Author's Note: Hey guys! A lovely anon left this prompt in my askbox, and here is chapter 1! I did move away from the movie a little bit, but I'm going to try and follow the movie more or less from here on out. I do enjoy throwing in my own little scenes whenever I do an AU, though...muahaha, we shall have to see.
Oh yeah, and I don't own Les Miserables or Beauty and The Beast…although I was a flower in my high school production of the latter. I was a gorgeous flower
Eyes are tricky little things. Whatever sight first greets them, they immediately hold as true. Some can outsmart their eyes, and they learn to look past solely what they see.
The Prince, however, had not yet learned to do so.
It was raining that night. A harsh, thundering rain that sounded like giants' footsteps on his roof, with lightening brightening up the sky to make it seem like the sun had awoken early.
No one could ever describe the Prince as kind. Charming, yes, but there was something hidden in his bright blue eyes. A concealed horror, one that was waiting patiently to be released.
An old woman came to his grand door that night. A servant came up to his chamber and told him that she had requested to see him specifically, and would not be turned aside. Out of curiosity, the Prince complied.
The old woman was much more dreary in real life than in his imagination. All she wanted was a place to stay for the night. The Prince's cold heart, the one that sent ice instead of blood through his veins, turned her away. She would not be deterred, however, and presented a red rose as payment for a dry roof over her head until the rain ceased its torrent.
Once again, the Prince refused to allow her to stay, saying that he could never permit such an old, dreadful-looking woman to reside in his castle. She gave him one more chance, saying that beauty was found within, and for him not to trust solely what his eyes told him.
But the Prince's ears remained deaf to her pleas, and his hand waved her aside once again. The old woman's black cloak suddenly tumbled to the floor like a curtain revealing the opening act of a play, allowing a beautiful enchantress to arise from its depths. The Prince, deeply ashamed of his actions, fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness.
But the enchantress had seen enough of his cold heart. To punish him, the enchantress placed a spell upon the castle, and everyone who lived there. The coldhearted young man will only become human once he has learned to love another. The Prince was transformed into a hideous beast, complete with wolfish teeth and a haggard mane. He locked himself in his castle, with only a magic mirror as his guide to the outside world. The rose the enchantress had offered him stood silently upon a table in a hidden room, slowly, but surely, dying.
Years passed, and the Prince lost hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?
He was a charming young man, capable of being terrible. That was what all anyone knew about him. Or suspected to know about him. The Prince was a fantasy (some mothers believed that he was nothing more), and hearing any sort of tale about him was the most popular form of entertainment for most of the young girls.
One such girl was standing up on a box, her arms flying along with her red lips. Her lengthy brown hair trailed behind her on a breeze as her words swam through the crowd, coming to rest upon the ears of every member of her audience.
"I was just out in the woods gathering mushrooms," she began. "When all of a sudden, I heard a twig snap behind me!" The audience gasped audibly, and it looked like one girl fainted.
"I turned, holding my basket in front of me, like this." She demonstrated, and received an appropriate and astounded "Ooh" in response.
"My eyes saw nothing, at first. Only darkness." The girl widened her eyes for dramatic effect. "Then…suddenly…BAM!"
The crowd jumped. "He stepped into the moonlight, and I saw his face…" She paused. Everyone leaned forward, the girls in the back standing on their tiptoes.
The young girl's eyes traveled to the back of the crowd, and caught someone's nod. A half-smile formed on her face.
"It was only for a moment…but his blue eyes were gorgeous!" She clapped her hands together and squealed with the crowd, disappearing into the hoard of curious girls as she stepped down from her makeshift stage. Two minutes later, she reappeared at the back of the crowd, next to an elderly man with a large cloak draped over his body.
"Well done, Éponine," he murmured as they strolled through the busy streets of Paris. "You gave quite a show."
Éponine's smile had vanished. "Did you get what you wanted, Father?"
The man grinned, showing broken, yellowed teeth. "Indeed I did, my daughter. It seems we will eat like kings tonight!"
Silence met expectant ears. The cloaked man turned, only to find that his daughter had vanished from his side. His beady eyes searched the streets, but encountered only strangers amongst familiar-looking faces.