"Oh I'm so glad to finally be rid of that place! The years have not been kind to that carriage...I swear I'm going to feel those bumps in the road for weeks," I mumbled to myself, adjusting the pack on my shoulder. I couldn't help the feeling of excitement in my stomach. It had been too long since I'd seen my father; he was probably worried sick about me. Fortunately Beast seemed to understand - or at least that's the way she made it seem. I couldn't exactly decide what I thought about the night before. The transformation itself had been terrifying...but what came afterwards was simply mind blowing. Just running through the memories in my head had me quivering. It had been more than I could have dreamed of, maybe that was because Beast was a woman...or maybe because it had been years since she seemed to have any sort of partner with her.
Now that I was out of the castle, though, I had to wonder if I should return. My fingers rand along the cool metal of the mirror, knowing she was only a request away from me. But the way Beast seemed to speak about her curse...about breaking it was more than I think I was ready for. Or maybe I'd just spent so many years denying marriage that now that I had the opportunity to I instinctively ran in the opposite direction. Could I really have a future with her? Who would she be after the curse was broken? A queen? Or a woman extremely out of touch with a society that had passed her by? I didn't know if I was ready for either.
It was dark by the time I walked into the town, the streets empty with the only commotion coming from the tavern. I did my best to avoid it, heading for my home. Maybe...maybe I could move my father back with me. There was tons of room in the castle for one more person and he could finally invent in peace without the world looking down on him. It sounded perfect. But when I opened the door my perfect dream shattered.
My home was in tatters, curtains were ripped, my father's inventions and tools strewn about the floor in various states of destruction. The picture of my mother lay crushed on the floor, the glass having been broken under a boot. "Papa!" I called, praying to hear his response...but nothing. This whole trip went with the hope that my father made it back alive...maybe he didn't. My eyes closed, tears rising to the corners as I forced myself not to cry. He wouldn't want me to give up; I had to find out what happened to him.
I made my way from the home, collecting a handful of my father's tools into my pack before making my way to the town's tavern. Someone in there had to know.
The door opened to waves of shouting and music, all for it to cut off as the company noticed who had entered. They gave me a startled expression and I tried to not blush from embarrassment, raising my chin defiantly. "I am looking for my father," I announced, "who knows where he is?"
"Well look who's back from the head," boomed a voice from the back of the room. The people parted to expose a large wooden table, Gaston resting in a chair like a throne, pulling his feet from the table. He stood, adjusting the belt around his waist as he finished his pint before stepping across the room towards me. "Your father is in the hospital, getting help after he returned delirious, speaking nonsense about a beast kidnapping you." Gaston explained as he looked down at me. But I had my answer, and there for had no more reason to speak to him...or any of them. I turned but he was quick to grip my arm, tightly, pain vibrating up my bicep to my healing shoulder. "So where have you been, Belle? I was so terribly worried," he growled, tugging me back. The looking in his eye was animalistic but unlike Beast, he disgusted me.
"I was traveling," I lied, pushing at his chest only for him to grip my bad shoulder and ppull at the material of my dress. It exposed the pink and healing scars as well as several bruises along my neck from last night. Gaston's smile shifted immediately to a frown, running his hands along the tender flesh, imitating claws digging into my skin.
"Where did one get this...and these?" His thumb ran along one of the bruises as I turned my head away, eyes closing. Gaston looked at me and then gave a disbelieving scoff, "Your old man wasn't lying was he? Did you try to...befriend the beast? Did you seduce it for your freedom? Did you kill it?" he hissed the word in my ear as I shoved him off.
"She is nothing that you speak of!" I pulled the mirror from my pack, "Show me Beast!" I commanded as the mirror swirled to show the image that I hadn't seen in weeks. Beast roared, tossing furniture and ripping marks into the walls in anger. This wasn't the Beast I had grown to care for. "N-no...this isn't..."
"Isn't what?!" Gaston exclaimed, grabbing my wrist with the mirror and lifting it into the air to show the room. "This beast lives just outside our homes! It has already taken one of our people, we must not wait for it to take another!" The room cheered as I tugged my arm back.
"You're wrong! She has not desire to hurt any of you!" But Gaston had made up his mind as the men in the room yelled and cheered, grabbing the nearest weapon-like object they could to prepare the raid on the castle.
I panicked, running from the tavern to the hospital down the road, smashing my way in and breaking the lock from my father's prison. We embraced for what felt like an eternity and i tried to explain what was happening. "You cannot be serious, Belle. It almost killed you! It almost killed me!"
"She," I corrected, "and she would never dare...not anymore. But she doesn't know about the mob that's about to attack the castle. We have to help her!" I prayed as my father gave an unexpected smirk and a shake of his head, following me outside as I stole a horse from a nearby hitch.
"You are so much like your mother. So strong, my child." I smiled as he took my hand and kissed the top of it before mounting the horse as I mounted it behind him.
The ride was quicker than the trip there, but not quick enough. By the time we arrived at the darkened castle it was morning and the mob had already broken through the large doors. I rode the horse into the main hall, dismounting and watching as furniture hurdled itself at the attackers, wooden chairs breaking over heads, brooms swatting at ankles, but I needed to find Beast.
I ran up the stairs to her quarters, finding the door knocked off of its hinges, wood splintered the floor from bullets, making my stomach turn in worry. The window to the balcony had been broken through and i could hear struggling outside. "Beast," I panted, making my way outside to find Beast and Gaston face to face. Gaston's musket had been kicked to the corner and they were attempting a battle of strength only for Gaston to swing an unfair elbow into Beast's gut, making her double over. He dove for his musket and I gasped as the gun fired.