Welcome back, since the previous update took so long, I decided to hurry with this one to make up for it.
Mustard Lady, glad to be back. Hence the quick update this time to celebrate.
Ann, no headmaster this chapter, though I couldn't help to put in some indirect comments.
ImagineATale, HM should appreciate it, I agree. Gaston had his work cut out for him.
Banzi, thank you for the support.
PumpkinHallow4814, it will be fun to write of Gaston's attempts that is for sure. But first he'll try the much easier sister.
Chapter 35
It was early morning and Gaston wanted to do something for Eliana and her sisters. He had no idea what they liked, especially Eloise who he wanted to impress into liking him enough to be civil from now on. He then remembered a part of the forest where not even he had ever hunted, they might like it there.
He left the tavern and heard a young boy talking to his friends. Deciding he was going to need some help he moved in their direction.
"Good day."
The three boys looked at the man that spoke to him.
"The headmaster told us not to talk to you in class today." Said boy number one.
Gaston groaned, how could someone be this resentful?
Boy number two decided to elaborate. "He said that we might end up as useless as you one day.
Right, Gaston thought, this was beyond resentful. This was just plain old hatred. "The headmaster is just angry at me for something I once did during his class."
"What did you do?" Asked boy number three.
Gaston smirked, "I called his class useless and a waste of my time and walked out. I never returned since. He has taken to calling me useless ever since."
The boys snickered at this, they never liked going to class either.
"Now I do need some help," he grabbed a random coin from his pocket and heard the boys gasp, "I need to talk to someone, do you all know Belle's father Maurice?"
The boys looked at each other. "You mean that funny girl?"
Gaston sighed. "Her name is Belle, but yes her. Could you get her father for me, tell him to come to the tavern?"
Eyeing the coin they quickly agreed to do it. He tossed them the coin and heard them run off in the right direction. He did wonder one thing, what coin did he give them to agree so quickly and get them running?
Inside the tavern he was waiting for Maurice to appear, not that it took long. Those boys had been faster than the average messenger on the battlefield and they were being shot at.
"Gaston!" Maurice greeted. "I was surprised to see three boys at my door not just telling me you wanted to talk to me, but pulling me out of my house to make haste. I almost thought something had happened, though it turns out your generous payment was the reason for their enthusiasm."
"Generous? What did I give them? I just took a random coin from my pocket, couldn't have been that much."
Maurice laughed, "I believe it was a gold one."
Now he understood those boys for agreeing so fast, that was twenty-four livres. Not wanting to admit he had no idea what he had given them, he played along. "Yes well, I wanted them to hurry."
"You had no idea what you had given them, did you?"
"No." Gaston grumbled. "Now that you are here however, I was wondering if I could borrow your cart and Philippe. I want to take Eliana and her sisters somewhere, I know the way and I'm sure one of the girls knows how to ride a cart."
Maurice thought it over. "Just in case they don't, maybe you should invite Belle to ride for you."
He thought it over, it might not be such a bad idea. If something went wrong she knew how to help him. "Alright tell her to be ready and here in three hours. I'll take care of the rest."
"What is it you are planning exactly?"
Gaston smiled, "Nothing bad, something to hopefully impress her big sister enough to treat me decently from now on. I don't want to fail Eliana and her family, even though I have no idea if they even have someone at the castle."
Maurice nodded, that was actually considerate of him towards Eliana. "I hope that whatever you have planned will help you there."
"I hope so too. Thank you for helping and thank Belle for me."
"I will."
Now that Maurice had left, Gaston waited for LeFou to appear. He had said he'd visit early today.
After about an hour of waiting he finally heard his friends voice. Waving him over, he soon heard him approach.
"Gaston, I don't have long…"
"Good, neither do I, could you take me to Eliana. I told her the truth yesterday and I want to know how she has taken it. Also I want to take her and her sisters out today into the forest."
LeFou blinked. "You told her? Already? That must have been quite a shock for her."
"It was," Gaston agreed, "but regardless of the outcome I want to try to get her sister to stop being rude to me."
"Speaking of rude, what will you do about her dear uncle?" LeFou couldn't help but snicker.
"That man isn't just rude, he's spiteful and full of hate. But I'm not giving up, I'll try to the last second to get that man to see reason."
"Good luck with that…" LeFou muttered.
Taking his arm, LeFou guided his friend through the village. Seeing the girls outside, he changed direction. "They are here, on the other side of town square. Would you like me to stay with you during your talk or want me to leave you with Eliana?"
"You can leave me there, it will be alright."
Arriving at his destination, Lefou released Gaston's arm. "Good luck." He whispered to his friend before taking off.
"Gaston…" Eliana started.
He held up his hand. "I told you I wanted to take you and your sisters out and I know a special place in the forest. It would do me great pleasure if I could share it with you all."
"Why would we come with you, you would only get us lost."
Gaston sighed. "I have arranged a cart and Belle will drive us there. As for finding it, I visited that spot every time I went hunting, even though I never hunted there."
"I'll come." Elise said. "I think we should give him a chance."
Eliana hugged her baby sister as thanks for her support, she was still having a little trouble making sense of all he had told her. But as he had said, he wanted to try to get her sister her memories back as well. "That makes two, come on Eloise, all he wants is to get to know us all better."
Eloise huffed. "Fine, but if we get lost I will tell uncle."
"You know what," Gaston said, "I'll even let you drag me along when you do."
The prospect of seeing her uncle yelling at Gaston was good enough for her to agree to come along. She even hoped they did get lost.
"Eliana if you take me back, your sisters could tell your mother. We will wait for them at the tavern, we could talk a bit."
Eliana nodded, knowing what he wanted to talk about. Her sisters going the opposite way to tell their mother.
Wanting to break the silence, Gaston was the first to speak. "Have you thought about everything you were told yesterday? I understand it is difficult to keep it hidden but…" That was as far as he got before Eliana kissed him.
"I have, but I'm still scared. What will happen if they don't remember?"
Gaston smiled. "I will not give up, you know that. Failing them is failing you, and I promised myself that I will do all that I can to make you happy."
Eliana gave a small sniffle at hearing him so dedicated to her. "Thank you, but if you can't, know that I won't blame you for it." Thinking about the rest, she sighed. "Could you describe the castle for me? I would like to hear about where you'll be taking me someday."
"It is hidden deep in the darkest part of the forest, though I suspect the first curse may have caused that." Gaston explained. "I haven't seen much of it, but it is always surrounded by winter, snow covering the grounds. Sculpted hedges surround the castle, which is despite it's decrepit outward appearance, beautiful on the inside. The foyer leads to a ballroom on the left, on the right there is the den, connected to the dining room. Upstairs there are two wings. The West Wing is where Belle and Adam reside, the East Wing I have all to myself." Considering he had seen just a few hallways and the foyer before losing his sight and just a little bit before he gave it up again, he couldn't provide many details. He just hoped it had been enough for her.
"It sounds beautiful," Eliana said quietly, "was that where you lost your sight?"
Gaston cleared his throat. "Yes, the Beast Maurice once spoke of was real. I later discovered it was Adam who was cursed to look like that. When I lay my eyes upon him, I tried to kill him. The enchantress that has cursed him did not take kindly to that and had my sight taken away from me as punishment."
As they waited in the tavern, Eliana leaned into Gaston. She now knew what had caused the drastic change in his behavior, she didn't want to say it right in his face, but she was glad that it did happen. It had brought him to her after all, secretly she hoped to one day meet this enchantress to thank her. He did say where he could find her, maybe she should ask… No, she decided, he might be willing to stay blind if it would please her, but he wouldn't want to be confronted by the one that cursed him.
Seeing her sisters enter the tavern, she shook Gaston's arm. "They're here." She told him.
Sitting up straight, Gaston hoped he would make a favorable impression on the oldest sister. "Good day ladies, would you like a drink from me?"
"If you can afford it, or did you beg for scraps outside?" Eloise sneered.
Not one to be deterred from such a comment, he chose to ignore it and ordered their drinks. This time paying attention to the size of the coin he took out of his pocket.
"Belle should be here any moment to take us to the forest by cart. I have arranged for some food and drinks," he took his key out of his pocket and gave it to Eliana, "would you mind getting it all from upstairs?"
"Of course, would you mind if Elise helped me carry everything downstairs?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't mind. Third door remember."
Eliana nodded and took Elise with her, leaving him alone with Eloise.
"I still don't trust you, but either way I will support Eliana…"
Hearing this gave Gaston some hope, perhaps he could get on her good side.
"…though she deserves much better than you."
Gaston groaned, he hoped they would be back soon.
Upstairs Eliana had opened the door and saw the food and drinks ready on the table for her to collect. Walking over with her sister she couldn't help but glance at the door that hid the rose. She looked at her sister who was putting everything in a basket to take along and then back to the door.
"Elise, could you help keep a secret…"
It was taking longer than he expected for the sisters to come back down and we was growing tired of the ever growing list of complaints the oldest was throwing at him. Finally he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and stood up to take over some of the load.
"T-Thank you." He heard Elise stammer. He raised his eyebrow, what was going on? She had never been shy around him before.
However before he could think about it he heard Belle calling them over and took the sisters with him. When they were outside, Eliana took his arm and he heard her laugh. He shook his head, it must be a womanly thing for those two to act so strange all pf a sudden.
Belle followed his directions, which were surprisingly accurate. Describing every landmark she had to look for. Once they did arrive at their destination he heard all the girls gasp.
They had never seen something so beautiful before. A waterfall and a small lake were hidden in the forest. It looked breathtaking, the sun shining trough the leaves of the trees and the open field next to the waterfall and lake were in the bright sun, no leaves covering it.
"I once stumbled on this place during a hunt about eight years ago, ever since I came here to relax or just enjoy the view." He said quietly, letting the girls wonder over what they were seeing. "I would recommend we sit by the three rocks, if we do you might see some deer come out and drink from the lake. They don't feel threatened here as I've never hunted around here."
Surprisingly it was Eloise who first spotted the three rocks and was rather excited to sit there. Hoping to see a deer, as he said they might. She loved animals and having the chance to see one up close was something she couldn't pass up on.
They were sitting and eating for almost two hours before Gaston heard some noise coming from the bushes.
"Quiet, I hear something coming."
Immediately all the girls held their tongue and waited. A few moments later they saw a beautiful deer coming out, Gaston held up his hand indicating he heard something else and then a small deer came put to join it's mother. Both made their way to the lake and started to drink.
Noticing that Eloise was holding her breath he knew he had succeeded, how much he didn't know, but progress was progress.
Done drinking the two deer left and the girls started to talk excitedly.
"That was so cute!" Elise started.
"I had no idea this place existed…" Belle said.
Eliana just hugged him for taking them there. However he was most curious about Eloise's reaction, did she like it enough to stop the spiteful comments?
"Fine, you are not completely useless. This was actually nice." She admitted grumbling.
Her sisters knowing she never admitted it when she had been wrong laughed.
Gaston smirked, he had won this round. The big battle would be the headmaster, would on earth would he ever get that man to speak to him, never mind respectful.
"Shall we go before it gets dark?"
The girls agreed, that would probably be best. They loaded everything back onto the cart and Belle drove back towards home. However just before they left the forest, they were halted by a man who jumped out of the woods.