Before Beau could react to this, Lumiere came hopping over to him at top speed and with a grin plastered over his face, he literally shoved a menu into Beau's face. Beau grabbed the parchment in surprise; honestly, he was starting to think that the castle's inhabitants had no idea what invasion of personal space was... However his annoyance was soon subsided as course after course AFTER COURSE of heavenly food, each platter more impressive than the last presented themselves in front of him... Beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding en flambé, it was amazing! As Beau eagerly started to dig in, a giant golden chandelier engraved so intricately with craftsmanship of the highest order stole his breath away as it descended as heavenly as an angel from the roof filling the dark room with unfamiliar warm light... Chuckling at Beau's amazement Lumiere took a low bow.
"Be our guest... Be our guest..."
After an hour of stuffing himself senseless... Beau patted his tight abdomen, surprised that it didn't sag due to the amount of food he had consumed.
"Bravo! Bravo!" he applauded at Lumiere and the rest of the dancing culinary objects, appreciating the effort they had put in to entertain him... And although he hated himself for thinking this, Beau was actually... it sounded quite ironic but... He was staring to genuinely enjoy himself.
"Thank you monsieur! You are too kind! Too kind!" Lumiere bowed humbly, glad that the young man enjoyed his talents while the mistress certainly hasn't... It was nice to see a cheerful face in the gloomy castle for once, and from what Lumiere could see, Beau was in no doubt... Excited to the point he was actually smiling... However, good things had to come to an end and this came in the form of a raving Cogsworth.
"Yes excellent, good show everybody! Splendid job just splendid!" the clock applauded in an almost condescending manner while also conveniently stealing center stage from Lumiere.
"My goodness! Look at the time! Now its off to bed! OFF TO BED!" Cogsworth exclaimed, gesturing desperately doing his best to ignore the fuming Lumiere and the somewhat annoyed Beau, it was hard... and not to mention HURTFUL but by God, the Mistress was going to have his neck if she found out about this... call Cogsworth old fashioned if you want, but he'd prefer to have a head on his shoulders...
Beau tried to smile; the clock was getting on his nerves... Why was he so desperate to keep Beau from enjoying the castle... Not that Beau liked it, but it housed walking, talking breathing dancing objects for crying out loud... Who in their right state of mind would want to go to bed at a time like this? With a cough, he tried to persuade the uptight Cogsworth to think otherwise.
"You are right monsieur, sleep does sound right at a time like this... but I can't possibly go now! Its my first night in an ENCHANTED castle after all."
Cogsworth's pendulum almost swung out in panic the minute the young man had uttered the word "Enchanted".
"Enchanted?" he squirmed nervously.
"What on earth would make you think this castle was enchanted?" Cogsworth laughed while glaring angrily at a small fork that chose the most inconvenient of times to go tap-dancing across the table.
Beau rolled his eyes.
"I figured it out by myself... So if you don't mind, I would actually like to take a look around." He said dryly.
"Ooh! Would you like a tour?" Lumiere offered enthusiastically seeing both the opportunity to get away from Cogsworth AND more importantly to impress the young man... Beau nodded eagerly and the duo quickly made a beeline for the door...
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" came Cogsworth's loud yell causing both Lumiere and Beau to halt in their steps. Leaping off the table, Cogsworth grabbed Lumiere by the shoulders and harsh whispers were exchanged between the two... Beau scratched his head uneasily, of course he couldn't hear their conversation but he did catch snippets of it. Thinking hard, he decided to put Cogsworth at ease who in his opinion got worked up to easily and quickly... Cogsworth was a wet blanket after all...
"Maybe you should give the tour Cogsworth Beau offered with a smile,
"You are the HEAD of household after all and I reckon you know EVERYTHING there is to know about the castle..." he cajoled flatteringly while bringing himself down to the flustering clock's level.
"Well I... I..." Seeing no point in being modest, Cogsworth puffed out his chest confidently.
"I do actually..."
"As you can see, the pseudo-façade was stripped away to reveal the minimalist Rococo design..."
It wasn't even half an hour and Beau already felt bored out of his mind by Cogsworth's monotonous ramblings ... The tour was in no way entertaining by any standards and he almost felt compelled to retreat to his quarters and call it a night. As they passed by a line up of knight armors, Beau's eyes drifted to a stairwell that was strangely more dimly lit compared to the other parts of the castle...
"Note the unusual inverted vaulted ceilings over by the West Wing... This is yet another example..."
"So that's the West Wing..." Beau thought and instantly, his curiosity kicked in... He just HAD to know what the beast was hiding up there...
Looking at the still rambling Cogsworth, Beau tiptoed his way to the stairway before quietly ascending it...
Upon reaching the top, Beau's earlier excitement began to fade as he entered a sinister hallway. It was horrific at a best, littered with broken statues and torn paintings of gargoyles demons and monsters...
"Relatives of the Beast perhaps?" Beau thought snidely, he knew it was cruel, but who could deny the resemblance? Stopping at a wall, he paused to look at his reflection in front of a shattered mirror, every shard of glass reflecting his disturbed fear... Turning away from the troubling feeling it presented him, Beau continued down the hall, and soon came upon a rather foreboding closed door. If his curiosity had not completely assaulted his senses, Beau would have without a doubt, turned around and returned to his quarters. However, the urge to know why the Beast had forbade him to enter this place overwhelmed him and with a deep breath, Beau grabbed onto the gargoyle shaped handles, and pulled on the door with all his might... It opened with a ghostly groan and cautiously... he entered...
Like this will ever work out... He hates me... and who could blame him... I hate me too..." the Beast cursed as she looked over her balcony. Disgusted that the once beautiful land, populated with woodland creatures and exotic flowers was now filled with nothing but bare trees and bloodthirsty wolves... Wolves...
"Probably an extra precaution to keep me in this place... Or to keep people out..." Beast thought bitterly as a wolf howl pierced the night's air. Sadly she laid her large head on her arms, and tried to avoid thinking about what became of those woodland creatures after the wolves came.
The beast sighed... It had been so long since she had thought about the outside world... She didn't want to... But it was hard when you had an outsider being kept in your house... The beast rumbled low in her throat. She wondered how this boy would have acted towards her if she had still looked... normal...
"Normal... You cant even be that can you? Scaring him like that..." The beast shut her eyes. Pain welling up in her chest... She hadn't meant to explode like that... It was just... Sometimes she couldn't... She couldn't control her... God... She didn't ask for this... She was just a child when it happened... Just a stupid careless naïve child who didn't know any better... The beast chuckled darkly. Oh how naïve she was... for she remembered how she spent the first week of her transformation telling herself that the Enchantress had made a mistake... That it was a nightmare and she'd wake up in her own beautiful body... That these horrid, fangs, claws, fur, horns... Traits that belonged to that of some savage animal would vanish... But that was not to be... The truth had sunk in. She was this savage animal.
Every morning she'd wake to see that face... The face that the Enchantress had given to her... The face she despised with all her heart, that face that branded her as a monster... A new kind of monster that couldn't help but stifle a scream at her own reflection every morning... And hid under her blankets at night... Shivering with fear and crying herself to sleep when no one comforted her... She remembered how days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months and how she had fell to despair... and much to her horror and shame... despair turned to animalistic rage... And she started to uncontrollably lash out at anything and everything. She broke through chairs, pillars and tables with her newfound strength, destroyed paintings, curtains and banners by tooth and claw...
The beast lowered her head. None of that had helped, in fact it only added to her shame at the aftermath... Princesses did not engage in such horrible behavior... Beasts did...
"What's the point? What's the bloody point of all this..." she remembered asking herself. She was a beast now, no amount of crying, screaming; praying was going to change any of this... With her perseverance destroyed and her will crumbled, the beast just decided to submit into her new twisted shape, no longer bothered when she walked on all fours, refusing to wear dresses, opting for her father's old shirts and breeches... Wearing those dresses just reminded her too much of what she wanted to forget... She even went as far as to stop thinking about her name and it soon drifted close to oblivion, to the back of everyone's sub consciousness and as the boy had demonstrated earlier, she was called for what she truly was... "Beast..."
Returning to the present... the beast uttered a low pained whine as her eyes landed on the bridge... She was standing on this very spot years back, watching the same bridge while her parents fled the castle on horse back... They had fled form her... Their only daughter... Abandoned her to face her punishment alone... Although the beast at this stage had accepted her life of isolation and fear... The memory never failed to remind her of all that she had lost...
"Mama... Papa... Would you still cringe if you saw me now? Would you have attacked me with swords like you did? Did you ever love me?" the beast thought sadly before closing her eyes, childishly waiting, longing for their familiar voices to reply despite dreading the answer... Nothing... Nothing at all... The beast grabbed her mane. She was alone... Always alone... No one wanted her... No one would ever want her... Suddenly, a series of soft footsteps soon interrupted her thoughts and she shot up, not wanting anyone to see her pitiful state... Silently she crept to the balcony doors and peered through the torn curtains. What she saw made her heart go ice cold in terror.
