Chapter 37

Cries of Pain Tears of Joy

Both men, Axel and Calostire heard the scream from far off in the castle and immediately knew that it was Rose. Bursting from the library, they sprinted down the hallway in the middle of the night. Servants gone, the hallways lay bare to the candle light making an eerie gloom on the walls. With thudding hearts, beast and man franticly searched for the young girl who had yelled out in either pain or fright. They hopped the latter.

Finally they reached the East Hallway where they found a man in a red hunting shirt, black pants made of some leather, and a gun that looked as if it could shoot a hole through anything, was picking up Rose who was now crying in the mans arms blood on her head.

She cried out to be released from his hold while the crimson flowed from her head, but he merely shouted at her to silence. Calostire instantly recognized the man as Gaston from Roses village. The same one who had tried to grab her and persuade her to marry him. Axel, seeing his friends anger, grabbed for his knives and yelled out.

"I would advise putting the girl down, or else my friend and I may get a little threatening." Axel said, with little humor.

Gaston instantly whipped around only to face a man with clothes as black as the night and a creature that resembled a wolf and a lion.

"So, these are the types of people that live in a castle inside the forest. A red haired freak, as well as a monster!" Gaston chuckled, "I'm sorry though, I didn't come all this way to get Rose here, only to put her down because you told me too."

"But," Gaston put down Rose non to gently on the ground and reached for his gun, "I wouldn't mind adding that creatures head to my wall to prove to this girl's father that I really did save her from something!" He nodded in Calostires direction.

"NO!" Rose yelled, voice hoarse from the scream, as Gaston took aim at Calostire.

Axel quickly pulled one of his knives from his belt and threw it in Gaston's direction. With the knife hitting Gaston right in the left thigh, it caused the man to pull the trigger off target, but never the less it hit Axel in his arm.

Axel yelled out it great agony as the bullet struck him in his arm. It wasn't his knife throwing arm, Axel was grateful for, but all the same the pain seared through him like a wildfire.

"AXEL!" both Rose and Calostire yelled out, but Axel merely laughed after the first strike of pain passed.

"Calostire, get Rose out of here. I don't want her to see me kill this pathetic little man and show him what a true predator is." His voice suddenly got cold and harsh, something that scared even Calostire a little.

Gaston, hearing the red haired man say a familiar name, looked in the direction of the beast.

"No…you can't be! Not that man from the village!" Gaston said, awestruck.

With the countering silence beside the heavy breathing of Axel in pain, and the cries of Rose as she watched Axel's wound bleed atrociously. Calostire merely stood his ground and glared at the man whom towards he was hopping to kill oh so slowly.

"CALOSTIRE! Get Rose out of here!" Axel yelled, as he once again grabbed for another knife and was getting into a readying stance.

With no further hesitation, Calostire sprinted and lunged for Rose. Gaston seemed to be waiting for this move, because he raised his gun with precise aim and was getting ready to fire, when once more Axels knives managed to knock the man's aim off. The beast reached Rose, grasped her in his big arms and ran out and away from the hallway. Shot's were heard as Calostire ran farther and farther away from his best friend. Just the thought of Axel suddenly getting killed, sank in the man's heart, almost making him drop Rose with his sudden weakness.

After running what seemed like forever, Calostire managed to reach his room.

"Calostire!" Rose gasped, as the man suddenly fell to his knees once letting go of her. She ran and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he seemed to have felt it, he suddenly grabbed for Rose and pulled her into a warm embrace.

"Rose…Rose I'm so sorry."

Those were the first words that Calostire had wanted to say ever since the incident in the library. He had gone through all of his thoughts and realized that he should have told her all along who he was.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was when I brought you here. I-I didn't want you to know who I was. I thought that if you knew what the man you fell in love with in the village was a beast…then y-you w-w-would ha-ate m-me. That you would find a repulsive beast caring for you, the most disgruntling thing ever. I just wanted you to be happy."

Rose could feel Calostire's shoulders moving with shaking motion, as he held onto her like a life support, afraid that if he let her go, then he would drown in despair. His voice was coming out I choked sobs.

The small young woman looked up at the man she loved, only to meet his blue eyes. The same blue eye's that she saw in the village, the same blue eyes that she fell in love with.

"Calostire…I could never hate you." She lightly touched his face, he leaned into her touch.

"I think that what hurt me the most was that you knew how much I cared about you, and yet you lied to me. Making me worry about you, when after all this time you were with me. It felt like my heart was torn out, and yet filled with relief when I realized it was you. I felt torn out because you were afraid to tell me anything, yet I felt like my heart could soar because I-I was with the man I cared about. And besides, being with you makes me happy."

She too now had tears falling down her eyes. Not wanting for Calostire to see, she turned her head away from his prying eyes. But he saw, and his heart melted. Even though he had lied to her after all those months, she still loved him.

Calostire reached down and pulled Rose's chin to make her face him. Her wet tears leaving trails down her face. He lightly wiped the tears away, and brushed some of the slightly dried blood from her head, making sure that he put no pressure on her head.

When her eyes met his once more, he knew that he would die for her. That he would want to be with her forever, and no one else.

"Rose…" he trailed off.

All of a sudden the doors of the bedroom flew open. Calostire immediately pushed Rose behind him, getting in a ready stance for what was to come.

What came through the door about made Calostires heart drop. Axel, came limping inside, blood trailing behind him. Axel looked towards Calostire, his green eyes didn't show that usual fire they had in them. They were dull, and almost lifeless. The red haired man made weak grin as he tried to speak. But as soon as the man opened his mouth, all the came out was blood.

The man could no longer hold himself up, and collapsed onto the floor.

"Axel!" Rose whispered.

Even though Rose met Axel under tough circumstances, she cared for the man as a friend and seeing him in such a weak state when he was a strong man make her sob. "Axel please, please get up Axel! You cant-you cant d--." She couldn't even muster of what she didn't want to happen. She was kneeling at his side, moving his shoulders with an urge to get up, to show any sign that he was ok. Calostire looked at Rose with such sadness. She was still so innocent, having never seen death or anyone is such a state. Now, seeing her friend like that, he was wondering if she could handle in anymore. In the past few hours she had seen more blood than she had probably seen in her entire life. He himself had seen enough and could only rush to his friend's aid along beside Rose, and carry the man to the torn bed.

Once they tore off Axel's coat, they saw how much pain the man had actually been through.

Six bullet shots. Two on his right side, one on his arm, another one on his left shoulder blade, and two on his left chest. It was a wonder that the man was still alive, but Calostire knew that Axel had the will power to go against anything.

"Rose, I need you to tear off parts off of the bed and try and stop the bleeding. If he continues to lose blood this quick then he will most likely-." Calostire couldn't even muster up what Rose couldn't say.

She nodded her head and started working on Axel's wounds. It would take time, but the man would survive.

With all the commotion, the two (plus the unconscious Axel) didn't notice three of the servants rush inside.

"Master!" they all called out in union.

Mrs. Potts went straight to Rose to help her with the stranger, while Lumiere and Cogsworth went to their Master to ask questions of what was going on. Calostire told them everything, from when he met Rose, to the exact night. It felt almost like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders for letting everything out, but he couldn't let them know everything yet. All three seemed to be content with what they had learned, but Calostire knew that they wanted to ask more.

"That is all I will tell you tonight. Right now I need to find out what happened to the intruder."

With that, he sent them off quickly; he wanted to be alone with Rose.

Moments later all hell broke loose.

A shot rang out through the room. Gaston was standing at the door, bleeding, but not near as much as Axel was. None the less, blood now covered the bedroom floor and made it look like a slaughter house. It disgusted Calostire to no end.

"So, that damned freak managed to survived did he? I thought he would have been dead after all the bullets I had to waste on him." Gaston spat out blood from his mouth. "He just wouldn't give up. Wouldn't stop saying how he had to protect his 'friends' and make up for what he had done, or something like that." He said scornfully.

"Well now, at least with him out of the way, I can finally deal with you." Gaston was looking directly at Calostire.

"I can't have you going around and stealing my girl, although I don't know what she would see in someone like you. Just look at you! Claws, sharp teeth, and even a tail! You're nothing but a monster."

"That's not true!"

Rose suddenly yelled out, Gaston hadn't noticed that Rose was in the room, and seemed to think that he was hearing things until Rose was in his face and poking his chest with her finger. Her face that had tears in them not long ago, was now filled with rage.

"Gaston he is more of a man than you will ever be. He is caring, strong, smart, and doesn't just look at person and judge. Although as for what someone could say about you…" She stopped and made a disgusted face. "You're nothing but a pig."

It took a while but finally Gaston seemed to take in the fact that there was no way on heaven or hell that Rose was every going to marry him willingly, so he would just have to make her.

The man suddenly backhanded the girl, the force knocking her unconscious. Rose feel to the ground with a bright red mark on her face marring her skin twice in one night.

Calostire ran to her aid, and picked her up gently almost afraid that he could break her. He looked at her face and noted how big the red mark on her face was. No man should ever hit a woman, that much Calostire had learned when he was a child, even if he himself had hurt Rose in the past.

An unspeakable anger and rage boiled up inside of him, and now there was no holding it back.

"So, is this how you expect someone to marry you?" Calostire spat out. "By hitting them, threatening them, and hurting the people they care about?" He asked with and evil humor in his voice. "No wonder Rose would ever marry you. You would do nothing but ruin her life. You don't, and will never, deserve anyone as kind and caring as her." He said, laying Rose besides his best friend on the bed.

This man, Gaston, would pay dearly. He hurt two people that he deeply cared about. They both lay on the bed, one bleeding and the other knocked out. How calm they looked, as if nothing had ever happened…but it did. Gaston did this and had threatened him. He would be sure to make the man suffer a long and painful death.

You see? This is what you should have done earlier before you let things get this far Calostire. Now this man has hurt our woman, our companion, and worst of all, mocked us. Calling us a 'monster'. Give in, let me handle this. I will make sure that by the time I am done with this 'hunter,' as he calls himself that he will beg for death. If only you had given in sooner…

No, I will not let Rose witness such darkness that we have inside. If I had done such things in front of her, she would look at me with fear, and maybe even think that we would harm her in such a way. I couldn't let that innocent light that shines in her eyes, dim because of me. If you think about it, it's almost best that this man knocked her out. None the less, it's time for this nonsense to be at an end.

Calostire suddenly looked at Gaston. That look made even the great hunter himself take a step back. Even Gaston would have noticed those once blue eyes, now held something more that hate, they held bloodlust.

Gaston pulled his gun up to point at Calostires head. Finger on the trigger, Gaston pulled. All of a sudden Calostire was in the man's face growling in a deep thundering tone, the gun thrown to the ground. Yes Gaston had shot, but the monster seemed unfazed even as blood seeped from his right shoulder. With scaring speed, the creature grabbed Gaston by the throat and led him to his balcony, past the bed where Rose and Axel lay, past the glimmering rose that lay in the glass dome, and out into the darkness of the doorway outside that lay over the cliffs on the side of Calostires magnificent castle.

"You come to my home, you hurt my friend, hit and try and steal MY woman, and you dare point that pathetic piece of shooting metal at me. Now you will see what kind of fearsome thing you have unleashed. It's almost a good thing that you knocked MY Rose out, otherwise she would have had to witness me kill you in a slow,"Calostire dug a claw into the man's arm and the other onto the man's neck to hold him.

"Agonizing,"

He then twisted his hand, the claws digging deeper into Gaston's arm and breaking it. "Way."

Gaston yelled a horrific and agonizing sound that would send shivers down any mans back. The pain that this monster inflicted upon him was something unbearable. He had not just broken one of the man's bones, he broke everything in his right arm, nothing left intact.

"Don't you enjoy the pain hunter? Don't you love to feel what those laying on the bed had to feel as you shot one, and backhanded the other?" An unruly laughter broke from Calostires mouth. Gaston still in his grip, was merely hanging by his neck now, while his arm lay limp by his side and the other hand was trying to loosen the monsters grip..

Calostire made a move and grabbed the other mans arm.

"P-please! H-h-have mercy on m-me!" Gaston pleaded.

But Calostire was beyond mercy. He wanted this man to beg for death, to beg for Calostire to end his pathetic life quick and painless. But no, death would not come so easily.

"Calostire?"

Rose was now awake, the red mark still on her face fresh. She was waking up from the hit, and was looking for Calostire. When she saw him, she saw something she never thought she would see.

Calostire was holding Gaston by his neck, clearly Gaston's arm was broken. But now, Calostire had a clear intent of breaking Gaston's other arm. He was holding it in a vice grip, already the man in his grasp was in pain, wriggling like a fish out of water. But that wasn't all what shocked her, it was his eyes. They were no longer blue, they were a crimson red.

"Calostire! No, you can't hurt him! Don't!" Rose ran up to the beast and tried to calm him down and persuade him to let Gaston go.

"If you hurt Gaston then you will be just as bad as he is! You're not like that, Calostire please let him go."

Oblivious to Rose's voice, Calostire broke Gaston's other arm. Allowing, yet another, holler of pain to echo throughout the castle and the night sky. Calostire dropped the pathetic man to the ground and turned to Rose. Gaston couldn't take the pain and merely passed out where his body landed. Never before had the hunter looked as pitiful as he did now.

Now, with the beasts glare beating down upon her, Rose couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Taking a tentative step back Rose was shaking in fear as those crimson eyes were now staring right at her.

"How dare you! This man has tried to steal you from me, harm you, and yet you stand up for him! Do you prefer him over me? Or is it that every emotion that you show me is nothing but lies?!" Calostire roared out. His beast side was still having a hold on his body, blinding him to what he was saying or to what he was about to do.

"If I can't have you, then no one will have you!" Calostire roared. He reached for Rose and grasped the girl's throat, just as he had done moments ago to the hunter.

"W-who are you?! You are not C-Calostire! He w-would never say that, that's just what Gaston would s-say and I know that you are n-nothing like that man lying on the g-ground!" Rose was left gasping as she tried to find out what had happened to the man she loved.

"I am Calostire! Don't you see?!" The beast laughed a cruel evil laugh. "Are you so blind that you cannot notice your loved one standing before you? If that is so, maybe you don't care about me as you say you do."

His grip tightened on the girl's throat. Tears streaming down her eyes as she tried to allow air into her lungs.
"P-please Calostire…I love you…" her voiced died away as Calostire once more tightened his grip. She was blacking out from the lack of air. But as soon as those words had escaped her lips, those crimson eyes suddenly returned to the blue, caring ones. Meanwhile, those blue eyes noticed the hazel ones fade away along with her life.

"R-rose!"

He realized what he had done and was barley able to comprehend what was happening. Releasing the girl's throat, he saw the deep bruises that his grasp had left on her neck. They seemed darken as he let go and watched her body fall to the ground.

"Rose? Rose please…Rose answer me!" He knelt down beside her and was choking, he couldn't breathe. His heart seemed to have frozen in his chest and was now spreading throughout his body. As he held onto Rose, he realized just how small and frail the girl was compared to him. He tried shaking her awake softly, like children do to their parents to wake them from their slumber. But Rose wasn't ever going to wake up again.

"What have I done…I've hurt my Rose."

And then Calostire cried. Tears that he had held in for so many years suddenly poured out as if no longer could he hold back the despair of what his cruelty had done. He didn't cry when his parents died, he didn't cry when he realized his fate was sealed, and he didn't cry when he hurt Axel. But now he hurt the one person that he loved, and loved him in return.

"Rose…I love you" He sobbed holding her close once more as he had done not long ago. Except this time, there was no response. Nothing but a girl in monsters arms.