Thanks for the reviews guys!
What's a Disney's rendition without their famed songs?
Therefore, in this chapter, a song in Beauty and The Beast will be featured. The title is Human Again, which we couldn't find in the 1991 animation release but it is released during the musical rendition as well as the re-released 2002 and 2010 Blu-Ray version! It's an awesome song, and I guess you might want to listen to that song while reading this chapter! ^^ (I found it on YouTube, by the way)
Of course I have to shorten and modify some parts of the lyrics to fit the story, but I've tried to match the syllables, so without further ado... enjoy! ^^
After a restful sleep, Reine was finally able to get out from her bed and walked around, although it caused great distress for many servants who cared and worried a great deal about her, such as Rod and Jessica—although in the end they couldn't beat her stubbornness.
"Your dinner will be brought to your room, mademoiselle,"
"Thanks, Gill, but I am feeling fine." Reine replied, "I can't be cooped up in the room forever!"
"But—"
Their conversation was cut short with the appearance of the Master, who seemed to get out from his private wing more and more these days. His sharpened senses had let him to hear the conversation even from afar. "Let her do as she wishes,"
Reine smiled triumphantly while Gill bowed in acquiescence. "Very well, Master."
Neil was about to walk away when Reine walked up next to him, "Hey, can I ask you something?"
Neil stopped on his track and turned to her, and Reine accurately took this as an OK for her. "Where do you usually have your dinner?"
"…why did you ask?"
"Why don't we have dinner together?" Reine suggested with an innocent smile on her face. "With Gwen?"
Neil's eyes widened and he held his breath. "Are you serious?"
"Why not?" Reine asked back with a childlike obliviousness.
Gwen sat on the edge of her bed, staring at Allen quizzically. "He wants me to have dinner with him?"
"Yes. Together with your sister."
Gwen seemed to seriously consider the invitation. "…should I come?"
"Alternatively, of course you can have your dinner here if you wish it to be so." Allen assured her with a smile, "I can arrange for that as well, and I'm sure you won't offend Neil if that's what you're worried about."
"How about you?"
Allen laughed, "I haven't eaten anything for the last decade." He said, "but I wouldn't mind staying here while you eat."
Gwen stared at him in puzzlement. "You know… you didn't answer my earlier question." She said, "about why you attend to me this way while you're not a servant here."
"And I've told you, mademoiselle, that I would leave that up to your able imagination." Allen reminded her.
"If I were you, I wouldn't do that." Gwen blushed slightly, "my imagination can be… rather wild, I'd say."
"I wouldn't mind your wild imagination." Allen assured her still with a smile gracing his wooden features. "I think you should be worried of the kinds of wild imagination that I can have."
The brunette tilted her head slightly in cluelessness and Allen couldn't hold back his laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry—your blank face is rather adorable so I couldn't hold myself."
Upon his words, Gwen felt her heartbeat quickened. Did he just compliment me?
"Back to the topic," Allen cleared his voice, "Yes or no?"
Gwen stared at Allen, trying to make up her own mind. Reine's presence in that dinner sure made things difficult for her.
Since Gwen declined the dinner invitation, the word had spread around the castle that Mademoiselle Renaissance Rousseau would attend a dinner with the Master. These words alone was enough to send all of them cleaning the dusty castle—including the West Wing—while a selected pick of servants (and Allen) prepped the Master, including a bath.
"I would suggest dinner over soft, classical music." Gill said.
"Give her a present, Master!" Rod suggested cheerfully, "Girls like presents!"
"You can say that's for her get-well present." Jessica joined in with an approving nod.
"It's just dinner."
Allen shoved Neil deeper into the tub, filling his open mouth with soap bubbles, while at the same time he brushed the fur on Neil's body harder than before, "DAMN YOU ALLEN! STOP IT!" Neil growled as he tried to spit out all the bubbles in his mouth.
Allen seemed to ignore Neil's protest and began to hum, "Ah… human again… think what that means…"
I'll be dancing again
Be good-looking again
With a certain mademoiselle in my arms
When I'm human again
Only human again
Poised and polished and gleaming with charm…
I'll be courting again
Chic and sporting again,
"Which should cause other bachelors alarm." Jessica quipped in in-tune, causing Allen to laugh.
Neil groaned, "Why am I doing all the work?!"
"Oh, no you aren't—we are doing the work for you to get the girl." Allen reminded him as he poured some more shampoo on Neil's head and scrubbed it hard.
"The hell, Allen?!"
"That's for ruining my song," Allen remarked.
Meanwhile, the rest of the castle's household seemed to be united in the sudden cheerful mood. As they cleaned the castle from the dust, changed the torn curtains into the good ones, and wiped the brass all over the castle to restore their glorious shine, they sang cheerfully:
So sweep the dust from the floor!
Let's let some light in the room!
I can feel, I can tell
Someone might break the spell
Any day now…
Shine up the brass on the door!
Alert the dust pail and broom!
If it all goes as planned
Our time may be at hand
Any day now…
Open the shutters and let in some air…
Put these here and those over there!
Sweep up the years
Of sadness and tears
And throw them away!
As they cleaned and sang Reine was attracted by the harmonious cheerfulness and decided to approach one of the servants, "You guys seem to be in an awfully good mood today."
"Whoops!"
Earlier, before dismissing them to their respective duties, Gill had gathered all the servants and warned them that Reine shouldn't know their plan of getting her to fall in love to their Master, considering Reine's personality.
"…we should let it flow naturally!" Gill had emphasised then.
The servants abruptly stopped all their work and stared at Reine, and Reine frowned, "Why? What's wrong?"
"Mademoiselle, shouldn't you get some rest?" one of them said while smiling coyly.
"Oh, come on, I've had enough rest already." Reine replied, "Can't I join the fun?"
"Reine, there you are!"
Reine turned around and found her younger twin walking towards her, "Gwen!" she called excitedly.
"How about we walk around the castle together?"
It didn't take very long for Reine to come to a decision, "Yeah, sure! That'd be great!"
With that agreement, Gwen quietly led Reine away from the half-cleaned hall, much to the relief of the servants.
"You made too much fuss over a dinner!" Neil growled in frustration when Allen forced him to sit down and began to trim his overgrown fur.
"Oh, no, no, no—she's our best shot at breaking the curse and I'm not letting you to ruin that chance because of your own incompetence in the arts of falling in love!"
"What the hell?! I'm not asexual, okay?! I did have a cru—" Neil stopped abruptly, but Allen had already caught the word and glared at him. "Please continue that or I'll make a bald spot right at the crown of your big head."
For some moments the two cousins descended into some sort of staring contest and Allen, staying true to his words took a handful of Neil's fur located at the top of his head and placed it between the scissors.
"It's not her!" Neil groaned, "It was… a girl I saw in the forest, ten years ago!"
Allen smiled triumphantly, "Continue."
"I was playing outside of the castle when I heard somebody's singing, a girl's voice, and then I sneaked up behind some bushes. That's when I saw her. She stopped singing some moments later and took her bow and drew the string. It was a bull's eye."
"Aaaah~ so when this certain girl shot a bull's eye, the Cupid bull's-eyed you as well?"
Neil growled, "Why when you're the one retelling it that story sounds gross?"
"But don't you think it could be Reine? She's good with bows, too, right? Besides, this girl might be around Reine's age—assuming you weren't a paedophile or having an attraction to… a big-sister type."
"No. I'm pretty damn sure it couldn't be her."
Allen was tempted to press the matter further, but looking at Neil's certainty he finally gave up on the idea. Much to his surprise, Neil voluntarily gave him the next piece of information.
"Anyway, she found out she wasn't alone and almost shot me—but she immediately ran away when she saw me. I guess she might figured I came from the castle and afraid being accused for trespassing." he continued, "Actually I wanted to give her the rose for a truce. You know—the rose that witch so obsessed with? It was the only blooming rose at that time and I wanted to give it to the girl instead of some creepy witch."
Neil glanced at the now-enchanted rose, relishing briefly at his childhood crush before sighing, "In any case, that girl couldn't be her."
"I'm sorry about Gwen." Reine said during the dinner, which had reached the second course. "She can be extremely shy around strangers."
"…It's fine."
"But she is a very nice girl, you know?" Reine continued, "and she's very romantic. She surely believes in that notion of true love's kiss."
"I see…"
Rod watched the conversation between them with a worried heart, Did Mademoiselle Reine just try to push Master to Mademoiselle Gwen? He wondered. But…
"In any case…" Reine trailed off as she let the servant, enchanted into a serving trolley, took the empty plate before replacing it with the next course. "I guess I was too harsh on you back then. I'm sorry about that."
"…It's fine." Neil replied, "Not that I couldn't understand."
"Sorry?"
"It's hard to have faith." Neil admitted. "And harder to keep it."
"I guess so…" Reine agreed, "but… after what happened… I guess there's no harm trying. To have faith, I mean."
"Hm."
The rest of the dinner went in a relative silence as both Neil and Reine dwelled deeper into their own thoughts. However, Neil also mustered up enough courage to ask her to stay a bit longer after the last course had been cleared from the table.
"There's something I want to show you."
Reine smiled, "Sure, what's it?"
Neil led her through the hallway and out to the inner garden, which was almost barren except for the newly planted seedlings and sparse patches of grass. They walked past through the garden and reached a place Reine had never explored before, illuminated by an array of candles (on Allen's insistence) in the shape of lanes that directed Reine's vision to a line of round target boards.
"You have a range?!" Reine exclaimed excitedly.
"Well, yeah, but it's hardly used." Neil admitted. "This place is yours."
Reine turned at him, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Really?!"
Neil nodded, but what came afterwards shocked him beyond words as Reine lunged and hugged him, "Thank you! You're awesome!"
Of course that scene didn't escape the watch of the servants who had been following at a safe distance. They cheered among themselves:
When we're human again
Only human again
When the girl fin'lly set us all free!
Cheeks a-blooming again
We're assuming again
We'll resume our long lost joie de vivre!
We'll be playin' again
Holiday' again
And we're praying it's A-S-A-P
When we cast off this pall
We'll stand straight, we'll walk tall
When we're all that we were
Thanks to him, thanks to her
Coming closer and closer
And closer and…
We'll be dancing again!
We'll be gliding again!
Stepping, striding as fine as you please…
Like a real human does
I'll be all that I was
On that glorious morn
When we're fin'lly reborn
And we're all human again!
When Reine finally let go, Neil cleared his throat in his nervousness and said, "And, uh, I heard… your bow snapped. So, here,"
He handed her a new silver-coloured recurve bow, made of tempered steel together with a matching quiver with arrows. Reine paused for a moment, unsure whether to accept this other gift. Her father's words came to her mind:
Love never will. It stays—just like how my love stays with you.
Yes, it will, she assured herself, even if I put his old bow to rest.
Finally with a smile, she accepted the bow, "Thank you so much." She told him sincerely.
"You know, Reine…" Neil trailed off, unsure whether he should continue.
"Hm?"
"You… you make me feel like human again."
Reine gazed at him quizzically, "Aren't you always one?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"Well, yeah, you got cursed and everything. It changed your outward appearance, but I'm sure what's inside of you stays." Reine explained as she nocked an arrow on the bow. She then steadied her stance and began to draw the arrow.
Only then Neil noticed the peculiar way in which Reine drew her bow—in which she drawing hand was her left hand, just like that girl of his boyhood days.
Reine let the arrow go, and it was a bull's eye.
No, she couldn't be her. Neil assured himself, that girl was a redhead.
With Reine learning to let go of her past,
perhaps Neil should learn to let go of his, too?
Thanks for reading!
Please rate and review! ^^
A/N: Sorry for the super long chapter. I was thinking of dividing this chapter into two, but I don't want to break the song flow. I hope it's worth it, though. ^^