted towards the door, grabbing onto the doorknob. Miraculously, the door was open.

"Come on!" She shouted, urging the others through the door. Wynter dashed through the door with Belle on his back, and the Beast wasn't far behind. The moment they were inside, Gerda dashed inside herself, shutting the door behind her.

The wolves dashed towards the cabin, skidding to a stop once they reached the door. The wolves began barking and snarling furiously, some of them even rushing towards the windows of the cabin and scraping their claws against them. However, they made no attempts to enter the cabin.

Inside, the group took the time to catch their breaths, relieved at their narrow escapes. Gerda got to her feet, her heart beating rapidly. She looked out the window at the wolves as they began to encircle the cabin.

The wolves were silent now, but they continued to stare at the group, but especially Gerda. Their yellow eyes bore into the girl's soul.

Eventually, the wolves crept back into the woods, slinking away into darkness. Eventually, they had completely vanished, the only sound being their howls as they echoed into the night.

But, even though the wolves had vanished form sight, the group, Gerda especially, knew that they were still out there. For the time being, they were trapped in the cabin.

And for Gerda, this also meant that Kai's rescue would have to be delayed.


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