Chapter 4 : Beast Encounter

Somewhere, where the sun has already set and it seems like there's going to be a storm, we still see Maurice on the way with his carriage.

Maurice : The forest is lovely. I only wish I'd recognized them. You know where we are, Philippo? 'Cause this place seems unfamiliar.

Suddenly we see a tree struck by an unnatural lightning and falls, which shocked Philippo.

Maurice : It's OK, It's OK, Philippo!

Maurice then sees that there is another way in the right side of the destroyed tree.

Maurice : Hmmm….Perhaps we should go this way? Go on! To the right

Philippo pulls the carriage into the right side of the destroyed tree, and as the carriage walked, all of a sudden, the whole forest is snowing. Which is odd, because it was in the middle of May. As they walked, suddenly Philippo neighs a bit loud, it turns out he sees a wolf.

Maurice : Uh-oh! Go! Go, Philippo! Faster!

Philippo and the carriage goes faster as the wolves chased them, but more wolves approached and made Maurice's carriage crash and disengage from Philippo, who runs away without it. As Maurice gots up he found himself surrounded by the feral wolves, but Philippo got just in time who runs into a gate that just happened to be conveniently opened.

Maurice : Are those wolves really that hungry? Thank you for saving my life, Philippo!

Maurice then recognized a horse stable with a full plate of hay and water. Maurice dismounts from Philippo and guides him to it.

Maurice : Oh, look, there's some hay and water, you're safe now, my friend. Now I'll go pay my respects to our mysterious host.

And as we see more of that mysterious place, it turns out it was the cursed King's palace, trapped in an eternal winter when the Enchantress cursed the King back then. Maurice then entered the palace and opened the door, but nobody is inside.

Maurice : Hello! Hello? Thank you….

The door suddenly closed itself with a creaking noise like the ones people heard in a horror movie. As he comes in, he sees a fire lighted in the fireplace, thinking the castle has somehow been expecting him. Maurice then goes to the stairs.

Maurice : I don't mean to intrude, I'm just a traveler seeking shelter from the bitter storm

Behind him, we see that the coat hanger where he puts his coat suddenly moves. The coat hanger is actually the King's butler who, along with the fellow servants of the King's palace was cursed by the Enchantress. As he goes to the fireplace, we then see a mantel clock and a candelabra at the top of it, and of course, like the coat hanger, they are sentient as well.

Luminio : This guy must have lost his way in the woods!

Cogsworth : Silence!

Maurice somehow heard them talk and turns back to see nothing but a non-sentient mantel clock and candelabra before taking the mantel clock and candelabra to admire it a bit.

Maurice : What a beautiful old clock, and what an extraordinary design this candelabra had.

Suddenly Maurice heard a piano playing somewhere. Thinking the host is playing piano somewhere, he goes after that noise.

Luminio : (refers to Maurice) A man of taste he is, I see.

Cogsworth : He's talking about me.

Luminio : Actually both.

As Maurice followed the piano playing sound, he saw that the piano is somehow playing itself in what appears to be a large hall. Seeing that Maurice caught him, the piano stopped playing and turns out the candlesticks atop its body. As Maurice sees the piano stopped playing, he peeks at the door.

Maurice : S-s-sorry…

He then goes back to the fireplace to warm himself by the fire. He then goes to a small dining room near the fireplace room where he saw a set of meal prepared for him. As he prepared to eat, suddenly, a tea cup moves by itself into his place. Maurice recoiled in shock. The teacup then spoke in a boyish voice.

Chip : Sorry, mum says I'm not supposed to move because it might be scary

Maurice : Oh, that's fine.

He suddenly runs away fast from the dining room back to the front door

Maurice : I…I can't thank you enough for your hospitality, but I'm afraid I should go now. Adios! And, Buenos noches!

Maurice then fetched Philippo to get back home but as she gets out of the palace, she goes across a rose garden.

Maurice : Oh, wait, wait! A rose, for Bella! I almost forgot! Stay here

Maurice disembarked from Philippo, and as he walked to take a rose, we sees that behind him, Alvin is stalking him from atop. Maurice slowly takes it, and he heard that Philippo is snorting. But, as he takes it, the King-Beast suddenly jumped from atop and roared at his face. Though we only see his shadows now. Maurice was of course shocked, then we see him walking on all fours like an animal an approached Maurice

Alvin : I knew there is a stranger here! WHO ON EARTH LET HIM COMEEEEEE? (roars once more)

As Maurice runs, he suddenly stopped as he comes face-to-face with Alvin.

Alvin : WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE?!

Maurice : (stays back) I…I was lost in the forest, and…and…

Alvin : YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!

Maurice : I'm—I'm sorry.

Alvin : AND WHAT ON EARTH YOU ARE STARING AT?!

Maurice : N-n-nothing!

Alvin : SO YOU'VE COME TO STARE AT THE BEAST, AREN'T YOU?

Maurice runs from the angry beast king

Maurice : P-p-p-please, I meant you no harm, sir. I just need a place to take cover from the bitter storm

Alvin : You want to take cover? I'LL GIVE YOU PLACE TO TAKE COVER!

Alvin then grabbed Maurice and slams the door of his castle open as Philippo runs back to the village

And…there goes Chapter 4!

And if you noticed, Maurice's encounter with the Beast is a mix of the 1991 and the 2017 version. Yes, I am intending to make the Beast's personality a fusion of his 1991 self and his 2017 self.

Next chapter, we will see this Spanish beauty trying to take the place of his beloved papa, and perhaps a start of a love-hate relationship?