A/N: this springs completely from zellk on tumblr. her beauty and the beast/faberry fanart is just incredible. check it out!
Chapter 1: Beauty
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young princess lived in a shining castle. Although she had everything her heart desired, the princess was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar man came to the castle and offered her a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by his haggardly gaunt appearance, the princess sneered at the gift and turned the old man away.
"A rose? That's all you have to offer?" The princess scoffed. "Take your rose somewhere else. The likes of you are not welcomed here."
"L-likes of me?" He asked, shakily, his voice hoarse. "What- what do you mean, dear princess?"
"Have you seen yourself?" The princess almost laughed. "Probably not. Can't afford a mirror, now, can you?"
The old man's face lowered. He stared down at his feet. "I- I am but a kind, tired, old man, madam, looking for help; shelter- a place to rest my head-"
"Well, I've already told you, you'll find none here."
"I urge you to reconsider, princess. This rose is special-"
"I told you already: no. Be gone."
"You'd turn away a weary old man? You have enough room in your estate, this much I know."
"How many times do I have to say it to get it into your thick, ugly skull? No. You aren't welcomed here."
"Has no one told you that one should not be deceived by appearances?" The man suddenly sounded younger and bolder. "Beauty comes from within, my dear princess. You should learn this lesson. And soon. I encourage you."
But as she dismissed him the final time, closing the castle doors, the old man stuck his foot between the doors to stop her. His ugliness melted away to reveal a handsome sorcerer. His robe was bright red, and flowed freely. His jaw was strong, and his features, chiseled.
His lips contorted into a twisted smile.
Shocked, the princess tried to apologize, knowing very well what warlocks were capable of, "I- I'm sorry, I had no- no idea, sir- I beg of you, forgive me-"
But it was too late. The sorcerer had seen that there was no love in her heart, and as punishment, he transformed her into a hideously terrifying beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.
Ashamed of her now monstrous form, the beast concealed herself inside her now decaying castle, now, no longer lively or shiny. The walls grayed, and the plants grew rapidly, engulfing the castle in moss and weeds. Everyone who passed feared the place, and no one dared to go inside.
The beast spent her days pacing the castle, a magic mirror her only window to the outside world.
The rose the sorcerer had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until the day of her twenty-first year.
If she could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.
If not, she would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.
However, as the years passed, the former princess fell into despair.
She lost all hope.
For who could ever learn to love a beast?
It had been exactly three days, two hours and twenty-seven minutes since her fathers' disappearance, and Rachel Berry grew more and more anxious as the seconds passed.
She had heard stories about that dreadful forest that surrounded their little town and she worried, often, when her fathers would announce they would be traveling through it on business. It was only recently her fears had manifested themselves into something very real and very scary.
Finn Hudson, Lima's most eligible bachelor (according to whom, Rachel didn't know) was at her house every second since he had heard the news. He said every girl needed a shoulder to cry on, and that his shoulder, particularly, was perfect for the job. Finn had taken it upon himself to help Rachel find her dads, and by 'help', he just sent his lackey, Puck, to search the forest for clues.
They hadn't heard back from him, either, and again, Rachel feared the worst.
"You look like you're thinking." Finn said, a mild look of contemplativeness on his face. That, or he was hungry. Rachel couldn't tell most of the time.
"Very… astute, Finn." Rachel said, sifting through her box of old books. She borrowed one from the library long ago, about the forest, and she was allowed to keep it. If only she could find it now. Maybe it had some clues to what could have happened to her fathers. She remembered it mentioning something about wolves, and magicians.
What if a magician had turned her fathers into wolves! She gasped, dramatically, at the thought.
When she looked down again into the box, there it was: Thornebed Forest. Was that what the forest was called? She flipped it open and read the first few lines:
'Thornebed Forest, as it's called by the outlining towns, is a forest bred with much guile and mystery. Many stories surround the forest, but very few of them can be proven true. The very name, 'Thornebed' comes from the tale of Viktor Thornebed, a seriel killer, who was said to own much of the land within the forest, and used it as a makeshift graveyard for his many victims. It's still said that the bodies are under about half of the forest's grounds, nameless, and unclaimed…'
Rachel was pretty sure she was twelve when she read this book.
What a very strange child she was.
"See, girls shouldn't think so much, you know. It makes things difficult for everyone." Finn said. "Especially guys."
Rachel looked at him, incredulously, while he just nodded, scratching his chin, proudly, as though he had just shared the answer to life's mysteries. She just pursed her lips, and nodded along with him because it didn't matter what she would say; Finn Hudson was always right in Finn Hudson's mind.
There was a knock at the door, and Rachel bolted up to answer it, almost tripping over herself. She hoped it was Puck, or better yet, her fathers, but opened it to find…
"Hello, Rachel."
Jesse St. James.
"I heard about your father and Leroy." He said, letting himself in. "Shame."
To the rest of Lima, Hiram was her father, and Leroy sort of an 'uncle' figure. They didn't' know Hiram and Leroy were, well, simply put, in love. Growing up, it seemed nothing but normal in Rachel's eyes, but she soon learned that it wasn't normal to the rest of the world. Apparently boys were only supposed to love girls, and girls were supposed to only love boys. It was all very weird to her. She didn't know there were rules to loving people.
In her eyes, it just seemed like such a bizarre thing to make rules for.
So, as she grew, she made sure to keep her fathers' a well kept secret. But they were her fathers, none the less. They both raised her, and she loved them to the moon and back… and then some. She didn't care what the rest of the world thought about them.
"Yes. Shame. Tsk, tsk, tsk." Jesse murmured, circling the small home. Rachel was sure he just liked hearing his own voice most of the time.
She sighed, quietly, and closed the door behind him. She was already having a tough time with Finn, the very last thing she needed was the other boy pining over her for her affection.
"Have you thought about my offer?" He said, turning on his heel to face her.
"Hey, Jesse." Finn said with a wave.
Jesse just shot him a glance before looking back at Rachel.
"Jesse, my dad and Leroy are missing." Rachel said. "Your proposal is the last thing on my mind."
"Wait, he proposed to you?" Finn shot up from his chair. "When?"
"Last week." Jesse said, quickly. "Yes, these are truly tragic times," He nodded. "but nothing brings up the mood of the townsfolk like a beautiful wedding between two people who are very much in love."
"You can't marry him." Finn said. "Um… I…" His eyes darted, rapidly. "Oh! I know!" He bent down on one knee.
"Oh please no." Rachel said, under her breath.
"Rachel, will you marry me?" He took her hand in his.
"You know how idiotic you look right now, right?" Jesse said, angrily. "You're only proposing to her because I proposed to her."
"I'm proposing to her because I love her." Finn stood up, and faced him. "You only proposed to her because she's the only girl worth marrying in this town. You don't love her."
The door slammed opened, and an out of breath Puck shot through. He keeled over, hands on his knees, before raising his arm and putting his forefinger in the air, signing for them to hold on a moment.
"No…" He said, breathing hard. "Rachel, you should- oh wow, I need to work out more," He took a deep breath, and stood up straight. "You can't marry them, you should marry me."
"Where have you even been!" Rachel exclaimed. "And everyone stop proposing to me!" She stomped her foot, frustrated. "This is getting ridiculous."
The three boys looked at each other, eyebrows raised, before Puck took a step forward.
"Oh well." He put his hands on his hips. "I tried." He half-shrugged. "Phew, that forest is a crazy place, am I right? It's full of… trees and… rocks. Crazy stuff, man. I'm tellin' ya."
"Never been." Jesse said.
"Me neither." Finn added.
"Oh." Puck sucked his teeth. "Well, okay, see you guys-" He turned to leave.
Rachel grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. "Noah! You tell me what you found and you tell me right now!"
He turned back around, and looked from face to face, nervously. "I… didn't find anything." He said, worriedly. "Just… just their carriage."
Rachel blinked, unbelieving. "Did you… did you bring it back?"
"There wasn't much to bring back." He said. "Wheels were missing… couldn't find the horses either… I had to come back, it was nearing nighttime, and the forest is dangerous at night; wolves, bears, and who knows what else." He placed a hand on her shoulder, noticing Rachel's worried look. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I tried."
Rachel nodded, curtly, holding back tears. She knew it wasn't it his fault, but dammit if she didn't feel like blaming someone right now. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, but stopped herself from crying anymore. She had cried enough this week, and besides, it didn't mean anything. Puck not finding them didn't mean anything. Maybe her fathers' had been taken to the next town or something, for treatment for the crash. They were probably fine.
She breathed out, shakily. Who was she kidding? They weren't fine, and she had no clue where they were or if they were hurt. She just wanted to crawl into a ball and cry her eyes out.
"I'd really like to be alone, now, so if you wouldn't mind…" She said, motioning to her door.
The boys looked at each other before nodding.
"Of course." Jesse said. "If you need anything, I'll be around." He walked out.
"Yeah, me too." Finn said, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "Anything you need, just ask."
"I'll be on watch tonight. I'll stop by, okay? To check up on you." Puck said, patting her on the back.
And just like that, they were gone.
Rachel went ahead with her 'crawl into a ball and cry' plan for a good hour or so. It was nearing midnight, and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. Again. She felt responsible somehow, and if her fathers were here right now they would say how silly she was being. But they weren't here, and she didn't know when they would be back, if they would be back, and it just made her cry even more.
It was snowing now, and sticking to the ground, it looked like. It didn't snow very often, and if it did, it didn't stay too long. Rachel loved the snow. When she was little, she would spend hours making snow angels and building snowmen with her fathers.
She stared out the little window near her bed, and looked at the snowflakes that got caught on the glass. Snow was always so pretty, especially at night. It could make the ugliest of towns beautiful, and Lima was certainly an ugly town.
It wasn't just the town, but the people. Sometimes, it looked like they weren't human. Sometimes it looked like they didn't have sympathy, or cared about anything but themselves. If anything that was 'normal' reared it's head here, it was shut down immediately. Rachel had lost count of how many times she'd voice her hopes and dreams for the future only to be told to 'get her head out of the clouds'.
She'd dreamt of a better place ever since she was little. She dreamt of a city, with interesting people; real people, with real feelings and pretty lights and monuments. She'd always hoped she could get out and find someplace like that.
She let out a frustrated sigh. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't do this. She was trying to distract herself, but she just couldn't. She couldn't take the waiting, or the not knowing.
Her fathers were out there! She knew it. Her fathers were out there and no one was doing anything about it.
She was Rachel Berry, for goodness sake! Her fathers raised her better than this.
She slammed her fists down on her bed, and pulled herself up. She wiped her wet cheeks with her sleeves, and held her head high. She was going to find them, she'd decided. She didn't care how or when or what. She was going to do it.
She pulled her shawl over her head, tying it snuggly under her neck. She grabbed a bag, and stuffed the 'Thornebed Forest' book, and her favorite book inside, along with a small loaf of bread she had gotten from the market earlier. She didn't know how long she'd be gone, she just wanted to be prepared.
She put out her fire, quickly, and the house went pitch dark.
She opened her door, and the cold winter air gusted through her home. She pulled it closed, shortly after. She quietly made her way down her steps and into the stables.
Her horse, Belle, as Rachel named her, was one of the things her fathers got her for her birthday this past year. Granted, she asked for a pony, but a horse was just as good, she'd decided.
Belle was a white, Arabian horse her fathers had gotten in return for building something for an Arabian prince. That was just some of the perks of being the daughter of two of the world's greatest inventors. People from all over the world hired her fathers, and often, they were very elaborate with their payment methods. Rachel thought that their fame, and possible fortune could get them out of Lima, but when they were younger, Hiram and Leroy made deals with some shady people. Those people had their claws sunk into the business, and it didn't look like they would be getting out anytime soon. Every time they tried to shake free of them, something bad always happened. The last time, it ended with their old home being 'mysteriously' set ablaze. It's why they now lived in this much smaller home near the exit of the village.
All the more reason to be worried about them, Rachel thought.
Belle wasn't someone's typical sport horse. She often didn't listen, and hated when she was cooped up in the stables. If anything, Rachel felt it gave her character, and appreciated those qualities.
Belle neighed at the sight of Rachel, causing Rachel to jump up, slightly.
"Shhh." Rachel put her fingers to her lips, as she loosened Belle's reign from it's confinement. "We have to be quiet."
Belle hopped from hind leg to hind leg, impatiently. Once she was freed, she almost dashed from the stable, but Rachel held on, tightly.
"Calm down, girl." She whispered. "Calm down." Rachel hopped on, smoothly. She was quite proud of herself for not falling off, like she had every single time she had mounted her horse before. She took it as a sign of good luck. "We're going to find my fathers, Belle." Rachel said, petting her, to calm her down. "We're going to save them." She pulled on Belle's reigns, and leaned forward. "No matter what."
And with that, Belle broke out, hooves buried deep in dirt with each stride, in full speed toward the forest.
