Chris Shino: oh, I see... yeah, I think next time simultaneous update will be the way! I do agree that Zach is a bit cuckoo, but hey, I don't have always to agree on what my characters are doing, right? By the way, as for your questions, the answers would be here most of them, implied or explicit... and I leave some others to your own imagination, because I think the wonder of fairy tales is the loose ends of some of the subplots that allows you to make up your own version of their ending. ^^ of course I would tell you my version as author's note if you really are curious.
teamBLAZE: thanks! I also learn from many others, including you with your feedback!
ScipioPB: just a head-up, I don't write very good action scenes... and besides, I want to focus on something else during the battle instead of the actual hack-and-slash ^^ I hope it will still be enjoyable, though ^^
When the mob reached the castle just after sunset, they saw every entry point was blocked by two armours each, with the lances crossing each other to prevent anybody from passing.
Zach tried to move one of the armours aside, but he yelped in surprise when he saw a pair of small glowing orbs from the tiny space where the eyes were supposed to be.
"No one shall pass." The armour growled in deep voice.
Although he was admittedly afraid, Zach tried to keep himself together as he rallied, "Don't be deterred!"
The mob crashed into the line of armours and they descended into a loud brawl. The noise was heard throughout the castle complex, and amidst the chaos, Zach managed to slip through the defences alongside with Won and several other townsfolk. However, the moment they stepped into the castle, they were greeted in a literally warm—maybe too warm—hospitality of Jessica who poured a bucket full of freshly-brewed tea. And in her discretion, she decided to use rotten tea leaves, latching the unpleasant smell onto the assaulters' skin. In addition, Rod had scattered banana skin all over the floor, so the they ended up slipping over each other while trying to avoid the boiling teafall.
Zach shielded himself and trudged forward, determining to find the master of this castle at all cost. He needed to look so hard, however, since Neil decided to meet this man himself.
"You come to look at the Beast, do you not?"
Neil's voice echoed throughout the castle, and the deep growl in his voice managed to stun most of the townsfolk who were there to bear the sight of this rumoured beast.
Zach quickly took his dagger and pointed it at the Beast, "Are you the beast who had wronged Reine?!"
Wronged? Neil wondered briefly, What kind of rumours going on there?
Nevertheless, he maintained his cold exterior and decided not to say anything to the man. As expected, his silence fuelled Zach's fury even further and he lunged at the beast, who managed to narrowly dodge his attack.
"Or do you happen to fall in love with her?" Zach asked while circling Neil, before breaking into an unrestrained, almost uncivilized laugh. "Look at you! Who could ever learn to love a beast like you?!"
When Reine was around, Neil had consciously put up the effort to resist the feral instincts that began to take over his human conscience—which was his primary reason of avoiding the girl during her early days of being in the castle. It was hard to resist, but her stay in the castle was long enough for Neil to regain control over his animal instinct.
However, Zach's words had somehow broken the chains that kept the very same fearsome feral instinct at bay. Besides, his earlier attack had prompted Neil's survival instinct to take over his better judgement. Without Reine, without anything that restrained him, Neil went down on all four and charged at Zach.
Zach, not expecting such retaliation, was overwhelmed by the sudden attack. Neil pinned him down on the floor, baring his fangs right in front of his face.
Six months before Reine came along, Neil started to hunt for wolves as his food—stopping only when he learned that Jessica was crying over him at night (he had always thought of her like his own mother). He could feel it now: that very same predatory desire—it started to rise again in him.
Neil let out a subconscious low growl as he quickly descended back into what others believed him to be: a beast. Only then a voice was heard inside his head:
Aren't you always one?
He really believed it then, because in her eyes, he saw the reflection of his human self that she saw in him. But she was no longer here, and the reflection that he saw in Zach's fear-filled eyes was… a beast.
…yeah, you got cursed and everything. It changed your outward appearance, but I'm sure what's inside of you stays.
She believed in him, he knew she did. Armed with that belief, Neil regained his control over his feral instinct and stepped back from Zach. "I have nothing to do with her. Leave my castle, now." He said, turning back on Zach.
Little did he know that the first thing Zach did after being spared was to reach for his dagger again, and raised it to the air, his eyes filled with ungrateful lust for blood.
Reine and Gwen found a chaotic mess when they finally reached the castle. Injured people were intermingled pieces of armours that moved on their own, trying to reassemble themselves (if Gwen hadn't known better, she might have had a heart attack).
Thanks to the chaos, however, they managed to slip in without any hitch, leaving Thor at the courtyard. They saw more bruised people groaning on the floor and scattered banana peelings everywhere, but when they looked up, Reine saw Zach was about to stab Neil who was looking away.
Before she knew what she was really doing, Reine took her own bow and an arrow, shooting at the blade and knocking it away from Zach's hand. The sound of the metal clashing against each other shocked both men, and they turned to her, now with her bow loaded with a new arrow aimed at Zach. Reine took careful steps towards them, avoiding any banana peels or other what-nots on the floor, but with her eyes fixed on her target.
"Re—Reine, listen!" Zach stuttered, "Do you really want to shoot me instead of him? A human instead of beast?!"
"You… you believed I could kill my own mother!" Reine yelled. "What makes you can't believe I could kill you now?"
By now, Reine was standing at the end of the grand stairs, and she drew the bow a little bit further to the back, ready to shoot anytime. Neil saw the look on her eyes, and quickly rushed towards her and tackled her down. The arrow was accidentally released, barely missing Zach who fell onto his knees afterwards.
"What nonsense." Neil scowled. "You? Killing your mother? You almost cried when you bull's-eyed the deer that time."
Reine looked up to the wine-coloured eyes she had unknowingly missed all this time. "How…? How could you…?" she stammered in her confusion, "It was… ten years ago."
Her words proved his suspicion—Reine remembered him from their brief meeting ten years ago. Neil bent down and nuzzled her lower jaw gently. "You said it yourself… what inside of us remains no matter how drastically our appearance had changed."
Suddenly, Neil cried out a painful howl, and he fell aside, revealing Zach with a bloody blade in his hand. "You are mine, Reine," he hissed, "I have been patient enough. I will teach you how to acknowledge that."
Zach gripped her hand but Reine pulled it back. Zach never anticipated the amount of strength in Reine, much like how he never anticipated anything else he deemed as 'unthinkable', so he was swayed over to the side where he accidentally slipped on one of the banana skin on the floor and fell down, his neck hitting one of the stair steps before he rolled to the lower floor, unmoved.
Reine ran over to Neil and put her hand before his wound and she saw the blood on her hand. Reine sprung to her feet. "Oh, no, no, no—I'll go get some—" she was halted when Neil held her wrist gently, for his strength was receding. His breathing was heavy, "…stay."
"No, no, no," Reine choked on her own words, as tears began swelling up in her eyes. "You can't do this to me… not again."
Despite her pleadings, Neil persisted in holding her hand, not allowing her to go. Reine fell to her knees, "I can't lose another of my dream, Neil…" she murmured, "Not again…"
With her tears-blurred vision, she saw Neil's eyes slowly closed and he let out a long, heavy breath. And only then, his hand did let go of hers, but she was no longer willing to leave. Instead, she rushed to him and embraced his body, "Oh, no… no…" she wept. "Please… if goddesses do exist… please don't take him away."
"I love you, Neil… I can't lose you, too…"
Her words coincided with the first bell of midnight. Reine covered her face as she wept, and when the second bell rung, she didn't notice that the castle was shrouded with a bright glow. She didn't notice that as the bell rang for the third to the eleventh time, the people inside of the castle began to return back to their human form, and the injured were healed.
She also didn't notice that, when the bell rang for the final time, there was no more a limp body, replaced with a young man kneeling before her. He moved her hand away and uncovered her teary green eyes. "…hey."
Reine blinked several times in disbelief with what she saw. He wore a dishevelled white shirt and torn black trousers, just like how they met again near the rose garden on that full moon night, and there was no injury whatsoever on his body.
She moved her hand and touched his face. "You… you are real…"
Neil pulled her and hugged her, "I am."
Reine hugged him back, crying again although for a very different reason. "I… I was so scared!"
"Congratulations," a soft voice said, prompting both of them to turn around. The Goddess smiled at them, "You really did it, Neil."
"…Who are you?" Reine asked in confusion, for this was the first time she saw the Goddess.
"You called me earlier," the Goddess reminded her gently, "and I come at the most desperate of times."
Reine was rendered speechless by her answer. The Goddess smiled and moved closed to them, and when they were within her reach, she touched the centre of their chests and a pair of silver pendants magically appeared on both of them—one depicting a bow on Reine, and another was an arrow on Neil.
"This is…" Neil murmured.
"An arrow is strong because of the bow." The Goddess smiled, "and Reine, love may not be able to conquer everything… but trust me, a wise man said that love is the strongest magic, and he is right."
"What do you mean?"
"Look around you," she said, gesturing her hand to the now bright castle. "It was not my doing… it is your love that breaks the curse."
The Goddess then touched the bow pendant on her chest, "A bow can stand on its own, yes… but it is always empty without an arrow."
She then brought the two pendants near to each other, and they came together with a small clicking sound as the arrow was nocked to the bow's string.
"See how you complete each other now?" The Goddess asked.
Gwen looked at her sister and Neil with an unexplainable happiness in her heart. She also noticed that the townsfolk began to regain their consciousness again after being knocked out at the second bell. "They will forget everything about this!" Aaron, who was floating around her. "As well as the part about Reine being accused as a murderer! They will forget it all!"
"That's good…" Gwen sighed.
Aaron suddenly disappeared, and at the same time, Gwen felt something was put around her shoulders. A coat. Gwen looked up and saw a tall man with bright blue eyes and striking red hair. "A coat, mademoiselle," he said with a friendly smile.
"…Do I know you?"
His eyes twinkled playfully at her question, "Do you know me?" he asked back.
It was then his voice ticked something in her heart and she smiled. "You look much better than I've imagined." She admitted bashfully.
The ceremony was held at the rose garden amidst the newly blooming pink roses for it was Spring. Reine wore the same kind of dress like the one she wore during the ball, but it was white instead of golden. Neil's coat, too, was white instead of deep purple although the trimming was still golden. Reine's pink hair cascaded loosely to her waist, covered by the thin veil fastened by a small silver tiara. The bow pendant was visible around her neck, while Neil's arrow pendant was hidden beneath his shirt.
"You may kiss the bride."
Neil nervously lifted the veil over Reine's face and stared at her for a moment before he gently pulled her head towards himself and kissed her forehead, eliciting a slight giggle from his new wife.
"Boo~" Allen teased from the side, "Do it like a man, can you?"
Gwen swatted Allen's hand playfully, but she, too, was giggling.
"Shut up." Neil scowled.
"In any case, congratulations!"
Allen was the first to throw the rose petals towards the newly-wedded couple as they walked off the aisle, and the gestured was followed by the guests who were all the other castle occupants.
"Congratulations!"
"May you lead a long, happy life together!"
"I love happy endings…" Gwen sighed as she watched her sister's back walking away, hand in hand with Neil.
Hearing her words, Allen found his chance. He picked up her hand and asked, "Do you remember my promise, that I would tell you the magic in this ring when I'm human again?"
Gwen nodded, her heart thumping excitedly.
Allen bent down and whispered in her ear, "Don't you think it's magical that a girl like you is not snatched by anyone else by now?"
"Eh?"
"I would gladly take responsibility for that, however," he chuckled, "Just tell me when you're ready to walk on the aisle—I bet you'll look even more gorgeous than your sister."
The party was held at the ballroom, and just like the last time, Neil and Reine sneaked out to the balcony as their guests enjoyed themselves. Reine glanced at Neil before playfully kissed his cheek—and although it wasn't the first of that kind of 'surprise attack', Neil would always blush.
"Hey, I have something for you."
"A wedding gift?" she asked.
"You can say so." Neil took out a small box and presented it to her. Reine untied the ribbon and opened the box carefully, revealing a stalk of fully bloomed pink rose. Reine looked up and smiled. "Thank you," she said.
A butterfly flew nearby and perched for a moment on the rose, long enough for them to notice its presence before it took off and flew to the rose garden, joining countless other butterflies that were already feasting on the blooming roses.
Neil wrapped his arms around her waist.
"You are really the Renaissance of this castle."
Reine turned and looked at Neil, smiling shyly. "I used to be embarrassed, being named Renaissance—but I guess now it makes sense."
Neil smiled and bent down, this time kissing her on her lips. Reine cupped his face in her hands and kissed him back, and she knew that it was true.
Everything made perfect sense.
The End
And this is the end of the first of my Disney series! I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far! ^^
As I've promised to Chris Shino earlier, I'll tell you what I think happened to Zach: I think he is sent to a madhouse because he is claiming about the existence of the Beast while everyone else forgets about it (yes, he didn't forget)
Please drop by to the second story on the same series: How Many Wonders Can One Cavern Hold?
(remember what song is this? :P)
See you on the next story! ^^