A/N: I was on vacation when the idea for this story came. As I hurt my knee while hiking, I spent my day on the beach, writing this story. Those were great vacations. I hope you'll like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own nor beauty and the beast, neither Cinderella or ever after.
A candle in my night: a Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella cross over story.
Two hundred years before our time, there lived a prince. His father was the king of a land in the north of France. A land called Brittany. The prince lived in a beautiful castle and had everything a child could desire. His parents loved each other very much and they were loved by their people.
His first nine years were blissful: he had not a care in the world but to be happy. Everybody told him that he was perfect and loved and the prince believed it.
Until one day, on his tenth birthday, he heard servants talking in the corridor. His beloved mother had a beloved lover and had run away with him.
Driven mad with jealousy and anger, the king destroyed every image; every painting there was of her. Her name was never to be mentioned again. As for the prince, who reminded the king so much of his lost love, he never heard his father's voice again.
His education was forgotten, his tutors fired and he was left alone, to stay in his room all day long.
One person tried to warn the king about abandoning his son but she was just a governess and was not listened to.
This very night, there was a bal, given for the prince's birthday, and it was the last time he was ever seen.
After five years of this, the young boy became a bad tempered, ill-mannered young man.
Every one in the castle lived in fear of his angers and he had no friend. He treated every one as his dogs and never apologized about anything. Still, the king never spoke to him, never said a word to make him stop.
One day, the prince was left behind in a castle, surrounded by deep woods. A beggar woman asked for his hospitality for there was a wild storm outside. Repulsed by his appearance, the prince laughed at her and denied her the entrance.
She tried to tell him not to judge people by their appearances but he kept laughing. When she offered to pay him with a rose, his laughter turned into anger. He was a prince and this single rose was beneath him.
The woman begged him one more time, and still he refused, untouched by another condition but his own.
Under his eyes, she then turned into a beautiful woman and told him that she was an enchantress.
He tried to offer her shelter but she had seen his black heart. She turned him into a hideous beast and condemned him to stay thus forever.
If, ten years from then, he could find a woman to love and who would love him back, then his curse would be lifted.
To remind him of this, she gave him the rose, which was magical. Every month, it will loose a petal, telling him how much time he had left.
To let him reflect on his faults, she gave him a magical mirror. It could show him anyone, anywhere.
When the king came back that night, he tried to kill his son. Only when he saw his blue eyes did he recognize him. Horrified by his son's appearance, he left him in the castle, alone.
The beast begged him not to leave him but the king didn't listen. The next morning, servants were sent, under the care of a woman.
It was the last time the Beast heard his father mentioned.
In a not so far away little village, a young girl named Brianna lived with her father. Her mother had died while giving her birth ans she had no memory of her.
She was everything to her father and he was everything to her.
He tried to educate her as the little countess she was but she often preferred to go outside and ride her horse.
She knew nothing of hardship until one night after the bal given for the prince's tenth birthday, her father said something that was to change her life forever.
He told her he was getting married again.
The lady was a baroness and a widow. She had two daughters of Brianna's age: Marguerite and Jacqueline.
For a short second, Brianna felt sad but sadness was quickly replaced by joy at the thought of having two sisters and a mother.
They arrived soon in the manor and, if they were not very affectionate with her, their good looks and fancy dresses were enough for Brianna at first.
Soon, however, she realized that her stepmother wasn't looking for a third daughter. Her own daughters were always studying and had no time to play with her.
Brianna never complained to her father for he looked happy and she loved him too much to make him suffer.
She only cried once and it was when her stepmother insisted that she should take her reading lessons with her instead of her father.
The matter was greatly discussed and it was decided that things were to continue as they always had. It was Brianna's favourite moment of the day and she was pleased to see the tradition continued.
Everything could have stayed thus if one night, her father hadn't been outside late and been caught up by the storm.
The next day, he was terribly ill and had a bad fever.
A week later, he was dead. His last words were for his daughter.
After crying over her father's death, she went back to her room to find it empty. Not knowing what else to do, for she had no father to go to anymore, she went to her stepmother.
The woman told her that she was to sleep in the kitchen, near the fire place and was to be a servant. Brianna refused at first but after her stepmother's harsh punishment, she was transported into the kitchen where she laid unconscious for three hours.
The next morning, her new life as a servant in her own house began.
