Chapter Four- The Library
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty!" sang out a cheerful voice- Olette's.
Namine yawned, sitting up in her plush bed, stretched her arms up way high before tossing the sheets off of her, and swinging her slender legs to dangle off the edge of the bed. The young girl pushed herself lazily up and stumbled over to Olette.
"Good morning, Olette! What should I wear today?" Namine beamed at the wardrobe.
The wardrobe shuffled through its depths and pulled out a floor length green dress. The torso was a deep emerald green while the sleeves and the bottom of the dress was a light sea foam green. The top part of the sleeves puffed out and the young blonde graciously took the dress.
"Thank you! Do you know where the bathroom is?" the girl asked the wardrobe.
"Just down the hall, sweetie," Olette instructed.
Namine nodded, holding the dress and exited her bedroom. She creaked the door open and was relieved to see the bathroom was unoccupied. The young girl slipped into the shower and turned on the hot water. Once she was clean, she stepped out and slipped into the dress Olette had given her.
The girl combed out her long blonde locks and pulled them into a low pony tail with a green bow. She didn't bother looking in the mirror and simply exited the room and looked about for the Beast.
"Good morning, Namine!" Kairi exclaimed.
"Hello, Kairi!" Namine smiled.
Namine seated herself at the foot of the table like last night and as she expected food came dancing over to her. She decided on eggs, bacon, and some of Kairi's special tea. Demyx and Axel kept her occupied as well as Larxene, who was Axel's 'friend'. Larxene was a duster and Namine found her to be kind.
"So, what do you think?"Axel asked, raising an ever knowing eyebrow.
Namine grinned, "This food is delicious!"
She finished the last swig of her tea and the plates and cups were off to be cleaned. She leaned back, stuffed at such great cooking they had. Although, it was a castle so she assumed only the best for royalty.
Namine excused herself and slipped on her thick black winter cloak, pulling her hood over her head and wandered about the grounds.
The Beast was watching her intently up on his balcony with Axel and Demyx by his side. He watched as the foot stool rushed over, bounding about in the snow leaped up into her pale arms and she laughed happily. The Beast caught himself smiling and so did Axel and Demyx.
"You like her, don't you?" grinned Axel accusingly.
"I…I've never felt this way before…I wish to do something for her, but what?" the Beast asked the two servants.
"What about flowers or chocolates?" Demyx suggested.
"No, no, no! It must be something special….like…like err, the library!" concluded Axel.
The Beast nodded, liking the idea and went out into the cold the find her. He told her he had a surprise and the curious girl followed alongside him. She noticed that he no longer wore his tattered pants either, instead he wore a nice, crisp white button up shirt, a fancy blue cloak, and nice dress pants.
The couple arrived at door wooden doors and he made her close her eyes to surprise her. With his large claw paws, he gently took her slender hands and led Namine inside. She heard curtains opening and felt the warm rays of sun dance across her face and she smiled.
"Now, you may open them," the Beast told her, excitement in his voice.
Namine obliged and was speechless at what she saw. Bookshelves upon bookshelves with books of all kinds! In the center, there was a huge fireplace with a big blue circle rug with a green couch and chairs, there were two spiraling staircases, and two desks on each side of the library. The main colors were blue and a dark gold.
The library was three stories high and could easily hold ten thousand books. Namine laughed in excitement, hugging the Beast. Little did the two know that the servants were keeping a close eye on them.
"You like it?" he grinned.
"yes, it is wonderful! It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen!" Namine exclaimed, still in shock.
"Then it is yours," the Beast told her.
"Oh, thank you!" The girl smiled.
She took his hands in hers and Kairi whispered softly to her comrades, "would you look at that!"
"Look at what, momma?" Sora asked, clueless.
"Oh, come along Sora, there are many things to be done," Kairi smiled as they all lumbered off talking excitedly.
Namine waltzed over to a shelf and pulled out a golden covered book. She smiled, remember reading this book over and over back when she was in the city, before she ever met the Beast.
"Come on, this one's my favorite," Namine smiled, gently taking his clawed hand and sitting him down on the green couch.
She read the book to him and the entire time the Beast was completely focused on her. The story was about a beautiful young princess who slowly but surely fell in love with one of her knight's and against her family's threats, the two wed. Although the ending is not very happy.
Once the girl finished the story The Beast appeared deep in thought and she asked him what he was thinking about.
"Well, I don't understand…why…why would she do that for him? Why would she give all of it up for a knight?" he stated seeming very perturbed.
She was surprised at his opinion and paused to think before replying, "if you love someone then material things do not matter… that person becomes your reason to live and those things you used to care about so dearly become mere memories and can no longer make you happy."
"Time for supper you two!" called out Kairi's motherly voice.
Namine gave him a sweet angelic smile before getting up and waltzing over to the dining room. The Beast couldn't get over at how she walked- so quietly and softly, it was like she was floating, and lastly, the way her green dress swished elegantly around her ankles. The table was made up for them and The Beast got her chair for her even. She smiled and picked up her fork and knife to cut her steak.
Well, she had cut a small square and looked up to see the Beast had already devoured it and the evidence was in his fur. She stifled a slight laugh and gave him a warm smile to show she wasn't revolted. He looked a bit saddened, so in an attempt to make him feel better she hastily ate her food. When Axel and Demyx returned to talk to them, the duo was already gone, wandering about the hallways.
"So, umm, I feel a bit awkward not having a name to call you," the girl confessed.
"I used to be called Roxas," the Beast said.
"Roxas…huh, I like the sound of that," she said, giving a ghost of a smile to him.
"If you don't mind me asking…were you always like this?" I girl whispered meekly.
Roxas's smile faltered and slowly faded and he looked deep in thought, "I'll tell you my story."
Namine nodded happily and looked up into his ocean blue eyes and he started, "It was around Christmas time, and I was enjoying all of my gifts I had received from all of my servants…actually, scratch that, I was yelling at everyone for not getting me good enough gifts worthy of a prince. When a knock echoed all the way through the great hall into the throne room, which I had to get. Irritated, I stormed out to the large oak door and before me stood a haggard old lady with a ratty black cloak, and smelled as though she had not bathed in days. She had gray almost white hair and only one eye and she wanted to spend the night. She..." he paused to look at Namine.
"She offered me a single rose that was a dark pink, but not quite red. Of course, I laughed, what would a prince want with a rose? And well, she was revolting. So, I turned her away. I closed the door and her obnoxious knocking sounding again. I flung the doors open and yelled at her, demanding she leave… well, the old hag was no longer standing before me, but a beautiful young woman. She had long flowing blonde hair, wore a white long sleeved gown, and her eyes glowed pink like the rose she had given me," again Roxas paused to see if Namine was still listening.
"She told me that since I had no love in my heart, that I will be turned into a beast, and-" Roxas stopped himself before finishing, "That is all."
Namine eyed him warily, "so…why do you keep the rose?"
Roxas stiffened, "there is a way to reverse the curse."
"And the rose is part of that?" she asked him, slowly.
"It shows how much time I have left," he told her.
"Oh," Namine said, remembering how few petals were left when she saw it.
Roxas looked away, expecting her to run. She bit her lip, thinking, before slipping her hand into one of his paws. His head whipped down at her, confused, and Namine merely smiled up at him.
"Thank you for telling me," she told him.
After their talk together Namine was up in her room with Olette. She was pacing about the room trying to sort everything out that had happened that day. He wasn't all that bad…
"What's the matter, dear?" Olette asked.
"Just thinking," Namine stated, whipping her head up.
"Thinking about what?" Olette questioned, tossing her a light pink silk nightgown.
"The B- err, I mean Roxas, he told me how he became a beast," she told the wardrobe, slipping into the nightgown and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"He did? Oh, so you know how he must learn to love before his twenty-first birthday? I cannot believe he told you that!" exclaimed Olette.
The young blonde froze, "h-he never told me that…is that why I'm here?"
"Oh, look at the time; you must be off to bed!" Olette exclaimed.
She side-stepped away from the wardrobe, "no, I'm not tired anymore…thanks though."
Olette yelled after her as Namine left the room in a hurry. Once outside, the cool castle air circled around her bare arms and she shivered. She mentally cursed herself for not grabbing a shawl or something, but her mind so drifted on another subject. The girl could hear whispering and hurried towards it. Namine faltered at the door and pressed her small ear against it to hear better.
"You told her!" squeaked Demyx's nervous voice.
"She was not repulsed, she did not run?" investigated Axel's.
"No, none of that…She…She was very understanding actually," stated Roxas's, his voice sounded deep in thought.
Namine's brow furrowed, and heard Axel's voice ask, "Do you like her?"
"O-of course I like her! She is beautiful, smart, compassionate…oh, who am I kidding? She is so perfect…why would she ever like a beast like me?" The Beast sighed.
The blonde frowned, but felt a strange feeling rush over her and her heart skipped a beat. The three continued their conversation while she slipped away unnoticed and back to bed where Olette was relieved to see her.
Author's Note: Well, Chapter four is up! Hope you guys all enjoy! Sorry for taking a bit to post this, but I had winter break, and finals are next week so it's been a bit hectic here...