Guest: why, thank you for the kind review! I do hope I will be able to meet, if not surpass the expectation! ^^ And yes, I love the song and I thought it would be an apt title for this rendition. As for Thor's name, yeah I must admit it's a slip on my part because Thor comes from Norse mythology.

TMCP: thanks for the kind words! I seriously considered Owen, but in the end I decided on Zack because of the closer physical resemblace to Gaston.

To all the readers, I am very sorry if you happen to be a fan of Zack, who is casted as Gaston here. There is no HM character who is as close as a jerk to Gaston is, so I do have to extrapolate on the characterization. My criteria thus fell on physical resemblance, then first impression, and I am limited to largely the HM titles I have played so far. I hope there's no flame because of this ^^"

Her first instinct was to run away, of course, but somehow the door from which she came in was shut tight. Gwen tried to pry them open, but it remained still, unmoved. Gwen could hear the footstep sound getting nearer to her—her arms shivering because of the coldness as well as the knowledge of her being locked in with a beast.

"Can you talk?!" it growled again, "I asked—"

"I was lost!" Gwen cried out, her eyes shut tight. All the strength in her body seemed to leave her the moment she needed them the most, and she slumped to the floor. "I thought I could seek shelter here!"

"Shelter?" the beast echoed with a hint of curiosity in his voice, "Do you know who am I?"

Only now Gwen remembered the stories that was pervasive in Lindell, about the cursed Beast who resided in a cursed castle, together with his cursed court members. Suddenly she felt foolish for having sought shelter here, not remembering the tale soon enough.

Her fear amplified her silence, and Gwen dared not to turn around. Suddenly, another voice quipped, a chirping, bird-like voice, "She might be the one, Master!"

Then there was the third voice, a gentler, more maternal kind of voice. "Master, you might want to consider what she said."

There was silence for a moment as Gwen desperately prayed for her life—hoping that somehow the Beast didn't eat human, or—even better—was a vegetarian.

"You ask for shelter…?" it asked, a low growl.

"…let me go…" Gwen murmured pleadingly; she would rather brave through the storm rather than spending one more second with this beast. "Please… just let me go…"

"You shall never leave this castle."

Reine fixed the blanket over Mme Rousseau's body, "Mamma, I'm gonna go to the market for a bit."

The older woman stirred and she opened her eyes, revealing a pair of dimmed green rings around a dark circle at the centre of her eyes. "Where's… your sister?"

"She went to the town to sell the harvest, and buy you potions."

Mme Rousseau nodded weakly. Reine bent down and kissed her mother, "Rest well, Mamma."

Without Gwen being around, Reine couldn't go for hunting. However, her quiver and bow, alongside her hunting dagger, had been an inseparable part of her being that she would always bring them every time she left her home.

Reine had barely reached the foot of the hill leading to her family's ranch when suddenly someone pulled her forcefully. Reine quickly yanked her arm free, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"This is a fine day, Reine, and you should spend it in the tavern with me."

Reine rolled her eyes, "I have much better things to do, no thanks."

The muscular man put crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, "What's better than spending time with Zacharie LaRue?" he asked with a dissatisfied tone.

"One: kicking you out of my sight." Reine said as she gripped her bow, "C'mon, Zack, you don't want me resort to this."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Mademoiselle!"

It was then she heard the whispering again, "Look, look, she's threatening Zack…"

"So unbecoming of a lady…"

"Very rude… very brazen…"

Reine snorted and stomped away, but Zack managed to outpace her and appeared in front of her face again, "What, now?"

"Listen, Reine, I know you have to support Mother—"

"My mother. Don't talk as if she's your mother."

"Well, soon she will be my mother-in-law—"

"Your point being?"

Perceiving Reine's interest in his words, Zack pulled her by her arms to the direction of the tavern, where most of the townspeople would spend their free time. Since Lindell was a rather laid-back countryside town, there would surely quite a number of people in the tavern at any given time. The fact that the tavern was located just near the town square also meant that the tavern was the perfect place to make public announcements.

Zack burst into the tavern, with Reine in tow, and he called out:

"Listen, people of Lindell! Mademoiselle Renaissance Rousseau will soon become Madame LaRue!"

His impromptu announcement was responded by loud cheer, and some cries from women who idolized him.

"What the hell?!" Reine cried out in shock.

"Oh, Reine, this is your lucky day—for you have seen the man of your future!" Zack went on, "Imagine, a day being Zack LaRue's wife—I'll dress you up in pretty dresses and bring you food. There's no more need to haul those heavy harvest to the neighbouring town, no more need to hunt deer or fowls, which mean there's no more need of—" he snatched the bow on Reine's back and jumped to one of the empty tables, drawing all the attention to him. Reine immediately chased him, but he was too fast for her, "—this bow!"

He broke the bow into two, and that exact moment, Reine snapped.

She took out the hunting knife she had been carrying and stabbed it just right next to his feet, causing him to lose his balance in panic and he smashed down to the wooden floor.

"That's enough!" she roared. She took out her knife and snatched the broken pieces of her bow back from him.

"What is wrong with you, woman?!" one of the townspeople shouted, "He just proposed to you! You should be grateful someone wanted to marry the kinds of you!"

"You are crazy!"

"Unbelievable!"

Reine ignored all those comments and ran out from the tavern and back to the ranch. She immediately forgot what was the reason of her going out in the first place. Once she reached her home, she dashed to her room, knowing that her mother was still sleeping.

Reine stared at her broken bow. Zack had snapped it right at the middle part, although the elastic string was still intact. Reine looked around her room and decided to take a piece of cloth, wrapped it around the broken part like a bandage and fastened it.

If we have enough money from the harvest… maybe I could buy a new bow.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the outside. Reine slung her bow back to her back and ran out, and she found Thor; distressed, carriage-less, and more importantly, Gwen-less. "What happened to you?! Where's Gwen?!" Reine cried out, only to remember that horses didn't exactly talk in French.

Reine immediately jumped and mounted the stallion, "Bring me to her!"

Gwen was led into a room. A spacious, well-furnished, but empty room. Not knowing what she should do, Gwen took a seat on the bed and sighed, What am I getting into?

Gwen wrapped her arms around her body, trying to keep warm. A moment later, she felt something was covering her—a coat. Gwen turned around and she saw a wooden coat stand she was sure wasn't there a moment ago. Gwen blinked, and the coat stand slowly bent towards her.

"Welcome to our humble abode, mademoiselle."

Gwen immediately screamed and quickly crawled to the middle of the bed. "Is that what I got for wrapping you in the coat? Oh, well…"

"Y—you… you are talking!"

"Why, yes, of course!"

It was then Gwen realized that this coat stand wasn't just able to talk, but it had a pair of eyes—just like humans—in the colour of steel blue. Suddenly, Gwen felt her head became light.

The coat stand chuckled, "Well, what should I expect about myself? My charms might still be too much, even after all these years…"

Reine's dashing to save her sister!

What will happen next?

Stay tuned to find out!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review! ^^

A/N: Any guesses on the two voices earlier (I know it's a bit vague, but no harm trying) as well as the coat stand? :P