A Done Deal

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Once upon a time in a land you may have heard of had you listened to the fairy tales your parents read to you, or the wild stories of the quiet child in your class who has wished upon wishes to be a prince and to save the princess, there was a war. And of course as far as beginnings go such a one is neither particularly original nor exciting it remains, nonetheless, true.

A war waged here between men and monsters, between mortals and ogres, and it was not going very well for the side of the men. True and pure the men were dying, they were losing and failing, unable to protect the children they sent to the front or the wives they hid in their homes.

The lord was tired and worried, he had called his last resort for help and offered all the riches he owned but to no avail. His final plea had fallen to the wind and upon deaf ears. The Dark One was not coming.

'He could be on his way right now, papa.' The lord's daughter seized his hand and pulled, he looked into her earnest eyes and saw what he had lost, a flicker of hope.

'It's too late, my girl,' he said. 'It's just - too late.'

But the lord was incorrect for at the utterance of his sentences final word, the mighty oak doors of the room, barred from the inside so as to be entirely unyielding, shook with the force of two blows. A madman's horrendous knock.

The Lady, his daughter, looked up and scrambled to her feet. 'It's him,' she cried. 'It has to be him.'

The lord walked with his dear daughter to stand before the doors. 'How could he get past the walls.' He waved a hand at the guards. 'Open it.'

But, as is the way, there was nothing and no-one there. The corridor, marred by boarded up windows and crumbling stone was marked by its emptiness. The lord creased his brow when a voice from behind them spoke: 'Well, that was a bit of a letdown.' And he knew, ah, he knew that the monster he had called had come for them.

The lord and his subjects turned on the beast and found a man, thin, lithe and leather-clad, sitting proud and at home upon the throne.

The creature branded it's hands. 'You sent me a message,' it said. 'Something about 'Help! Help! We're dying, can you save us?' and from the corner of his eye the lord saw his knight draw a sword.

The intruder appeared not to notice, instead it continued to turn the model castle around in its scaled hands. It stood and smiled, batting the sword that was leveled at it away with a flick of the wrist and a simple sentence: 'And now the answer is yes. I can.'

Quick as a flash the creature threw the castle and began to circle the men. 'Yes,' it continued, in tones that the lord knew brooked trouble for all, 'I can protect your little town.' It reached him and his daughter and lowered its voice. 'For a price.'

The lord stood tall and approached the being, 'We sent you a promise of gold,' he said for he had. All the gold that was left in the land he owned he had offered to the sorcerer as recompense, gold, he had found, did not win wars by its own merit.

Now the being he had summoned smiled again, an evil, twisted little thing that was nothing of anything a smile should be. It laughed at the lord and told him, 'Ah, now you see, I - ah - make gold.' And it crossed closer to him. 'Want I want,' it said quietly. 'Is her.' It pointed past the lord to his daughter.

Instantly the knight who had drawn the sword at the intruder threw out a protective arm, pushing the lady to the side and behind him.

'No,' breathed the lord and the knight, Gaston, said: 'The young lady is engaged, to me.'

The creature laughed once again, a demoniacal chortle that echoed its dark plans around the walls. It wandered away, turning its back on the lord and his people. 'I wasn't asking if she was engaged,' it said happily. 'I'm not looking for love.' It turned on them again and smiled, 'I'm looking for a caretaker, for my rather large estate.'

The lord shook his head and the beast smirked further. 'It's her,' it cooed. 'Or no deal.' and it struck a hand through the air in a straight line.

The lord was enraged. 'Get out,' he threatened. 'Leave.' He pointed to the door and the creature made towards it with a muttered 'As you wish.'

But there was one in that room on that blood red evening that saw what the creature offered, with no veil of prejudice or any rose tinted glasses, and with no thought for her own safety the lady moved against her fiances arm. 'No,' she told the creature. 'Wait,' and she walked to stand before it. 'I will go with him.'

In fury Gaston shouted: 'I forbid it!' while the lord murmured a quiet 'No.'

Belle turned on the people she had shared this dank room with, a glint of something dangerous in her eyes. 'Nobody decides my fate but me.' She turned once more to face the man she had come to know her father call the Dark One and nodded. 'I shall go.'

The Dark One smirked at her, lazily, as if for it, deals like this, bartering with lives, happened every day; and told her simply, like it cared for her choices, that 'It's forever, dearie.'

Belle looked at the being through her eyelashes, assessing the situation she found herself in. 'My family, my friends... they will all live?'

The creature bowed with a flourish, 'You have my word.'

Belle tilted her head. 'Then you have mine. I will go with you, forever.'

With an unearthly laugh the creature hopped and clapped. 'Deal,' it cried happily while her father rushed to her side.

'Belle,' said her papa, 'Belle. You cannot do this. You cannot go with this - beast.'

Now the maiden Belle was not weak-willed nor powerless and she knew that it was wrong to judge a book, however tattered and torn, by its cover. She did not think that a beast would even offer to help them, regardless of price.

'Father,' she sighed. 'Gaston. It's been decided.' She felt the creature draw nearer and she looked at it over her shoulder.

'You know,' it said, conversationally. 'She's right. The deal is struck,' and it drew a line in the air again. 'Oh,' it cried, as if it had suddenly remembered something. 'Congratulations on your little war.' It slipped a hand around her waist and lightly pulled, turning her around to walk with him out of her castle, away from her papa. Away from her life.

Lightning cracked the sky as the creature took her hand and smiled. 'Here we go.' And the world dropped away in a haze of red smoke.

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a/n Reviews make my day. Thanks for reading.