Hi everyone, quick disclaimer I do not own Beauty and the Beast. This is my first one and I hope you like it and tell me what you think. Thank you.
The Budding Rose
My name is Julian, but most people know me as The Beast. Everyone thinks that they know my story, but they don't know the WHOLE story- what actually happened.
First, let me tell you that there was no good fairy that I mistreated upon first meeting or an enchanted flower that reminded me how much time I had remaining to trick a girl into falling in love with me, or even some all-purpose, "good moral lesson" that I needed to learn. Also, Belle, my fiance, doesn't appreciate that someone made it seem like she fell in love with me, a stranger, just because I have a kingdom. She also hates the rumors that I was a beastly and desperately poor man that was shallow enough to try and trick ANY girl into loving me. She is very protective of me and of our relationship; it's been that way since we were kids. We've been looking out for each other and have been practically inseparable for years. It wasn't until a few weeks after my seventeenth birthday when these rumors began and my life became a living hell.
It all began when my old caretaker, Russ, decided that I was too much. Admittedly, I was quite the handful, but for an old man, I thought he had a firm grip on me. About a month before my birthday, Russ's knee gave out, and he told my parents to start looking for his replacement. On the morning after my birthday celebration, my mother, the queen, left to pick up a new caretaker, a women that all of her colleagues had raved about. According to the other nobility, my new caretaker was incredibly thoughtful and talented in her work with children. She was said to have been the one who singlehandedly raised the neighboring sultan's four sons into well-respected, knowledgeable, and generous kings. My mother always wanted what was best for me—even if she was sometimes be a little too overbearing- more so than that was mother. If only she knew who she was really letting into the palace.
While my mother was picking up my new caretaker, I asked Belle to meet me in the garden next to the path of acacia blossoms (concealed love, chaste love). You see, Belle and I love flowers and the language they speak. We often use them to talk to each other when I'm trapped in a room for lessons with one of my tutors. She would always send me bells of Ireland for good luck and crocus for cheerfulness. This was our secret language that only we use and understand. It was here, next to the path of acacia blossoms (concealed love, chaste love), that I gave her a bouquet of red tulips (declaration of love), arbutus (thee only do I love), orchids (beautiful lady), daffodils (you're the only one, the sun is always shining when i'm with you) and asked her if she would marry me. She smiled and pulled out an ambrosia (your love is reciprocated) and then a solid color carnation (yes).
Belle and I spent the rest of the morning together until it was time to separate to share the news with our parents. By the time I made it back to the palace, mother had just arrived with Zira, a woman barely in her twenties charged with being my new caretaker. I was immediately ordered to give her the tour of the palace and let her know where I was in my studies. Through our whole first encounter, she always seemed to find a reason to touch. Her hand was always placed on my arm. It made me quite uncomfortable and even more so when I caught sight of a begonia (beware) among a group of monkshood (a deadly foe is near). She stopped walking and stepped close to me with her hands on my chest and said that she had taken a strong liking to me. She hoped that we get would along well together as lessons proceeded. After turning down her advances for the rest of the afternoon I decided to inform everyone of Belle's and my engagement during supper. My parent's were ecstatic while Zira didn't say anything except a "congratulations" before we all retired for the night. Despite her silence, I knew she was abhorrent at the announcement. I did not sleep well that night.
By morning, all of the palace walls were covered in black vines such that no source of light could penetrate. Moreover, there were statues everywhere. I hoped that Zira had simply been redecorating; however, when I looked closer at one of the statues placed in the common room, I recognized it to be none other than Dan, one of the servant's from the kitchen. In that moment, I realized that all of these statues were once the very staff that helped to run the palace but were now motionless and silent, having been completely turned to stone.
I heard the doors open behind me, and I practically jumped out of my skin as I turned to only see Zira standing in the doorway. Her face was that of indifference and she said, "Now that there is no one who can get in the way, let us get comfortable, hmm?" She advanced towards me with a look of determination that I had never seen before, and I had to push her off me. I told her that after a quick talk with my parents, she would be banished from the kingdom, any attempt to return met with the fate of stone that she had cast upon others. She responded, "Since you can't seem to pick the right choice of bride, you will be cursed to exist in a form resembling a humanoid wolf." Immediately my core filled with abominable rage, and I was barely able to abstain from tearing everything within my reach. Looking down at my hairy paws, I knew my life had been changed forever.
At this point, many reading my story are likely confused. This is not tale of my imprisonment and curse that most know. They only know Hoyett's version. As the saying goes, it's all about the power of the press. Hoyett, being the right hand man to the local newspaper editor, refused to believe my description of Zira's heinous ways. He could not imagine that she was at fault for what happened and thought me to be the one to have mistreated her. Hoyett was always one to fall for a pretty face, and Zira certainly was beautiful. He assumed that I must have played some role in bringing the palace accurse; it must have been a punishment for my behavior. While I'm not sure who elevated Zira to the title of a "good fairy," the rest was all Hoyett and his creative imagination. I suppose with this clarification provided, we should return to the story….
After the curse of Zira, my every moment was filled with raging violence. Every moment was about gaining control and finding some peace, hard attributes to acquire for a man-turned-beast. Without an ability to control myself, I knew it would never be safe for people to be around me. I had to distance myself from Belle for weeks to ensure that I wouldn't unwittingly hurt her. All we could do was exchange messages through flowers, cutting through the cave tunnels and through hidden garden entrances to leave each other gifts by our favorite secret location, the waterfall. Since all of the other exits to the palace were sealed or heavily guarded by Zira's "pets," it was the only way to get in and out of the palace unseen.
Despite my best efforts, I struggled to gain self-control. I could no longer find peace in anything that would usually sooth me. As a result, I tried hard to avoid Belle for her safety. She, however, was less concerned. One afternoon, I lingered in our favorite spot, thinking she had already gone. Suddenly, I felt her hug me from the side. With one touch from Belle, I found peace. It was in that moment that I was still; it was in that moment that I was at peace. I'm still not sure how she knew that it was me, that I was the beast, but she claims that women always know everything. After our embrace, I explained everything to her, and she moved closer to kiss my muzzle, she didn't even flinch when i held her close to me, she even encouraged it.
After four months of meeting Belle in secret, I knew that I needed to regain control of the palace and of my life. While I knew in the moment what I needed to do, I do not remember many of the specifics. I just let my beastly instincts take the lead in destroying Zira's pets. I knew it was necessary to save myself and to protect Belle. With all of my commotion Belle, who was in on the plan, managed to hit Zira with an arrow covered with a poison mixed with dill (powerful against evil) to help fight her magic. As Zira was dying, she cast her last curse on me. She wished me dead, screaming that if she couldn't have me then no one could. I instantly dropped to the ground. I was barely conscious as Belle was fed me acorns (Nordic symbol of life and immortality) along with some healing herbs and the petals from a red rose (passion and love) just before everything went dark completely.
I awoke three days later with Hoyett, the editor of the press's second hand man, asking me ending questions. Though Belle, my parents, and I told him everything that had happened, he seemed sceptical about the whole thing. He didn't believe it to be the truth, so he went off with his own version of the incident that everyone knows today as "The Beauty and The Beast." We pressed charges and, even though in my town truth came out about the Hoyett's article being a lie, the story had already grown beyond my kingdom; it had become too big to correct. Everyone passed along Hoyett's version, so the truth has yet to be widely known. So, this is it; this is what really happened.
I know that my story is not what you expected to hear and that you hoped that it was all just to teach me some manners, but Hoyett sugar-coated my history and placed blame on me. I wanted—no, needed—everyone to know the truth. I need people to know, so my family can heal from the ordeal and hopefully rest peacefully with no nightmares to deprive us of peace.
AN:) SO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK THANK YOU.