Act 19

Molly was a quick study and Bunny watched in fascination as she tapped buttons on the strange gadget. "There's something attached to him. Something that is draining his energy." She pointed to the screen. "So that set of lines, see there's his head and there are his arms and legs and torso. Now, there's a line that's going from his figure to the…" They looked at the door. "It goes out that way."

Bunny looked at Molly and the now unconscious man. Molly nodded and transformed into Mercury before they followed her computer. "Thank the stars, Gaston's still gone. I could not explain this if I tried."

They followed the digital string on the screen to the cellar doors. Counting down quietly, Bunny pulled the door open. A strange machine, a metal cauldron pointed at the door, was spinning around, jumping and whirling like a centrifuge.

"He's definitely having his energy drained!" Molly shouted. "By this thing." She grabbed the lever and tried to shut it off. "It's stuck! Whoa!" She screamed as the machine started going faster. Before either of them could decide what to do, Molly was thrown back at Bunny. They both fell at the foot of the cellar stairs. In front of them, a purple reptilian creature stood, hissing and slobbering.

"Funny, Jadeite told me no one would notice if we went after the crazy old man," she hissed. "You must be those Sailor Brats."

Sailor Moon and Mercury stood up and faced the creature. "You bet we are. Why are you going after Maurice? He's a sweet old man, he never hurt anyone!" Sailor Moon demanded. "He may be a crazy old man, but he's our crazy old man! And for hurting him, in the name of the Moon, I'm going to punish you!"

The creature hissed back at her. "No, I think I'm going to punish you now." She jumped at the girls. The old man's energy was almost completely drained. She just needed to stall them until it was done.

To evade her, the girls dove to opposite sides of the workshop. Mercury looked at Moon. "I'll distract her, you destroy her." She got into position. "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

Iguara wrapped her arms about herself. The cold wasn't good for lizard-girl like her. Exactly as Mercury expected.

"My turn." Sailor Moon took off her tiara. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

The purple lizard-girl didn't even have time to figure out how she lost so fast before she was reduced to ash. The machine was still going however, and now they could literally see it glowing.

"We have to make it stop! It'll kill him if we don't!" Moon shouted as she and Mercury returned to fighting with the machine. "We need to turn it off!"

Mercury pulled the lever as hard as she could until it clicked. Twice and she fell to the floor. It began jumping on the floor, turning the opposite way. A strange hole appeared before it, sucking in the tools and other miscellaneous items in the workshop.

"What's that? What's it doing? Ahh!" Moon grabbed one of the cellar supports to stop it from pulling her inside.

Mercury shook her head, grabbing onto a support for herself. "It's too strong! It's not just draining his energy! It's going to suck the whole village in!"

Moon trembled as she tried to hold on. The vortex grew in strength and it threatened to pull her in. "What do we do? Help! Mercury!" Her hand slipped and she was about to enter the hole when a rose came flying by, jamming itself into the gears. The gears jammed, the machine sputtered to a stop and fell broken to the ground. Moon and Mercury fell with it, exhausted.

Moon looked at the door of the cellar. "Tuxedo Mask! You came! You saved us!"

He helped them up. "What happened?"

"The Dark Kingdom targeted the old man who lives here. They were stealing his energy by corrupting his invention and we were trying to turn it off but it went out of control," Moon explained. "Thank you for saving us."

"You should go check on the old man. We'll fight together next time," he promised before he left.

Moon watched him as he ran off down the road into town, sighing. "He's so handsome and so brave."

The girls went upstairs, letting their disguses fall, glad to find that Maurice was resting better. Luna was sitting on his lap, purring. "I wanted to help." She explained.

"You did good, Luna," Bunny said. "There was a youma and a machine but we took care of it. He just needs to recover his energy, poor old man."

She nodded. "I think you girls should go home. I'll stay with him and if I think he needs help, I'll come get you."

Reluctantly, they obeyed. Bunny wanted to stay but her family would worry. She'd have to find Belle tomorrow.

———————

She carefully snuck back into her home, hoping everyone was asleep. She'd arranged her bed to look like she was in it.

Except… she forgot about one person. "Where were you?" Her father asked as she started to sneak to the stairs.

She froze and stood up straight, embarrassed at being caught. "Papa… I…"

"Your sisters and mother were fooled but I know you. I know how you sleep," he reminded her, amusement in his tone. "Where did you sneak off to?"

Bunny shook her head. "I went to check on Maurice. He's old, Papa. He may be losing his mind but he's old. He's worried about Belle. She's still not home. I haven't seen her all week. Neither has Gaston or anyone. And Mama is wrong. She didn't run away. Not because of him. She'd never leave her father. I'm afraid he'll worry himself sick over it."

Raphael nodded. "Would you feel better if I went to search for Belle myself?"

"Oh," she relief flooded her chest. "Papa, please. If you would, I would feel so much better." She knew her father probably wouldn't find her but at least she could tell Maurice that someone was searching for her.

He smiled and hugged her. "Now, why don't you go back and stay with him? I'll let your mother know and tomorrow, I'll send the village doctor to look at him." He kissed her forehead.

———————

At night, Belle would sneak down to the control room and the gymnasium that Artemis had shown her. She wondered what Kemono would think if he knew there was a whole gymnasium in his castle. She was especially interested to see the volleyball net.

"I know you were curious about the game," Artemis explained as he came out of the locker room, in his human form. "So, I set up the net tonight."

She hurried to change into her workout gear. "Woo!" She cried out, letting the Minako in her out, feeling freer at that net then she ever felt in the village.

After working out for an hour, and taking a steaming, hot shower to wash off the sweat, she sat in her fancy bed. The Wardrobe had tried to ask where she went, she simply lied and said she went back to the library for a relaxing book. The Wardrobe chose to believe her.

After being sure the Wardrobe was asleep. "Artemis, are there others like me?" She whispered to the white cat.

He nodded. "There are… and someday, you will meet them. In fact, you've already met one in passing. But I won't tell you who. First, you have another mission. To awaken the Forest and free it from the enemy."

"How do I do that?" Belle asked. "What do I have to do?"

Artemis smiled. "That will reveal itself in time. For now, you'll train and there may be more battles in the near future to practice on as well." He yawned and curled up beside her, going to sleep on her pillow.

She liked having a cat, she decided. She had yet to tell Kemono. She wanted to keep as much of this secret as possible. If only to protect him. This was her fight. Not his.

———————

The next morning, Gaston groaned as he realized that he was in his house, in his chair, in front of his fireplace. The last thing he remembered was running off that man, Maurane. His head ached. He looked at himself with confusion. "What am I wearing?" He went to his mirror. "What am I wearing!? What is this froufrou?" He quickly removed the tuxedo and, like the hat, he tried to stuff it in the fireplace first. "Why doesn't it burn? What's it made out of?"

He had no choice but to shove the offensive formal clothing into his closet before putting on his trademark red tunic, black pants and tall boots. "That's better." He admired himself in his mirror. "Yes, that's much better."

A knock at the door called him away from the mirror. He found LeFou outside. "Good morning, Gaston." He said brightly.

"I told you to stay with them until I came to tell you it was safe," he snapped.

LeFou stammered. "I… I… I… they're asleep… so I just wanted… to check in… Are you alright?"

The man growled in his throat at the suggestion that he wasn't. "I'm fine! I saw her husband and drove him out. She should be safe now. We'll tell everyone she's a widow." He said. His head still ached. "Come on. I need to go hunting for some fresh meat for the tavern." He grabbed his rifle. "I'll bag a rabbit for them too."

LeFou watched as his best friend led the way to the forest. He wasn't as stupid as his name suggested. He could tell something was not right with Gaston. But Gaston had too much pride to say anything. He'd just have to stay by his side and be ready with the assist when he needed it.

On the way out of the village, Gaston was surprised when a voice called his name. "Monsieur Rivière, what can I do for you?"

"I want to talk to you, without your minion if you don't mind," the man's voice was uncharacteristically irate. "About my daughter."

Gaston nodded, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "LeFou, meet me at the hunting trails." At least once a week, a father approached him to discuss the possibility of him courting their daughters. "Which one?" He asked.

"Bunny. She's been acting oddly. I'm sure you're quite aware that almost every single young lady in this town is vying for you," Raphael said, watching the man get an arrogant look in his eye. "My daughter is no exception. She's so obsessed with you that she's learning how to read and trying everything she can think of to prove to you that she's as good as Belle. Now, I want to make it clear. Bunny is a special young lady. She has a good heart and she's well-intentioned. And if I'm being honest with you, I think she's better then you deserve. And before you even consider thinking about her or any of my girls, you better be coming to me first. Understand me? And I better never hear her crying that you broke her heart. Or you may find out that there IS someone in this town stronger than you."

Well, that was not the conversation he was expecting. He was preparing a speech about how he wasn't ready to choose a wife yet. He did not expect to be essentially threatened. "Look, Monsieur Riviere, I'm not really looking for a wife right now. Yes, I was interested in Belle but that went nowhere. Bunny is a nice girl and no matter what comes, I will promise that I won't hurt her."

Raphael nodded. "Good, glad we have an understanding." He clapped the younger man on the shoulder. He shouldered his own rifle.

"Are you going hunting today too?" Gaston asked. He didn't usually see him hunting.

He shook his head. "Bunny is concerned about Belle. She still isn't home. She asked me to see if I could find her for poor Maurice."

Gaston couldn't hold back the eyeroll again. "Again about Belle. She's fine, she's not being held captive by a beast in a castle. That's ridiculous. It's crazy."

"Regardless, Belle is missing and her father is worried. They are part of this town too. Maybe Belle is fine and just visiting another village but would she have gone without leaving a note for her father?" Raphael asked.

The man groaned with frustration. "Very well. Look, I'll search for her. You go back to your forge. Finding Belle is my job." 'Taking care of this town is my job.'

The blacksmith studied Gaston. "I'll give you a chance to find her. If she's not home soon, I'll go look for her, Town Hero."

Gaston watched as he left. He knew what he said was correct. Every eligible girl in town wanted him for their husband. But he knew who he wanted. He wanted to find the girl from his dreams. He was starting to believe she might be real. Why else would he dream of her every night? He couldn't say that though. Not unless he wanted the town to think he was as crazy as old Maurice.

He sighed. He had a job to do. He still planned on hunting but he also had to find Belle.

———————

AN: I imagine most of the FATHERS in town aren't as impressed with Gaston as their daughters and wives are. And Raphael is still Gaston's elder as Gaston is only 21 and Raphael is 50.

What will Gaston find in the forest?