Chapter 7
Beauty and the Beast
Mian picked himself from the floor after having been knocked backward from the takeoff. He made his way to the cockpit of the ship. The cockpit had room for three passengers, which were surrounded by control panels, switches and lots of buttons. The steering wheel was horn shaped and had different buttons on it. Mian didn't understand how to fly this thing at all. "Hmm this looks like delicate equipment that could careen into space if I mess….better start pressing all the buttons". Mian began to press buttons at random which opened a glove compartment containing a book titled 'How to fly a Gummi Ship 101'. "Must be my lucky day" Mian hummed. He flipped through the book which had apparently been made by Maleficent for Mian. After a few minutes he had a rough idea of how the ship worked. "Ok so apparently Maleficent put this thing on auto-pilot for my trip there and back, how thoughtful, well better get some rest before I arrive". He went downstairs into the crew quarters and took a nap.
A siren blared waking Mian abruptly. He had been sleeping for an hour so he clumsily made his way to the cockpit and looked out the window. A small world came into view; a large castle loomed over a small village that had been covered in white. The Gummi ship descended down to the world just outside the village. Mian stepped out and was met by a world covered in white. Mian had never seen this before, nor did know what it was, but one thing was for sure it was cold. He took out the disk and turned it on, it showed who he was supposed to bring back. "Well I guess I do owe her for saving my life" Mian said. He turned the disk off and headed for the village hoping to find her there. The village was crowded with traders, farmers, sheep, pigs, children, and carts full of food. Mian struggled to make his way through the crowd when he heard a young woman's voice from inside one of the stores. She came out of the store with a book under her arms calling back into the shop. "Thank you for the book" she called. "Oh it's no problem Belle." answered the store keeper.
"Belle… so that's her name, well nows a better time than any," Mian thought to himself. He tried to reach her but she was fast and the crowd kept on getting in his way. It was as if the crowd was moved out of her way as she walked by. It took Mian a few minutes to figure out that the crowd was dancing, and singing. "Great!" Mian exclaimed irritable "Theater people". Finally Mian got through the crowd but Belle was nowhere in sight, and the fact that it was getting darker didn't make things any easier. So Mian decided to continue his search in the morning.
Mian awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a horse galloping down the road. He sat up just as it speed past him. It took awhile to realize it was Belle. Mian quickly got to his feet and dashed after her. He trailed her deep into the woods until he lost sight of her. Mian stopped to catch his breath and sat down looking for a trail to follow. He found a trail but couldn't tell if Belle traveled down this one or not. So Mian climbed the highest tree he could find and scanned the area. The village was almost no longer visible, and in the opposite direction he spotted a large castle resting on a hilltop. "Dark, creepy, conspicuous, she's gotta be there". Mian climbed down the tree and ran off towards the castle.
It was well into the day by the time Mian reached the castle gate. It began snowing that morning and didn't show any sign of stopping, needless to say Mian was cold. There was a horse tied to the gate which Mian guessed was Belle's. He climbed over the gate and walked through the doors to the castle. It was surprisingly warm inside. Mian walked a little ways into the castle when he heard whispers all around him. The voices seemed to be a few feet away, but no one was there. "I say my boy aren't you a little cold?" said a voice. "Or hungry?" said another. Mian jumped "Whose there?" he said with a little worry in his voice. "Does it matter as long as we're here?" said the first voice. Mian looked to where the voices were coming from. There was a candle holder and a clock resting on a table. Mian slowly walked towards the objects. "Will you answer us already?!" said the second voice. Mian grabbed the two objects and threw them across the room. Both clattered to the floor in a heap. "What the heck was that for?" shouted the clock angrily. "DEMON CLOCK!!!!!" Mian shouted in fear and picked up the table and threw it at them. He missed by and inch and looked around for something else to throw. "That's it he's mine!" shouted the clock and dashed as fast as it could towards Mian. Mian bunted it across them room denting it. The clock tried to get to its feet but the candle held it back. "Pardon my friend, he's a bit cranky when he wakes up." said the candle politely. "DEMON CANDLE!!!!!" Mian shouted and tried to kick it. The candle leaped out of the way shouting "Sacrebleu he's gone mad"! Mian picked up the clock and used it as a club trying to hit the candle. The candle dove between Mian's legs and set Mian's butt on fire. "THE DEMON HAS BURNED ME, OUCH HOT HOT HOT!" Mian yelled as he ran around the room trying to cool his burning buttocks. He finally leaped outside and jumped into a pile of snow instantly putting out the flame.
"Now will you let us explain ourselves?" asked the candle. "Sure why not." Mian said weakly. It took several minutes for the clock whose name was Cogsworth and the candle whose name was Lumiere to explain to Mian everything that had happened to them that caused them to turn into inanimate objects. Afterwards Cogsworth and Lumiere led Mian back into the castle talking between themselves.
"Well" Mian thought "This is a weird little world ain't it". He picked up the pace and followed Cogsworth and Lumiere into the dining room for a nice little dinner.