Outside the palace gardens, Vixen and Wolf carefully creeped along the edges of the giant bushes that enclosed the area. Whenever a guard was particularly close, they would dash under the bushes until the guard passed.

"How big can one make a garden?" Wolf growled, highly annoyed at having to dive under the bush for the hundredth time.

"When you have money, you can do whatever the hell you want, including making a several acre large garden."

"Several acres?! What the-"

Vixen slammed a paw over Wolf's snout.

"Please stop whining like a girl."

He growled, while Vixen grinned widely.

Vixen peaked out from the bush after the guard passed. "I think I see the gate now."

"Finally," grumbled Wolf.

Vixen carefully sneaked closer to the gate. Luckily for her, the guards there were lazy today and stood in a circle towards the middle of the gate, chatting and smoking. Quietly, she slipped between the wide bars of the gate and motioned for Wolf to follow her. Thankfully, he wasn't terribly large and could fit through the bars as well.

On Wolf's suggestion, they wandered around the garden for a solid twenty minutes before Vixen finally decided to stop and re-trace their path back to the gate.

"Why?" asked Wolf.

"Because," she replied, highly irritated, "If we followed the rock path like I wanted to, we would find the pond faster."

"Oh, I didn't know we were looking for a pond."

"Where else do ducklings live, idiot?'

When they had finally made it, there was a lone duckling sitting at the edge of the pond, sighing heavily, head cast low, while the royal swans swam and played with each other in the waters or lounged on the grass.

"That's got to be him," Vixen motioned towards the duckling. "Let's go before someone decides to kill us.

Vixen carefully lied low among the tall cattail plants edging the pond, creeping closer to the duckling. A small breeze playfully brushed the cattails, causing the heads to knock into each other noisily.

But the duckling paid no attention, instead muttering, "Fuck me."

"BAHAHA-"

Duckling and fox jumped at the delirious sound of Wolf's cackle. Vixen angrily swiped at Wolf's snout, crushing his snout into the mud.

"You fucking idiot. Thanks for giving us away."

Wolf merely grinned underneath her paw, causing Vixen to push him further into the mud.

"You, duckling, what's your problem?"

The duckling could only stare, beak slightly agape.

A short introduction to beasts later, along with reassurances that Vixen was here to help, and the duckling was only slightly convinced that it was to his advantage to talk to Vixen and accept her help.

"Why were you cursed?" Vixen asked, settling neatly into a patch of dry grass.

"I'm ugly. That's why. Everyone hates me," the duckling mumbled back.

Vixen sighed heavily. "And who told you that?"

"Everyone."

"Love, please be a little more specific."

The duckling grumbled and pouted, stomping his little webbed feet. Wolf chuckled in response, showing off a very impressive array of sharp teeth, causing the duckling to freeze.

"No worries, he's with me."

"But he's... a wolf."

"So? Deep down, he's human too. A fucking stupid one too," Vixen flicked her tail impatiently. "Who exactly told you that you are ugly?"

The duckling grumbled something.

"Speak up, honey."

"My father. And my brothers. And all my friends."

"Why would they say that?"

"Cause I'm ugly."

Vixen snarled angrily. "No one is ugly. No one is pretty. It's all objective. Trust me, love, I have plenty of experience to know. What is it about you that they don't like that they may see and blame as ugliness?"

The duckling froze, slightly taken back by Vixen's passionate outburst. "What... what do you mean?"

Vixen groaned. What was it with witches and their obsessiveness about curses affecting appearances? Couldn't they at least be a little more creative? Give Vixen a challenge for once?

"Is there anything you can think of that your father, brothers, and 'friends' might be jealous that you have that they went as low as to hire a witch to curse you in this form?"

"Deep," muttered Wolf snarkly. Annoyed, Vixen batted his snout, earning a yelp from him.

"Maybe," the duckling replied slowly, "For some reason, they were always upset that I was really good at talking to girls. They used to say it was because I was ... fat... and that girls took pity on me, but when I managed to have a conversation with my father's romantic interest, even though she was adamant to have no dealing with my family's name..."

His voice trailed off as the expression in his eyes turned crestfallen and devastated. Anyone looking at him would have recognized him as a sad duckling.

"What did he do?" Vixen gently pressed.

"He... he asked me to help him woo her. I didn't want to, because Lady -" he paused.

"Don't tell me her name if it's none of my business," Vixen quickly affirmed. "I'm here to solve your curse, not the problem this lady has with your family."

The duckling nodded firmly. "Thank you. She's so sweet and nice. I would hate for her to be entangled in my problems."

"Exactly what I want to avoid. So what did you do?"

"N-Nothing. Like I said, she's so sweet and nice. I didn't think it would be good for her to be involved in my family. She would be so miserable and Father was more attracted to her money and body than her personality and needs. I-I couldn't do that to someone like her. Not anyone, for all that matters."

Vixen nodded absentmindedly, thinking deeply. The duckling was very honest, down-to-Earth and vulnerable, traits she personally knew that all women absolutely loved to see in men. She wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason why all the men around him mocked him, while all the women around him loved him. There was no doubt that jealousy was the primary motivation behind the cursing. The question, now, was how to break it.

"The witch, do you know who it was?"

The duckling shook his head.

"Then, how was the curse administered?"

"W-What?"

"Like, was it spoken? Cast by wand? Ingested? Kissed? Inter-"

"Ingested!" he quickly interrupted before Vixen got into awkward territory. "Definitely ingested. All I remember is eating some delicious pudding before I passed out and woke up as a duckling."

"Are you sure? They could have injected it in you as well."

"I'm pretty sure." He looked sadly across the pond. "My brothers have also said before that... that if they ever wanted to kill me, they would poison me. I'd eat anything."

Wolf grimaced, shaking his head sympathetically. "That's rough, buddy."

Vixen's opinion of Wolf was raised ever so slightly. I guess he is capable of sympathy at the very least.

He nudged Vixen. "Get it? Ruff?"

Vixen rolled her eyes. Fuck, never mind, asshole.

"Not everything is about you, Wolf."

He grinned widely. "Well, then, I guess you could say that this witch was a bit of a quack."

Wolf proceeded to laugh loudly, rolling on his back, legs in the air like some common domesticated dog. Ignoring him, Vixen began pacing in circles around the duckling, thinking and searching.

"Ingested spells are... tricky, to say the least."

"Why?" A little fear leaked out of the duckling's voice. "Does that mean I'm stuck like this forever?"

"No, in fact, the opposite. It's one of the cheapest ways to administer a curse. Probably why your father decided to go for it."

"So it will wear off?" asked Wolf, sitting up on his hind legs.

Vixen shrugged. "Or you will poop it out. Perhaps you have to vomit it out. Hmm, I wonder..."

Vixen could have swore the duckling feathers turned a green tint.

"Typically, with ingested curses, it means that whoever administered it, or in this case, paid for it, wants you back in your original form, which I'm assuming is so that you can help him seduce his lady. So he wants you to learn his lesson for you, through this curse."

"A punishment?"

"No, venting," Vixen snarled through her teeth. "What everyone wants to do. When it comes to curses, rarely are any of them cast by fingers bent on true justice."

"So, what do I do?"

Vixen bit her lip, still pacing.

"The Ugly Duckling," she mused, "You must learn to become beautiful."

Wolf flicked his tail, settling himself down on his stomach, watching Vixen go round and round.

"What do you mean 'learn to become beautiful'?" questioned the duckling. "How can anyone learn to be beautiful?

"Oh, bollocks! This is ridiculous!"

Wolf's words stopped Vixen in her tracks.

"No one 'learns' to become beautiful. Ugly is relative. If everyone around you is judging you based on looks, it usually means that they're insecure about their own appearances and project their fears on you! If you fall into that trap of thinking that you are ugly, you suddenly become insecure about something you never had to be insecure about in the first place. This is stupid."

With a harrumph, Wolf fell silent, setting his head stubbornly between his front legs. Vixen smiled briefly at him. Maybe Wolf wasn't so useless as she had thought before.

There's a chance he'll know how to break mine.

"Does this mean that I'll... never be able to change back? If I can't learn to be beautiful-"

"Let me ask you this," interrupted Vixen, "Would you rather be a plain duckling and surrounded by a mother duck that cared for you and loved you or an insecure youth preyed by his own equally insecure role models and so-called friends?"

"I guess, an ugly duckling surrounded by love. But I still want to be human."

"Don't we all?"

The duckling was more confused than ever. "What do I do to go back to being human then?"

"The real question is what will you do once you are human? Because, like I said before, you will become human again, rest assured. I'm plenty good enough for this stupid curse, in fact, probably over qualified." Vixen sighed deeply, disappointed in the lack of challenge. "But what will you do, now knowing the things that you do?"

"What things?"

"What things have you learned, just now?"

The duckling narrowed his eyes, thinking hard. "I guess that, being ugly isn't the end of the world, because being ugly is relative."

"And?'

"And," he started slowly, "I guess that, as long as I am secure in who I am, there's no need to become insecure about something that doesn't really mean anything to who I am?"

Vixen and Wolf exchanged wide grins.

"What does that mean?"

There was a little fear in the duckling's voice.

"Oh, nothing," replied Vixen matter-of-factly, "Just that the curse can now be broken!"

Wolf's jaw dropped as the duckling spread out his wings and leaned his head back, eyes closed, ready to transform. Wolf's eyes grew bigger and his tail wagged excitedly.

Except nothing happened.

Vixen scoffed at Wolf, shaking her head. He stared right back at her, betrayal and fury etched on his face.

Ignoring him, Vixen trotted over the edge of the pond. With her teeth, she ripped off a couple broad leaves of the plant she had spotted earlier when she was pacing. Trotting back, she dropped the leaves in front of the duckling. With a nudge from Vixen, the duckling opened a single eye.

"Am I human again?"

Vixen batted the duckling's beak, opening it and shoving a couple leaves down his throat.

"Chew and swallow," she ordered.

As soon as he did, Vixen jumped back, keeping her distance from the duckling. No sooner had she moved then the duckling immediately vomited the contents of his stomach. A flash of bright green light and in the duckling's place was a rather chubby young man.

To say Wolf looked mildly disgusted was an understatement.

"Don't lick it," teased Vixen, "Unless you want to try some feathers for a change."

"What the hell?"

"Let's not muse on vomit. We need to go, now. Guards would have seen the flash of light."

Addressing the horrified young duckling-turn-man, Vixen said pleasantly, "We accept payment of steaks. Please leave two, or more if you want, at the closest entrance to the Wildabeast forest from this garden no later than midnight tomorrow. Congratulations on your return to being human. I hope you don't forget our conversation today. Go fuck up shit at home, you deserve it."

Light on her feet, Vixen dashed towards the gate, Wolf hot on her tail. Following the path that they took coming in, they eventually reached the gate, slipping through the wide bars. Until they were safely back in the green foliage of the Wildabeast Forest did Vixen slow down to catch her breath.

"You drama queen!" huffed Wolf. "You knew how to solve it right when he said that it was an ingested curse."

Vixen laughed openly, barking loudly at Wolf's expression. "Oh man, you should have seen how far down your jaw dropped, waiting for the transformation! You looked like a complete idiot, like a common domestic dog, waiting to play fetch!"

Wolf growled low, but Vixen knew that he would get over it. If he was actually upset, his hackles would have been raised.

"So why did you go through all that... I don't know, talking and blabbing about beauty?"

"Didn't he learn what he needed to learn?"

"What's with all this 'learn lessons' stuff?"

Vixen started trotting into the forest, licking her lips impatiently. "I am teaching them the actual lessons they need to learn, not the ones witches think they ought to learn, or even a mean family. In addition, I am teaching them about witches, the ways they curse, and how to avoid them, plus discouraging them from ever purchasing their services, no matter what."

"Humph, and what makes you think it works?"

Vixen shrugged. "I don't know, maybe that so far, I haven't had to solve curses paid for by beasts I helped."

"You never know," Wolf replied darkly, "In my experiences, people aren't very trustworthy."

"Well," Vixen said with a laugh, "Then that means all the more business for me."

"You're disgustingly optimistic," grumbled Wolf.

"Nu-uh, I'm realistic. There's a difference," countered Vixen. "Congratulations, by the way, on solving your first curse."

"It wasn't that difficult," he mumbled, "And you're the one who solved it."

"True, but you were the one who cut to the chase. I'm surprised you know so much about insecurities and appearances."

"Insecurities, yes, appearances, not as much. Anyway, what are we going to do next?"

"Well, tomorrow, we'll get steaks, and after that, we go looking for the Grey Castle."

Wolf visibly paled.

"Are you serious?"

"There's something there, something definitely beastly. I want a challenge, one better than the Swan siblings. This was nothing, just a little intro to curse-breaking for you. Plus, the harder the curse, the more steaks I can get."

"Are you serious? That place is haunted!"

"Obviously. There's a cursed Beast in there."

Wolf's jaw remained slack.

Giggling, Vixen smacked it back in place. "So much for having a big, bad Wolf by my side."

___________________________________

A/N: Vixen and Wolf remind me of some of my worst personality traits, which is why I both hate them and love them at the same time. I've always seen my characters as perfect, powerful, Mary Sues, and their flaws justifiable, but it's kinda unrealistic.

But unrealistic is no fun.