A/N: Hey! I've been skimming through the stories in this category (just saw the movie about a week ago and fell in love :D) and noticed there wasn't any (that I saw, at least, I could have missed one) told from completely Prince Naveen's point of view. So, I thought I might try to do that…I'm just trying it out as of now as I've never written a first person fanfic before, but I've been wanting to ever since I saw the movie…so…without further introduction I'm pretty sure no one reads anyway…enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'The Princess and the Frog' or any of its characters.. All things in this story (besides what I have made up to fill in scenes) belong to the rightful owner.

Chapter One

Welcome Prince Naveen! The banners were the first thing I saw as I stepped off the yacht and, along with the crowd of people flashing photos of me and girls excitedly trying to get my attention—I could very easily tell I was going to like this place. It was…New Orleans, yes! That was where I was. It didn't very much matter; I was only here for one thing and one thing alone: to go to Charlotte La Bouff's masquerade ball. If I were to be able to marry her, all my troubles would be over! Money troubles, anyway. Hah! If anyone were to here that, they would look at me like I was crazy. A prince with no money? Unheard of!

Oh, but it was so true…my mother and father had cut me off, telling me I was asking for too many things! Isn't that what money is supposed to be used for, though? Buying things? How was I supposed to know they were going to pull the whole you-need-to-be-grateful-for-what-you-have lesson for me to learn! This was a ridiculous way to do it.

I fidgeted in my clothes; I hated the shirt I was supposed to wear. Prince or not a prince, I was going to have fun tonight. I took off the uncomfortable thing to reveal my unimportant looking shirt, vest, and tie, and tossed my crown to the side, turning around as my butler Lawrence came up behind me. I grabbed my ukulele from the bag on his back, ignoring his small exclaim of surprise. He was fine—the bags were hardly heavy at all!

I practically jumped down the stairs to meet the girls at the bottom, crossing my legs and posing, all while playing the instrument, and smiled at them before my attention was seized by a marching jazz band, well, marching down the street.

I hoped off on one leg, very aware that the girls followed me, all sighing loudly in affection. Oh yes, I was definitely liking New Orleans so far! They fell away as I tagged along the end of the jazz players, calmly meandering down the streets, strumming my ukulele and already feeling more peaceful than I had in a while. It wasn't at all easy being a prince; sure everything was done for me, but I still had to live up to an image I didn't quite want to yet. That being settled down, married, and in other words, boring. Give up trying to woo all of the beautiful woman in the world, for one I had to be with for the rest of my life? It seemed incredibly silly.

But when hardly anyone recognized you, as they wouldn't in what I was currently wearing, you had all the more fun. You could relax and actually have a good time, and of course not have to worry for a while about marrying anyone, even with the ball being hours away where, if I was lucky, that would be exactly what was taking place.

I strolled along and finally paused momentarily in front of a café. A girl in a very vivid yellow dress, about my age, had taken my attention (and my breath) away. See, this is why I considered marrying someone right now being unnecessary! I was at my best in life right now, why waste that by settling down now? I stepped up onto the curb and leaned back so she would see me, taking my hat off and pressing it to my chest.

"Hmmph," She rolled her eyes and turned away from me.

"Eh!" There will be others! I shrugged and placed my hat back on my head, continuing along. I glanced behind me after walking a few more paces. Now I had to set into action the plan of avoiding Lawrence at all cost…

Twenty minutes into my stay and I was already in love with this place. I had been having a great time with three people who'd stayed back from the marching band, and, after five minutes or so of playing along with them, I had noticed a large crowd had gathered around us, clapping and cheering and moving to the beat. It was like a little party in itself, and I was pretty sure this was better than any masquerade I was going to. Eventually, the little boy in a red hat who had been selling papers (which, by the way, had my arrival on the front page, of course) and who I had noticed had been giving the crowd very longing glances had finally stopped and joined in.

"Oh, yes!" I laughed encouragingly at him as he began to dance. He was actually pretty good! He matched perfectly with the rhythm and was doing better than I had ever seen, especially at the usual formal parties I went to. Nobody really danced there, anyway; it was more like…waltzing! "Achedanza!" I glanced behind me and once again tipped my hat to the girls who had gathered there, spinning off back into the middle of the circle.

Someone poked their way through the crowd, and I resisted rolling my eyes at them as I recognized who it was.

"Sire!" Lawrence exclaimed, sounding quite out of breath and looking it, as well. He was still carrying around my bags—how thoughtful of him! "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Oh, what a coincidence, Lawrence," I said, not ceasing to play my instrument, still hoping to continue this good time. "I have been avoiding you everywhere!" I took off my hat and tipped back towards him and then moved off to the opposite side of the circle.

Lawrence looked at me, panicked. "We're going to be late for the masquerade—"

"Listen, Lawrence, listen!" I smiled not even knowing I'd interrupted him until a second after I'd done it. He'd been talking? "Oh, it's jazz, it's jazz music!" I spun briefly in bliss. "It was born here!" I loved music dearly; anyone who had known me longer than five seconds could easily tell that. I turned back towards my butler, but my attention wasn't on him any longer. I rested my elbow on his back and leaned towards the woman behind him. "It is beautiful, no?" I asked, smiling as they all sighed dreamily and giggled.

"No," Lawrence groaned in irritation, and I straightened up, tossing my guitar to the little boy, who grinned.

"Oh, dance with me, fat man!" I laughed, grabbing Lawrence by his shirt, causing him to drop all the bags, and pulled him into the circle. "Stay loose, Lawrence!"

"We're supposed to be at La Bouff's estate by now…" Lawrence protested, and I sighed. "Yes, yes, yes, but first—" I released him and turned to the crowd, my arms up. "I buy everyone here a drink!"

The people cheered, and then Lawrence glared at me. "With what?" He asked, and I sighed, turning to him. "At this point," he continued, "you have two choices. Woo and marry a rich young lady, or get—a—job!" He ended with a shout, pointing at a man on the other side of the street that was shoveling manure out of the road.

"Ugh," I muttered in distaste, grimacing. Then I shrugged. "All right, fine. But first, we dance!" I wasn't going to give up this fun so easily! I grabbed Lawrence again and spun him back into the circle, making him unwillingly dance. "For someone who cannot see his feet, you are very light on them!" I japed, spinning him once more and releasing him. He did not stop until he tripped and fell, ran into a jazz player's tuba, and hit the wall on the other side, his head stuck fast in the instrument.

"Hah! It's perfect!" I exclaimed, going over to his staggering form and placing a hand on him to stop him from falling over. "You finally got into the music!" I laughed as he muttered something inaudible. "Do you get my joke?" I asked, grabbing onto the mouthpiece of the thing and speaking into it. "Because your head, it's—it's in the tuba."

"Get me out!" Lawrence demanded, and I smiled as another man from the crowd came over to help us. "All right, all right, hold on," I said, and grabbed his feet while the other man pulled on the tuba. We both tugged very hard—and finally he came free! His weight barreled into me and we tumbled onto the sidewalk, me laughing and him sputtering in embarrassment.

"How degrading!" Lawrence shouted, scrambling up and glaring down at me as I placed my fallen hat back on my head. "I've never been so humiliated…" he trailed off, and I stopped laughing as I realized there was someone in front of us as his shadow fell across us, and I looked up. "Hello?"

"Gentlemen!" The man smirked, holding out his cane for me. "Enchantée."

I took it and stood, briefly looking the man over, noticing that, just by his dark purple clothing, he gave off a sense of mysteriousness. He took off his hat, which was marked with a skull and crossbones and a purple feather, and spun it on his finger. "A tip of the hat from Dr. Facilier." He said, tucking it under his arm and pulling out a purple card. Boy did this guy like that color! "How ya'll doin'?" He gave the card to me.

I glanced down at it, already interested. "Tarot readings," I read aloud, "charms, potions…dreams made real. Achedanza…"

Dr. Facilier placed a hand on my shoulder and slowly led me down the sidewalk. "Were I a betting man, and I'm not, I stay away from games of chance…" He turned the corner in an alleyway, and I did as well, ignoring Lawrence's cry of, "Sire!"

"I'd wager," Dr. Facilier continued, taking my palm as we walked, "that I'm in the company of visiting royalty!" He paused, got in front of me, and bowed. I turned to Lawrence, too intrigued to notice how creepy the setting around me had become. "Lawrence, Lawrence!" I exclaimed, pointing to my hand. "This remarkable gentleman has just read my palm."

I looked back up at the man with the cane as Lawrence stepped around him suspiciously. "Or this morning's newspaper…" he murmured, but I ignored him. That is, I tried to, until he grabbed me and jerked me around, whispering, "Sire, this chap is obviously a charlatan. I suggest we move on to a less—"

"Don't you disrespect me, little man!" Dr. Facilier suddenly said, pointing at Lawrence and leaning towards him. I patted my butler on the shoulder, amused.

"Don't you derogate, or deride." Dr. Facilier pointed his staff towards the sign reading Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Emporium, and the skulls at the bottom lit up into flames. "You're in my world now, not your world."

I leaned slightly on Lawrence shoulder, totally intrigued by this man.

"And I've got friends on the other side." Dr. Facilier smirked knowingly and gestured towards the front door, which ominously opened as he did so. I slightly jumped as voices repeated what he had just said—was there someone else in there?

Lawrence and I peered into the place, and then Dr. Facilier placed his hands on both our shoulders and led us inside. "That's just an echo, gentlemen." He explained. "Just a little somethin' we have here in Louisana; a little parlor trick. Don't worry…" He shoved us both hard into the room and shut the door.

"Sit down at my table," He snapped his fingers and gestured towards the now lit up area towards the back, where a table with three chairs awaited. "Put your minds at ease."

I looked up as my hat suddenly lifted off my head and was placed on a skull object. Then the man pushed me towards the table.

"If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please."

I glanced back at him, still smiling, though it was obvious Lawrence was distrusting of him. Leave it to my butler to be suspicious of everyone!

"I can read your future, and change it 'round some, too." Dr. Facilier stepped up onto the platform the table was on and pushed me back into the chair. "I'll look deep into your heart and soul—" He turned and placed his staff below Lawrence's chin. "You do have a soul, don't you Lawrence?" He jumped up onto the table. "Make your wildest dreams come true."

He was suddenly behind both of us—at nearly the same time—holding out strange objects. "I got voodoo, I got hoodoo, I got things I ain't even tried!" He opened a box that shot out a mask of fire, and then slammed it shut again, tossing it back. "And I got friends on the other side."

I noticed his shadow move differently from him—and even push his chair in for him! And there was that 'echo' again—that definitely hadn't happened with anything else he'd said. I glanced around, at Lawrence, and then at the strange mask type objects that were hanging on the wall behind us, and finally back at the Shadow Man, who now had a deck of cards in his hand, playing around with them as if to show off he was skilled.

"The cards, the cards, the cards will tell; the past, the present and the future as well." He flipped them around some more. "The cards, the cards, just take three."

I unhesitatingly did so, and after a moment and a small nudge from me, Lawrence did too.

"Take a little trip into the future with me." Dr. Facilier smirked, and then spread out the cards in front of us, picking up the first one on my side. "Now you, young man, are from across the sea…" He moved the card down, which seemed to continue to get longer, and which had pictures of exactly what he was speaking of. "You come from two long lines of royalty—" He held out a shrunken head, which I moved away from, slightly disgusted. "I'm a royal myself, on my mother's side." The man continued. Did that mean that was his…? Ugh!

"Your life style's high," Dr. Facilier turned back to the cards, and they once again were of what he was saying. "But your funds are low…you need to marry a little honey who's daddy got dough."

He picked up the cards and looked at me. "Mon and Dad cut you off, huh, playboy?"

"Eh," I replied with a shrug. "Sad but true."

Dr. Facilier chucked slightly and shuffled the cards continuously as he talked. "Now ya'll gotta get hitched; but hitchin' ties you down! You just wanna be free, hop from place to place? But freedom—takes green!"

I obviously nodded, and then looked down at the cards he now flipped over to reveal dollar bills. "It's the green, it's the green, it's the green you need!" He threw the cards, which disappeared into thin air, and reached down to flip over my third card, which I was extremely happy about as I looked at it. Me—with money again! "And when I look into your future it's the green that I see."

I took the card and grinned, staring at it as if I thought that might make it suddenly come true. Were my parents going to write me back into my inheritance?

"On you, little man, I don't wanna waste much time, you've been pushed around all your life."

I glanced over as Dr. Facilier flipped over and changed Lawrence's cards around. "You've been pushed around by your mother, your sister, and your brother. And if you was married…you'd be pushed around by your wife."

I placed a hand over my mouth as I couldn't help but chuckle, and Lawrence glared at me. "But in your future, the you I see…" Dr. Facilier came behind Lawrence and picked up the last card, maneuvering it in a way I could not see what was on it. "is exactly the man you always wanted to be."

Lawrence's eyebrows raised, and he glanced over at me. "Won't you shake my hand?" Dr. Facilier suddenly asked, between the two chairs, holding out his hand. I leaned away, suddenly uncertain. Something about this man now gave me only one thought of Get out of here, right now!

"Come on, boys! Won't you shake the poor sinner's hand?"

I hesitated several moments more, then took a breath and shook his hand. "Yes…" the man said, smirking. The lights suddenly dimmed to darker colors, and he pulled away from us. I glanced down at my hand, confused, and then to where curtains had moved back to reveal several of the same masks that had been echoing him before—only a lot bigger.

"Are you ready?" Dr. Facilier cackled, and the masks echoed him. Two large snakes—where the heck did those come from?—suddenly wrapped around the chair I was in, pinning me to it. I struggled to no avail, raising my eyes back to the Shadow Man as he gestured to the largest of the masks, which opened its 'mouth' to reveal a floating talisman in the shape of a mini them. "Are you ready?" Dr. Facilier grabbed the necklace and turned towards me. "Transformation central! Reformation central!" He moved a hand over his face, and suddenly half of it appeared to be only bone. He stepped towards me, holding out the object, and I unsuccessfully squirmed to get away from him.

"Transmogrification central!" He cackled, grabbing my wrist and placing the talisman near my finger, which opened and bit it. I grunted and cringed away. What was this guy trying to do?

"Can you feel it?" the Shadow Man's gaze went to the talisman as it turned red, and then back to me. I gasped as my finger began to shimmer, and then it slowly spread to the rest of me, along with nearly unbearable pain.

"You're changin', you're changin', you're changin', all right!"

I happened to look up at him, and found his face staring at me, flashing in bright neon colors. "I hope you're satisfied…"

The colors only continued to spin around me, faster and faster. What was going on? I caught a glimpse of Lawrence, who was now staring down at me in absolute horror. Wait…staring…down at me? I'd always been taller than him!

"But if you ain't, don't blame me! You can blame my friends on the other side!"

"You got what you wanted!" I vaguely heard the masks cackle. "But you lost what you had!"

Finally the pain left just as quickly as it had come on, though I barely had the strength to open my eyes. It didn't matter, anyway, as, after a bright flash of lights, the room went dark, and the last thing I remembered was the glowing eyes of Dr. Facilier.

A/N: Well…that was a bit awkward writing the singing part as if it's totally normal for people to break out into song…huh. But it was also kind of fun :P I had to split this chapter into two as it ended up being 6,000+ words, so if you liked this chapter, on to the next!