They sat down on the plain ground after shooting around five arrows each. "You're getting better," Reine remarked, "Frankly speaking, you're a quick learner."
"You're not a bad coach yourself."
Reine laughed, "Really?" she asked, "Well, you're my first pupil, actually—so can't really say I agree."
This time, Neil eyed her curiously and she accurately picked his tacit signals and continued speaking, "People of my town aren't really fond of archeresses—can't settle down, they say."
"These days the only way for a girl to 'get a life' is to 'get married'—frankly speaking, I think that's bullshit. I'm not saying that a girl shouldn't marry—she may, but on her own terms. A girl ought to be free to choose how she lives her life."
Neil chuckled. Somehow, he had gotten used to Reine's diction—it was even refreshing for him since all the ladies he had known all his life, for as long as he remembered, spoke either very in a very delicate voice that he couldn't hear them properly or too scared to speak to him.
For him, this was the first time he could really enjoy spending time with someone from opposite gender. He wondered whether it was caused by Reine's tomboyish attitude that made her more similar to men in general, but he knew he was lying if he said he wasn't impressed by the way her beauty balanced itself out—feminine and masculine in an almost equal measure.
Yes. In his eyes, Reine truly was a young woman, who just happened to have a strong personality… and he didn't see any wrong in having such a personality, even if you're a woman.
This was the first time for Reine to converse at length with a guy who didn't look down on her—at least she thought he didn't. She often stole quick glances at him, wondering whether he had reached his saturation point on listening to her voice, but he appeared to be as attentive as ever. He didn't talk much, but he had this expression on his face that almost made her believed that he actually enjoyed listening to her.
This was the first time she felt she could really share her mind with someone else, and although it might sound ironic to others since she did it to a beast, Reine couldn't feel the irony at all for Neil was perfectly another human being in her eyes.
Yes. In her eyes, Neil was a man, who just happened to be cursed… and wasn't what lies inside that matters? Didn't we pick a fruit to enjoy its flesh instead of admiring its skin?
Neil disappeared after dinner although he had mentioned to her that he wanted to show her something. Reine was about to look for him when Gill approached her, "The Master asks for your presence at the rose garden,"
"Thank you, Gill."
"My pleasure."
Reine walked towards the garden, her bow and quiver in tow, in hopes of finding Neil as well as whatever he wanted to show her. When she stepped out from the castle towards the garden, she looked up at the sky and found that the full moon was hidden behind a thin cloak of gray cloud.
It was then Reine noticed a movement before her. Soon, a shadowy figure resembling a man was casted on the ground. With a trained speed, she took her bow and loaded it, "Who is that?!"
"Don't shoot!" a foreign voice replied.
"Who are you?!"
The cloud moved away, allowing the moon to bathe the ground on which they stood and Reine saw before her, a man she had never met before with shining golden hair—albeit a bit messy—dressed in shrivelled white shirt as well as tattered black pants. When he took a step forward towards her, she reflexively put the bow slightly higher, in a position ready to shoot anytime, aiming at this stranger.
"It's me!" he said desperately.
"Don't act as if we know each other!"
"It's me—Neil!"
"No way—you're too good-looking to be Neil!"
Colour rose to Neil's cheek. "Did you just compliment and insult me in one sentence?!"
Reine was thrown back by the confusion, "Well, only if you're Neil."
"Which I told you I am!" he insisted.
"How could I tell?!"
"Can't you see?!"
Finally Reine took a closer look at his face, then she saw the pair of deep violet eyes—just like Neil's. She finally put her bow down, "It's really you…" she murmured in disbelief. "Does this mean… the curse is broken?"
Neil looked at his hand, equally confused. "I… I don't know." He then looked at the castle—it was still covered in the overgrown vines, and the sculptures still took the figure of devils and hideous creatures. "I guess… not."
"Then… how?"
Neil rushed to the castle, pulling her with him, and when his foot stepped on the castle ground, the overgrown vines magically dispersed and all the hideous sculptures and paintings took their former forms, just like how Neil remembered it from a decade ago.
Slowly, each castle occupant returned to their human forms—only that it appeared to Neil they hadn't aged at all, except for himself. A red-haired man walked towards them and he smirked when he saw their linked hands, "So… this is the end of the curse?"
"I… I don't know…" Neil replied.
"Who are you?" Reine asked curiously, but she only received a playful smirk as an answer.
"In any case, this calls for celebration!" he said, before pulling Reine towards himself.
"Hey!"
Ignoring Reine's protests, that redhead dragged her to her room and ordered, "Wash yourself."
"Allen?"
"You're quite slow." Allen said teasingly. "In any case, being a gentleman I am, I am not going to wait for you here." He chuckled, "I'll go to my cousin—he needs some help himself, but that doesn't mean you can not preparing yourself, get it?"
He turned to an auburn-haired girl standing near Reine's dresser, "Yuri, make sure to it."
"Um… yes, m'lord."
Allen fitted Neil to one of his old ballroom coat, picking the colour of dark red wine trimmed with gold, which complimented Neil's eye colour and hair, over white shirt and kerchief and gold vest, together with black dress pants with gold trimmings on the sides.
"Okay, you look fine." Allen said, "Well, if you let me cut a bit of your hair—"
"No." Neil interjected. "This is fine."
Allen sighed, "Fine, fine…"
"Why am I doing this, anyway?!" Neil grunted.
"Because we're all human again and you are the master of this castle." Allen replied, "I don't mind taking your position, but that means I'll get to have her first dance."
"Wha—how?!"
Allen smirked, "You do care about sharing your first dance with her."
Neil blushed. "Shut up!" he scowled, although a moment later he muttered. "I never danced with a girl before…"
Just as he finished his sentence, Gill—now dressed in his suit—knocked on the door and announced, "The lady awaits."
Neil took a deep breath. She had been the first girl he had spent a great deal amount of time with, but the thought of sharing his first dance, figurative and literal one, was still nerve-wrecking.
"Just be yourself." Allen finally imparted some wisdom to him.
Neil nodded. "Here goes nothing."
Neil walked out from his room and towards the grand stairs, and he was stunned for a moment when he saw Reine, this time dressed in a golden ball gown, its bottom part sparkled under the light like an array of powdered stars with an pale cream-coloured organza off-the-shoulder part pinned in the front, just above her chest, and matched with a pair of opera gloves. Her hair was curled and let loose, reaching her waist, with a rose-shaped golden hairpin fastened her long fringe to her left.
Both of them descended the stairs and met at the middle where Reine curtsied to him and he bowed politely to her.
She grinned. "I can't believe this." she said, "Another first, huh?"
Neil smiled and offered his hand, "Another first," he agreed.
With that, Reine took his hand and they walked down on the grand stairs together, walking to the grand ballroom where all the other castle occupants had been waiting for them, some cheering but mostly gazed in awe in their guests of honour's transformation.
The piano began to play as Neil led Reine to the middle of the ballroom. He nervously put his free hand on Reine's waist, stealing a quick peek to see any sign of discomfort on her face and internally sighing in relief when he saw none of it. Reine followed suit by placing her free hand on Neil's broad shoulder, and they began to glide slowly across the ballroom.
Rod, Allen and Jessica watched them from the side, with Cheryl dozing off in her mother's arms. "Ha! She exudes savoir faire tonight!" Allen said in a complimentary tone, "almost like a completely different girl!"
"She is so pretty!" Rod exclaimed excitedly.
"She is, she is…" Jessica agreed, before she began to sing softly, accompanying the wordless melody, completing it. Watching Neil and Reine, now beginning to glide across the room more comfortably, moving together more seamlessly, it felt that they were just like how melody and lyrics completed each other.
Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends,
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast
Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before and ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and The Beast
When the song ended, Neil and Reine stopped dancing and facing the rest of the castle occupants, Neil announced, "You are all the guests of this party."
Neil gestured to the musician who played another song, and the first brave soul would be Julius who strode across the ballroom and asked Candace, one of the maids, to dance with him. Candace blushed but eventually agreed, and they became the first couple that encouraged more males to look for a dance partner.
Seeing that the party would continue even without them, with a tacit agreement, Neil and Reine left to the quieter balcony where they saw the moon was still glowing softly, hovering on the night sky. "Not bad for a first dance."
Neil chuckled. He felt like being more comfortable in quietude, but these days he realized that having Reine around was pleasing to him as well.
The song changed again and this time Reine's head perked up as she noticed the melody, "Oh, I know this song!"
Can you feel the love tonight?
The peace the evening brings
The world for once
In perfect harmony
With all its living things
Reine twirled around and found Neil was staring at her in disbelief. "What? Can't I sing?"
Truth to be told, that wasn't the reason why Neil was stunned. In fact, Reine had an unbelievably nice voice—rich and clear—a voice that almost reminded him of that girl of the forest.
Neil reached out to her and touched the tip of her hair and brought it near to himself. Reine chuckled, "My hair's pretty strange, right?" she said, "but it wasn't always this way."
Neil looked up and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Oh, I haven't told you, have I?" Reine chuckled, "I was born a redhead."
His heart stopped beating for a moment. "You… were?"
"Yeah." Reine said, oblivious to the effect of her words on Neil. "It was red… like Allen's. But it began to turn pink shortly after I turned ten—thank goodness it doesn't go any lighter than this or I'll look like a granny soon!"
Neil couldn't believe what he had just found out.
Was this why the Goddess had brought her here and not any other?
Neil moved his hand and touched her cheek lightly, feeling the warmth of her skin at the tip of his finger. She really was the girl of his dreams—and she was as real as she could be tonight; she was his past, as well as his present.
The moment she felt his finger on her skin, Reine's mind seemed to stop registering anything. Her eyes were fixed on his face; ever since they were dancing, she couldn't stop feeling that he was so familiar. She thought it was because she had indeed known him in his beastly form, so he wasn't really a stranger, but something in her head told her that there was something more than that.
Golden hair, violet eyes…
A face of a certain boy flashed back in her mind, jolting it awake again and her eyes widened in realization.
Now she remembered, ten years ago, when she ventured too close to the castle, a boy found her out after she took a short break. That boy, too, had rich golden hair as well as a pair of deep violet eyes.
Could he be…?
Neil clasped her face in his hands and closed the distance between them. Reine closed her eyes, and put her hands on his. She could feel the warmth of his breath coming closer and she held her breath, feeling that it was the right thing to do.
The clock struck midnight and Neil stopped abruptly just an inch from actually kissing her. When the second bell echoed throughout the castle, she fell on his arms, unconscious. On the third bell, slowly the castle reverted back to its darkened and gloomy state. On the fourth until the eleventh bell, the castle occupants began to revert back to their enchanted form.
On the last bell, Neil saw his hand turned into claws once again, and soon he felt his body became warmer as his skin was replaced by fur, again. Neil glanced down at Reine, her body still and seemingly lifeless.
The Goddess appeared before him. "She is fine," she immediately told him, "she's just too exhausted."
"You weaken the curse—and you know why." She continued, "but it will only take effect on a full moon night until midnight, just like now."
"It's fine…" Neil assured her as he picked Reine up from the floor. "It's better if she remembered this whole night as a dream."
Reine opened her eyes and found herself in her room, alone. The last thing she remembered was that she was in the balcony, with Neil—in his human form—who happened to be so much alike with the boy who found her out at the forest.
No. It wasn't that she had fallen in love with that boy that time. It was just if that really was the case, the world sure was small like people said.
Was that real…?
Reine turned to her nightstand, usually Rod would be there to greet her, but this time it was empty. With a sense of renewed hope, Reine jumped down from her bed and called, "Rod?"
Her hope sank, however, when she saw the candelabra hopping towards her. "Yes, mademoiselle?"
Reine sighed. "No, it's fine."
It really was a dream, after all. She told herself, but it felt so… real.
The curse is weakening,
but why do Neil want Reine to know nothing about it, when she is really the girl of his dreams?
Thanks for reading!
Please rate and review! ^^
A/N: yes, Chris Shino, you had it right all along ^^ apparently your hair can turn lighter prematurely either because of genetics or stress or any other reasons (but in real life, instead of gradually, it turns silvery at an instant, but for the sake of this story and explaning how the hell Reine gets her characteristic pink hair, let's just say it's gradual)