Angel and the Beast
Chapter 3: The Exchange/Gaston
They rode over a great distance until they reached the forest where Philippe lost Maurice. They noticed his footprints and followed them. The footprints led them to an abandoned castle. Belle looked up at the tall building and asked, "What is this place?" Philippe snorted and started to turn away. "No," said Belle, yanking the reins back, "he might be here." She dismounted and pushed open the iron gates. Immediately, she found Maurice's hat on the ground. She looked up the castle and said, "Papa."
Meanwhile, Lumiere and Cogsworth were talking about what happened to Maurice. "Couldn't keep quiet, could we?" said Cogsworth, "you just had to invite him in. 'Serve him tea, sit in the master's chair, pet the pooch'." Lumiere shrugged, "I was trying to hospitable." Little did they know that Belle had just opened the door to the castle and walked in. "Hello? Is anyone here? Papa? Are you here?"
However, one person did notice Belle's entrance. Chip saw her come in and rushed off to tell her mother. She hopped over to Mrs. Potts who was taking care of the dishes. "Mama! There's a girl in the castle!" cried Chip. "Now Chip," said Mrs. Potts crossly, "I'll not here you making up such wild stories." "But I really saw her," said Chip. "Not another word," said Mrs. Potts, "into the tub." Before Chip could protest, Mrs. Potts scooped her up with her spout and dumped her into the washtub. Suddenly a feather duster named Fifi, who was the head of the maids, came in and said, "Mrs. Potts, I saw a girl in the castle!" Chip popped up and said, "See? I told you."
Cogsworth was still berating Lumiere, "Irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy-eared, slack-jawed," Lumiere was mocking him behind his back by flipping his hand-candle up and down. Suddenly they both heard a voice call, "Papa?" They turned around to see Belle walk past the doorway. "Did you see that?" asked Lumiere. The candlestick and clock hopped down from the table and went to the doorway. They peeked past and Lumiere said, "It's a girl!" "I know it's a girl," said Cogsworth. "Don't you see?" said Lumiere excitedly, "she's the one! The girl we've all been waiting for! She has come to break the spell!" Lumiere started hopping off after her. "Wait a minute!" cried Cogsworth.
"Papa?" called Belle again. "She must mean the old man," whispered Cogsworth. Fortunately, they were right next to the door to the dungeon tower. Lumiere and Cogsworth pushed the door open and went inside. Belle heard the creaking of the door and turned around. "Papa?" she said. Cogsworth hid behind the door while Lumiere hopped up the stairs. Belle went through the doorway and asked, "Is someone here?" She didn't see Cogsworth, but she noticed the glow of Lumiere's candles. "Wait!" cried Belle as she hurried up the stairs, "I'm looking for my father." She went up the flight of stairs that came to an end to a dungeon. She looked around and saw nothing but barred doors, gargoyle torch-holders, and a dragon-like candelabrum. "That's funny," she muttered, "I was sure there was someone here. Is anyone here?" Suddenly she heard a voice say, "Belle?" "Papa!" she cried and ran over to the door Maurice's voice came from. She grabbed the only lit torch and knelt by the barred window. "H-how did you find me?" asked Maurice. She felt Maurice's hands through the bars as he started coughing. "Oh, your hands are like ice. I have to get you out of here." "Belle," said Maurice, "I need you to leave this place." "Who's done this to you?" asked Belle. "No time for explaining. You must go now!" "I won't leave you!"
Suddenly Belle felt strong claws grab her cloak and spun her about? "What are you doing here?" growled a deep voice. "Run Belle!" cried Maurice. The force of the grabbing caused Belle to drop the torch into a puddle of water, plunging the dungeon into darkness. The only sources of illumination were the candlestick and a window letting moonlight in. "Who's there?" asked Belle, "who are you?" "The master of this castle," growled the voice. She could only see four eyes of red, green, and blue. "I've come for my father," said Belle, "please let him out. Can't you see he's sick?" "Then he shouldn't have trespassed here!" snarled the voice. "But he could die! Please, I'll do anything." "There's nothing you can do," said the voice, "he's my prisoner."
Belle thought quickly, 'There must be something I can do.' With a moment of inspiration, she called, "Wait!" The castle's owner, paused, the four eyes looking back at her. Belle hesitated and moved forward, allowing the moonlight to fall on her. "Take me instead." "You?!" snarled the master. But now that he could see her clearly, he could tell it was indeed a girl, and a beautiful one at that. The eyes blinked and Belle saw the colors had rearranged with green on the bottom and blue and red on the top. "You would, take his place?" "Belle! No!" cried Maurice, "You don't know what you are doing!" "If I did," said Belle, "would you let him go?" "Yes," said the master, "but you must promise to stay here forever." Belle hesitated, considering the possibilities. What was she getting herself into? "Come into the light," she said.
Slowly there was a shuffling sound and a large foot appeared followed by another. They had claws all around them. The legs continued up to tattered pants. Then more light fell down and Belle could see a long tail coming from the back. A bare torso had a red cape on it. The skin was grey and there was a small screen in the middle. Then Belle saw the arms, long like a gorilla's that ended in four-clawed hands. The thumb was like half of a crab's claws, the pointer was a tentacle with small suction cups, and the outer two were long and skinny. Belle's eyes widened as she finally saw the head. It was like a crocodile's but with a mass of tentacle-like antennas on top for hair. She could see that it had two sets of teeth; a set of fangs in front and molars in the back. The four eyes looked down on her from at least seven feet up.
Belle gasped and backed away. "No, Belle" cried Maurice, "I will not let you do this." Belle couldn't possibly give herself over to that, that thing. She would throw away her freedom, her dreams, everything she had hoped for. But if she didn't, Maurice would rot in this dungeon. She stepped back into the light and looked back at the Beast. With funerary air, she said, "You have my word." "Done!" said the Beast and as he walked over to unlock Maurice's door, Belle fell to her knees. Maurice rushed to her and said, "Do not do this, Belle! I am old. I have lived life!" Suddenly the Beast grabbed Maurice by his cloak and dragged him off. "Wait!" cried Belle. "Belle!" called Maurice. "Wait!" The Beast dragged Maurice out the front door of the castle and over to a wheel-less carriage. "Please," begged Maurice, "spare my daughter." "She's no longer your concern!" said the Beast and threw him into the carriage. He closed the door and said, "Take him to the village." The carriage's axles bent and the carriage got up on them like spidery legs. Against Maurice's protests, the carriage carried him out the gate and into the forest. Belle watched them go from the window and started to cry.
As the Beast was walking back up the stairs in the tower, Lumiere ventured to say, "Uh, master?" "What?" said the Beast. "Er, since the girl will be with us for some time, perhaps it would be wise to give her a more comfortable room." The Beast gave a growl that nearly blew out Lumiere's candle and walked on past. "Then again, maybe not." The Beast walked back to the room where Belle was weeping in. "You didn't let me say goodbye," said Belle, "now I'll never see him again. I didn't get to say goodbye." The Beast rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably and said, "I'll, uh, show you to your room." "My room?" asked Belle looking up, "but I thought," The Beast gave her a skeptical look and said, "You want to stay in the tower?" "No." "Then follow me."
The Beast led the way, holding Lumiere up for light. Belle followed behind, careful not to step on the Beast's tail. They passed through several corridors that had statues of terrible-looking creatures that Belle could never have imagined. The Beast looked back to see if she was still there. She was, but silent tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Say something to her," whispered Lumiere. "What? Oh." He looked over his shoulder and said to Belle, "I, uh, hope you like it here." When Belle didn't respond, Lumiere waved his arms in a 'keep going' motion. The Beast continued, "The castle is your home now, so you go anywhere you like… except the west wing." "Why?" asked Belle, "what's in the west-" "It's forbidden!" snarled the Beast, his bottom eyes returning to red.
He showed Belle to a bedroom where a canopy bed stood, along with a vanity table and a large wardrobe. As Belle walked in, the Beast said, "Now if you need anything, my servants will attend to you." Belle shuddered, trying to imagine what horrible creatures would work for that Beast. "Dinner, invite her to dinner," whispered Lumiere. "You will join me for dinner. That's not a request!" said the Beast and he slammed the door shut. Belle gasped and threw herself on the bed, where she started weeping without hindrance.
Meanwhile, at the tavern in town, Gaston was still fuming at Belle ditching at the altar, in a manner of speaking. "Who does she think she is?" he growled, "That girl has tangled with the wrong man! No one says 'no' to Gaston!" "Darn right," said Le Fou, bringing over two pints of root beer. Gaston grabbed the pints and growled, "Dismissed, rejected, publicly humiliated! Why, that's more than I can bear," and threw the pints into the fireplace. "Er, more root beer?" asked Le Fou. "What for?" sighed Gaston, "nothing helps. I'm disgraced." "Who, you?" said Le Fou, "Never! Gaston, you've got to pull yourself together."
Le Fou: Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gaston
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston
Even when taking your lumps
There's no man in town as admired as you
You're everyone's favorite guy
Everyone's awed and inspired by you
And it's not very hard to see why
No one's slick as Gaston
No one's quick as Gaston
No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaston
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon
You can ask any Tom, Dick or Stanley
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on
Chorus: No one's been like Gaston
A king pin like Gaston
Le Fou: No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston
Gaston: As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating
Chorus: My what a guy, that Gaston
Give five "hurrahs!"
Give twelve "hip-hips!"
Le Fou: Gaston is the best
And the rest is all drips
Chorus: No one fights like Gaston
Dose his lights like Gaston
Cronie: In a wrestling match nobody bites like Gaston
Bimbettes: For there's no one as burly and brawny
Gaston: As you see I've got biceps to spare
Le Fou: Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
Gaston: (That's right!)
And every last inch of me's covered with hair
Cronies: No one hits like Gaston
Townsman: Matches wits like Gaston
Le Fou: In a spitting match nobody spits like Gaston
Gaston: I'm especially good at expectorating
(Ptooey!)
Chorus: Ten points for Gaston!
Gaston: When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs
Every morning to help me get large
And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs
So I'm roughly the size of a barge
Chorus: No one shoots like Gaston
Makes those beauts like Gaston
Le Fou: Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston
Gaston: I use antlers in all of my decorating
Chorus: Say it again
Who's a man among men?
And then say it once more
Who's the hero next door?
Who's a super success?
Don't you know? Can't you guess?
Ask his fans and his five hangers-on
There's just one guy in town who's got all of it down
Le Fou: And his name's G-A-S- T -
G-A-S-T - E -
G-A-S-T-O - d'oh!
Chorus: Gaston
Suddenly the doors to the tavern swung open and Maurice came inside. "Help! Someone help me!" "Maurice?" questioned the tavern keeper. "Please! Please, I am needing your help," cried Maurice, "he's got her – he has her locked up in dungeon!" "Who?" asked Le Fou. "Belle! We must be going. No minutes to be losing!" "Whoa, whoa, slow down Maurice," said Gaston, "who's got Belle locked up in a dungeon?" "A beast!" cried Maurice, "a horrible, monstrous beast!"
Several of the people there snickered under their breaths. "Is it a big beast?" asked one of the drinkers. "Huge!" said Maurice. "With a long ugly snout?" "Hideously ugly!" "And sharp cruel fangs?" "Yes! Yes! Will you be helping me?" Gaston grinned, signaled to two of the drinkers, and said, "All right, old man. We'll help you out." "You will?" asked Maurice as the drinkers dragged him towards the door. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Suddenly Maurice was pitched out the door and into a snow bank. "Crazy old Maurice," chuckled the tavern keeper, "he's always good for a laugh." Gaston suddenly turned thoughtful, "Crazy old Maurice, hmm? Crazy old Maurice, hmm."
Gaston: Le Fou, I'm afraid I've been thinking
Le Fou: A dangerous pastime
Gaston: I know
But that whacky old coot is Belle's father
And his sanity's only "so-so"
Now the wheels in my head have been turning
Since I looked at that loony, old man
See, I've promised myself I'd be married to Belle
And right now I'm evolving a plan
If I . . . (whisper)
Le Fou: Yes?
Gaston: Then we . . . (whisper)
Le Fou: No! Would she . . .
Gaston: (whisper) Guess!
Le Fou: Now I get it!
Both: Let's go!
No one plots like Gaston
Gaston: Takes cheap shots like Gaston
Le Fou: Plans to persecute harmless crackpots like Gaston
Chorus: So his marriage we soon'll be celebrating
My, what a guy!
Gaston
Outside, Maurice wandered around, saying, "Will no one help me?"
There's another chapter. You know, in retrospect, I guess I could have casted Clink as the carriage. Oh well. Here's a trivia fact: most of the statues seen in the castle are original designs for the Beast. Speaking of which, in this story, EnigMorph looks like his deviantART picture except with two legs, no dorsal spikes, and a second aye-aye finger on the outside part of each hand. This story should update in another 3 days, which would be the 10th. Make sure you check in out then and review while you wait.