A/N: Okay I am finally posting again! I really hope that I can update often, but I don't know how often because I am getting ready to go to Carnegie Hall and have my school musical so I will try as hard as I can not to have bad lapses of not updating during this month!
Story Notes: I really wanted to do a Beauty and the Beast fanfic, but didn't want to stop writing SOM so here is my compromise. My two favorite movies combined together! The Prologue is vague for a reason, so please don't tell me it doesn't make sense, it will I promise! I hope you enjoy my story of The Sound of Music, Beauty and the Beast style! Please review because that is what keeps me going. (especially now considering I am so busy!)
Prologue
A woman about forty years of age sat in a brightly lit room in the hills of Vermont. Those hills had become her home even though her family was from Europe. She looked out the window as her granddaughter walked in the house. Her granddaughter was beautiful, yet she was very tomboyish and messy.
"Joan where did you go today? You are filthy!" She exclaimed seeing her granddaughter covered in mud.
"I decided to go for a swim." Was her reply. "I am sorry grandmamma, but the hills were beautiful. I just had to climb them and then go for a swim before I came home."
"Well let's get you cleaned up before your Mother arrives." The woman told her chuckling a bit. The girl climbed into the tub and rinsed. "So how was your day at school?" The woman asked.
"It was terrible!" Joan cried. "Guess what they are making us do?"
"What are they making you do?"
"They are making us study our past. Do you know how boring that is? I mean Mother has never had anything interesting happen in her life. I am guessing the same for her relatives I am going to be intensely bored." Joan told her pretending to faint. The woman laughed at her granddaughter's acting. Joan's dream was to someday be big on Broadway and get to sing on Carnegie Hall.
"Well I don't know about boring." The woman remarked. The child looked up curiously.
"What do you mean?" She asked stunned by the thought of her families past not being boring.
"Well, you have heard the tale of Beauty and the Beast, have you not?" She asked.
"Yes that's a lovely tale, but what does that have to do with you?" Joan looked up with bright eyes.
"Well would you like to hear about your Mother's and my life? I assure you it won't be boring, but it is a long story." She warned her.
"That is alright. I would rather have you tell it. You are such a wonderful story teller!" Joan cried becoming slightly more excited.
"Very well then I will tell you. Now what is that phrase you use? Oh yes how could I have forgotten? Once Upon a Time in a far away land."
"Grandmamma?"
"Yes?"
"This is a true story right?" She asked skeptically.
"Well yes it is haven't I told you that?" She cocked her head a little.
"Then why are you using once upon a time when it isn't a fairytale." The woman smiled at the intelligence of the girl. Just like Brigitta, the woman thought.
"Well I suppose I am just using it to make the beginning sound better." She told Joan. "Is that alright?" The little girl laughed a little and nodded her head.
"Yes that is fine."
"Good. I will begin again then. Once upon a time in a far away land.oh my I suppose it was not such a far away land it was only in Austria after all and it wasn't that long ago."
"Grandmamma, it is fine. I don't mind if the land is far away or not. Can you please just tell the story?" Joan told her giggling.
"Yes okay we will not interrupt the story again. I will just tell it. I guess it is more difficult when it really happened to you. Here I go. Once upon a time."
~Just if you haven't been able to tell Maria is telling the story to her grandchild. I figured she would be about forty because Liesl would get married at about twenty and have kids a few years later which would make Maria about thirty so ten years after that she would be forty! Review Please!