"Bad."
"Bad, wake up."
Someone jostled his shoulder gently, urging him to wake up.
"Hmm...? ...no..." Bad mumbled, rolling over, trying to get away from the annoying person that wanted him to wake up. He had been enjoying his nap.
"You need to get up, Bad," the same voice from earlier said, a bit firmer this time.
"I don't wanna..." Bad whined.
He could hear the person grumbling and sighing angrily. "If you don't wake up, you don't get any muffins," they said finally.
"Fine, fine," Bad grumbled, opening his eyes and slowly sitting up. "I'm awake."
He looked around, and quickly found himself confused. "Dream? Where are we?"
Dream was kneeling in front of him, a concerned and mildly annoyed look on his face. "Some sort of dungeon, I think."
Bad looked around, observing their surroundings. They were in a damp, dark room, with walls, floor, and ceiling made out of dark stone bricks. One of the walls was made entirely out of iron bars, looking out into a corridor. There was a door made out of iron bars along that wall, but the door was shut and locked tight.
"Why? What happened?" Bad asked as he stretched.
"The stupid cake was drugged." Dream sighed heavily. "We should have known better than to trust some stranger in a van."
"Well, we didn't have much of a choice. We had to eat something," Bad reasoned. "And at least we're safe now."
"Safe?! How do you call this safe?!" Dream gestured wildly at their surroundings. "We're locked away in some dungeon with no food, water, or any means of self-defense, and you think we're safe?!"
"Wait... you have your sword, don't you?" Bad asked.
"No! They took it!" Dream stood up and briskly walked to the other side of the room, fuming.
Bad then realized something; he didn't have his basket. "My basket! Dream, they took my basket!"
"I don't care about your dumb basket! There are more important things to worry about than a stupid basket!" Dream shouted.
Bad whimpered, hugging his knees to his chest. "I know, but it was important to me... It's a special basket..."
"Ugh, I don't care! We'll get another one later. Now stop being dumb and-"
"Shhh, Dream, listen," Bad hushed. He turned and looked to the door. "Someone's coming."
Dream harrumphed, but listened. Bad was right. Footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor, approaching them.
Bad stood up and walked over to the iron bars, peering into the hallway. A cloaked figure was making its way to them. When the figure reached their cell, it stopped and turned to face them.
"Please let us out," Bad spoke. "We're not criminals, I promise! We didn't do anything to deserve to be locked in a dungeon!"
Dream stayed silent, arms crossed as he stood a bit behind Bad.
"Oh, really?" The man in the cloak asked. "Well, that's a lie. One of you is a thief."
"What?!" Bad gasped at the accusation. "Neither of us stole anything!"
"If that's the case," the cloaked man began, "then why did I find this rose in your possession?!" A gloved hand appeared from under the cloak, holding a dark red rose that drooped slightly, having been picked the previous day. "THIS rose from MY garden! One of you picked this rose without permission, and, by doing so, not only stole from me, but also trespassed on my land!"
Dream glared at the man. "You have no proof that either of us took that rose from your garden. Your claims have no foundation, and you kidnapped us against our will. Your accusations are empty."
"No, Dream..." Bad spoke hesitantly. "I did pick that rose... Yesterday, I saw the garden and I thought the rose was so pretty that I decided to bring it home."
"What the heck, Bad?! You just ruined our only chance of getting out of here!" Dream shouted furiously. "Why would you admit to it?!"
"Because he's right!" Bad said. "I shouldn't have taken the rose without permission. It was rude and unthoughtful of me." He turned back to the cloaked man. "I'm sorry for taking your rose. Will you please forgive me and let us go?"
"Hmmmm..." The man twirled the rose in his fingers, considering. "No... But! I will let you go," he pointed at Dream, "since you haven't done anything wrong." He pointed at Bad, "You, on the other hand, will stay here for two weeks, as a prisoner, as punishment for stealing from me."
"Okay," Dream began, "how about you let both of us go since it's just a rose and another one will grow back?"
"Ha, not a chance," the cloaked man laughed. "Your friend owes me for taking this rose, so he'll stay here in return for his crimes."
"Dream, it's okay, he's right; I did something I shouldn't have, and now I owe him. You should go while you have the chance," Bad said.
"What?! No, I'm not leaving you with this maniac!" Dream said, gesturing at the man on the other side of the iron bars.
"I'll be fine, Dream. It's just two weeks."
Dream turned back to the cloaked man. "What if I stay instead of him? Will you let him go if I take his place?"
"No," the man answered simply. "You haven't done anything wrong, so why should you have to stay?"
"Just go, Dream," Bad said, trying to persuade his stubborn friend to leave before the man changed his mind and made them both stay. "It'll be okay."
"Two weeks, that's it?" Dream asked the man. "You promise to let him go in two weeks?"
"Of course."
"And you won't hurt him?"
"No harm will come to him while he stays here." The man said.
"...Fine. But if I find out you hurt him in any way, I promise you will regret it," Dream warned.
"I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement." The man reached up and lowered his hood, revealing his face. Bad and Dream gasped; the man's skin was made of diamond!
The man giggled at their reaction, covering his mischievous smirk with his hand.
He stepped over to the cell door, pulling a set of keys from his cloak. The door swung open after he unlocked it, and Dream stepped out. Bad began to follow, but the diamond man closed the door before he had a chance.
"Ah, no, you stay here for now," he addressed Bad. "I want to make sure your friend leaves without causing any trouble before I worry about you." He began to walk away, leading Dream down the corridor, when he stopped and came back. "Oh, by the way, you can keep this now." He tossed the rose to Bad, who caught it and gently returned it to the lining of his cloak. It was still a pretty rose, and he would still like to bring it home, if it lasted long enough.
Then they left, leaving Bad alone in the dungeon cell. He sighed and sat down. If only he hadn't taken the rose, then he and Dream could already be back home.
At least the diamond man didn't seem too mean.
Bad just had to get through two weeks.
Fourteen days.
Three-hundred-thirty-six hours.
It wouldn't be too hard.
Hopefully.
[Beginning of Beauty and the Beast arc]
-----
[A/N]
Okay so I kind of forgot to let you guys know which chapters correspond to which fairy tales... lol. I’m going to start leaving little notes like the one above at the end of chapters now, that way you'll know which fairy tales are being referenced. Some arcs may only last for one chapter and others may last for many, and sometimes only certain parts of the fairy tale will be referenced (creative liberty also comes into play) but yeah :) I'll go ahead and add those notes to the previous chapters, which were based off of Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading, and have a great day :)