This was requested by Kaylara, who wanted a Beauty And The Beast AU. So Kaylara, and everyone else reading, I hope you enjoy this story.
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired. The prince, however, was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. He had taken the throne when his parents passed away when he was seven. Life as a young king had changed him drastically.
But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away, but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress.
The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.
Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-sixth year. If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.
If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?
The sun rose over the hills that surrounded the small town that sat away from the castle. One house in the town stood out from the rest. It was a normal sized cottage with white stone walls and a red roof. The cottage wasn't far from the village, just a few minutes walk away. Directly behind the house sat a valley with a winding riverbed.
A boy emerged from the front door and walked down the stone steps, down to the dirt path. The boy had pale skin which contrasted with his jet black hair and dark violet eyes. He was dressed in a pair of black pants, a dark violet blouse, a dark grey jacket, and a pair of brown boots. With him, he carried a small brown basket. Inside sat a small pouch of gold coins and a book with a dark blue cover.
The boys' name was Keith, he had lived in the village since he was six. He had moved in with his uncle who was an inventor after his parents had died. Keith wasn't like the others in the village, he stood out from the rest. He never really socialized with anyone, instead, he read books. He read to escape the judgemental world he lived in. Something the townspeople found off and strange. Thus he was labeled as "the outcast".
"Little town
It's a quiet village
Every day
Like the one before"
Keith's boots echoed on the wooden bridge as he crossed over to the stone walkway in the village. It was early and everyone was just starting to wake up and start their day.
"Little town full of little people
Waking up to say"
As if on cue, windows and doors started opening.
"Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!"
Despite being the village outcast, everyone would always say hello to him.
"There goes the baker with his tray like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell"
The baker, named Iverson, passed by a house and a woman ran out with a sack of coins. She was handed a piece of bread and Iverson continued on his way. A man rolling a cart full of pumpkins walked by and tipped his head down to Keith.
"Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor Altean town"
"Good morning, Keith!" Iverson called out with a smile on his face. He stopped outside the bakery and placed his tray down on the ledge.
"Good morning Mr. Iverson," Keith commented and walked up beside the baker.
"Where are you off to?" Iverson asked as he started to pout fresh rolls onto his tray.
"The bookshop! I just finished the most wonderful story, about a beanstalk and an ogre and-" before he could finish, Iverson interrupted. Like he does every morning.
"That's nice...Marie, the baguettes! Hurry up!" Iverson yelled. Keith sighed and continued on his way. He did have other things to do besides going to the bookshop.
"Look, there he goes, that boy is strange, no question
Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?"
Keith paid the man as he placed the vegetables he had bought into his basket. His head somewhere else as he walked in the direction of the bookshop.
"Never part of any crowd
'Cause his head's up on some cloud
No denying he's a funny boy, that Keith"
As a cart passed by, Keith hopped on the back. The cart luckily going the direction he needed it to.
"Bonjour!" the cart driver called out to a woman as he passed by.
"Good day," the woman called back with a smile.
"How is your family?" the cart driver asked, but he was to far to hear her response back.
"Bonjour," a woman said to a meat vendor as she placed a piece of meat into her basket.
"Good day," the man replied back, looking at the woman's chest. The woman noticed his angry wife behind him and rolled her eyes.
"How is your wife?" she asked as his wife hit him in the head with a rolling pin.
"I need six eggs!" a woman exclaimed as she struggled to watch the seven children surrounding her.
"That's too expensive," the vendor commented with a roll of his eyes.
"There must be more than this Altean life!"
Keith jumped off the cart and entered the bookshop with a sigh of relief. The owner, Acxa, greeted him with a smile. Acxa was a tan woman a little older than Keith with short purple hair and purple eyes. She had taken over the bookstore from her father who had passed away.
"Ah, Keith," Acxa said with a smile. She was dressed in a pair of black pants, a purple shirt with elbow length sleeves, two brown belts around her hips, and a pair of brown boots. She also wore gold earrings in her ears. She was one of the few people in the village that treated Keith like he was no different.
"Good morning. I've come to return the book I borrowed," Keith replied with a smile as he handed the book in his basket to Acxa.
"Finished already?" Acxa teased with a smile as she placed the book back on the shelf. Though she knew Keith, he would read books faster than dough rising in the oven.
"Oh, I couldn't put it down!" Keith said as he climbed up the ladder to the top shelf. "Have you got anything new?" he asked as he observed the shelf, a majority of the book on the shelf were ones that he read before.
"Not since yesterday," Acxa replied with a smile.
"That's all right. I'll borrow, this one," Keith said as he pulled out a book with a dark purple cover and handed it to Acxa.
"That one? But you've read it twice!" Acxa exclaimed.
"Well, it's my favourite!" Keith exclaimed as he leaned to one side on the ladder and rolled it down to the other end of the bookshelf. "Far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!"
"Well, if you like it all that much, it's yours!" Acxa said as she placed the book into Keith's basket and walked him to the entrance. Three women who had been staring into the window jumped and went into a "normal" position.
"But Acxa," Keith said in surprise. Acxa shook her head and opened the door of the shop.
"I insist, I won't mind having one less book in the shop," Keith smiled and gave the girl a hug, to which she returned.
"Well thank you. Thank you very much!"
"Look, there he goes
That boy is so peculiar
I wonder if he's feeling well"
Keith jumped through the jumping rope that the children were playing with and waved to a little girl who would always smile at him. The children watched in amazement as Keith, while reading a book, was able to jump through.
"With a dreamy, far-off look"
From above, a woman dumped dirty water into the drain pipe which went down. Keith, still reading, used a sign to block the water and continued on his way. The woman rolling her eyes going back to what she was doing.
"And his nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Keith"
Keith continued on to the fountain, where a woman was washing her laundry. At the same time, a flock of sheep was passing by.
"Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my favorite part because...you'll see"
Two sheep from the flock hopped up beside him, curious as to what the boy was doing. The woman doing her laundry sighed and left, annoyed at the sheep that were surrounding the fountain.
"Here's where she meets Prince Charming"
Keith pointed at the picture in the book, a woman dressed in a beautiful dress, meeting a boy. The prince in disguise. One of the sheep took a bite out of the corner of the page and Keith pulled the book back with a soft glare.
"But she won't discover that it's him till chapter three"
Keith continued on, the shepherd chasing after his sheep who had run away seeing the man approach.
"Now, it's no wonder that he's called the "loner"
Always avoiding conversation"
A woman rolled her eyes as Keith walked past, she pulled the wig she had been trying on off her head and pulled on a purple hat which matched her dress.
"But behind that fair facade
I'm afraid he's rather odd
Very different from the rest of us"
The man who ran the wig shop also watched as Keith walked past. Handing the woman a mirror to look at her reflection.
"He's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, different from the rest of us is Keith"
A flock of geese flew by above. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and one of the geese fell down to the ground. A man dressed in a pair of black pants, a light blue indigo shirt, grey jacket, brown boots, and a brown coat tied with a black bow ran with a brown bag in his hands. He had tanned skin, yellow eyes, and dark blue hair. He pushed through the crowd hoping to catch the bird.
Though the bird ended up falling beside him on the ground instead of in the bag. The man chuckled nervously and tucked it into the bag. He ran back up to another man who was leaning against a wall.
"Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Lotor! You're the greatest hunter in the whole world!" the man exclaimed. Lotor was a tall man with pale skin and white hair that was tied into a ponytail with a single strand of hair loose. He was dressed in a pair of black pants, a grey blouse, dark magenta jacket with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, brown boots, brown gloves, and a brown belt around his waist.
"I know!" Lotor said as he blew the steam off his gun and walked away.
"Huh. No beast alive stands a chance against you...and no girl for that matter!" the man said as he followed Lotor, the bag of geese in his hand and a pack of fire in the other.
"It's true, Varkon, and I've got my sights set on that one!" Lotor said as he pointed to where Keith was helping a woman with a baby pick up her basket.
"The inventor's nephew?" Varkon asked in confusion. Lotor nodded and placed his gun down.
"He's the one! The lucky one I'm going to marry," Lotor said as he eyed the black haired boy up and down.
"But he's-"
"The most beautiful person in town."
"I know-"
"And that makes him the best. And don't I deserve the best?" Lotor asked with a glare which made Varkon shrink back.
"Well, of course, I mean you do, but I mean-"
"Right from the moment when I met him, saw him
I said he's gorgeous and I fell
Here in town there's only he
Who is beautiful as me
So I'm making plans to woo and marry Keith"
Without Lotor knowing, Keith had walked by and continued his way back home. Lotor turned back to where he last saw Keith but saw that he wasn't there. Varkon tapped his shoulder and pointed to where Keith was walking away, reading his book again.
"Look, there he goes
Isn't he dreamy?"
As Lotor walked by, three girls watched as he walked by. Their names were Nyma, Shay, and Florona. Nyma was a lightly tanned girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail and purple eyes. She wore an off the shoulder blue dress with elbow length sleeves, a light blue apron, and black flats. She also wore a blue headband and gold earrings.
Shay was a tanned skin girl with chestnut hair and hazel eyes. She wore an off the shoulder green dress with elbow length sleeves, a light green apron, and black flats. Like Nyma, she wore a green headband in her hair as well.
Florona was a pale girl with magenta hair and pink eyes. She wore a dark magenta off the shoulder dress with elbow length sleeves, a light magenta apron, and black flats. Like her friend, Florona also wore a dark magenta headband in her hair.
"Mister Lotor
Oh, he's so cute
Be still, my heart
I'm hardly breathing
He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute"
Lotor struggled to find Keith through the crowd in the streets. Once he found him, Lotor kept him eyes on him and pushed through the crowd.
"Bonjour!"
"Pardon!"
"Good day!"
"Mais oui!"
"You call this bacon?"
"What lovely grapes!"
"Some cheese!"
"Ten yards!"
"One pound."
"Excuse me!" Lotor said as he bumped into a woman crossing the street.
"I'll get the knife!"
"Please let me through!" Lotor said as he struggled to push through the crowd. Somehow still keeping an eye on Keith.
"This bread!"
"Those fish!"
"It's stale!"
"They smell!"
"Madame's mistaken!"
"There must be more than this altean life"
Keith struggled himself to push through the crowd but breathed a sigh of relief when he did.
"Just watch, I'm going to make Keith my husband!"
The crowd turned to Keith who was continuing to read his book.
"Look, there he goes
A boy who's strange but special
A most peculiar special boy"
Lotor opened the door to a house and closed it behind him, a plan forming to get past the crowd.
"It's a pity and a sin
He doesn't quite fit in
'Cause he really is a funny boy"
Lotor crawled through a window and ended up on the roof of the house. His eyes quickly finding Keith exiting the crowd.
"A special but a funny boy
He really is a funny boy"
Lotor jumped onto another roof and climbed over the edge, landing back on the ground.
"That Keith!"
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
"Bonjour!"
Keith could feel eyes on him and turned around. The crowd quickly going back to their normal routines as if they weren't just watching him a minute ago.
