Until You
A/n: Hello everyone! I was watching Beauty and the Beast today, and this came to me. It wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it. Tell me what you think, please?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Beauty and the Beast, Disney does. Got it?
Chapter One
She had seen him only once before. It had been on a cold and rainy day, as she and her parents had traveled through Molyneaux in their carriage. He had been standing outside of the bakery, speaking with the old baker. Hair as dark as a raven's feathers, and eyes as blue as the oceans she had seen on many trips around the world. Her heart had skipped a beat at the sight of him then, and this time was no different. He was beautiful.
Making sure that the cloak she was wearing still concealed her face, Princess Caresse passed by him. She wasn't really sure where she was going, but she knew she had to keep moving. Her mother and father had probably sent all the palace guards after her by now. She couldn't allow one single boy to keep her from her freedom, much as she was tempted. She was a girl on a mission; a princess escaped from the castle. And she meant to keep it that way. At least until she found what she was looking for.
Her stomach did somersaults as she passed by the villagers. One slip up and she would be discovered. Everyone knew her, by name and face. And she had always made a point to know them the same in return. Most were her friends, so how could she lie to them if they asked her what she was up to? The truth was, she couldn't. And so, she avoided them. It would have been nice if she had had at least one ally in her escape, just in case, but she knew it was impossible. If she wanted to stay out of the castle, she had to remain alone.
As she entered the forest, Caresse fought down a shiver. The woods had always given her the creeps. She liked the light and open, not the dark and mysterious. And the forest surrounding the town and castle was definitely under that category. She had heard stories of the wolf attacks, the many people going in and never coming out, and deftly avoided the place. Now she had to travel through it, for how long she didn't know. As much reading as she had done on surviving in the wild, Caresse knew she knew hardly anything about it. She was used to grand rooms with fires constantly going and beds always turned down. Out here, there were no such luxuries. The only thing that kept her going was knowing that she had a will of iron. If she put her mind to something, she always succeeded. Somehow, this time she would, too.
It was growing dark, soon she knew she would have to find a place to rest. But, she wasn't ready for that just yet. She could almost feel the ground vibrating with the guard's heavy footsteps. They would be right on her heels if she didn't keep going. She wanted to stay a step ahead of them the whole time. Once it got dark, she knew they would be forced to turn back. She wouldn't.
It wasn't until an hour later that she was finally forced to stop. And as soon as she did, she became aware of all of the sounds of the night. A distant howl, an owl hooting. This time she wasn't able to surpress the shiver that traveled up her spine. Sleep. That's what she needed to do, sleep. But where? Squinting her eyes, Caresse scanned the foliage for a place to lay her head. She found a place under some trees covered by moss, and lay down, burying herself within the expensive cloth of her cloak. The daughter of King Vincent and Queen Belle then fell into a fitfully light sleep.
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The growl was what woke her. It was close. Too close. Caresse frantically stood up and looked about her. In her mind, there was a pack of wolves surrounding her, waiting to tear into her flesh. And she soon found out that she was not too far off on that assumption: four pairs of yellow eyes emerged from within the bushes, heading right for her. On instinct, she backed slowly away. They came quicker; snarling. She turned and ran.
Great, only her first night out and she was going to be eaten. She'd been fooling herself, thinking that she could survive out here, on her own. She wanted to cry as she ran, thinking about her parents back home, frantically worrying over her. They would be worrying about her for the rest of their lives, never knowing what had happened to her. She was going to disappear without a trace, just like all the others.
She tripped and tore her dress. The largest one of the group snapped at her heels. She was giving up too easily, she instantly decided, and took a sudden mad dash through a patch of thorny leaves. She winced at the scratches forming on her skin. Was she going to forget her will of steel, just because she was frightened? Her father had once saved her mother from a pack of wolves, and she was very much like him, so why couldn't she save herself? Sure, she was small, but she was smart. She could do this. She just had to think. Of course it was hard while running blindly in the dark from four hungry wolves, but it was her only choice. She would not give up without a fight. She hadn't come this far to die now.
Caresse found a group of trees and climbed one. It was difficult, and her hands received splinters, but she made it. She fought to slow her breathing, and calm her racing heart. She had to settle. Wolves could smell fear, and she must certainly stink of it right now. A twig snapped. Her pulse quickened. Frantically, she searched for a weapon of any sort. A loose branch caught her attention and she reached for it. Gripping the piece of wood in her hands, Caresse waited. As the creature snapping twigs got closer, Caresse prepared to jump from the tree. Facing her enemy head on was the only way to get out of this alive. And so when she saw a dark figure standing just below her, she attacked.
Landing on the thing with a thump, Caresse quickly scrambled up and went at it with her stick before it could recover. She hit it the first time, and took two empty swings at it next, before she found herself tackled to the ground, the branch ripped from her grasp. She fought like a wild woman: punching; scratching; kicking. She was satisfied when she got pained grunts in reply. And then the creature decided to fight back. Her hands were pinned above her head in an instant, and she found herself unable to budge under the thing's weight. She struggled to no avail, and so decided to lash out with her tongue. Although she was sure this monster would be unable to understand her, she was too angry to care. She didn't have her father's temper for nothing.
"Get off of me, you wretch! I'll tear your head off you hideous beast! Get off of me!"
"Now why would I want to do that, if you plan on tearing off my head?" Came the calm reply.
At her surprise, Caresse's anger deflated for a moment. "Y-You can understand me?"
"Cher Dieu, we are both human, are we not?"
"You're a person?"
"The last time I checked I was. What do you think you're doing out here, anyway?"
"I could ask you the same thing, monsieur, but I find myself incapable of speech with your weight crushing my lungs!"
Immediately he was off of her, and helping her up. But he held onto her arm, preventing her from escaping. She looked at his hand. "Would you mind?"
"Yes, I would mind. You never answered my question. What are you doing out here?"
"I don't believe that's any of your-" Both of them looked to the right. The wolves were back.
The boy looked at her; she could feel his intense gaze through the darkness. "Do you trust me?" He suddenly asked.
"Trust you?" Caresse exclaimed heatedly. "Of course I d-"
"Good," He interrupted her, and then he was dragging her behind him as they made a run for it.
This seems familiar, Caresse thought as she narrowly escaped having her foot bitten off. Except it wasn't the same. This time she had a strange male dragging her along by the arm, nearly pulling it out of it's socket. She didn't want to admit that this time she was moving much faster, thanks to him. All she wanted was for him to let her go, and to be alone again. What if he knew her from town? Then everything would be ruined. All thought left her head as the sound of snarling got closer. Right now she needed him, she decided. She really was depending on him to get her out of this. Even if she didn't like it.
One minute she was running, the next being shoved to the ground and told to stay there. And then her strange male turned towards the four wolves as they bore down on him, and began to fight. He still had the stick she had used on him, she vaguely noticed in her daze. Once one was knocked down, another took it's place. He was getting nowhere fast. She had to help. Like a blind man searching for his cane, Caresse felt around on the ground for a stick. When she finally found one, she was up and swinging at one of the smaller wolves.
She knew the boy was probably angry, but at the moment she couldn't give a damn. He needed help, and that's all there was to it. Hitting the downed wolf a few more times just in case, Caresse moved onto another one. This new opponent showed to be more fierce. Her arm throbbed after he was able to gnaw on it a little, before she thumped him over the head. And she didn't stop thumping until the stick was wrestled from her. Having been lost in an adrenaline haze, Caresse hadn't noticed that the boy had downed the other two wolves. She looked up at him, his face hidden by shadow, and then promptly fainted.
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Coming out of a faint was a lot harder than they made it seem in books, Caresse thought as she struggled to consciousness. First, you had to trudge out of the utter darkness that engulfed you, and then you had to fight against your heavy eyelids. Next, figure out where in the world you were. When she opened her eyes, she found herself to be warm and indoors. It wasn't the palace, she decided. No, the palace didn't have log walls. And it wasn't one of the villager's houses; she knew all of them inside and out. This place was unfamiliar. And it scared her more than finding herself still in the dark forest would have.
She tried to sit up, and barely fought down a shriek at the pain in her arm. What in the world? She raised up her left arm and frowned at the bandage covering it. And then she remembered: the wolves. But, who had tended to her wounds? And whose cabin was this? Deciding to find out for herself, Caresse carefully got out of the bed she was lying in. She noticed her cloak was gone, as were her shoes. This just got stranger and stranger. Unable to resist, she stood in front of the blazing fire that was going for a moment, and then made her way into what she discovered was the kitchen.
"What are you doing up?" Caresse jumped and did a three-sixty at the sound of the sudden question. She froze when she saw who it had come from.
Blue eyes, raven black hair..."Oh, mon dieu...its you!"
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A/n: So, what did you guys think? There will be more information in the next chapter for any of the empty holes, but besides that, what did you think? I'd really like to know. Personally...I'm a bit iffy. Anyway... ttfn!
Rory4
