A/N: If you can't tell, I really like "The Mob Song". It's probably my favourite song from any Disney movie, and I think it's horrendously underrated. I did write all of this bit from memory - which I think is pretty good since I've only seen Beauty and the Beast about three times in my whole life! (Not counting the stage show at WDW, which I've seen countless times, or the number of times I've listened to the song on its own...) Anyway, that's quite beside the point. I am going to continue to upload this since I've written it all anyway, so I hope you enjoy reading the rest of it!
Divine Intervention
By CrimsonStarbird
Part Four, In Which The End Is Sighted
Between Elsie's magical broom and the fact that much of the house was quite literally cleaning itself, it took no time at all for the workers to make the ballroom look brand new again. Their initial task accomplished, but with no less determination, the workers dispersed without being asked around the rest of the castle in order to make the whole place fit once again for a prince and princess. An hour later, led by an exhausted but pleased Elsie, they all reported back to Keima, eagerly awaiting their next tasks.
Against his better judgement, Keima allowed Elsie to go and help prepare the evening's feast in the castle kitchens, silently grateful that he wouldn't be dining with Belle and the Beast that night. Haqua he sent to act as a handmaiden to Belle to help her get ready for the dance, a task which she didn't complain about. He left the care of the Beast to his enthusiastic furniture-servants, and took up a position of thoughtful vigil on the internal balcony overlooking the glittering golden ballroom below, faithfully resuming the playthrough of his game.
Presently he was joined by the two demons and an assortment of animated objects, including a teapot and the candelabra from earlier, none of which he paid any attention to. Elsie and Haqua were chatting amicably about being part of such a glorious spectacle - even though there were only two people actually taking part, it was still like something out of a period drama.
When Belle emerged, stunning in a wonderful golden dress which shone with all the beauty of the rising sun, the atmosphere became truly magical. The two demons watched in amazement as she and the Beast, dressed as smartly as if he were a normal man, began to dance. Quietly, the animated teapot began to sing a touching song for the two of them, capturing the beauty and romance of the sparkling candlelit scene that the demons and the servants had worked so hard to create.
Elsie nudged Keima where he was leaning against the barrier, in an attempt to get him to look up and notice the magical way that the two of them were smiling at each other, but he didn't seem to be interested. He did look up from his glowing PFP screen at one point, only to frown at the dancing pair. "It's not right," he muttered, turning his attention back to the game and refusing to clarify his statement.
The pair danced until the sky outside was a deep indigo, littered with benevolent, sparkling stars. As the candlelight dimmed, courtesy of the animated candelabra, Belle took the Beast's hand and led him out onto the balcony overlooking the castle grounds, and they sat together underneath the romantic sky. All this meant was that the observers could no longer see or hear what was going on.
Haqua turned to Elsie. "This is it! Get ready to capture the loose soul!"
Elsie nodded in agreement, the determination not to let all their hard work go to waste etched into her innocent face. She summoned a tiny detention jar onto the palm of her hand, then she leapt off the balcony and flew down to hover anxiously just out of sight on the other side of the great glass doors.
Yet, as those overlooking the ballroom watched in expectation, those doors flew open and Belle ran out in an obvious hurry, clutching a small silver object to her chest. It almost looked like she was crying.
"What?" Haqua demanded of no one in particular. Her indignant voice rang out over the entire confused scene. "Elsie! Where's the loose soul?" The demon girl shrugged back, eyes wide.
Now Keima began to take an interest, looking up from his game and actually flipping the power switch to 'off'. "He let her go," he mused. Then, without warning, he began to run down the stairs, his sudden movement causing Haqua to shout out crossly. She flew down to reunite with him and Elsie as they emerged out onto the balcony in the chill winter night.
The Beast stood with his back to the trio, looking out over the castle grounds as a cloaked figure on horseback rode away into the night. Haqua was the first to confront him, grabbing his shoulder fearlessly and dragging him round. He stared at her with bleak dull eyes, that were so very human.
"What on earth have you done?" she yelled at him.
He murmured, "I had to... let her go."
"No! You didn't! Do you not understand how important it is that the two of you fall in love tonight-?"
The Beast roared back, "How could I keep her here when her father is sick in the forest?"
Haqua just shook her head. "But things were going so well... why would you just let her go like that?"
The answer was simple and honest; a quiet confession to the night. "Because I love her."
"W-What?" Haqua took a step back. "How is this possible? If you love her, why is the loose soul still inside you?" A mixture of fear and incomprehension crossed her face as she stepped away from him again.
Quietly, Keima asked of his partner demon, "Elsie, when a loose soul gets this strong, is it possible that filling the emptiness in its host's heart isn't enough to remove it? That it is insufficient just to learn to love another, and he must earn their love in return?"
Elsie nodded vigorously. "I've never chased such a powerful loose soul before, but I think so- Kami-nii-sama!" This became a shout of alarm as over his shoulder she spotted the Beast bounding towards him. Keima turned – but he had never had much in the way of athletic ability, and he was far too slow to avoid the danger.
With an ear-splitting roar of "Get out!", the Beast struck him a forceful blow which sent Keima sailing over the railings and straight towards the ground below. "You should never have come here!"
Haqua and Elsie exchanged glances. Neither of them were about to wait around to be the Beast's next target. They ran at the barrier in unison and vaulted over it, dodging the Beast's flailing blow. Gently, they floated down through the dark night as the Beast's heart-wrenching howl of anguish tore through the chill air.
Keima, who did not have the ability to fly like the demons did, had landed face-first in a flowerbed. That was not about to stop him, though, and he had sprung straight back to his feet and was just brushing the mud from his clothes when the demons landed beside him. Elsie tried to check if her partner was alright, but he just pushed her away. There was a vigour in his step and a light in his eyes which she recognized – this was the intense focus and determination that only ever came to Keima when he was nearing the end of a conquest.
Meanwhile, Haqua had turned her wary gaze towards the silhouette of the monstrous Beast on the balcony, as if concerned that he might pounce down and enforce his command that they leave this place. "I guess that's it, then," she sighed.
She had only meant to speak to herself, but her words carried further than she had intended in the silence, drawing glances from her companions. "What?" she demanded defensively. "What else can we do? Belle has left and we don't know why; the Beast has gone mad – and even though he loved her, it wasn't enough to free the loose soul! Now we're down here, far from either of them, and our time is almost up! There's nothing more that we can do. It's over."
"On the contrary," Keima corrected, with a confident grin. "In fact, I can already see the ending." Without giving either of them a chance to ask, he began to issue commands with the unique kind of authority he possessed that few ever got to see. "We have to find Belle, and give her one last ultimatum. Haqua! Use your hagoromo to track her down. Both of you, take to the skies and find a way through the forest. Hurry! We don't have much time left to end this!"
The two demons followed his instructions without question. From the sky above the forest, and with all her expertise, Haqua was quickly able to locate Belle. She was riding a horse and had a good lead on them, heading towards the village they had passed through on their way to the castle. With the demons blazing a trail through the sky, Keima ran through the snow-smothered forest, a hero of legend on his way to complete one important quest.
By the time they caught up with the runaway heroine, she was already in the centre of the little town, where there appeared to be some sort of commotion going on outside one of the houses. The three of them crept closer, watching from round the corner of a cottage as the scene unfurled before them. A burly man by the name of Gaston seemed to be threatening to take Belle's father away. With narrowed eyes, Keima turned his sharp mind towards analyzing the situation.
"Tell us again, old man!" a short, torch-bearing man gloated. "Just how big was this beast?"
As the old man, presumably Belle's father, tried to describe the Beast with earnest fear in his eyes, mocking laughter rang out from the assembled crowd. It felt to the onlookers as if they had been dropped right into the middle of a much larger story, but as Keima watched, untangling the emotions running high in the crowd like no one else could, all the pieces began to click into place.
Men from the crowd began to drag the old man towards a wagon ominously marked "Asylum for Loons" in blood-red lettering. As Belle began to protest, the three onlookers could just about make out the words that the man called Gaston spoke to Belle in an undertone: "I might be able to clear up this little misunderstanding... If you marry me!"
Elsie exclaimed, "That man is despicable!" She couldn't help giving a little cheer when Belle pushed him away with a defiant cry.
Keima looked at her severely. "He's also our way in."
"I'm not mad!" the old man protested. "There really is a Beast! I'm telling you the truth!"
At that moment, much to the surprise of the demons – let alone the assembled crowd – Keima stepped out of the shadows. "The old man is right!" he declared. "There is a terrible beast living in the castle in the forest!"
"You!" Belle exclaimed.
Gaston pushed her roughly aside, demanding, "Who are you?"
The crowd took a collective step backwards as Elsie and Haqua materialized out of the darkness to stand at Keima's side, neither of them fully comprehending his actions but both nonetheless faithful in their solidarity. Keima's glasses gleamed as he spread his arms wide. His audience was held captive by the inexplicable power that this boy commanded. "I have come from the castle to bring you warning! The Beast is real, a true monster of nightmare!"
He walked amongst the crowd now, as they hung onto every word that the mysterious stranger spoke. "The Beast will make off with your children!" he crowed. "He'll come after them in the night!"
Almost beside herself with madness and grief, Belle yelled up at him, "You know that's not true! He's kind," she pleaded to Gaston; to anyone who would listen. "He's my friend!"
Pausing next to the big man, Keima murmured to him, "Can it be that Belle has feelings for this monster? Did she really choose a beast over you?"
Enraged, Gaston turned to his fellow villagers. "That's right!" he bellowed. "We're not safe until his head is mounted on my wall! I say we kill the Beast!"
"Yeah!"
"Kill him!"
Gaston drew a wicked silver dagger from his belt. "We're not coming home 'til he's dead! Good and dead!"
"Kill the Beast!"
"No!" This was Belle, standing up to Gaston in defiance; the true heroine. "I won't let you do this!"
But Gaston just slapped her away. "If you're not with us, you're against us!" he accused viciously. "We can't have them running off to warn the creature!"
He seized Belle bodily and flung her down through the wooden hatch in the ground into her father's underground workshop. For a moment, through the darkness, she made eye-contact with Keima. Her mouth formed three desperate words: "How could you?" Then her father was pushed in too and the hatch was locked and bolted, and the prisoners' cries for help were drowned out by the rising tension and bloody, feverish excitement in the air.
Mounting his coal-black horse, Gaston yelled, "We'll lay siege to the castle, and bring back his head!"
Torch raised, he galloped off into the forest, and the other villages followed him with a resounding chant of "Kill the Beast!". The mob marched off into the darkness until the gloomy shadows of the forest had swallowed them and their bloodthirsty song - and, just like that, Keima, Elsie and Haqua were left alone in the eerie, echoing silence.
