This story is one of the three I wrote without really thinking like 5 or 6 months before. I wrote 1 chapter of it, which I dropped because of the lack of motivation, and then I found it again and decided to improve it when I watched once again the Disney Beauty and the Beast (my favorite one!). This fanfiction is based on three stories of Beauty and the Beast: the Disney, the Jean Cocteau one and the 2014 French version (which I disliked, but I only kept one idea of it so the story would make sense). This story will not follow the plots point per point, it only will be based on these movies.

I don't think this story is going to be a long one, it will last less than 10 chapters. This first chapter is very short, because it is just a prologue, but the next ones are going to be longer.

I wish you a good reading with this story.

Chapter 1

Flora opened her eyes and took a look around her. Her husband was lying next to her with one of his arms around her waist to keep her against his chest. They both were lying on their double luxurious mattress surrounded with net curtains to part them from their servants' eyes; their servants who often came in without being heard. Every day they woke up in this position, and every day she realized the same things: She could not believe they had been married for ten years without seeing her feelings decline.

He was sleeping so soundly that she did not want to wake him up by getting out of their bed. She just lay next to him again and stared at him. His long black hair was falling all over his pale face; for some, this was only casual bed-head, but for Flora, this was attractive. She loved him so much that words still could not describe it.

When he opened his eyes after she finally decided to place his bangs away from his face, everything started to blacken around her, moving so fast that this made her feel dizzy…

"Flora!" The brunette felt like being shaken in her somnolence. She hadn't been sleeping for days; the storm had been too strong for her to, but she knew she needed at least to rest to be able to collect wood for the next day. Miele was still too young to endure this chore; and her poor father, Rollos, had turned to be too weak for that.

Flora and Miele were the daughters of Rollos, a farmer who had always lived in rural nature before moving; and Alyssa, a middle-class dressmaker woman who had spent all her life in the city. When she was only 15 years-old, Flora loved to hear her father telling her about his love-life with her mother; she felt like their romance was a wonderful as the ones she used to read on her books. And only God knew how Flora loved her romance novels. When she had free time, Flora took one random book from their bookcase and sat on the floor of her room to read, from one to three hours, before going out to join her parents, still with the book on her hands to finish it.

From what her father had told her, Flora knew that they had met thanks to her grandmother who had taken Rollos under her wing around two decades before due to his financial problems. It had been love at first sight, and Alyssa decided Rollos was the only man she wanted to get married to, and thankfully for them, their parents agreed immediately.

Flora was born three years after. Their happiness, was how Rollos always described this moment:

"Look, Rollos." Alyssa had said when the little baby girl had been placed onto her arms. "Your little girl."

"Our little girl." Rollos had corrected her while hugging the two girls in his arms. "Our little girl. Our happiness."

Ten years later, Miele came in their world too. Flora was eleven at that time, and had never felt happier. She did not have many friends, except their neighbors' daughter, Layla. She did not see her much, except at school. During their free time, Layla helped her father with his work, and did not have time to play with her. Having a little sister was fantastic, and as time had passed by, Miele had grown up as a very exited yet adorable little girl. Flora felt happy. At that time.

Her parents' union had lasted until recently; until … the end. Unfortunately, the peaceful and happy life the four were spending before had not lasted for much longer after Flora passed her 21. Alyssa had suffered from health troubles for her entire life, and they never had managed to gather enough money to pay the doctors and the medicines she needed to get cured, despite Flora's and Miele's help: the two girls were going into their neighbors' houses and making everyday tasks to gain allowance. But it needed time to gather enough money, and time did not cure her poor mother.

The three of them had been living on a small farm on the countryside of Linfea since Alyssa's death at the beginning of the year. They couldn't afford the rent for their house in the city anymore, it was way too expensive. This farm was very badly isolated: its walls were very thin, too thin, the roof threatened to collapse at any time because of the snow, and the windows could barely stay closed when a single gust of wind would blast. It hadn't been a problem during summer; it had been a very hot yet pleasant one after all, and the family spent their entire days outside, taking care of their garden together (Rollos's sake came first to Flora). But three weeks before, a snow storm had started hitting the country, and troubles had stared to occur. The fire they tried to light on never lasted for long, so they needed constant sources of wood. Flora had taken this matter into her own hands and got out of the home every day to gather wood despite the snow height on the floor reaching her horse's knees. She felt exhausted, but she could not let her father nor her sister endanger themselves with this. She loved them way too much for that; they were the only things she had left in her life since her mother passed away. If this problem had emerged before, the brunette knew her father would never have let her go out and get in danger, but Flora knew her father had lost much after Alyssa's death. He still had managed to stand up for his daughters' sake, despite his growing age. Flora could not abandon him.

"Flora!" This was definitely Miele's voice. Fully opening her eyes, she encountered her sister's green ones. But they were not the excited and happy ones she had grown accustomed to. They were full of tears: something was definitely wrong.

"Miele? What's going on, sweetie?" Flora quickly took her small covers off her to hold her sister in her arms.

"I-it's daddy…" Miele sobbed heavily. "H-he's not moving!"

"Daddy!" Flora screamed as she climbed off in a run; almost falling headfirst on the stairs. She rushed towards the chair Rollos was resting on, near the fire. He was not awake, but his head was falling on his right side; with his mouth slightly opened, his normally pale face was way paler than usual. And Flora felt her heart starting to beat faster and faster, as she was praying that her worst nightmare had not turned true.

No… Please no…

When she finally reached him, she immediately checked if he was alive. His quick breathing gave her an answer.

"He's alive!" A reassured Flora exclaimed as she held her father in her arms. "Thank god…"

"B-But why is he pale like this?!" Miele said as she grabbed Flora's sleeve with her small fist. The poor little girl did not deserve to feel so anxious… she was too young!

"He's cold." Flora realized. Turning around, she could not see their stock of wood from where she was. "How many logs do we have left?"

Her sister moved to look at the spot next to their chimney, where they hid the wood in order to protect it from the cold. "T-three."

"It won't be enough…" Flora gasped when she realized this as she rubbed her face with her hand in distress. It won't be enough…

"O-oh no…" Miele fell on her knees when she heard this. Flora took a look at Miele who had started crying harder. No, she was not going to let this situation getting worse. She knew very well that it was going to be hard, but she couldn't stay here with her arms crossed.

"Don't worry honey." Flora grabbed her sister's shoulders. "I'll go and get some."

"Now?!" Miele stood up in one jump and grabbed her sister's legs. She had stopped crying, but she seemed way more anxious than before. "But it's past midnight! And look at all this snow!"

"Sweetie, listen. I have to help daddy. Get him some covers upstairs and check on the fire." Flora knelt in front of her sister to keep eyes contact with her, despite her lowered head. "Promise me, okay?"

Miele didn't reply at first, but after Flora's urging, she finally nodded her head weakly, so weakly that Flora almost missed it. "Good girl." Flora smiled and hugged her before kissing her forehead, and doing the same on her father's temple. She ran outside to their stable after grabbing her most thick cape, in which she found Diana, her white horse, a gift she received from her maternal grandmother. Flora felt bad for using Diana each time she needed to go to the forest, but the horse did not seem to protest each time she was asked for help. Sometimes Flora wished she could understand and talk horse language, to apologize. But now what not the time, Rollos needed warmth to get better. As if Diana felt her fear, she leaned down to help the brunette climbing onto her.

Flora tightened the rope which was holding the logs and placed them on each side of the saddle while trying to protect herself from the cold under her cape. The falling snow and the wind did not help her with her task, but thankfully, Diana was very kind and calm, and did not move –but she might be suffering way more than Flora-. The brunette climbed back on the horse's back, who had started to cough, and whispered on her ear "Don't worry, we're heading back."

The two rode for a couples of minutes, but when they found a spot in which the snow did not hit them, Flora decided to rest here for a few moments, so Diana could breathe for a moment. The brunette climbed off the horse and put her waist-length hair on her back once again and wiped away –as best as possible- the snow off her face. Her hands, cheeks and ears were burning her, but she couldn't wait for this pain to cool down. Looking up, she realized something. Something she wished she would never have to realize.

Flora did not recognize anything around them. There was a huge path covered with brambles in front of them, the forest was incomparably thicker than around her house. Usually, when she got out of her home to reach the forest, she had time to follow her footprints to find her way back. But it was snowing way too heavily for her to find them back, and Diana's hoof prints had already disappeared. She couldn't believe it.

They were lost.

"Diana… Where are we?" Flora asked but did not wait for any answer. She just needed to ask, wishing it would help her calm down; but it didn't. Except from the wind, there was no sound or noise to be heard.

"No… No please…" Flora whispered and begged to herself… the weather was such cold that it was becoming dangerous. No for her only, but for her father too. At home, they were lacking wood, and she could not let her father becoming sick. She had to find her way back as soon as possible. "We have to go back!"

She tried to ask Diana to turn around, but the white horse did not listen. Flora climbed on Diana again and asked her to retrace their steps, but this did not turn as Flora wanted. Diana coughed, and started tapping her hoofs on the snow, and did not keep steady on her position. She was turning on every direction, Flora could feel even with the saddle that she was trembling, and the brunette could not manage to calm her down. The horse started to bray without any explanation.

Flora understood why when she felt a huge headache suddenly hitting her. Everything started to move around her, so fast that she felt she was fainting when she closed her eyes, for what felt like half a second. When she finally managed to open them again, she was lying on the floor with Diana giving her small thumps with her head to wake her up. Flora lifted her head up, despite the headache, and took a look at what surrounded her: everything was entirely different. It was not nighttime anymore -sunrays could be spotted throughout the black clouds- and the forest which stood before her had disappeared.

Just like the snow.

Just like the path of bramble.

Like I said before, the next chapter will be longer than this one, don't worry. And don't worry, I will not drop Her Red Rose, this is just a sort of side story. Anyway, I hope you liked this first chapter.