Yuffie and the Beast
Yup, I'm back at last! And with a new and different story. All of you know that I did not write beauty and the beast, some French dead guy did. But I did change a lot of things like, I just didn't have the heart to make Leon a beast… on the outside at least. Hope you guys enjoy this!
Chapter 1: The Curse
The whole castle was gathered around the master's room, the dark hall covered in darkness and a cold silence drenched over them.
From outside Sora could see the figure of the master on the bed, a chill ran through his body. The once strong and powerful prince was weak on his large bed being taken care of by the castle nurse. Doubt overwhelmed them all as lightning flashed outside and Sora could finally see everyone's faces, even just for a second.
Cloud had his arms crossed with a serious look on his face, his red cape had a redder blot in the middle, his blood, Sora thought. Riku was on the floor with one arm over his bent knee, his arm was bleeding badly but right now, it didn't seem to matter, his silver hair covered his face but Sora guessed that he was staring blankly at the floor. Kairi was leaning on the green wallpaper covered wall. She was staring at the masters pained figure. She looked like she was about to break into tears but she held them back though her lips were trembling fiercely. Selphie, unlike Kairi, was already crying but no one seemed to want to comfort her, since they were all in need of comfort themselves. Tidus was closing his eyes, as if trying to relive the terrible thing that happened to them. Wakka was holding a deflated blitz ball with a depressed look on his face. Lulu, the castle magician, was trying to start a fire to warm them all but it just didn't seem to light.
Sora looked inside the master's room. Aerith was silently washing and bandaging his wounds. And finally, Leon, the prince and master of the castle, was lying on his bed, lifeless, there was no flicker in his blue eyes or any strength in his body. But among all of them, he seemed to have the worst story of all.
Earlier that day
A pebble hit Leon's arm as he swung his oversized sword from left to right. His eyes immediately lightened up. Leon laughed and threw back the pebble at Ansem, his brother.
"Your majesties! No violence!" Daisy said sternly but Leon just splashed water at her.
They were in the garden of their parent's castle. And it seemed like a good day to train.
"You're strong enough, train more and your skin will be to thin to hold your muscles." Ansem joked his little brother.
"Better than fat." Leon pinched his brother's arm.
"Hey! I'm older! You don't have the right to pinch me!" Ansem tried to pinch Leon's arm but it was too hard to grip.
Leon laughed heartily but stopped when he saw a small white duck running towards them in panic.
"Your majesties! Your majesties! Come quick! The king calls for you!" Donald stopped to catch his breath.
Both Ansem and Leon stopped in panic for a few seconds then bolted towards the palace gates. They ran up the marble staircase by threes and they both crammed themselves into the double doors of their father's bedroom.
The 2 were caught dead. Their father was on his bed, surrounded by doctors and nurses, coughing like hell. When he saw the two of them he signaled everyone else to leave them.
"Come." The king's voice was still strong and commanding, despite his dieing state.
The two took slow steps to the bed.
"Hm… you know, I've always tried to treat you two equally, same number of servants, equally fast horses, two separate castles of your own… but now, I have to make a choice between both of you." the king stopped to laugh a weak laugh.
"You know… when your mother was still with us, we always tried to make a choice on who would be king but she died before we could make a decision. Ever since then, I tried to put off the idea but now, I have to make a choice. Ansem, you've always had the talent with magic, you could make fire appear out of nowhere when you were just a week old. And Leon, you were always smart, you always knew what to do and you always had great judgment. Strong too, see you're doing well with your gunblade. Now… I chose the king to be…" he started coughing that he was turning blue.
The doctors and nurses ran back into the room, doing things with their potions and antidotes. Leon's world was spinning, the room smelled like a cold hospital and everyone except him and Ansem were running around trying to preserve the kings life, as if another second would help.
The king took one last breath. His last word held the room silent, it stopped everyone and it changed Leon's world completely.
"….Leon." and with that. The king's heart shut down and his bluer than blue eyes turned cold and the colored emptied. Everyone turned from the king to Leon… the new king. Leon slowly looked up from his father's corpse to his brother's blazing red eyes. They held anger and resentment, totally different emotions than Leon expected.
"I…" Leon gasped.
"I will take my leave… your majesty." Ansem did a mocking bow and stormed out the room, not forgetting to slam the door in the process.
"Your majesty." The doctor kneeled on the floor and bowed, the rest of the room followed.
Leon was speechless, shock and sadness ran through his veins. He didn't know what to do but follow his brother out of the room.
Leon found Ansem on a rock, throwing rocks at the pond. Ansem let out an ear-piercing shout.
"Why are you king! Why do you deserve to be king! Am I not the older one! Did I do something wrong! Did you do something right! I want to bring the damn old man back to life and kill him again!" Ansem lifted a huge rock but it was too heavy for him and it fell on the ground.
"Is it because you're stronger! Or more cunning! Or maybe it's your good looks! You charmed your way to becoming king! You damned bastard! You did this to me! Now what am I! Second in line to the crown, not first like I'm suppose to be!" Ansem threw a punch at Leon but Leon caught his hand.
"Is it because you can block my attacks! Like you can block our enemy's attacks! Can you defend your country! You can't! You've always been the weaker one! The more stupid one too! How could he say you're smarter when I clearly had better grades than you in our childhood? You selfish bastard! You told him to make you king… yes… that's it! You threatened him, didn't you! So he wouldn't have a choice!"
"What could I possibly hold threat to him when he was an inch from death, he had nothing to lose." Leon said coldly, taking in all Ansem was saying.
Ansem gave out another defining shout. This time, fire blazed in his eyes… then his hands. "You dare talk back at me!" Ansem threw the fire towards Leon and it hit his chest, burning the rich fabric.
"Ansem…" Leon tried to stop him from doing anymore.
"Is it because you can make people happy! You could never make my people happy!" Ansem threw another flaming ball at Leon.
"Ansem! What the hell are you doing!" Leon shouted, almost as loud as Ansem.
"OH! So now you're commanding me to answer you!" This time, he threw an even bigger ball of flame and it hit Leon on the arm. Leon let out a gasp of pain and hid behind a large rock.
"Ansem! I don't want to hurt you!" Leon warned.
"As if you could!" he threw a ball of ice and the big rock shattered into pieces.
"Stop this before someone gets hurt!" Leon backed away.
"Hmm… dear brother, you're right. If you die, I would be king." Ansem was about to strike thunder at him when Leon's gunblade cut him straight in the arm.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG! You…. YOU!" the once sunny weather turned into a gray and gloomy sadness.
The clouds stirred and a lightning bolt shot straight at Leon.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he cried in pain. Ansem was about to strike when gold shinned and it hit Ansem on the head. The keyblade. Sora.
"Your highness, you k?" Sora wacked Ansem again.
"Yes… thanks." Leon tried to stand but the bold weakened him immensely.
"You don't look ok." Sora answered as a long bandaged sword hit Ansem on the neck. Cloud.
"Hey, maj… here to help." Cloud nodded and took another swift hit.
Then a blue and white ball bounced on Ansem's head, making him shout in pain. Wakka.
"You lookin' like you need help, ya?" Wakka caught the ball and threw it back.
"I guess so." Leon managed a chuckle.
"That's the Leon I know." Lulu took slow steps and shot a blow of water at Ansem.
Soon Riku and Tidus joined the fight and they were beating him when Ansem couldn't take it anymore.
"Leon… looks like you have your band of merry followers… I can take care of them." Ansem gave a wicked laugh.
Then the ground started to crack and fire shot from them. Leon found himself alone but he could see all his friends through the fire.
"You think you could become king and get away with it! You know that I deserve the crown. You just used your charm and wit to get it for yourself. I knew this day would come and I've prepared for it. I have cooked up such a curse that even you wouldn't be able to crawl your way out." Ansem rose into the air for all of them to see.
"You are to be locked in your castle for the rest of your life, no sunlight will reach you and no seed will be planted. Sadness and depression will reign and emotions such as love and hope will disappear. Leon, I am depriving you from every happiness known to you. But, since you were so good to me all these years, I will give you hope. There is one person in the world, just one, with the key to freedom. But, your freedom will only push through if… I'm still alive. Brother, goodbye. I am king now." And Ansem disappeared from the sky.
A road appeared before all of them leading to god knows where. Leon looked back, the castle, the gardens, his life, all disappeared. In stead, a blazing fire lit the end of the rocky road.
"RUN!" Riku shouted as they all started to run. Leon tried moving his right leg, but instead of moving forward, he collapsed.
Cloud turned around and found Leon, trying to get up. He ran to him and lifted him by the arm. Leon groaned in pain but it didn't stop him from trying to run.
The fire came closer and closer to them but Leon couldn't find the strength to move. Soon, he felt his other arm lift, Sora gave him an assured smile, soon everyone was helping Leon run. It seemed like hours since they started and the flame kept on chasing them, eating the road they walked on.
Finally, they saw the outline of Leonheart castle. The image weakened Leon. The once happy and sunny castle was covered in darkness and thunder. The once blooming gardens were dead and dull. The once tall and towering trees were leafless and broken. His castle, the girt of his father was now ruined.
"We're close! Keep running!" Lulu encouraged. When they reached the final step, they all fell in relief. The fire disappeared and they were all panting.
"Quick! He's bleeding!" Aerith called from the front staircase.
They all brought Leon to his room and were ushered out by Aerith to let Leon breathe.
Sora gave a sad sigh. He could feel his strength fade away slowly. By the looks of Lulu, so were they. The tightness of his arms were weakening and he couldn't lift his keyblade as easily as a few hours ago.
Leon was on his bed, motionless, thinking of what happened and what was happening. He wanted to get up and see what his brother really did. But whatever he did, none of it seemed good.
So……… Hey! I spent 2 hours on this! Don't let my efforts go in vain! Drama… Yeah… uh… about the king… he isn't Mickey Mouse. Do you seriously think a mouse could be the father of two human beings? No. Hope you guys liked it! Please continue to read and review!