Belle, Chip, Ax, and I had left the sleigh and went over to the tree.
"It's the best tree ever!" Chip declared.
"Chip, you're right." Belle agreed.
"Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah." Ax added.
"We better hurry," Belle said as the wind and snow picked up. "It's getting very stormy."
"Oy! Oy!" Ax groaned as Belle used him to chop down the tree. "Again with the chopping."
"Timber!" Chip cheered as the chopping was finished and the tree fell.
I then helped Belle tie the tree to the sleigh.
"Take it away Philippe." Belle called.
With a whinny, Philippe went ahead. Belle, Chip and I quickly caught up and got into the sleigh. Then when the sleigh landed on the ice, Fife unexpectedly shot out from under the sleigh and slid past Philippe!
"Fife?" Belle and I said, confused.
"Uh, hi Belle, Miranda, uh, nice tree." Fife chuckled nervously.
"What are you doing way out here?" Belle asked, sounding a little amused.
"Uh, nothin', I was just, uh, walkin'." Fife said nervously. "I mean, uh, I love the bitter cold, hee-hee, I mean uh…."
Fife suddenly gave a loud blare of his whistle! Some of us covered our ears as Philippe reared with a whinny of fright.
"What's the big idea?" Felicity snapped angrily.
Instead of answering, Fife, who had lost his top during the previous whistle and was trying to get it back, then gave another blare! With another whinny of fright, Philippe landed hard on the ice, cracking it and causing it to split in the process!
"Philippe!" Belle cried as his harness somehow unhooked itself from the sleigh.
Philippe ended up on one ice floe while the sleigh with Belle, Chip, Ax and I was on another.
"Oh no." Belle said.
The floe that had us on it then started pulling away from the tree's floe.
"The tree guys!" Chip cried as he hopped onto the back edge of the sleigh. "We're gonna lose the tree!"
Just as the rope attached to the tree snapped in half, Chip lost his balance and fell into the water!
"Chip!" Belle and I cried.
Ron W, Hermione, and the team wished they could help, but of course while they were ghosts….
"Oh, where is he?" Belle said to herself as she and I hopped from floe to floe looking for him.
Fortunately, our floe reached solid ice, and I had managed to locate Chip under it. Belle used Ax to chop through the ice so that she could grab Chip, but unfortunately the current pulled her underwater!
"Belle!" I cried, diving after her.
Belle had managed to grab Chip, but the current was too strong for her. Luckily, it wasn't too strong for me, so I managed to swim over to her without any trouble. I actually almost swam like a seal, *arr-arr!*... *Ahem*, sorry.
Grabbing Belle by her collar, I then swam towards the surface….
Lumière, Cogsworth, and Harry finally managed to catch up.
"Don't worry cheries, I will save you!" Lumière said as he hopped from one floe to the other.
"Oh dear." Cogsworth said, hopping after Lumière.
My fellow operatives, the other Superwolves, and Rip actually weren't worried. They know how strong and determined a swimmer I am.
Fife, who had ended up in the water after the ice cracked, managed to swim to the solid ice. Good news about his character: he was actually worried.
"Oh no, oh gosh, oh no, oh gosh, oh no, oh gosh," Fife said as he and the other servants searched the ice. "Oh no…."
He had just spotted Belle and I looking through the ice under him, and he gave a signal with his whistle.
"Oy, oy, oy!" Ax said before chopping through the ice.
I quickly pulled us halfway out of the water and all three of us gasped for air.
"Oh Chip, thank goodness you're safe." Belle said, relieved.
"I wasn't scared." Chip smiled.
Suddenly, the rope from the tree grabbed Belle and I by the legs and started pulling us back underwater!
"Oh no!" Belle cried as she and I tried to climb onto land. "No!"
Chip, Lumière, and Cogsworth tried to help Belle by grabbing onto her glove, but it was no use, her glove ended up being pulled off.
"Oh no." Harry groaned.
The beast had just arrived.
"Beast, wait, it's not-" Harry tried to reason with him.
"Quiet you." The beast growled.
"But-" Harry protested.
"SHUT UP!" The beast snapped.
Harry fell silent and became wide-eyed with shock. Defeated, he hung his head and shed a few tears.
Underwater, I struggled to free both of us but the current was so strong that I decided to just cut Belle loose first.
"You can make it Belle." I thought as I sliced the rope off her leg with my claws.
The tree and I started to sink as I struggled to free myself. Luckily, I was able to fight the current and slice through the ropes with my teeth. I then grabbed the rope with my teeth and pulled the tree back towards the surface. I then sliced through the ice with my claws and broke through. Gasping, I climbed/stumbled out of the water and struggled to pull the tree out of the water. After a few moments, the tree shot out of the water and landed on the ice. The force of that caused me to fall onto my side a few feet ahead.
"*Woo*, I love snow but ice water is another matter." I shivered, shaking myself dry.
I then saw Harry looking defeated and Ron W, Hermione, and the rest of the team looking nervous.
"What?" I asked.
Before any of them could say anything, the beast breaking through the ice answered my questioned.
"Oh perfect." I muttered sarcastically.
As he got onto land, I noticed that he had someone in his arms!
"Belle!" Chip said happily.
I stared out of shock.
"I didn't know she was unconscious." I said to myself.
The beast continued walking angrily towards land, not paying attention to where he was going. Lumière noticed this, and quickly pulled Chip out of the beast's way just in time.
The beast started to carry Belle through the woods, Philippe following him. The team and I would've followed them, but we had noticed that the servants had stayed behind.
"Oh no, what have I done?" Fife said to himself sadly. "It's all my fault."
"We all share some blame mon ami, for daring to hope for a Christmas." Lumière said sadly, not knowing what Fife really meant.
The servants and the team and I all sadly and silently made our way back to the castle. To the rest of the team's surprise, I was still dragging the tree along the ground.
"Seriously?" Hermione whispered, frowning.
"Hey, this tree was cut down to be a Christmas tree and it's gonna be a Christmas tree!" I whispered back sternly.
Neither Ron W, Hermione, or the team had a response to that.
When we got back to the castle, I snuck into the ballroom and found that the beast and destroyed the place. Even so I dragged the tree into the room and then caught up with the others.
The beast carried Belle down into the lower chambers of the castle and forced me and Belle into a dungeon. Well, he didn't really force me, I went in willingly with my nose high in the air. Ron W, Hermione, and the rest of the team willingly went into the dungeon too.
"You both said you'd never leave." The beast growled in a low tone.
"We weren't trying to leave." Belle said sadly. "We just wanted to make you happy."
"You broke your word." The beast growled, starting to leave. "And for that, you both will rot in this dungeon forever."
"Sorry guys." Harry whispered sadly as he left,
The beast slammed the dungeon door.
"I should've known you'd never be anything but a beast." Belle said sadly.
Time passed, and soon a clock chimed. Camera left to see how the servants and Harry were doing. True, Rip and the others could leave too, being ghosts, but they didn't want to leave me…or come across the beast.
"Midnight." Lumière sighed sadly as the clock finished chiming. "Merry Christmas Cogsworth."
"If only it were." Cogsworth sighed back.
Camera flew away until he found the beast and Harry entering Forte's room. Harry forced his way past the beast.
"Harry…?" The beast said, confused.
Harry only sobbed as he ran into the room that he and the beast prepared for our 'song' earlier. Harry then slammed the door, leaving the beast feeling a little bad for snapping at him earlier. Forte soon found out what was going on.
"Oh my dear old friend, I told you not to feel for her." Forte sighed sympathetically. "Things were so much simpler before they came along. Before we dared to…hope."
"I thought she was the one." Beast sighed sadly, looking out of a window.