Hey, guys! Well, here we go with the next chapter! I've seriously been listening to Beauty and the Beast nonstop for the past few days so I felt inspired to work on this story even though it isn't technically next in the rotation…oops xD. Also, this chapter is a LONG one. Anyhoo, read on and enjoy!
"Alister," Ben began, glancing around the woods and pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders. "I think we-."
"Ben," Alister warned, steel colored eyes narrowed meticulously at the page of parchment he held out in front of him.
"But, Alister we-."
"Not a word, Ben."
"Alister," Ben replied, clearly annoyed.
"Ben," Alister replied just as testily. "I said not a wo-."
"We took a wrong turn! We're lost!"
"You think I don't know that?" Alister snapped, clumping the map in his hand. With his ego thoroughly bruised, the red head frowned and chucked the crumpled up map at Ben. "If you know the woods so well then you navigate!"
"Fine! I will!" The ebony haired teen straightened out the map and focused on it intently. "We're going to the World Playwright's Festival right?"
"Mhm," Alister answered, hopping off the caravan to take a look around for any landmarks. "Pass me the lantern. It's too dark to see." Alister held his hand out expectantly as Ben heaved a sigh, grabbed one of the lit lanterns, and hopped off the caravan to hand it to the red head. Alister shone the light around him to illuminate the darkness. The branches of the trees stretched to the sky like bony fingers reaching for the full moon. Brown, decayed leaves danced across the dirt road and through the air when the wind blew. The dirt path was muddy, littered with heavy stones, and overgrown with weeds.
"None of this looks familiar," Alister replied as he ambled around with the lantern.
"Well of course it wouldn't look familiar, we took a wrong turn," Ben replied brazenly, his eyes never leaving the map.
"I'm going to tell your sister that you were acting like an imp."
"And I'll tell her that you got us lost."
The red head growled in annoyance when he felt water drip on him from above.
"Damn it! It's starting to rain. We need to get out of here and find shelter before the weather gets worse."
No sooner had he said that, a deafening crack of thunder roared through the sky, followed by a downpour of rain.
"Shit! Ben, get in the caravan!" Alister shouted over the downpour as he flipped up his hood and climbed back onto the caravan.
"Where the hell did this storm come from?" Ben asked as he climbed into the shelter of the caravan.
The duo jumped and Kisara neighed in fear when a streak of lightning flashed and a loud clap of thunder echoed through the air.
"Get us out of here, Alister!"
"I'm way ahead of you, Ben! Let's go, Kisara!" Alister pulled on the reins and Kisara came to life. She neighed loudly in compliance and charged forward through the forest. The wind zipped past the travelers and the rain pelted them. Alister looked around frantically, trying desperately to find shelter from the storm that had become so thick that it was almost impossible to see. The flames from the lanterns had long gone out due to the rain and wind, leaving them in darkness, apart from the occasional streak of lightning that burst through the sky.
"Where the hell are we?" Ben yelled over the storm as he was tossed around the inside of the caravan.
"The hell if I know! All I know is that we need to get the hell out of this storm! Whoa, Kisara! Easy!"
"How are we going to do that if we don't even know where we are?"
"Stop criticizing me and let me concentrate!"
Suddenly, a loud burst of thunder exploded across the sky, destroying the last of the Belgian horse's composure. Kisara went wild, ripping the reins from Alister's hands. The caravan shook violently until Ben was thrown out with a startled yell. The younger Todd crashed to the carpet of mud and leaves, wheezing.
"Ben!" Alister yelled in concern, bolting off the caravan and to Ben's side. He kneeled down next to the younger boy and helped him into a sitting position.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Ben coughed, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.
Another roar of thunder sounded and Kisara neighed loudly in fear. She reared back onto her hind legs before charging back the way they came, leaving the two boys alone.
"Damn it! Kisara!" Alister yelled after the fleeing horse.
"Well, that's just perfect! What the hell do we do now?" Ben asked as he pulled himself to his feet.
"We need to get out of this storm. We can figure something else out once the storm passes."
"And where the hell are we supposed to go? We have no idea where we are and it's almost pitch black!"
"I don't know, a cave or something! There has to be somewhere to take cover from this rain!"
The sound of a twig snapping and a low growl made both boys jump.
"What was that?" Ben whispered.
Several pairs of glowing, yellow eyes appeared around the two boys.
"Alister, are those-."
"Shh," Alister interrupted in a low voice.
The owners of the yellow eyes finally stepped close enough for the boys to see them. A pack of seven ferocious, white wolves surrounded them. Their mouths were curled up in a snarl and drool dripped from their mouths full of sharp teeth.
"Ben, on the count of three we need to run," Alister whispered, keeping his gaze locked on the wolves.
"What? Are you crazy?" Ben murmured back. "We can't outrun a pack of Silver Fangs! They'll eat us for sure!"
"They'll eat us if we stay here! We have to try. Maybe we can find a way to get away from them."
Ben swallowed around the nervous lump in his throat and nodded slowly. Although he didn't necessarily agree with Alister's idea, they didn't really have much of a choice. There was no way the two of them could fight off a pack of wolves. Their best chance of survival was to run away and hope that they found someone who could help.
"Are you ready, Ben?"
"Yes."
"One." The two boys pulled their coats tighter around them so the long fabric wouldn't hinder their running.
"Two." The boys flexed their legs in preparation for their take off.
"Three!"
As soon as those words left the red head's mouth, the two boys sprinted away from the wolves. They heard long howls from behind before the wolves began to chase after them.
"Keep running, Ben! Don't look back!" Alister shouted, pushing Ben in front of him and picking up speed.
The two boys could hear the wolves snarling and closing in from behind them.
"They're right behind us!" Ben screamed.
"I know! Keep running!"
Despite the tiredness in their legs and the heaviness in their chests, the two boys pushed themselves to run faster. In the distance, Ben caught sight of an ironclad gate and his hope soared.
"Alister, I see something! I see a gate!"
"I see it too! Keep going! We're almost there!"
Finally, the two reached the gate, and without taking even a moment to catch their breaths, they heaved it open. The ironclad gate screeched in protest as the duo shoved it open. The duo slammed it shut just as the wolves reached them. The wolves snarled through the closed gate, angered that they had lost their dinner. Finally, the pack of wolves slowly slunk away into the dark forest.
"We made it!" Alister sighed in relief.
Ben nodded in response, unable to speak due to his wheezing. Now that they were safe and the adrenaline had stopped flowing, Ben became painfully aware of how hard it was to breathe. He struggled desperately to take deep breaths, but no matter how much air he took in, it didn't seem to be enough.
"Ben?" Alister asked in concern, approaching the doubled over, wheezing teen. "Ben!"
"I can't breathe," Ben wheezed, holding his chest.
"Easy," Alister replied, rubbing Ben's back in an attempt to stop his wheezing.
"Al-," Ben coughed.
"Okay, Ben, hold on. I'll help you. I just need-."
"I can't breathe." Ben dropped to the ground in a coughing fit.
"Ben!" Alister knelt down next to Ben and attempted to push his rain soaked hair out of his line of vision. Suddenly, something dawned on the redhead. He reached into his coat pocket and his finger connected with Ben's wooden pipe. Thank God, Alister thought in relief. Before Alister and Ben left Draakhaven, Alissa had made Alister pack extra medicine into his coat pocket in addition to the medicine in the caravan in case an emergency came up. At that moment, Alister was thankful that he had listened to her.
"Hold on, Ben." He pulled out the herbs that were in a small pouch in his pocket and packed the pipe. He rummaged around in his coat pocket until he found the flint and steel he had used early to light the lanterns on the caravan. Thank God the rain didn't get it wet, he thought as he lit the pipe. He quickly brought the pipe to Ben's lips and prompted him to breathe in. Alister sighed in relief when Ben's breathing started to even out.
"You're okay. You're going to be okay, Ben," Alister assured, soothingly rubbing the younger boy's back and pushing the hair out of his face. "We need to get you out of this storm."
Ben could only nod his head in agreement, too tired from the attack to do much else.
"I'll carry you," Alister replied. He kneeled down in front of Ben and gently helped him stand while supporting his weight. He picked Ben up from under his knees and prompted the younger to wrap his arms around his neck for support. Once Alister made sure that Ben was situated comfortably on his back, Alister turned towards where the stone path lead. His eyes almost popped out of his skull at the sight of the castle in front of him.
"Whoa."
The castle was made out of white, evenly corbelled, stone. Several towers and turrets rose up from the right and left of the main house. A covered parapet walk flanked the far right side of the castle while an uncovered one flanked the left. A keep rose high above the other towers in the back, right corner of the castle. A battlement stood near the right parapet of the castle. A machicolation was situated above the footbridge that lead up to the large, heavy, wooden doors. The roof of the castle was a jumble of spires, trapezoids, and cones with gothic style windows linked together with flying buttresses. Stained glass windows and balconies littered the whole castle. A cobbled path of gray stone went from the black, iron gate up to the heavy doors of the castle. The lightning flashing behind it made the already creepy castle even more so.
Alister pushed down the apprehension he felt, adjusted Ben's position on his back, and walked up the cobbled path towards the door. He reached for the knocker shaped like a dragonhead and banged it loudly against the wooden door.
"Hello? We need some help!" the red head cried, abandoning the knocker and instead banging on the door with his fist. "We need help! Is anybody in there?" Don't tell me we stumbled upon a damn castle that has nobody living in it, Alister thought in frustration as he banged on the doors even harder. Finally, the doors gave way and the duo stumbled inside. Thank God someone was here to let us in!
"We apologize for the intrusion, but we lost our horse. And my friend, he's sick. If you let us stay, just until the storm passes we could pay you for your troubles and-." Alister stopped midsentence when he noticed that no one was there. No one's here? But, then who opened the door?
"Hello?" Alister called, scanning the empty grand hall. "Hello!"
"Where are we? Alister?" Ben asked weakly before dissolving into another coughing fit.
"I don't know, Ben. It's okay; you're going to be okay. We're going to get you help, okay? Hello! We need help!" As he walked down the hall, he started to feel his strength fading him. With Ben's well being on his mind, he forced himself to trudge onwards. There had to be someone in the castle, there had to be. After all, someone had let them in. After everything that had happened, the strength finally left his body and he collapsed to his knees. Ben's unconscious form slipped from Alister's back and onto the tiled floor. Alister's vision gradually began to grow black along the edges. The last thing he saw before the darkness finally claimed him was a pair of green, clawed feet.
xxx
"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking letting them in here?" a voice hissed as Alister slowly started to regain consciousness. He tried to fight through the fog of unconsciousness and focus on the voices that were ringing in his head.
"What were we supposed ta do? We couldn't leave 'em out in da storm!" another voice, this one with a Brooklyn accent, argued. "Plus, ya heard 'em. One of 'em is sick, we couldn't leave 'em out ta freeze!"
"I understand that! I understand that you wanted to help, but do you really think that letting them in here is going to help them? What do you think the Master is going to do when he comes down here and sees us harboring trespassers? Not to mention they're sitting on his favorite couch! The Master will be furious!"
"Den we won't tell him, Trist. What he don't know won't hurt 'em."
"Maybe Joey is right, Tristan," a third, more timid voice spoke. "Maybe we can get them all rested and out of here before the Master even wakes up. He'll never know."
"He'll never know? Do you two honestly think that will work? Of course he'll know! In fact, I'd be surprised if he doesn't know already!"
"Fine den, if you're so smart, what do ya suggest we do den, Tristan?"
Alister finally recovered from the haziness in his head enough to open his eyes. Ben! Alister sat up quickly, ignoring the dizziness in his head and looked to his side. He was relieved to find Ben sleeping next to him with a thick, fur blanket pulled all the way up to his chin. The red head realized that the two of them were resting on a large couch in a living room with a fire blazing in the fire place. Satisfied that Ben was safe and taken care of, Alister turned to thank the three voices, undoubtedly the people who had helped them. Alister was shocked and alarmed, not to be looking at humans, but three different monsters.
The first monster was a medium sized, furred, green creature. Large imp ears stuck out from the monster's head with a deep pink colored horn sitting in between them. Large bat like wings with deep pink spikes shot out from the creatures back. Spikes protruded from the elbows of the creature. The monster stood on all fours, with long claws extending from each hand and foot.
The second monster was larger than the first. It was a giant, ox like creature with brown colored skin stretched over bulging muscles. Large, curved horns extended from the head covered in dark brown hair. Brown fur surrounded the monster's wrists and forearms like gauntlets. A purple loincloth was wrapped around the monster's waist. The size of the monster combined with the red eyes, large teeth, and clawed hands and feet made the creature appear even more threatening.
The third creature looked similar to the second one. Like the second creature, the third one was ox like and large. Deep maroon colored skin was stretched over equally bulging muscles and horns curved out from deep purple, almost black, hair. Fur the same color of the monster's hair, surrounded the monster's wrists and forearms. A brown loincloth was wrapped around the monster's waist. This monster had yellow eyes, but was in no way less sinister than its ox like counterpart.
"What the hell?" Alister exclaimed in surprise. The red head's exclamation roused Ben from his sleep. He rubbed at his head and sat up slowly.
"Alister? What hap-?" The young boy stopped speaking when he caught sight of the monsters. "Shit! What the hell are you?"
"Hey! We just saved ya, da least ya could do is be polite!" the maroon skinned ox snapped. The creature's outburst caused both Alister and Ben to jump. The creature guiltily rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ah, sorry. Its just dat we haven't seen humans in a while. Sometimes I forget dat we can be a little intimidatin'. "
"A little?" Ben asked sarcastically, earning a stern glare from Alister and a nudge to keep quiet.
"Who are you guys?"
"I'm Yugi," the green creature replied, offering a clawed hand to the two intruders. "I'm sorry if we scared you."
"I'm Joey," the maroon skinned introduced.
"I'm Tristan," the third creature replied.
"Uh, I'm Alister," the red head said, finally feeling comfortable enough with the monsters. "This is Ben."
"It's nice to meet you," Ben replied, after he had calmed down enough.
"Well, now that the introductions are done, we need to get them out of here," Tristan replied urgently. "It's bad enough that we even let them in here in the first place!"
"We're sorry, we didn't mean to intrude," Alister replied. "I just need to get Ben out of the storm. We can leave in the morning if it isn't too much trouble."
"Ah, don't even worry about it!" Joey cut in. "Trist' is just worried about da Master, but he's asleep so ya guys are okay."
"Maybe if we just let the Master know he'd be okay with it," Yugi offered.
"Ah, dat won't work. We all know how da Master is, it's best not ta tell him. As long as we get 'em out before da Master wakes up, everythin' will be A-Okay."
Shortly after Joey spoke, an ear shattering, Draconian roar sounded through the castle.
"Damn! He's awake!"
"You guys need to get them out of here now!" a voice said from behind them. The group turned towards the entrance of the room to identify the voice. A small creature with dark brown fur and small green claws and feet floated in the doorway. Gold and purple eyes were narrowed in concern and small, green, cherub like wings fluttered nervously behind the monster.
"Mokuba-," Yugi started.
"My brother is awake and he is furious! You need to get them out of here now!"
Another roar shook the whole castle and brought everyone to their knees. Alister instantly grabbed onto Ben and held him protectively. The inhabitants of the castle all gathered together in preparation to protect the intruders, though they knew they could do nothing to stop their Master.
A huge gust of wind roared through the room, putting out all the candles and shrouding the room in darkness.
"Alister, we need to get out of here," Ben trembled fearfully.
"It'll be alright, Ben," Alister replied in an attempt to calm the younger boy. Suddenly, the sound of large wing beating filled the room, followed by the sound of someone landing close by the two intruders. Alister turned and came face to face with a pair of deep, blazing, blue eyes with dragon like pupils.
Alister gasped in shock. The Dragon King? Just like in Alissa's favorite story, Alister thought. How is this possible?
The dragon like eyes stared intensely into the silver ones. The Dragon King's lip curled in mock humor.
"Is that all you can do? Is that all you came for? To stare at me like I'm some monster?"
"Master-," Tristan began, in an attempt to explain the situation to the King. The Dragon King's harsh gaze made Tristan fall silent.
"Don't blame 'em! We're da ones dat brought 'em in here!"
"Silence!" the Dragon King hissed.
"Please, Kaiba," Yugi begged. "They just needed shelter from the storm! Ben is sick and-."
The Dragon King growled deeply at Yugi, causing the smaller creature to fall silent.
"We meant no harm," Alister started. Before he could speak another word, he felt Ben being pulled out of his arms. Ben screamed in fright as the two were pried apart.
"Wait! Please don't hurt him!" Alister begged, without thinking.
The Dragon King's eyes narrowed before a harsh smile appeared on his lips.
"Don't hurt him? Of course that would be your first assumption. I'm a monster right? Tch, well, that's unfortunate. I suppose now I'll have to punish you for not knowing how to address a King."
"Master, please," Yugi begged.
"All of you get out," the Master ordered. "I'm taking these two to the tower."
"But, Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed. "They really didn't mean any harm! They needed help!"
"They shouldn't have trespassed here," the King hissed back.
"Seto, please! You can't lock them up there! One of them is sick and he'll-."
"One of them is sick?" he asked, his eyes briefly flashing with concern. The concern in his eyes disappeared as the blue eyes hardened once more. "That isn't my problem. They shouldn't have trespassed!"
"What if I was sick, Seto? Wouldn't you want someone to help me? We couldn't just leave them out there!"
The Dragon King released a low growl and clenched his fists.
"Very well. Tristan, take the kid to the guest room in the east wing."
"But what about Alister?" Ben spoke up in concern.
The Dragon King smirked at the young boy before grabbing onto the red head's forearm harshly.
"Your little friend? I'm afraid he'll be staying in the tower."
"What! No! You can't!"
"I can and I will. Tristan, take him to his room."
"No! You can't lock him in some tower!" Ben yelled, squirming as Tristan lightly grabbed hold of his arm. "Let go! Alister!"
"Ben! Let me go!"
"You can't do this! Let me go!" Ben yelled, squirming more intensely. He squirmed until he was finally able to get his arm out of Tristan's grasp. The force of his squirming caused him to lose his balance. His head connected with the side of the fire place as he fell. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.
xxx
When Ben returned to consciousness, his head was pounding. Ow, my head. He groaned, and touched his head. He stopped when his hand connected with a cloth bandage that was wrapped around where the pain was radiating from. Memories of what happened began to flood back. He and Alister had gotten lost in the woods. They found a castle after being chased by a pack of Silver Fangs. The Master of the castle had gotten upset that he and Alister trespassed. He and Alister had been separated and during the struggle, he'd fallen and hit his head. That monster bandaged my head, Ben thought in surprise. Why would the monster do that? He looked around the room and took everything in. The room was small, with two large windows and light blue walls. The bed he was laying on was relatively large with dark blue bedding and a large, wooden canopy. A mahogany dresser stood next to the bed. I need to get out of here and find Alister.
"What do you think you're doing?" a deep voice demanded from the dark hallway.
Ben turned around quickly, his heart racing in fear. His eyes locked with a familiar pair of draconian ones.
"Where's Alister?" Ben demanded, gathering his courage and taking a step towards the heavily shadowed Dragon King.
"That's none of your concern. Get back in your room, it's foolish to be walking around with a head injury."
"No! Tell me where Alister is now!"
"I will do nothing of the sort. Now get back in the room before I lose my patience."
"You can't just keep us here!"
"I can do whatever I please. I am the Master of this castle."
"That doesn't excuse you from being an ass! You won't get away with keeping us here!"
"You're really trying my patience now."
"Alister and I will get out of here and when we do you'll be sorry!"
Before Ben could even blink, the Dragon King was towering over him and lifting him up by his collar.
"I show you leniency by allowing you to stay somewhere other than the tower and this is how you repay me? By trying to break out your little friend. I even had my physician tend to your head injury. Do you realize how ungrateful you're being, you little pest! I could have very easily locked you up in that tower and left you to rot."
"Let me go, you monster!" Ben screamed, thrashing in the Dragon King's hold.
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. A monster. That's all anyone sees, the Dragon King thought with a frown. Suddenly a cold smirk worked its way across his lips. They want a monster? I'll show them a monster.
"Tch, a monster? Well, perhaps it's time to show you how much of a monster I can be."
First of all, some of you guys are probably wondering why I decided to have both Alister and Ben get imprisoned by Seto; although I'm sure you guys expected it based on last chapter xD. Anyhoo, the reason for that is because I couldn't find a plausible reason to have Ben end up at the castle by himself. Since there is a legend about the woods surrounding Draconia, Alissa would NOT allow Ben to venture into the woods by himself, especially since he has breathing problems (asthma for those who are curious about what ailment he has). So that was my reasoning for having both Alister and Ben end up imprisoned. I just wanted to clear up confusion…if there even was any xD.
Secondly, I know I didn't go into that much detail describing Seto and the rest of the inhabitants of the castle. The reason I did that is because I want to wait until Alissa meets the inhabitants to describe them. Why? To build suspense! For those who are familiar with the movie, you'll remember that we actually didn't see the Beast until Belle arrived at the castle. The other times we saw him before, he was heavily shadowed. So, yeah…suspense.
Thirdly, I decided to have Seto initially be more lenient with Ben and only give him a harsh punishment in response to Ben trying to escape. I decided this because I feel like Seto would have some empathy towards a child, especially one who is the same age as Mokuba (although technically Mokuba would be in his eighties since it has been seventy five years since the curse was cast. However, that doesn't matter because the curse prevents the inhabitants of the castle from aging). Also, Mokuba just knows how to work his brother.
Fourth, the design for the castle took QUITE A BIT of research, but it was fun research nonetheless. Since the story takes place in the mid eighteenth century, I had to research castles during that time, as well as castles that are several decades older than that since the castle has been around since before the curse was even cast. So, I have a couple inspirations for it. The Castle of Great Masters in Rhodes, Greece, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany (this one actually reminded me of the castle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast), Lichtenstein Castle in Baden- Wurttemberg, Germany, and Falkenstein Castle in Falkenstein, Germany. All of these castles had some features of what I imagined the castle to look like. But seriously, ya'll should look up pictures of these places because they are GORGEOUS. Hopefully I did an okay job describing the castle cause it required a lot of research for me to be able to name the various different parts xD.
Fifth, I'm sure some of you are wondering why I didn't use the Dark Magician as Yugi's monster and the Red Eyes Black Dragon as Joey's monster. I wanted everyone in the castle to become monsters, and the Dark Magician was just too human for my liking. The reason I chose not to go with Red Eyes Black Dragon for Joey was because I LOVED the idea of him and Tristan being similar monsters since they're sort of the "dynamic duo" of the story. Also, this is a random piece of information, but I decided to have the Sorceror turn Mokuba into a Winged Kuriboh to sort of spite Seto and Mokuba since Seto HATES Kuriboh. Anyway, I hope I've cleared up any confusion, if there was any xD.
Sixth, I thought I would let you guys know the positions of the servants that we've met so far just to clear up any confusion that may arise. Joey is a Flame Battleguard and is the Servant of Entertainment. Tristan is a Swamp Battleguard and is the Head Servant. Yugi is a Feral Imp and is the Maître d'. And last but not least, Mokuba is a Winged Kuriboh and is the Prince xD.
And lastly, once again, thank you to AbyssalDreamer (formally known as DarkQueenofDuels) for being my beta. Seriously, she rocks my socks. Anyhoo! That's enough babbling from me. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. As usual, feel free to review, question, critique, whatever you like! I'll talk to ya'll next update!
