Hello, Miraculous fans! For those of you who have seen it, this is my take on Disney's 2017 version of Beauty and The Beast, starring Marinette and Adrien! The title is "Beautiful Ladybug and The Beastly Cat", but I Google Translated it into French!
If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest turning back and not reading this until you see the film itself.
There will be some changes to the plot as it demands, such as the prologue. I hope you enjoy it!
Once upon a time, a king lived in a shining castle with his wife and son. The king was cold, aloof, and unkind. However, he was a well-meaning king, father and husband.
When his son was only five years old, tragedy struck the castle: the queen fell ill with plague. While the king ordered the most skilled doctors in the country to try and cure his wife, nothing could be done. She sadly passed on.
After her passing, the king grew stricter and harsher with his son. Complicating matters was that the prince was the spitting image of the queen. It got to the point where the king taxed the country to finance extravagant parties and to spoil his son.
Years later, the king held a very extravagant party in an attempt to match the young prince up with a young girl.
In a very elegantly-decorated ballroom, the king was standing next to his son, who was sitting in a golden chair. The prince was bored with the party. He himself was unsure of these events because it involved extreme taxation of the citizens, and felt guilty that while the citizens were suffering, he was shown the best life had to offer. He found it unfair to everyone else.
He also found the girls' overly-elaborate styles of dress and hair, combined with their obvious attempts to get his attention, to be quite unpleasant. The clincher was that his father would not let him have a say in the matter.
The music started playing. Ivan, the pianist, was a fairly tall and bulky man short, black hair that had a long tuft down his forehead that was blond. Myléne, the singer, was a short, chubby girl with golden eyes, and blonde hair that had several strands dyed in green, blue, and magenta. She was wearing clothing similar to the girls' that were in attendance.
"Oh, how divine. Glamor, music, and magic combine," Myléne sang, as everyone started to dance. "See the maidens so anxious to shine."
The prince reluctantly started to dance with the girls. He was not really enjoying himself, but went along with it just to make his dad get off his case for the time being.
"Look for a sign that enhances chances. She'll be his special one." Myléne sang, as everyone started dancing a little faster.
"What a display. What a breathtaking, thrilling array! Every prince, every dog has his day!" Myléne sang, as she kept going faster along with the music.
Everyone else started dancing faster, too, while Myléne and Ivan kept going faster with the music.
"Let us sing with passion, gusto, fit to bust oh not a care in the world!" Myléne sang, as she trilled her voice and the music soon stopped.
However, there was very loud knocking was heard from the glass. Everyone turned around and as the door opened, the candles in the chandeliers went out and everyone went quiet.
The door opened, and a old woman wearing a cloak, and walking with a cane came in unannounced. She was holding a red rose in her hand.
However, one night at the party, an unexpected visitor arrived at the castle. An old beggar woman came in. She offered the king a single rose in return for shelter from the cold, bitter rain and thunder.
The king himself was disgusted at her haggard appearance. He merely sneered at the rose and turned her away.
The prince himself loved roses - it was his mother's favorite flower - and he found it quite beautiful. He was disgusted at his father for turning away a woman in need. The prince made his way over to her and told her she needed neither money nor a beautiful flower to get shelter - it was a basic need for everyone.
However, the king was baffled at his son's behavior. He once again dismissed the old woman, telling his son to kick her out. The prince was about to hold his ground and call his father out, but then the old woman's appearance vanished in a blast of light. Once the light died down, it was revealed that the woman was actually a gorgeous enchantress, with hair of red and eyes of sea foam green, bathed in a light of periwinkle and Bleu de France.
The king tried to apologize for his mistake, but the enchantress had seen that the king's heart was made of stone, due to the passing of his wife. The enchantress made to punish him with her magic.
However, the prince did something no one, not even the enchantress could have predicted: the prince ran in front of the enchantress and took the hit for his father.
The magic spell intended for his father transformed the prince into a monstrous beast. The magic then overtook the castle, and all who inhabited it.
The king demanded that the enchantress remove the magic. However, she sadly informed the king that she could not reverse the magic, and that the prince had to break the curse on his own. She revealed that her intention for the prince was to reward his kindness while punishing the king. But sadly, since she could not reward the prince, she decided to give the king an even worse punishment: rather than change him into a beast, the enchantress turned him into stone, to match the hardness of his heart. This was a magic spell that could not be broken, so the prince lost not only his human form, but his father too.
The enchantress disappeared, remorseful that she had unintentionally done this to the prince.
Ashamed of his newly-grotesque form, the prince concealed himself in the castle. He tore up pictures of himself, since they reminded him of who he once was.
The enchantress's magic also caused everyone outside the castle to lose all memory about the king and prince, which was another side affect.
The rose that she had offered was an enchanted rose without a doubt. It would continue to bloom until the prince's eighteenth year.
If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return before the rose's final petal fell, then the curse would be broken. If not, he would be fated to remain a beast for all time. His passing would not set his friends free. The enchantress had confidence in the prince that he would be able to break the spell.
As the years passed, the prince lost hope. The question that was not only on his mind, but everyone else's, was this: who could ever learn to love a beast?
13 Years Later...
In a village nearby the castle, the sun was coming up. One cottage in particular was the focus.
The door opened and out came a girl. She had bluish-black hair pulled back into low pigtails behind her. Her eyes were a beautiful bluebell color and she had fair skin with a healthy blush. She was wearing a red dress with black spots, and red shoes. She was holding a book.
She walked down the stairs that came to her cottage, and saw that it was a beautiful day out.
"Little town. It's a quiet village. Every day, like the one before," She sang. "Little town, full of little people. Waking up to say..."
Once the huge clock tower started chiming at 8 AM on the dot, the town soon got active, and everyone was singing, "Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!"
"There goes the baker with his tray, like always," She sang, watching the baker going by with all of his breads and desserts. She stopped him briefly to buy some herself. "The same old bread and rolls to sell."
"Every morning just the same, since the morning that we came, to this poor, provincial town." She sang, before encountering one of her neighbors.
"Hi, Marinette!" Someone said, stopping her. He was a somewhat portly old man with gray hair, and was wearing a hat.
"Morning, Monsieur Dominick. Did you lose something again?" Marinette asked.
"I think I have. Trouble is, I can't remember what it is," He said, causing Marinette to laugh. "Anyway, where are you going?"
"To return this book to Sister Bustier. It's about to lovers in Verona, Italy." Marinette said.
"Sounds like a snore-fest to me." Dominick said.
Marinette passed by the schoolhouse. The young boys were watching her go, singing, "Look, there she goes. That girl is strange, no question.
"Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?" The headmaster said, ushering the boys inside. Meanwhile, Marinette hopped along some rocks on a pond.
"Never part of any crowd, cause her head's up on some cloud. No denying she's a strange one, Marinette." The women and little girls at the fountain sang, as they were doing the laundry.
At the marketplace, everyone else was going about their business.
"Bonjour, good day. How is your family?" The fishmonger asked a woman.
"Bonjour, good day. How is your wife?" The woman asked in reply, to the chagrin of the fishmonger.
"I need six eggs! That's too expensive." An older woman sang, looking at the price of the eggs.
"There must be more than this provincial life!" Marinette sang, as she entered the church, where Sister Bustier was.
"Oh, hello! If it isn't the only bookworm in town," Sister Bustier, the only nun in town said, as she finished cleaning the church. "Where'd you run off to this time, Ladybug?"
"Two neighboring towns in Italy," Marinette said. "I really wish I could have stayed. Is there anywhere new?"
"No, but go ahead and reread any of the older books, Ladybug." Sister Bustier said, once again calling Marinette "Ladybug."
"Thanks! I feel like the world is much easier to see thanks to you." Marinette said, taking another one of the books.
"Bon voyage!" Sister Bustier said, smiling.
"Au revoir!" Marinette said, as she left the church with another book.
"Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar. I'm sure she's sickly, that I'd bet!" Three men sang, as they watched Marinette walk while reading a book.
"With a dreamy, far-off look. And her nose stuck in a book," People sang, while watching Marinette go about her day. "What a puzzle to us all is Marinette."
"Oh, isn't this amazing? It's my favorite part because, you'll see," Marinette sang, as she was reading her book. "Here's where she meets prince charming. But she won't discover that it's him, 'till chapter three!"
Marinette walked by the salon, where the woman in charge was working on a trio of girls.
One was a blue-eyed blond with her hair in a ponytail, Chloé Bourgeois. Beside her on the right was a girl with tan skin, green eyes, and long, brown hair, named Lila Rossi. And flanking Chloé on her left was a girl with short, red hair, and was wearing glasses, Sabrina Raincomprix. All three girls were wearing the same outfit.
The beauty salon manager watched as Marinette walked by.
"Now it's no wonder her nickname's "Ladybug." She pulls red and black off the best!" The salon manager sang, admiring Marinette's beauty - she secretly wished she could make Marinette look even better.
"But behind that fair facade, I'm afraid she's rather odd." Sabrina, Chloé, and Lila sang.
"Very different from the rest of us." The salon owner sang.
"She's nothing like the rest of us." Chloé, Lila, and Sabrina all sang.
"Yes, different from all of us, Marinette!" Everyone sang.
Off in the distance near the hills were two men around Marinette's age. They were riding horseback. One of the gentleman was taller and more muscular than average, with olive skin and brown eyes. He had black hair with the ends dyed gold, and it was styled into a sharp quiff.
Next to him was his best friend, a boy who was a little shorter, with dark skin, dark, curly hair, and had brown eyes. He wore glasses, and was looking at his friend in a little bit of confusion.
"Check her out, Max," The first boy said, watching Marinette through a telescope. "My future bride."
He turned to Max, gave him the telescope, and said, "Ladybug's the most beautiful girl in the village. It makes her the best!"
"I don't know, Kim," Max replied, looking through the telescope. "She's more academic. I think you're more of an athlete."
"Marinette can be as truculent as she is gorgeous." Kim said.
"Exactly. Do you seriously need her when you have me?" Max asked, for platonic reasons.
"Maybe your right," Kim said. "But since the war ended, I feel like I've needed something. And Marinette's the only girl who gives me a sense of..."
"Je ne sais quoi?" Max asked, finishing Kim's sentence.
"What does that even mean?" Kim inquired, as he and Max rode back into town.
"Right from the moment when I met her, saw her. I said, "She's gorgeous" and I fell. Here in town there's only she, who's as beautiful as me," Kim sang, as he got the attention of the other girls in town. "So I have some plans to marry Marinette."
Lila, Chloé, and Sabrina came out of the parlor when they saw Kim riding into town.
"Look, there he goes! Isn't he dreamy? It's Monsieur Kim! Oh, he's so cute!" The girls sang, as they saw him park his horse and dismount. "Be still, my heart! I'm hardly breathing!"
The horse itself was digging up some mud, while Kim was giving the girls an unimpressed look.
"He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!" They sang, but then Kim turned around, shrugged his shoulders, and went on his way to find Marinette.
"Sorry girls. Not happening." Max said with a shrug before going after his friend.
"Bonjour!"
"Pardon!" Kim shouted, as he tried to find Marinette in the crowd.
"Good day!" "Mais oui!" "You call these rubies?!" "What lovely flowers!" "Some cheese!" "Ten yards!" "One pound!"
"Excuse me!" Kim shouted again, as he stole a bouquet of flowers from one of the women at the flower stand.
"I'll get the knife."
"Please let me through!" Kim shouted, trying to catch up to Marinette.
"This bread!" "Those fish!" "It's stale!" "They smell!" "Madame's mistaken!" "Well maybe so!"
"There must be more than this provincial life!" Marinette said, as she reached the fountain and looked up to the sky.
"Just watch, I'll make Ladybug my wife!" Kim sang, as he watched Marinette from the distance.
"Look there she goes, that girl is strange but special," Everyone sang, as they watched Marinette. "A most peculiar mademoiselle."
Marinette kept walking through the plaza, minding her own business.
"It's a pity and a sin. She doesn't quite fit in. But she really is a funny girl. A beauty, but a funny girl. She really is a funny girl. Marinette!" Everyone sang.
"Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour, bonjour!"
The song ended, and soon Kim caught up to Marinette.
"Morning, Ladybug!" Kim said, calling Marinette by her nickname, and getting her attention. "Oh, great book you have."
"Oh, you've read "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Kim?" Marinette asked.
"Well, no, not that one in particular, but books in general," Kim said, before presenting the bouquet of flowers to Marinette. "It's for your cottage. May I join you for dinner tonight?"
"Um, no not tonight." Marinette said, a little off-put.
"Oh, you have plans?" Kim asked.
"Not really..." Marinette said, before turning away and shaking her head.
She found Kim's attempts to get her attention a little overwhelming. She admitted to herself that Kim was attractive, but the way he treated everything like a competition, combined with his conceit and self-assurance was something that she found unpleasant.
She really did not care for his affections. If anything, Marinette knew that it was only for shallow reasons that Kim even paid attention to her.
Marinette walked away, disgusted with Kim and hoping to get away from him.
Max approached Kim, and asked, "Are you willing to change prospects, now?"
"No way, Max," Kim said. "Marinette's constant brush-offs make her a challenge to woo. And it's always a challenge that's the most rewarding in the end. Ladybug hasn't made an idiot of herself in front of me just to get my attention. Max, what would you say that's called?"
"Self-worth?" Max said with a shrug.
"How can you not love that?! It's so attractive." Kim said.
Max merely rolled his eyes at his friend's persistence.
Marinette had gotten back to the cottage and gone up the stairs. She opened the door and inside, her father, Tom Dupain, a tall man with a large build, green eyes, sideburns, and a mustache was working on a music box.
The cottage also had several paintings and other music boxes around.
"How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die?" He sang, as he was working on a music box. Inside the box was an Asian woman holding a baby, with himself painting her. "It is love we must hold onto. Never easy, but we try."
Marinette came in and put down the bread the she had purchased earlier.
"Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow, a time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts, and always will." Tom sang, but then noticed his daughter.
"Oh, Marinette," Tom said, as he kept tinkering with the box. "Do you think you could help me?"
"Yes, Papa," Marinette said, as she came over to her father. "What do you need?"
"Yes, where did I put that..." Tom began, but then Marinette handed him a gear and a long, metal piece for him. "Oh, thanks, Marinette."
"No problem, Papa," Marinette said, as she started cutting the bread. "Um, dad... Do you think I'm odd?"
Tom looked at his daughter with a questioning look and asked, "Odd? My daughter, odd? Where did that idea come from?"
"People talk, you know." Marinette said.
"Ladybug..." Tom said, calling Marinette by her nickname. "You're not odd at all. Listen, this village is small, and the people have small minds. On the other side of that fence, it also means safe."
Marinette nodded, seeing her father's point.
"Back in Paris, I knew a woman who was also as ahead of her time as you are." Tom said, a misty look in his eyes.
Marinette knew exactly whom her father was referring to: her late mother, Sabine.
"...Is there anything you can tell me about her?" Marinette asked.
"... Only one word: fearless." Tom said, with a shrug and a smile.
Later that day, Tom had packed up a carriage and their horse, Phillipe, and planned on going to the market to sell some of his items.
"Marinette, what would you like from the market?" Tom asked.
"May I have a rose, like the one in the painting with Maman?" Marinette requested.
"Marinette, that's the same thing as every year," Tom said with a laugh. "Don't you want anything else?"
"Aside from your safe return? Nothing at all." Marinette said.
"Then a rose it is," Tom said, as he snapped the reigns and started to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good luck, dad! But be safe, okay?" Marinette said, smiling, while wishing her father safety.
And Act I is closed for this story! I hope you guys enjoy it!
Like how I changed the prologue to having Adrien being changed into a beast by accident? I think the way he took the bullet for his father mirrors how he takes hits for Ladybug a lot.
If you were really paying attention, then the enchantress's appearance was based on my own Miraculous Ladybug OC, Rochelle DeL'eau! If you want to know more about her, read my other story, "Siren: The Mermaid Miraculous Holder"