*Burning Roses. *
*A Beauty and The Beast story. *
Rating: Pg-13Pairings: None yet.
Genre: Romance, Humor, and Drama. And action (I think).
Disclaimer: Please for the love of God, keep the first chapter's disclaimer in your mind as you read.
Summary: O.o? Ticklish? Uh oh. :: Panics :: NO. Nononono. No tickly. :: Runs.:: You know, it's occurred to me. I need a life.
Cool, I got glomped. Wait. Is that a good thing? :: puzzled:: Yay, I have just achieved the status as Silver-chan. Me happy.
I think I got out of my writer's block. B-52 bombers are so fun. ::Grins::
Serena goes exploring with Duo on her shoulder and guess what they find out? Oh yeah. They just might have discovered the mysterious identity of the Beast. And what's this? Duo playing matchmaker? May the gods have mercy…
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Chapter Fourteen.
" What's it like being a fairy?" Serena asked, looking down a hall for a moment and trying to decide whether or not she should go down it. It had been Duo's idea that they explore the castle on the grounds that " Even I don't know everything about this castle. And I've been around. So, I propose we explore it. Come on, it'll be fun."
What could she say? She was a sucker for the whole big amethyst puppy dog eyes.
Hence she was now wondering down the enchanted halls on the singular purpose of expanding her knowledge of said castle. How stupid could she get? And with a fairy, a mischevious previously drunk fairy, no less.
Did she hit her head last night? That must have been it, otherwise she might have told Duo to give it up and let go of her neck.
Then again, she was intrigued by the whole magical castle deal and wanted to know more about it. She just hoped she wouldn't get lost.
" S'okay." He muttered, "But, I prefer being a human. The world isn't as dangerous then."
" Not really. Everything in this world has some danger to it. No matter how small you are. I should know." Serena sighed, and started down another, brighter hall.
The other one had crept her out.
Duo scratched his head, " I guess you have a valid point."
" Of course." Her tone was neither smug nor filled with any other emotion. It was only a statement of fact. She knew she was right. Experience was talking. Again.
It talked too much.
The hall suddenly got darker and more drab.
" Ooh. Never been down here before." Duo stated, adding a dose of mystery and a splash of intrigue to his tone. Serena came up short peering down the hall into the maw of near darkness with something akin to indecision apparent in her eyes.
To walk down uncharted territory to her almost certain doom in a castle where nothing stays the same or continue down the safest course available.
Decisions, Decisions.
Leap of faith. Heh. Why not? "All right. Let's go." Serena picked up her feet and started forward once more. What was there to be afraid of?
She had a fairy sitting on her shoulder whom could work magic.
Oh yeah, she was dead.
What fun.
Beast crouched beside a dead doe, and examined the still, cold, corpse. He had just found it. Not only was her neck broken but her blood had been leached.
Prime suspect: Vampire.
Wasn't that obvious?
He knew who it was as well. Guess he had to play the guard dog to Serena's damsel in distress.
How thrilling. Making a mental note to talk to the powers that be about his lot in life, he stood up smoothly and continued on his nature walk. Nature was a wonderful thing indeed. Very refreshing and invigorating to the spirit. It was something his frazzled psych needed desperately. Currently, he was having serious doubts about allowing that man, Kenneth was it?, to talk him into talking his two daughters. Well, not that he had had the chance to object the notion, he hadn't gotten so much as a word in edgewise.
In between the blubbers and the whimpers of ' don't eat me' and all that, Beast had just stood there wondering where the hell the nut had come from and trying to figure out how to get him off his land the cleanest way possible.
And then the whole " Take my daughter, She's pretty." had smacked him from his thoughts and he remembered something of what the woman who had cursed him had said, roughly translated, " Find a broad who likes you even if you are hideous and get her to love ya then love her and, if ya want to, bed her."
Now, here he was, two females in the castle and his life of easy bachelorhood gone. And to make it worse, he only had one chance at love or he'd be a beast forever.
Where was the fairness in that?
The serenity of the forest ruined, Beast rounded back towards the castle and began to jog through the brush silently on padded feet.
The hairs on the back of Serena's neck were prickling as she moved slowly, warily, down the darkened hall. Duo was experiencing the same feelings of past ghosts that she was feeling. They couldn't shake the feelings of eyes digging into their backs.
Serena was grumbling to herself, " I should have never let you talk me into this, you fruitcake." As well as growling about how much she hated ghost's. Duo didn't blame her for the last bit, but he was rather annoyed at the fruitcake jab.
" I am not a fruitcake!" He protested, flailing and nearly falling off her shoulder. Steadying himself, he continued to rant and rage, going off about all sorts of things, like how he had a braid yes, but he was in no way shape or form gay, nor was he a tart, as some people may believe. However, Serena was not listening, she had lost interest at 'I am not…' and was instead looking at a portrait on the wall.
That in itself may not have been unusual, but for the fact that the only wall decorations she had seen thus far had been tapestries. Not once, had she seen any signs of paintings or portraits.
" Hey, Do you know where we are?" Serena asked, reaching towards the golden frame holding the painting to the wall.
Duo ran out of steam and looked around a moment. " I'd say the Family uh…hall thing."
Something wasn't right. He didn't know what but something was definitely not right. It was a niggling little feeling at the back of his mind and it was ever so slowly moving forward. Like a slug. He didn't particularly care for slugs. And it was leaving a slime trail.
Eww.
This only spurred him faster.
" How very astute of you, Duo. Do you have any other observations you'd like to let me in on?"
"Yeah. Watch out for that-"
SLAM!
" Sigh …wall. Ouch. Did that hurt?" Duo, being the lucky little avian that he was had lifted off from her shoulder and now hovered over a starry eyed Serena, gibbering about something or other.
She shook her head and regained her bearings quickly enough. " I HATE THESE WALLS!!"
" Eventually, you learn to love them." Duo stated helpfully.
The only reply was a muffled grunt from Serena as she rubbed her face with a scowl. "Stupid, magical, piece of …wall. Your mother's a fraggin aardvark."
The wall didn't take to kindly to that and decided to leave.
Serena blinked when the wall just left. Just up and left.
" ….M'kay. That was something you don't see everyday." She said, trying to get over the fact that a wall had just moved. Running into one when your not looking is one thing, but watching them up and waltz off was quite another.
" See, wasn't that neat?" chirped Duo. All Serena could do was roll her eyes, and start walking again. Duo flitted over and settled back on her shoulder as they traversed deeper into the 'Family uh… hall thing'
" Oh my god, that man's huge!"
" Actually, I think that's a woman Duo."
"….Eck, that's not right!"
"….sigh"
" Hey who's that?" Duo pointed to a slightly less aged portrait that hung slightly askew on the wall. Serena's eyes darted to it and she was struck by a cord of familiarity.
Beast rushed through the corridors unnerved by the feeling of not rightness.
Serena moved closer to the portrait, staring into the young noble man's intense gaze, trying to figure out who he was.
Duo looked askance at Serena and gave himself a mental pat on the back.
" Isn't that-" Serena's voice was cut off by another. Only, this one was darker in coloration and had a slight ache to it, if such a thing were plausible.
" Me?"
Serena whirled around, and her mind immediately clicked.
End Chapter.
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Mwuahahahahaha. Cliff hangover. Mwuaheheheh, ::gags:: ::coughs:: * Ahem * Note to self never try to laugh like a psychotic maniac when one has bronchitis.:: Chuckles silently:: teeheehehehehehe. Yup, that's right. I've been sick for a while now, and my mum has just concluded that what I have could either be bronchitis of the humidity trying to murder my lungs. ::gets odd mental image to go along with that thought:: Hermph. Ah, fabulous.
::Tweaks:: Anyways. Enough of that. It's about time I got to another good twist. Or would this be turn? Erkay. Perhaps, it's not much of either, you all probably saw this coming. Who do you think it is? Huh? Huh? C'mon guess. It's no fun if you don't guess.
Advice for Chapter:
If you walk under a ladder and it falls down it probably means bad luck. And! Never believe everything you think. There could be voices in your head. :: pauses to have a nice little chat with the resident voices in head::
Joke for chapter: A girl walks into her mothers room and lifts up her Barbie doll™. The doll has needles and other various pointy objects stuck into her face. The mother nearly faints, staring at her 6 year old child in something akin to horror. " What are you doing?" She asks.
The little girls smiles and tells her mommy, " I'm practicing to be an acupuncturist when I grow up!"