(A/N So... I'm here with this new fanfiction. The title maybe is inspired by the Beauty and the Beast. Maybe. WARNING: It may be some future fluff, and no one isgoing to like the pairing... except for you, Jojo, but you doesn't count. Oh, and Marcia may be evil. Or is it Septimus who is..? P.S Odale Overstrand is not involved. Not at all. )
Chapter 1: Thorns Of A Rose
Septimus Heap, ExtraOrdinary Wizard's apprentice, came home quite late in the evening. That day he had a day off since his mentor, Marcia Overstrand, had 'thought that Septimus had worked very hard lately'. Not that Septimus complained, but... it felt like Marcia was hiding something. Something really big and important. Septimus just couldn't find out what. And she- Marcia- had begun reading darke books and books about necromancery. For an example, last week he had caught her in the library early in the morning. Septimus had just said 'Goodmorning, Marcia.', and Marcia had blushed and hid the book she was reading. Then she had begged him to leave the library immediatly, without letting him clean it. She would do it herslef, she had said. And yesterday, he had seen a darke spider in the livingroom. Marcia's eyecolour had also begun to sometimes switch from emerald-green to black with emerald flashes, and sometimes emeraldgreen with black flashes. Septimus found that rather odd, but he just couldn't bring it up.
When Septimus stepped into the livingroom, which always had felt cozy and clean to him, he felt a strange feeling. It felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold, icy water on him.
"Marcia!" Septimus called out. The feeling in the room gave him chills. Something darke was there. No one replied to him.
"Marcia..?" Septimus called out again, "Where are you?"
He heard a voice, a harch and mysterious male voice. It came from the kitchen. Silently, Septimus moved closer to the kitchen. He didn't dare to make a sound. The man's voice was talking to someone, and Septimus could identify the words 'Queenling', 'Apprentice', 'Resurrection', 'The Castle' and 'The Tower'.
Suddenly, Septimus heard a much more familiar voice than the males voice. It was a womans voice. But the voice sounded more soft than usually. Marcia. The voice did belong to Marcia, no question about it. But who was the man? And what did they talk about?
"Marcia?" Septimus said loudly, so that Marcia would hear him this time. "I'm home."
Marcia, who had stood with her back facing Septimus, turned around in shock.
"Septimus," Septimus could tell by the voice that Marcia hadn't been expecting him just yet, "Are you already back?"
"Yeah..." he tried to look behind Marcia and see the mysterious man, but he couldn't see anyone. "You were talking to someone..."
Marcia roled her eyes in a very un-Marcia-ish way.
"No, of course I weren't," she snapped and turned around, "Do you see anyone in here, Septimus?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Haven't you anything else to do?" Marcia hissed. "Don't Marcellus ever give you homework?"
"Marcia." Septimus said in a very calm tune, "I'm beginning to feel worried about you. The whole Castle is."
"But you don't have to be worried." Marcia replied, her voice as cold as ice. "No one has."
Septimus didn't know what to do. He sighed.
"I'm going to bed." he said, then gave Marcia a hug. She didn't answer it and pushed him away from her, as if he was made of dirt.
"Don't touch me." she said, "Just-just go to bed. And I don't want to see you down here anymore today."
Without making a sound, Septimus went to his bedroom. Marcia had felt cold, literally. Really cold, like ice.
07.00 in the morning, someone knocked violently at Janit Maarten's door. It was Nicko Heap who opend it.
"Do I know you?" he asked the man, who stood outside.
"I doubt that." the man answered sharply, "Is this Janit Maartens Boatyard?"
"Yep."
"I want to repair my boat." the man said, "Or, more correctly, I want someone to repair it."
"Well, you'd have to wait for about eight weeks, since there's a queue..."
"I'll pay you three guineas to repair my boat as quick as possible."
"Three guineas?!" Nicko gasped.
"Okay, four." the man said reluctantly. "But only four."
"Sir, I really got to talk to Janit about this." Nicko replied. The man tapped his fot on the floor.
"I'm waiting."
Nicko went and told Janit about the man. At once, she went to the hall where the man was.
"You wanted to have a boat repaired..." Janit said, eyeing the man up and down. The man wore a darke-blue tunic. Around his neck, there was a... dogcollar looking necklace with a fish ingraved. The fish balanced a ball of glass, that seemed to be filled with greyish fog, on it's head. His eyes were green, but Janit believed that there was something yellow in them.
"Yes, ma'am." the man replied, "And I'm willing to pay some extra if she's done at the end of the week."
Janit frowned. "I'm not sure if I can fix it until the end of the week... "
"Four guineas, ma'am, if it's done at saturday." the man said, "It's not any huge damage, it's just the mast."
"Very well, then." Janit sighed. "What kind of boat is it?"
"A Cutter." the man replied.
"And the damage is..?" Janit asked.
"A large hole in the mast." the man answered.
"Your name is?"
"Raphael Harowitz, ma'am."
The grass felt so soft under her bare feet, and Marcia loved it. Not caring about that her white, long dress would get dirty, she sat down.
"What's cookin', good lookin'?" a voice, a man's voice, said. Marcia's heart stopped.
"R... Ra..." the words stuck in her throat. "Raphael?"
"Yup." Raphael replied. "That's my name."
Marcia rose up and turned around. She couldn't see him anywhere. Of course I can't see him, she thought to herself, it's only a dream.
"It's not a dream." Raphael- or, more correctly, his voice- said.
"What is it then?" Marcia asked irritably.
"An illusion." Raphael answered. "Marcia, close your eyes."
"Why?"
"Just close your eyes."
Marcia did infact listen, and closed her eyes. She knew that something happend, she could feel it in the air. But she couldn't feel what.
"Open your eyes." Raphael said and Marcia opend her eyes. She shurgged backwards, the dream had suddenly turned into a nightmare. Infront of her, there was a horrable monster. The first thing she really noticed was it's huge, red eyes and a big mouth with huge, yellow teeth. Then she noticed the green scales that covered the beasts entire body. And it had a huge mane with sharp, nail-lookinh hairs.
"Please, don't be scared..." the beast begged with a strained voice.
"Who... What are you?" Marcia asked.
"It's me, Raphael." the beast replied.
"No." Marcia said lowly, "You're not."
"Try me." it answerd with it's hissing voice, "Ask me something, that only you and I- Raphael- knows."
Marcia thought for a while. "What was the goal of his life?" she asked.
"Was?" the beast wondered.
"He's dead." Marcia said coldly, "He drowned."
"What? No!" the beast howled, "I'm not dead!"
"Appereantly, you're not Raphael." Marcia replied, "Or not the Raphael I knew."
"Maybe I've changed... a little," the beast said, "But I'm still Raphael. Raphael Harowitz."
Marcia shook her head.
"I-"
"I'll show you!" the beast continude, and stretched out his hand towards Marcia. "Wait..."
But before his hand touched her, the dream flourished. And Marcia sat up in her bed, covered in sweat.
(A/N Was it good? Do you want me to continue? Too late, haha! (Just kidding the next chapter will be up soon). No, I haven't put Odale Overstrand down, I really haven't. Seriousley, I haven't! Don't look at me like that! Klartslut, varulvstjut (that was... swedish))
