Not so happily ever after after all....

Belle shook her head. "I'm sorry. That's awful. No one seems to have any consideration for anyone else anymore, do they?" She exhaled heavily as they turned a corner. "I don't know what social class you are, but...everyone deserves to be treated fairly. Rich and poor alike. And it frustrates me that so many on each side are too blind to see that."

"And it's really not safe for pretty girls to be walking alone on a forest path." Hansel said, trying to look sincere and concerned.

Belle blushed at the compliment despite herself, but then said, "Oh, I must have taken a wrong turn. I'm sorry...everything's been slipping my mind lately." She looked back towards the main path, but heard the muffled sounds of a commotion from a little deeper into the forest. What could that be? "Do you hear that?" Belle asked Hansel.

"Yes. Strange conspicuous noises. Investigating may not be the best ides in the scenario."

"Excuse me... does anyone know where this is?" Ivan asked aloud.

"But someone could be in trouble," Belle insisted. "And we don't have to go in too far - just far enough to better hear what's going on. I'd hate if something happened to someone because I was too scared to try and help in some way." And she briskly walked forward.

Hansel loaded his rifle.
"Just...stay behind me...." He said, following Belle ".....please."

Belle blinked in mild surprise, but complied, and held onto his shoulder as an indicator of her presence. Just in case anything happened from behind them.

Hansel joined the group where Aurora was flipping out about her dress.

Despite herself, Belle spoke up. "Is everything okay?" She let go of Hansel's shoulder and walked around him, towards the other two forest-dwellers. There was something familiar about the girl in the dress...she couldn't put her finger on it, though.

"My dress is RUINED! And I just cleaned it! Aurora sputtered. Hansel put away his rifle. He figured he didn't really need it here.

Belle thought back to life in the castle. She'd met an endless list of princesses, all who were kind at heart, though mildly vain and a little irritating. This girl reminded her of one of them.

"I'm sure you can clean it again," Belle said slowly. Honestly, she had no idea of whether or not the blotch on her dress would come out - even as a princess, she'd never learned those things. She had always been the unusual one, even as a princess. But it didn't matter, because she'd had him...

Wait, no. That was over. He had revealed himself as nothing but a possesive idiot, and she had left that behind her 5 months ago. No use thinking about it now.

"Where did you come from?" Belle asked, interrupting her own thoughts. "If you're lost, maybe we can help..."

"This is my only uniform! I don't have time to clean it I have work tomorrow!" Aurora whined.

"I'm lost!" Ivan spoke up.

Hansel frowned "Try following the path." he said condescendingly.

Path? "Huh? No, I mean I'm really lost. I don't even know how I got here..." Ivan replied.

Belle wrinkled her nose at Hansel's tone. "He may have been distracted. Sort of how we were? I'm sorry," she said, now to the other boy. "How did you get lost? We might be able to help you get back somehow."

Hansel pouted and leaned on a tree. Aurora continued to cry about her dress.

"Do you remember any of what you were doing, before ending up here?" Belle asked the man. "And," she said to the girl, now in a stern tone, "you need to get a grip. So what if you got a stain in your dress? Life goes on!"

"I was out for a walk this morning... I think it was this morning... and then I ended up here." Ivan's memory was really fuzzy on the subject of how.

Aurora dropped the cute act
"I GET FIRED, THAT'S WHAT! Then what do I have? NOTHING! It's not like I'm a princess anymore!"

Belle stopped. "Princess...?" she repeated, but then shook it off to talk to the man. "Do you remember any names, names of places?" Then, to the girl, "I'm sorry. It's just that we won't be able to solve anything with your whining."

Aurora stormed off.

"Just that boring old abandoned castle, Stromberg." Ivan answered.

Hansel sighed and checked his imaginary pocketwatch.