The Beauty and the Beast (Seventeen Meanie story)

Chapter 3 - Lost

A/N: HAPPY DK AND VERNON DAY and happy belated Carat's and Valentine's Day <3333

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Seungcheol stayed true to his word and spent the rest of the week preparing for the fair where he can show off his new invention.

'Now we'll get rich, Wonwoo-yah' he kept saying. Wonwoo really hoped things will finally work out for Seungcheol. Not because he wanted to be rich - he was fine with their small house at the end of the village by the fields -, but rather because he didn't want his hyung to end up disappointed after getting his hopes up.

So now there they were, saying goodbye to each other as Seungcheol got on their horse, Philippe's back. Philippe was pulling a carriage behind himself, and on the carriage there was the wood cutting machine.

'Bye-bye, Wonwoo-yah!' waved Seungcheol cheerfully as the carriage started. Wonwoo waved back from the doorway of the house.

'Take care and good luck, hyung! Don't forget to bring me a rose!' he said, watching as his brother disappeared on the road.

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Seungcheol and Philippe have been traveling for what seemed like forever, even though it was barely a few hours. It felt like even the sun had set, but it wasn't actually the case. They were going through a part of the forest where the trees were so huge that they blocked all the light. Seungcheol had to light up the lamp he took with himself to be able to see his map.

'Where are we?' he muttered to himself. They reached a point where the path they followed went in two possible directions. He read the map confusedly, trying to convince Philippe (but rather himself) that he knows what he is doing, meanwhile in reality he had no idea where they were.

'We need to go towards west... but which way is west?' he mumbled, holding up the lamp to see the path.

It seemed like the horse had enough of waiting and began walking towards their left. Seungcheol quickly held him back.

'Hey, Philippe, that's not the right path! We should go this way' he said and turned the horse back towards the right. Philippe gave in easily and they continued their journey.

It wasn't even fifteen minutes later when Seungcheol already regretted his decision. Thick fog covered the forest around them and he couldn't see a thing because of it. The weather became even colder and he would've sworn he saw snow under them - but that can't be, right? It's just because of the fog.

'Where did you bring me, Philippe?' he asked, even though he knew it really well that it was his idea to go that way. 'Maybe we should go back' he admitted. He was about to turn his horse back when they suddenly heard howling from the distance. Philippe stopped paralyzed, probably both from the sounds and also from sensing his owner's fear.

'W-Wolves?' muttered Seungcheol. 'Yeah, I think it's for the best if we turn back-'

He didn't know what Philippe heard, but suddenly the horse neighed loudly and began backing away. No matter how Seungcheol tried to calm him down, he wouldn't stop.

Then suddenly they crashed into a tree. To their misfortune in the tree there was a bat nest and they managed to stir a few hundred bats awake, that were now escaping their home, a huge cloud of bats surrounding the horse and its rider. Philippe and Seungcheol panicked even more and the horse began running away from the tree - no matter where, just away.

That was until they reached a cliff where Philippe had to stop because it was a dead end. Seungcheol gasped for air.

'It's okay, big boy. No more bats, it's okay' he whispered panting as they turned back - and were faced with the owners of the howling voice from earlier as five huge wolves stepped out from between the trees, glaring at them with their fierce eyes.

'Oh shit' muttered Seungcheol. He tried to stay as calm as possible meanwhile his heart was about to leap out of his chest. Unfortunately his horse had enough for today and stood on his back legs with a loud neigh. Seungcheol lost his balance and landed on the ground (making a mental note that yes, there was actually snow covering the ground and it was fucking freezing), then gasped seeing his horse storm away between the trees with the carriage behind him, back towards where they came from.

'Philippe...' he whispered with tears in his eyes when he realized he was left alone with the wolves. He slowly stood up, deciding to try to stay as calm as he could. It didn't exactly work because his heart once again was pounding so loudly that he could hear it in his ears. He began walking towards the path in the forest really slowly, avoiding making eye contact with the wolves but still keeping an eye on them.

Suddenly one of the wolves jumped forward. Fuck it, thought Seungcheol and screwing his plans of staying calm, he began running back towards the forest as fast as he could while constantly hearing the wolves' groans and panting behind himself. He just realized that he hurt his leg as he fell off Philippe's back because he never felt running so hard.

He soon got back in the middle of the fog where he couldn't see shit, stumbling over branches and rocks from time to time. He didn't even care which way he was going, he was only hoping not to get eaten alive.

He didn't even realize that there was a huge iron gate in front of him until he crashed into it with full force and he fell backwards from the impact, landing in the snow. He looked back in panic, seeing the wolves catching up to him.

If there's a gate, there has to be someone on the other side of it. And if there isn't, then that's how he is gonna die, but at least he tried. So he grabbed the gate and began shaking it while shouting loudly.

'HELP!! SOMEBODY, HELP!! IS THERE ANYBODY IN THERE??!' he yelled.

All of a sudden the gate opened slightly, making him lose his balance and fall forward, but at least he was inside. The gate closed behind him just when the wolves caught up to him. Seungcheol turned around and tried to get away, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his ankle when one of the wolves managed to bite him last minute through the fence. He shouted in pain and pulled his leg away, blood painting the snow red around him.

The wolves quickly realized that the fun is over and turned around to leave.

Seungcheol was lying on the snowy ground for a few more seconds, his sight getting blurry because of the pain in his leg. He slowly sat up and finally dared to look around.

He was in a snow covered garden that was well taken care of. He lifted his head to see the building he managed to intrude into.

In front of him a huge dark castle towered threateningly.

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A/N 2.0: I'm so bad at describing action scenes, sorry about this chapter! The next one will be a bit better, promise! See you next Sunday!