He fell. And it was a deathly fall. There was no way anyone - not even a strong, powerful man like Gaston could survive falling thousands of feet off of a crumbling castle. But he woke up.
There was a woman standing over him. "Gaston." She said, harshly. There was something familiar about the voice, but Gaston couldn't quite place it. He wasn't in pain. Not at all. His eyes opened groggily and all he saw was light. Glowing, sparkling golden light. As his vision became more focused, he could see his surroundings. Still blurry, but he could finally see.
He was levitating. Gaston was floating. In a cloud of golden glitter.
"W-where am I? Put me down at once!" He shouted. "Put me down! What's happening!"
Then she appeared. A beautiful, beautiful woman. More beautiful than Belle, or any other woman he'd ever seen combined. She was staring over him with contempt in her eyes. What was she about to do?
"You can't do anything to me! I'm Gaston! Je suis Gaston!"
Her hands shook, and the gold glitter that surrounded Gaston came from her fingertips. "You love only yourself." She began. Her voice was angry. It almost sounded possessed. "That is no way to live."
Gaston squinted at the woman. Holy hell. An inkling of a woman he recognized came through. It was... Agatha. Or someone who looked like Agatha. A beautiful, glowing, terrifying version of Agatha, the spinster. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. His lips felt like they were stitched shut all of a sudden.
"And you will learn to love another. Or you'll never have beauty such as yours again. You will die. As a beast."
A beast? Gaston thought. Was he about to transform into a horrifying monster, like the one who had ultimately caused his demise? His mind tried to focus. Was this some sort of dream? If he weren't paralyzed, he'd reach to pinch himself. He'd had horrible dreams after the war, dreams that haunted him, but none had felt this real. Was this some sort of afterlife? Some sort of trick? His eyes wandered back to the enchantress and he gave her a helpless, terrified look. He never submitted to anyone, much less a woman, much less a spinster... But he was at her mercy.
Her fingers shook once again, but this time they balled into a fist before splaying out toward Gaston. Casting a spell.
His entire body was suddenly in excruciating pain. The transition from numbness to pain felt like something that may kill him. He'd never been in pain like this, and he had been shot with a bow and arrow before. Lefou's fault, of course. He felt as his fingers and knuckles ripped, turning into paws. His spine expanded, cracking with every single inch. His gums ached as his teeth fell out in a bloody mess, and new fangs sprouted in their absence. His entire body was changing in an instance, and he couldn't control it, or move. He couldn't even properly writhe in pain. He was still paralyzed. Suddenly, the world went black, and his pain disappeared.
He woke up inside his own home. A glorious, beautiful spot on the edge of the village. He was alive. And it had all been a horrifying dream. He stretched his legs, testing his abilities, making sure he wasn't still paralyzed. He wasn't. Thank heavens. His dreams were vivid, but this was beyond vivid. This dream really just seemed real.
He laid in bed for a few more moments, going over the details of the dreams once again. Had he dreamed the entire Beast situation? When did he go to sleep? Had he been rescued from the rubble of the castle? Panic set in. He got out of bed, heading toward his luxurious kitchen, entirely paid for by the village as a thank-you for fighting in the war, and picked up a metal pan. The biggest one he had, that he usually used to cook his eggs in the morning. He looked into the metal pan as if it were a mirror, something he'd done to admire his good looks a time or two in the past, and what he saw shocked him.
Gaston dropped the pan on his feet. His paws, actually. He was a beast. A horrendous, disgusting, hairy beast. He sort of resembled the Beast who had taken Belle hostage, but handsomer, of course.
How had this happened? What power did Agatha, the apparent enchantress, have? And how did she do this? And why? Questions filled his head. So many that they overtook him. His body took over and he went to scream, but it came out as a harrowing, horrifying roar.
Gaston. La bĂȘte.
