'Exile'
Beauty and the Beast 2017
Disney owns Beauty and the Beast and its characters.
Chapter 1 - Revived
…
He woke up from what seemed like a faraway, bizarre nightmare. Non, not a nightmare- a victory! It was a victory- wasn't it?
He had shot it. He had killed it. A Beast, a monster who could climb and leap over rooftops, agile despite his great size and strength. A perfect match for someone as heroic as he, Gaston.
Yet his voice- fully human- issued from the animal like a constant echo in his mind's ear. I am not a Beast! Was he a man inside, or always a creature? It didn't matter, because Gaston had aimed and fired, and the bullet had found its mark. Gaston had seen the beast fall. He had won. Now, to find Belle. She would soon get over such an insane episode of bewitchment. He would take her home, help her come to her senses. Make her his wife.
As Gaston tried to orient himself in his present surroundings, he saw that he was lying atop a pile of uncomfortable rocks and boulders. It was wet, cool, and above him he could see high stone walls on all sides, a window of bright sky hundreds of feet above.
He recalled terror. Fear. Rocks crumbling beneath him and his body tumbling into an abyss, unable to find his footing on solid ground. Before he knew it, his body had collided with something hard and cold, the searing pain of his bones shattered to bits, his neck breaking, and blackness.
But it seemed so long ago. Did this happen, or was this all merely a dream of war, another version of a dream that he had been reliving for twelve years now? No- this did happen. He had entered into a battle, the battlefield the rooftops of a castle.
His body felt tingly, refreshed, as if he had just been immersed in a hot bath. Something very warm was pressed upon his head.
"Gaston, listen to me." The warmth was a small hand. The voice was that of a woman. Her face came into his view- a comely lady with a pale complexion.
"Rise up, Monsieur, and listen to what I have to say. It is urgent," she said.
"What is going on...Belle? Where is Belle?"
"Rise up, Gaston, and I will tell you where Belle is."
Gaston sat up, trying to find a comfortable and non-awkward position upon the jagged, sharp pile of rocks. The woman was sitting beside him. There was something familiar about her eyes, but he was certain he had never seen her before in his life.
"Who are you?"
"I am Agathe. You may remember me as the town beggar."
He narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. "But she was a ragged old hag! You look, well-" He gestured to her face and form with a smirk and a cocked eyebrow. "Decent."
"I have the magical ability to change my appearance. And the appearances of others, to tell you the truth. I am the one responsible for all of the, as you called it, sorcery."
He scowled at her. "Then you deserve to die! Sorcery is evil, and vile, and I will have to arrange for you to be burned to the stake!" he spat at her angrily. "Were you the one who made Belle fight on the side of that monstrous animal, then?"
"I brought you back to life, Gaston. You were dead," she said serenely.
"Dead?" he scoffed.
"Oui, Monsieur."
"But I don't remember being dead! I remember shooting the beast with my gun! And-" Gaston's words failed him, as he remembered the terror and crushing pain he'd just experienced. It could not have been real.
"Falling," Agathe finished for him.
"Falling? Yes...it was a vague memory. I think it was just a dream." He looked away from her, shrugging his shoulders as if the horror and pain of that fall from the tower were nothing.
"Monsieur Gaston Legume, you were dead for seven minutes. I came upon your lifeless body."
"And I suppose you're about to say you used magic to bring me back to life?"
"Oui. Just as I did exactly twenty minutes ago, to bring His Highness back to life. Up there," she said, pointing to the high turrets of the castle above them.
"His Highness? Who are you talking about? There is no royalty here! There hasn't been a...a-"
Gaston's voice trailed off again. In his mind, there suddenly appeared a store of memories from his youth, long forgotten. There had been a young aristocrat, and his father who had died during the long-ago war with England. The Prince had been just a boy, slightly younger than Gaston.
Adam. His name had been Adam. Gaston had met him. The Prince had welcomed him and his men from the war, and presented him with medals. He'd even been in the castle before, when it had been filled with light, frivolity, and dancing. Gaston had been a bit envious of the spoiled Prince's lavish parties and how he taxed the village to pay for them. Why hadn't he remembered all this over the past ten years?
"Prince Adam...yes, I remember him now. Where has he been all this time?"
"He was here in his castle all along, as the Beast. You killed him less than an hour ago."
"What?" Gaston spat in disbelief. "You need to stop telling me these ridiculous lies, woman! I am not an assassin of a Prince! I slaughtered an unsightly animal that had Belle in his clutches! I am going to report you and have you sent to the asylum! Or worse!"
He stood to his feet, feeling a bit drunk and wobbly, but gained his bearings and started to hop down the pile of boulders to the moist, muddy ground of an old courtyard. He was determined to find his friends and allies and get help putting this crazy woman where she belonged.
"Why is it getting so warm now?" Gaston complained to himself, noting the warming sun and light of daytime. He spotted an arched stone doorway, which he assumed must lead to the interior of the vast castle.
"The endless winter is over," Agathe said, gracefully walking off the pile of rocks and debris.
Gaston turned around and pointed his finger at her in accusation. "I've had it with you. You are going back with me to Villeneuve and getting your just rewards!" He reached out to roughly grab her arm.
"No, you will not. You will listen to me!" She pointed the finger of her free hand, mumbled a strange word, and caused a painful shock like lightning to surge through Gaston's arm. He yelled in pain, letting her go.
"What was that?"
"It was my power. My sorcery. Without it, you would still be dead and broken, bleeding on those rocks! Did you not see your own blood, Gaston?"
She pointed to the pile of boulders where he had lain. Gaston looked to see the topmost rocks stained with scarlet. The blood was not even dry yet; it glistened in the growing sun.
"What the hell?"
"I healed all of your wounds, and restored your life, but I wanted you to see this as proof," Agathe reminded him. She stretched out a hand to the rock pile, and all the gruesome blood stains vanished. "There. There is now no evidence of your death. Come, you must leave with me."
He gave her a bewildered look as she gently put her hand on his shoulder. Bright, golden light flashed before Gaston's eyes and he and Agathe found themselves traveling, flying through the air, the sensation much like the fall he had experienced earlier.
He and Agathe reappeared in the middle of a dense forest. Gaston stumbled, disoriented.
"Where are we?"
"Still in the forest, but far from the castle and the village. I was able to restore the Mirror."
"That Mirror? Was that the one which Belle-"
"Yes. I will now show you what you just refused to believe. The Beast-Prince Adam-now lives. His curse has broken, and he is with Belle now."
She held out the mirror to Gaston for him to look. The boy Prince, whom Gaston had remembered from the time after the war, had grown older now. He was holding Belle in his arms and she was beaming at him with pure love. The two were surrounded by a group of joyful, ecstatic people. Jean the potter was embracing a woman and a small boy. A wigged man in a gold coat had his arm around a lovely girl in a dress adorned with feathers.
Gaston watched Adam pull Belle close in his arms and kiss her. Belle's delicate fingers ran through the man's fair hair in a show of clear passion. Rage rose in Gaston's chest as he realized that he had never seen her express evidence of love or admiration towards any other man before. But now, it was him she wanted! That Beast was him!
'I am not a Beast,' he had said.
Of course. Belle didn't want any man from the village. She wanted a royal suitor! One with a title! Damn her!
"How?" he raged. "Belle never even knew him!"
"She met him only a few weeks ago, Gaston. She fell in love with him-true love-even though he was trapped in the body of the enormous Beast. And his curse has just been broken."
"Maurice," Gaston said, his eyes darting from Agathe to the thick growth of trees surrounding them. "Maurice- Belle's father. He said that the Beast held her prisoner. How could she fall in love with him? It's insane. You're insane!"
"Belle and the cursed Prince Adam found hope and acceptance with each other. It had nothing to do with Adam's title or riches. Adam loved her for more than her beauty. She fell for him for a reason you may not understand. They were kindred souls."
"I'm going back to Villeneuve!" Gaston exclaimed, striding on quick steps along the bushes and brambles of the forest floor.
"Do you know the direction?" Agathe pressed, following him. She whispered an incantation, and Gaston bumped into an invisible barrier. He pounded his palms at the air in front of him, no longer able to walk further.
"What are you doing to me?" he screamed. "Is this my personal hell? Am I truly dead?"
"No," assured Agathe. "Although you may likely die again soon, if you choose to. If you go to Villeneuve, no one will be singing your praises anymore. You are no longer a hero. You will be facing justice."
"That's ridiculous, woman!" Gaston yelled.
She held out the Mirror again. "Just as the Mirror showed you the Beast was real, I am going to let you hear what people are saying for yourself. These are very recent events at the castle."
Gaston snatched the Mirror away from her. It glowed a bright blue, and produced an image of the castle's front lawn on a sunny morning. He saw people standing outside the castle- his fellow townspeople. He heard their familiar voices.
"I can't believe I was dragged into this! I could have killed my own wife and child! A breakable teapot and teacup!" Jean the potter exclaimed, as he embraced his wife Beatrice once more. Little Chip was running about the rose bushes out of earshot. "Gaston Legume should be disgraced!" Jean told his friend Pierre, standing near him.
"How could we have been so blind to not see it coming?" Stephan Bordeaux, the tavern keeper, was saying to Maurice. "I am so sorry that we believed him over you. He tried to kill you, and lied to cover it up! And to think that man's portraits are in my establishment. I need to have them taken down! If that monster Gaston Legume is still around, he'll be tracked down and imprisoned. And hanged, for regicide against the Prince!"
The scene in the mirror changed again, This time, Gaston saw Lefou, still in his blue coat, his hair disheveled. He appeared exhausted, a hurt look in his eyes. He was in the front gardens of the castle, standing away from the groups of celebrating families.
"Where is Gaston, anyway? Do you know?" a fellow townsman, named Jehan, asked Lefou as he approached him.
"I have no idea!" Lefou replied in a bitter tone that made Jehan's eyebrows raise a bit in surprise. "I'm no longer his...representative, to tell you the truth. And if he tries to speak to me again, I will tell him 'Le Duo' is over! I don't know if I can call him 'friend' ever again, Jehan. He used and betrayed me."
At this, Gaston's brow furrowed. He glanced up from the mirror at Agathe. "There has to be some mistake. I mean, this man could never leave my side! He's my closest-"
"Most loyal compatriot," the enchantress finished for him.
Gaston looked again at his former friend. His demeanor was hardened, disillusioned. He'd hardly ever seen such a look on the man's face before, except perhaps back when Lefou was feeling the effects of a gruesome battle in the war long ago. The naive young soldier had never wanted to believe that humans could be so brutal to each other.
Yet now, the one who'd hardened and disillusioned Lefou was he himself. Gaston. The one whom Lefou lived for, always at his side for over twenty years!
"He doesn't know you have fallen and died yet, but Belle is about to tell him," said Agathe. "He may look for your body in the courtyard once he finds out. But I would rather that gruesome scene not happen."
"Is that why you brought me back to life?"
"No, that is not the reason. The reason is twofold. Justice- for you to face your consequences and see what people now think of you. And perhaps...I may be able to-" Agathe stopped to look at the Mirror. "Wait. Look."
Gaston's attention turned back to the Mirror. Now, he could see that Lefou had reached the courtyard where he had landed after the deadly plunge. He had been digging, moving boulders, looking to recover his friend. A young acquaintance of Gaston's, Stanley, had arrived on the scene and appeared to be comforting him.
"He would have found me broken and dead," Gaston mumbled as he watched the scene. "It would have been better that way. He would have mourned me still…"
"Listen to what he is saying, Gaston," Agathe admonished. Lefou's agitated voice rang clear from the Mirror.
"But, Stanley! There's all this magic happening! With all of the haunted objects...they were all people! So...the Prince was the Beast! He'd been shot by Gaston, but the magic brought him back to life! So...maybe it brought Gaston back to life, too!"
"It did! She did!" Gaston yelled into the Mirror in frustration.
"Lefou...but, you see," Stanley's voice issued from the Mirror now. The 'quiet one' of the tavern trio, whom Gaston never paid much attention to. "The Prince was brought back to life because Belle told him she loved him. It was all part of his enchantment. Gaston wasn't part of this like they are, you see? He only came here to kill, and he brought his own fate upon him."
Gaston scowled at those words of accusation. He mouthed a quiet 'shut up' to what he heard Stanley saying, but those words still cut him to the core. They stung so very harshly.
He saw the look on Lefou's face. His usually happy-go-lucky friend was in tears, but the tears were of anger and bitterness in addition to grief.
"I know. But...the last thing I wanted to tell him was that our...our friendship was over. No more 'Le Duo.' That I'm 'Le Single' now. But I never even got to tell him that! I wish...I wish I could turn back time and try harder! Try to make Gaston control his temper...help him to be better somehow. I wish-"
Gaston could not believe what he was hearing. Lefou? Their friendship...over? Over because of an accident with a stupid harpsichord?
Yet, Gaston also remembered the way he'd ignored and silenced all of Lefou's attempts to reason with him over the past week or two. Lefou had truly tried to stop him from making a terrible mistake, but Gaston had paid no heed. He had been so focused on Belle- getting Belle as his prized wife, leading his men to a heroic battle. This was all he had thought of, and his actions had pushed his loyal friend away. He had manipulated Lefou, threatened him, and left him in peril. For his old friend, it had been-finally-too much.
Gaston had now lost the only person who had cared for him, ever since childhood. He tried to shove that painful thought away as he listened to the voice of the annoying Stanley, trying to think he was wise...
"Lefou! Stop it! You were never meant to change Gaston! It was HIS jealousy and madness that killed him! You couldn't change this no matter how hard you tried!"
"But...he depended on me to..." The man dissolved into tears while Stanley comforted him.
Gaston scowled in discomfort at the sight of the two men. No one but Gaston ever showed much affection for Lefou, who secretly suffered from a...a nature that Gaston had tried to ignore for years. Lefou was about to make a fool of himself without Gaston there to protect him! He would end up in the Maison des Lunes soon enough. That would be so much worse for him than the minor slight of being left under a harpsichord! Gaston had had no time to help him. He should have realized that!
"I have to let Lefou know I'm still alive. Look! He grieves my death!" Gaston said to Agathe in desperation, gesturing at the Mirror.
Agathe shook her head. "No. You must realize that If he sees you alive, things will never be the same between you. You betrayed him. And more so, you attempted to kill the Prince of this region. The one sole person who still grieves you this day, your friend Lefou, cannot save you from the consequences. If you go back, and the villagers or the Prince's people find you, you will be sent to rot in prison for life, or hung from a gallows. What you have just seen has proven it."
Gaston's eyes widened. They seemed to light up in fiery rage. "Why did you bring me to life if I'm only to be executed like a common criminal?" he hissed angrily.
He handed her the Mirror back, almost dropping it.
"Because that is, in fact, what you deserve," said Agathe, her voice still calm but firm. "Your fall from the bridge was a forgiving death. By dying in that way, you escaped seeing the wrath of the village, your former friends. You will be forever be remembered as a monster, not as a hero."
"How can that be possible?" Gaston cried, in an indignant tone. "I was Captain of my regiment! I drove a band of Portuguese troops out of this region! I won battle after battle against the Prussians in the east! I was given the highest medals of honor! Everyone admired me. Surely that counts for something-" His voice cracked as he looked at Agathe with pleading eyes. "Doesn't it?"
"That will be forgotten in the light of what happened last night," she replied with a grim tone.
Gaston sighed and looked off into the distance, picturing what he'd always dreamed of for his end on this earth.
"I always imagined a grand funeral of honor- with my beautiful wife taking the flag in her arms. The flag drenched in her tears, and the tears of my many children. Sons...handsome sons, of course…"
Agathe's words quickly jolted Gaston back into reality. "Perhaps the village priest will have a service at the church in your memory, but it will be bittersweet for all. Very quiet and subdued. I doubt many will attend."
Pain and despair began to twist Gaston's features. His dreams and hopes for himself were being dashed- one by one.
Belle- in love with Prince Adam, even under a Beast spell. She saved his life after Gaston had attempted to slaughter him like an animal. Lefou- no longer his friend. Gaston himself- he would die a death of disgrace, with no one lovingly mourning him. No wife, no sons, no legacy.
Although he wanted to rage at Agathe, the woman was merely a vessel of his own inner conscience, a conscience he never knew he had.
As a boy of thirteen, Gaston may have still had some tiny remnant of a moral compass, a desire to do good. After his father died, however, it had slipped away, overshadowed by his narcissism of self and a lifetime of wanting to prove that he was a great man, akin to a god.
He needed to be great. His father had called Gaston a 'piece of dirt' before he had left on a hunting trip which killed him. And those words forced Gaston to grow up early and fight for all he had-himself.
Could all that he had fought for be- as Agathe had said- forgotten? The idea was horrifying, soul-crushing. Gaston continued to pace back and forth in the wooded clearing, like one of his many creatures of prey.
"Is there a chance I could gain my good name as a hero...ever again?" Gaston finally asked in desperation.
"No. Your reputation is completely tarnished. Although- since Prince Adam is now a kind and caring man thanks to Belle's love- he may forgive you. He may not have you executed or imprisoned. There is still a chance for that."
Gaston's mouth opened to argue, but then he closed it, a sense of defeat coming over him. The Mirror did not lie.
He stopped pacing and gazed upward at the canopy of treetops, blinking his eyes once or twice. Like a beast of prey, he wished for a bullet.
"What are you thinking about, Monsieur?" Agathe asked him, in a quiet, almost caring tone.
"It was all for nothing. Everything I ever did…for the safety of the village. For my country," A look of grief came over his face, a piteous grief only for himself.
"It was twelve years ago. But the choices you made recently cancel out all your former glory."
He looked her in the eyes, seeing her somber expression. He shook his head, putting his hands over his temples as if the words she spoke were like hammers- pounding into his brain, penetrating his psyche where he could not defend himself from their harsh judgment.
"If you brought me back to life...then, you can undo it and kill me again. Right?" he said in a very small, pleading voice.
"Is that what you choose?" Agathe asked him sadly.
"I choose death," he whispered.
Agathe sighed in resignation. "I can undo my reviving spell with a...a killing curse this very moment, then. Where do you want your body to lie? If the men of the village recover your body, you will likely be buried in the churchyard behind the chapel. Perhaps Lefou will have it in his heart to put a rose over your stone."
Gaston heaved a long sigh. "Here. Just let me die here, in the woods. Alone and in peace. And let it be...so that my body will never be found. Please...I ask that you bring on the wolves...let it be fed to the creatures, so there will be no recovery. Please grant me the dignity of my wish."
"You are ready, then?"
"Yes," he said, clenching his jaw, a look of true pain and despair in his eyes.
"Would you like to lie down? The killing spell should be humane. But I have to tell you, Gaston, I feel terrible about this. I have never done this before. Only dark, evil sorcerers have performed this curse. So I cannot guarantee it will be painless."
"No more talk." Gaston knelt to the cool, moist ground and lay down on his back, looking up at her for a moment before gazing up at the sky overhead. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
"Just kill me," he begged, his hands clenching and grasping blades of grass.
Agathe took a deep breath, sorrow coming over her features. She had made the wrong choice to try to revive this mortal. She had considered him as another 'project' over the course of her last few months in Villeneuve. While orchestrating and helping lead Belle to Prince Adam, she had inadvertently discovered Gaston Legume, another man in dire need of a curse of correction.
But he was a worse case than Prince Adam ever was. This man was utterly, completely unredeemable. And now, she was being forced to perform this horrible spell to redact her mistake.
She put out her hand, but soon drew it back and spoke again in a last-minute consideration.
"I wanted to say, while you are still breathing the air on this good earth, that I can give you a chance for a new life through a spell. A curse. A life where you would have no glory, no one knowing of your war heroics. You could begin again in a new place all alone. No one would know of you, and-"
"I don't want to hear about curses," Gaston stopped her. "That's enough talk. I don't want to be a nobody. That would be worse than death. Just...do away with me," he begged, his voice hoarse and breaking.
Agathe sadly outstretched her hands to Gaston's supine form. Her own father's face came to her mind. "Papa, please forgive me. I never wanted to perform this curse. It's too dark...but now I must. I have no choice," she whispered.
She began to say the initial words of the incantation.
Gaston's eyes opened in shock as he felt a sudden crushing on his heart, as if it were being forced to stop. A look of terror crossed his features.
"NO!" he screamed. "Please! Don't. I...I'll do anything! Just...please."
Agathe drew back her hand, her incantation fell silent on her lips. Her own heart sang with relief as the man coughed and gasped, his chest rising as he drew in another breath of air. He met her gaze with a look of pure repentance.
"I'll do it...I'll do as you said."
...
A.N.- Hello! I'm back with the promised sequel to 'There's No Question.' I was inspired to continue this story idea of my own when I read a news story that the makers of the live action BatB had actually considered having Gaston not die from the fall and be cursed by the Enchantress instead. Of course, they went with the animated movie's classic ending, and I feel that worked much better for the movie. And that leaves us fanfic enthusiasts free to write our own alternatives! :)