Huge huge HUGE thanks to Katie ( ) for this idea. She was a huge help and I was basically just her writing utensil so like 75% of the credit goes to her wonderful face.

Jean's kind of an asshole, but he's even more of one in this fic so he'd fit his role a little better. I tried to keep him true to his character but I probably failed majorly and I'm so sorry. He's the only worry I have about this fic.

This kind of has me wanting to do other disney fairy tale au's too, but who knows if that'll actually happen.\

I put more work into this then I usually do because I had to make this perfect for Katie or I would hate myself for forever.

ALSO IMPORTANT! This pulls a Maximum Ride. It was necessary for me to switch between Armin's POV to third person just to get everything needed in here. If that bothers you and you can't read that is completely fine.

My tumblr is neadevar so pop by if you want 3 I do a lot of cosplay asks there (So far a lot of Armin and some Marco, but I plan on more) so don't miss that okay?

I was tired of this life. I was sick of the same faces, smells, and noises. There was never anything new. No adventures, no excitement, nothing that made life worth living. I wanted something like in the books I read. I wanted to fight powerful enemies, find lost treasure, discover a new world. I wanted more than my simple provincial town life. I needed more.

I wanted to go after what my parents did when they left me in the care of my grandfather. I was young, but I understood. They were looking for more out of this world. There's so much out there, so much to discover, and they were stuck here just like I am now. People like us can't stay in one place. We need to roam. We need to explore.

I was trapped here, and it was destroying me.

"Armin! Bonjour," the book keeper was never surprised to see me, but he acted like it anyways. He was one of the few from the town that actually liked me and the family I came from. The rest of them saw my parents as gypsies and that in turn put my grandfather and I in bad light. They all thought he was crazy, with all the inventions he kept making. They thought I was strange because I always had my face in a book. When I was reading though, I was away from here. I was in a place that I actually wanted to be and for a little while I could forget that I was me.

The book keeper was a wiry old man who took more care in his mustache than his general appearance. He looked like a sad mutt with the drooping wrinkles on his forehead and slanted, tired eyes. He was the town drunk, often seen in the afternoons stumbling home. Often when I came to get a book he'd be passed out on his desk.

An empty bottle of booze sat next to a silver flask, which he knocked over as he stood up to greet me. "I'm sorry; I haven't gotten any new books since the last time you came."

"I figured." We rarely got new shipments of anything this far out in France. I pulled out a book from my basket. "I came by to give this back to you. I thought I'd just get one of the books I've already read." I handed him the book and turned to look at the shelves. I had read everything in here, from adventures to science, and I had all their places memorized like the back of my hand. It only took a few seconds before I found the one I needed. I turned around and handed the book keeper a coin.

He raised a thin eyebrow at me, "That one? You've read it at least three times already."

I smiled kindly at him, "It's a really good book."

The book keeper shook his head with a smile as he grabbed my money, "I'll tell you what. You can keep it."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I am very sure."

"Thank you so much!"

I grinned up at him and waved him goodbye as I walked out the door. I opened the book, losing myself almost immediately in adventure and murder and romance. I knew the town by heart. I didn't even need to look up from my book as I made my way to the town fountain. I sat down, only the baying of a sheep beside me making me look up. The animal in front of me bayed again and nipped at the corner of my book suspiciously. I laughed and held my book over my head and out of reach of its curious mouth. The herder shooed it away with a small embarrassed, "Bonjour!" and a smile.

My book was ripped from my hands before I got the chance to begin reading it again.

"What book is it today, beautiful?"

I suppressed a groan, looking up at Jean with a tight smile. He had his gun in his other hand and his friend Marco holding a few dead animals. I say 'friend' lightly as he treated him as well as you would treat yesterday's trash. Jean was popular around the town, men and woman alike practically worshipped the ground he walked on. Of all the pretty girls and handsome boys he could choose from the town he had set his sights on me from the time I was fourteen. Four years and countless rejections hadn't changed his deluded affections, or his determination to get me.

I tried not to let the disgust fall onto my features, and instead tried to grab my book back from him. He was considerably taller than me and dodged my grabbing hands easily.

"It's just a book, Jean," I told him. I folded my arms across my chest in annoyance.

Jean handed his gun roughly to Marco, the freckled boy struggling to juggle both it and the animals in his arms. I didn't even spare him a glance. Marco was the one who encouraged Jean to keep running after me. I didn't feel anything for him but pity at this point.

"It doesn't even have any pictures," Jean remarked, as if it was the foulest thing he could even begin to think of. He crinkled his nose up like he smelled something awful. "How do you even read this?"

"With a little imagination, something you lack." I retorted. I jumped, the book just an inch from my grasp, but he pulled it away before my fingers could even graze it.

"Who needs imagination, Armin." With a swift flick of his wrist he tossed the book in the fountain, and before I could rush to get to it and hope that I could save the ink from bleeding he was in front of me. A lazy grin crossed his features and he leaned in close. "All anybody ever really needs is a little love. Right Marco?"

"You're exactly right, Jean!" Marco beamed at him, seeming to forget all about trying to keep his load from tipping over. A few animal pelts fell to the ground and he shrieked bending over to pick them up only for a few more to fall from his arms.

Jean didn't even spare him a glance, "Think about this, Armin. Me, you, a couple kids we adopted from the orphanage running around our beautiful house. You could do all the cleaning, and take care of the kids, and I'll do the hunting to put food on our table. It sounds nice, don't you think?"

I shook my head, "It sounds like you're full of hot air."

"You hurt me. Won't you even consider it?"

"There's nothing to consider," I stepped around him and grabbed my book from the fountain. I grabbed a cloth from my basket and set to the task of wiping it off. "I don't want to marry you, Jean."

He put an arm around my shoulder, "But you're the prettiest one in this town, Armin, and I'm the most handsome man in all of France. We were meant to be together."

I grimaced, "I need to get home."

"I'm sure your crazy grandfather won't mind if I took you away for a little while. We can have a picnic in the forest. What do you think?"

"My grandfather's not crazy." I shook his arm off of me. A resounding boom had me jumping, immediately turning to the direction of my home. "I'm sorry, I need to go."

I took off running, grateful to leave Jean behind just as much as I was worried that my grandfather's inventions had finally blown the house down.

Jean was selfish. He was selfish and rude, but he was also devastatingly handsome. Men and woman alike swarmed around him to get his attention – men and woman he was convinced weren't pretty enough to marry. He only had his eyes on Armin. Armin, with his beautiful round, blue eyes and sweet smile that could have anyone's insides melting. It was a shame about his crazy grandfather though. But Jean figured once they were married he could do something about him then.

"I'm going to marry him, Marco," Jean said, grinning ear to ear as he slapped his friend on the back. A few more animals fell to the dirt and Marco scrambled to pick them up. It never occurred to Jean to help him, because why should he?

"He'd make a beautiful husband!" Marco encouraged, smiling at Jean as he tried to balance the gun in his arms without losing more animals.

"That he would, Marco. I just need to figure out how to get him to say yes."

"He can't keep denying you forever! You're Jean, everyone wants you!"

Jean laughed heartily, "That's true. He'll come around. I just have to be patient."

The smoke coming from the basement had me nearly dropping my basket in worry I opened the doors, coughing and wheezing and waving my hand in front of my face as billows of smoke erupted. I could hear my grandpa coughing and that had me almost tripping down the stairs trying to get to him. He had really done it this time. Whatever invention he had been working on the past few months will finally cost him a trip to the doctor then next town over.

"Grandfather?" I called out. I paused to cough into my hand. "Are you okay?"

The smoke started clearing enough for me to see him jumping up in joy, "Armin! I think I did it!"

"You finished your invention?"

"Yes!"

I laughed and ran up to him, looking at the strange contraption he had been working on for months on end. It looked like a mess of wires and springs – was that a clock? – but just knowing that he had finally finished it had me ecstatic.

"Start it up!" I told him grinning, "I want to see it work!"

Grandfather smiled up at me, "Hand me a log!"

I walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a log, the rough wood poking me sharply in my palms. My grandpa happily had me set it down in front of his machine.

"Stand back, Min! I want you to get a good view of all my hard work finally paying off."

I took a couple steps back with a laugh. Grandpa pushed a button, and his machine started whirring. It buzzed and vibrated and clinked and I thought for sure it was just going to fall apart. And then the axe on the front of it swung down rapidly and started chopping up the wood. Grandfather hooted and hollered, clapping his hands gleefully. I stepped to the side to dodge a piece of flying wood.

"This is it! Armin, I've done it, and just in time for the fair!"

"Go!" I grabbed his bag that he had sat on the floor next to the basement door weeks ago. I knew the bread would be stale and the water warm, but I also knew my grandfather would be too excited to care. He had been planning his trip weeks ago, packing multiple bags and setting them in front of the cellar door. It had taken a lot of convincing to urge him down to one bag. I held it and helped him set his invention up outside. Our horse neighed at us as we hooked up the wagon and wheeled the contraption on it.

"I'll be back in a couple days, Min!" Grandfather shouted, waving as he started down the path. "And when I come back, I'll be holding the gold medal!"

I waved back at him, bouncing on the balls of my feet, "Stay safe!"

And I watched him disappear into the distance.