Beauty & the Beast Part 1

I do not own Transformers. It belongs to Hasbro. Emerald and my ocs belong to me.

Gather round friends and let us tell you a tale...

Once upon a time, long ago, there a kind and benevolent prince who lived in a beautiful castle. He cared for his people deeply and was fascinated by the natural world. However one day he had the misfortune to come upon a wicked witch in the forest. She despised the young prince's kindness and generosity. She wanted to control his kingdom and rule as a tyrant. She challenged him to a battle. The prince protested saying he did not mean any harm and didn't want any trouble. He tried to walk away but the wicked witch was angered at his refusal. In her rage she cast a spell on the prince changing him into a hideous beast. She claimed he would stay that way forever unless a fair maiden with a pure heart would fall in love with him. And who could ever learn to love a beast?

The Prince, whose name was Hound, was sparkbroken. Some of his friends were repulsed by his appearance and fled from him. Only a few of his friends stayed and learned what had happened. They attempted to find the witch but she was long gone. No one except his few true friends would stay near Hound, even some animals fled in terror at the sight of him. As a result, Hound locked himself up in his castle and never left it's grounds. He was lonely and feared he would be trapped in that horrendous shape forever. No one could possibly love him now. Or so he thought. And here our story begins...

BONG! BONG!

"Ugh... Oh be quiet bells!" Emerald muttered as the bells in the village's clock tower began to ring. She was not a morning person and it took awhile for her to fully get the cobwebs out of her processer. Those bells always woke up the whole village every morning to remind everyone it was time to start another day. It was always too early for Emerald. To most of the villagers it was simply a wake-up call that was needed. To Emerald, it was nothing but an annoyance. Eventually she got out of her berth and stretched, finally awake enough to get ready for the day. She washed off in the washrack in her small cottage and it helped lift whatever fog remained in her mind. She dried off and got some energon before grabbing her basket with her things in it and heading out the door.

Emerald had lost her mother when she was very young and when she neared adulthood her father became ill and died soon after. She missed them both very much. However she knew how to take care of herself. She could keep house easily and knew how to watch for danger. She also could fight well if she needed to. Emmy was not the kind of femme to take trouble or disrespect from anyone. She was not afraid to speak her mind which sometimes got her into trouble, since her opinions were not always popular. But she didn't care. She simply walked past the villagers and went to work.

~3~

Emerald worked with younglings at the school in the village. She assisted the teacher anyway she could. The teacher was kind but sometimes had trouble getting all the younglings to behave. Emerald sometimes had to sort out little disputes or get the younglings to pay attention. However the younglings loved Emerald so it never took long to get things calmed down. Today they went outside for a field study to teach the little ones about the plants and trees that grew in the village.

"These are crystal flowers little ones. There are many different kinds and are all quite beautiful. Like this one. It's a wildflower. It grows nearly everywhere. In the woods, the mountains, and even in villages like our village." the teacher, a femme called Starshine said.

"Ooooh." the younglings said curiously. Starshine smiled. Curiosity was always a good thing when it came to learning. Emerald agreed. She was glad the younglings were unspoiled enough to still have open minds when it came the world around them, as many adult bots had prejudiced, closed minds. For you see, most adult bots did not care for wild world or anything that could not be domesticated to serve a "purpose" to bots. Forests were cut down relentlessly for lumber, wild animals were hunted or sometimes captured and locked in cages for nobility to keep as pets. Livestock and domesticated species were treated fairly well, but only because they were tame and served a "purpose" to the bots somehow. Also, only these animals got veterinary care. This sickened Emerald.

It had always been her dream to be a veterinarian and take care of animals. Other bots sneered at her because she also wanted to give the wild animals the same good care the domestic ones received. Also she was a femme and it did not fit the roles femmes were traditionally assigned too. Femmes were not normally assigned to a science field except for robot medical care, femme medics were just as common as mech medics. But that was it. This didn't scare Emerald. "Just you wait. I'll show you one day." She thought to herself. "We'll see who has the last laugh."

"Emmy! Emmy! What's this?" a little femme youngling's voice tugged Emerald from her thoughts. Emerald smiled and walked over to the crystal rose the little one was looking at.

"That's a crystal rose Harmony. It can grow wild or be planted in a garden. They come in all kinds of colors. This one is yellow. Wanna smell it?" Emerald asked her little friend.

"Yes please!"

"Alright." Emerald gently picked up the youngling, placed her on her hip and gently lowered the flower so Harmony could smell it without risking getting pricked by the thorns. She smiled as a little grin bloomed on the femling's face at the flower's scent.

"It smells pretty! Do all flowers smell pretty like this?"

"Not all flowers have a scent harmony, but every flower is unique and beautiful in it's own way, just like bots."

"You're as smart as Miss Starshine Emmy! You should be a scientist or an inventor or something!" Harmony said cheerfully.

Emerald melted a bit at the youngling's praise. Harmony was too little to understand why Emerald was having trouble reaching her dream but it was sweet of her to pay the compliment. "Thank you Harmony. I hope one day I will be."

"We'll still be friends right?" Harmony asked, worrying about not seeing Emerald again.

"Of course Harmony. True friendship never fades. That's what my mother told me. Now let's go see the trees."

"Okay!"

~3~

Later that day near evening, Emerald noticed she was running low on energon berries. She could have easily gotten some more at the market in the morning, but she preferred to pick the ones that grew wild in the woods. The woods were a peaceful haven for Emerald, away from gossipy villagers and near the animals she treasured. She grabbed her cloak and basket an headed out, locking the door to her cottage before she left. As she neared the edge of town and started on the path towards the forest some mechs snickered at her.

"Oh look it's little nature femme."

"She won't last five minutes in there. She needs to stay home where it's safe. Ha ha ha!"

"Shut up you ignorant crankshafts!" She yelled at them, stunning them into silence. A femme had never talked back to them before. She smiled and walked into the woods. "Give me a rough time and you'll have a tough time." she thought to herself. She reached the berry patch soon enough and picked what she needed, never more than that. After all the animals needed them as much as she did. She smiled at the animals watching her. Unlike bots they could not judge or hate. "My kind can learn a lot from them." She thought.

She walked for awhile with the animals to relax and enjoy their company. Soon she came upon a turbo fox that was caught in a hunters trap. She slowly approached the tiny animal and let it sniff her first. Once it was calmer she gently undid the trap and looked over the poor creature. It had a shallow cut on it's leg, so she cleaned it out with water from a clear, nearby stream. She also had some bandages with her so she wrapped the fox's leg to prevent infection. The fox licked her hand in thanks before running home. "You're welcome little one." Emerald whispered.

Suddenly lighting flashed across the sky and rain poured down in buckets. The animals ran for shelter. Emerald began to go back the way she came. But the bridge she came across along the path as flooded and would not be safe to cross. Emerald was frustrated but instead searched around the forest for shelter. However two hours later she had found nothing. Plus she was getting tired and catching cold. "Oh this is just great! I'm tired and wet! Serves me right for not watching the sky!" She scolded herself. Eventually she found a huge wrought iron gate. She had never seen it before. However she was exhausted and her vision began to blur. Before she could call out to someone and ask for shelter her legs gave out and she collapsed. Little did she know someone had seen her fall. Things in Emerald's life were about to get very interesting...

To be continued...