A/N: This chapter is written by me, SamoaPheonix9 and Wrestlemaniac829.

Frederick had been trotting through the woods till nightfall. By now, he found himself passing through an unknown portion of the woods, a place that hadn't been explored in years. The trees were beginning to look misshaped and grotesque. A thick fog built over, covering the ground, and the moon glowed an eerie whitish yellow. Soon, the horse came to a stop in front of a tall iron gate. Beyond the gate was an enormous castle, something Frederick had never seen before.

'What is this place?' Frederick thought.

Curious, Frederick dismounted the horse and opened the gate. There, he saw his parents' coach, sitting there without the other horse. Quickly, he ran towards it, opened the door and looked inside. There wasn't a trace of his parents inside. From where he stood, there was only "one" possibility of what could've happened. Slowly, Frederick turned back to the castle and towards the enormous doors leading inside.

'Maybe…they're in the castle,' He thought.

Frederick took a big gulp and headed for the castle. He stood in front of the huge doors, then slowly pushed them open and walked inside. It was very dark inside and the only sources of light were reflected from the windows onto the floor. Still, Frederick knew his parents were around somewhere. He didn't know where they were, but it felt as though he could feel their presence somewhere.

"Hello?" he called out into the darkness. "Is anyone here? Mother? Father? Jean-Luc? Where are you?"

Meanwhile, in the drawing room, Lumiere and Cogsworth paced back and forth on a small table. it was clear that something was troubling the two, both were concerned but for different reasons. Lumiere attempted to remain utterly calm about the matter, but the nerves were clearly building for this clock-work figure.

"Oh yes," Cogsworth spoke. "Just had to convince me to let them stay, didn't you? Well, now they're in the dungeon!"

"Excuse me for trying to be hospitable," Lumiere retorted. "Besides, you were the one concerned for the woman's health."

"What did you expect? You and I could clearly see she was suffering. I've only seen very few people with those kind of symptoms. Unless she is given the proper medication, she won't get any better. And being in the dungeon is only get to make it worse!"

Just then, a figure stormed into the room, practically pushing through the doors. It was a tall anthropomorphic cat, a gray cat with a powdered wig on his head and a striped tail sticking out his trousers. He wore a dark green coat over a light green vest both with golden buttons. He wore a white collar around his neck, in addition to dark green pants, and a monocle over one eye. This creature walked into the room with a frown on his face, as he wiped his brow with a handkerchief from his shirt pocket. Cogsworth turned to look at the cat.

Cogsworth turned to look at the cat. "Well, Manx," he said. "How are they?"

"What do you think?" Manx said. "Her fever is getting higher, her forehead's burning up, and she's losing a ton of fluids. She's getting worse and worse every hour she spends in that cold cell. I told the Mistress she should be moved to a much warmer environment, but she wouldn't listen!"

Cogsworth turns to Lumiere. "What did I tell you, Lumiere? I knew this would happen!"

"It's not my fault," said Lumiere. "If you weren't such a worry-wart-"

"It's both your fault!" interrupted Manx.

Lumiere and Cogsworth stared at him with confusion.

"What do you mean our fault?" asked Cogsworth.

"If I had known about this, I would've led them out of here even before the mistress ever found out. I would've made certain that the woman received proper care. But because of you and your big mouths-"

Cogsworth gritted his teeth. "Now listen here. You are assistant head of this household, nothing more. I am head of the household, you don't talk back to me OR him like that ev-"

"Hello?" interrupted a mysterious voice.

The call from an anonymous voice caused the trio to turn toward the door. Slowly, Manx, Cogsworth and Lumiere peered out through the door, that was opened just slightly, and saw a young man in a dark blue coat and a brown tri-cornered hat wondering through the castle halls. They saw the man walk through the halls; yet, they could hardly believe it themselves.

"It can't be," Manx whispered, adjusting his monocle.

"It's a young man," said Lumiere.

"We can clearly see that, Lumiere!" answered Cogsworth.

"Don't you see? He's the one, the one that we have been waiting for. He has come to break the spell!"

"Wait a minute, Lumiere," said Manx. "We can't rush off into these sort of things. We'll have to see what the Mistress will make of him."

Lumiere and Cogsworth turned to each other and nodded their heads. If what they believed was true, perhaps the Mistress could see that this man could be the one to resolve all their problems. They slowly closed the door to the living room, so as to carefully plan their next step.

Frederick stepped down through the vast hallways, the only sounds were his footsteps echoing off the walls and his breathing. All of a sudden, he came to a halt. Now Frederick heard another set of breathing, which was much heavier than his own. Something stood before him from within the blackness, barely illuminated with but a small spot of light on the floor. Though he couldn't see who or what was front of him, all Frederick could see was a pair of piercing blue eyes glaring at him. A twinge of terror crept over his body, for as he stared, those very same eyes stare back.

"Who are you?"

From the direction of the eyes, Frederick could hear a female voice. Frederick didn't know how to respond to that question, his fear still holding him back. Clearly, whoever spoke to Frederick was growing impatient.

"What are you doing here?"

Frederick cleared his throat and ignored the fear that swept over his body. "Are you the master of this castle?" he asked.

"I am," answered the voice, with more than a hint of a growl. "Now answer my questions."

"M-My name is Fredrick La'Belle," Fredrick answered, trying to keep the tremor from his voice, "And I came here to find my parents and their valet."

"What makes you think they're here?" snapped the voice.

"Well, our coach is right outside your door," answered Fredrick, his puzzlement overcoming his fear for a moment. "Do you have them? Where are they?"

There was a rumbling growl. "They are my prisoners."

"Oh, no!" gasped Fredrick, "Please let them go. I'll do anything to free them. You have to believe me."

"I doubt that," said the voice. There was a hard edge to the sound. "There's nothing you can do." The eyes, the presence, began to fade back into the darkness.

"Wait!" Fredrick called after it. The eyes reappeared, but nothing else. Fredrick considered for few moments. He knew what he had to do, but that didn't make it an easy thing to say. The eyes blinked once, and Fredrick swallowed his nerves. "Take me instead."

"You? One man for all three of them?" the voice said derisively. "Hardly a fair bargain."

Fredrick's stomach clenched, and his hopes fell. "It's all I have to offer. But if you won't release them, can I at least…see them?" He bowed his head, and as he did so a flash of his profile caught the spot of light coming from the ceiling. He blinked the brightness from his eyes and prepared to back away.

He heard a sharp intake of breath that was not his own. After a moment, the voice asked, very softly, "Could you…come into the light?"

"Excuse me?" Fredrick asked, a bit startled.

The voice did not reply, but Fredrick did as he had been requested anyway. He took a step forward and let the light fall full on his features. The rest of the castle, and the eyes, disappeared into the surrounding darkness as his eyes were dazzled from the unaccustomed light. He held his ground, though he knew the monster in the shadows could leap on him while he was blinded, if she so chose.

Several seconds passed in silence.

At last, the voice said, "Very well. We have a bargain."

"Really?" Fredrick took a step forward, out of the light. "Just like that? You'll let them go?"

"I said I would, didn't I?" answered the voice testily. "You promise to stay here, and they go free."

"For how long? How long must I stay?" This was a loophole Fredrick hadn't considered before.

The shape moved in the darkness, as if recoiling a little. "As long as they would have stayed. Forever. Do I have your word?"

Frederick was silent for a moment before he finally replied, "You come into the light."

For a moment, she didn't give a response to the man's request. She simply remained standing at that same spot. If Frederick didn't know any better, he would've imagined that she was scared. After a few seconds, she finally spoke.

"…No."

Frederick was right; judging from the tone, she was afraid to step forward. From someone that seemed to strike fear in Frederick, he didn't expect such a tone to come out of her.

"I thought we had a deal," Frederick spoke. "How can I give my word to remain in this castle if I don't at least look upon the face of the castle's owner?"

In response, Frederick heard a deep sigh passing through the endless darkness. Finally, the mysterious being put one foot in front of the other. Frederick was shocked to see that her feet weren't human… They looked animal with dark stripes. As she stepped closer, Frederick's eyes examined the girl's entire frame and widened as he came to realize who he was staying with. The owner of the castle was a beastly figure. She had a wolf-like tail that stuck out from under her aged ragged green dress, a purple cape wrapped round her shoulders along with a hood, dark tiger-like stripes appeared around her body, a kangaroo-like face with bits of wolf incorporated into it, along with blue human-like eyes, sharp claws on each of her three fingered paws and matching bands round the wrists, and fluffy brown hair with a pair of black ram horns round her long-pointed fox-like ears. Her body was covered completely with fur. Mostly tanish brown mixed with a lighter creamier shade. Frederick had never seen such a specimen before. it scared him, but intrigued him at the same time.

"There…" She spoke. "Are you happy now?

Fredrick swallowed, but there was nothing else to do. "I promise," he said. "You have my word that I'll stay here, if you let my parents and Jean-Luc go free."

"Very well. Come with me, then."

The Beast led Fredrick around several corners, before stopping in front of an open door that had light spilling out of it. "Wait here," she ordered, and stalked inside. Fredrick heard voices inside the room, and then the Beast returned to the hall. She held a lit candelabra with three branches in one paw. If Fredrick didn't know better, he would have sworn there was a face carved into the middle candle, but he was not given time to examine it closely.

The Beast whirled around and began leading him down the corridor again. She spoke over her shoulder as she walked. "I have given orders to my servants that your parents and valet are to be returned to their coach immediately. They will be told of your bargain before they leave."

"You mean…I can't see them? We're not even allowed to say goodbye?" Fredrick was taken aback by this news. He had assumed that the Beast was leading him to the dungeon, towards his parents. "Then where are we going?" he demanded.

"To your room. Unless you want to stay in the dungeon like your parents, of course." The Beast did not even turn around, but Fredrick heard the sarcasm in her voice and said nothing.

Frederick did not trust himself to speak, in any case. Not allowed to see his parents one last time! His mind was telling him to break free, to run and give them a hug goodbye, but he knew that would be useless. He would be lost in the maze of corridors that made up this castle within an instant, and probably be thrown in the dungeon himself for his pains. So he kept walking, head down, trying not to see anything. A few tears fell from his eyes nonetheless. He almost ran into his captor's back when she stopped before one of the many doors lining the corridors.

She eyed his face, taking in the tear tracks, but did not comment on them. "This is your room," she said instead. "If you need anything, my servants will attend you. This castle is your home now, so you can go anywhere you want inside or out on the grounds, except for one place. You are forbidden to go into the West Wing."

"Why…" Fredrick started to ask.

"Don't ask questions!" she snapped, and Fredrick shuddered at the number of sharp teeth displayed in the candelabra's light. He backed a step away involuntarily.

They eyed one another for a few long moments. At last, the Beast reached out and opened the door to Fredrick's room. Then she backed away to allow him space to enter. He did so, but could not make out much of the room in the darkness.

"Dinner will be served in one hour," the Beast said from behind him. "I will expect to see you then."

"I'm not hungry," Fredrick answered coldly.

"It's not a request!" snapped the Beast, and slammed the door in his face.

Fredrick spun furiously and stalked around the room to the one window he could make out. Sitting on the velvet-covered window seat, he peered out into the gloom. It had begun to snow, the first really heavy snow of the winter. He could see the courtyard from this vantage point, and could just make out a coach rattling towards the gates. He watched the point where it vanished into the drifting white flakes for some time afterwards.