Chapter Text
-Belle-
The forest was dark. Well, technically every forest was dark for Belle, but this forest was cold. Cold usually meant dark and the dark brings even the most seasoned explorer cowering in fear in the Beast King's Forest.
She had been tied up and dumped on the ground like a trussed up turkey ready for the slaughter. The ground was rough beneath her and her skin crawled from the unknown. Sounds echoed in the air oddly. The sound of birds became screams and the leaves rustling in the wind became an unknown figure charging towards her. Every noise was terrifying.
Her head pressed into her shoulder to shield at least one of her ears from the symphony of foreign sounds. Her hands were tied behind her back just loose enough that escape taunted her. Every sharp crunching noise in the forest made her redouble her efforts to escape. Her hands twisted and pulled until the flesh there was raw and painful.
Her hands soon became slick with blood. The blood made it easier to slip out of the rope and when she was finally free she didn't even bother to stand. The only thing she needed was to cup her hands around her ears and block out the horrors that sounded off all around her.
Her heart beat in her chest sounded like a pulsing drum in her ears and her breathing came quickly at first, but it slowed as she focused on it. When her breathing was under control, she dared to consider her options.
Stay or go. Sit or roam. Be eaten while stumbling blindly or save herself the trouble and wait here to be eaten. That would be the courteous thing to do to save the monsters any trouble of tracking her.
She needed her wits about her if she was going to survive the night. If she made it to sunrise, she would head in the direction of the rising sun. Civilization was due east of the Beast King's forest, and civilization meant survival. Her imagination was brought to heel and she no longer flinched at the sound of the wind shaking the trees.
The rhythm of the forest was constant. There were birds and bugs and trees that all sang out their warning songs as a light breeze moved around all of them. In any other circumstance it would be beautiful. It was all harmonious except the faint crunching sound of leaves that was coming from behind her. The hair all over her body stood on end.
She turned towards the sound of the leaves and then a low rumble sounded out as a warning. That noise belonged to a large creature. The blood in her ears began to pound and she didn't hear much of anything else. Maybe there would be no way out of this forest. Not for her.
It's funny the things you think of when you're about to die. Here she was, about to be eaten, and the only thing she could think of was catching rabbits and taking them home as a child. Especially how easy it was to catch the rabbits that were injured or clumsy. She was just an injured clumsy rabbit in her wide eyed terror.
She briefly thought about running, but that would only lead to being sprawled across the ground with a broken ankle trying to desperately get her bearings before being eaten alive.
The comical thought of running wildly just to knock herself out by running straight into a tree crossed her mind and she completely ruled out running.
She was just waiting, her hand searching subtly across the ground behind her looking for the biggest rock she could find.
"Who are you?" The creature's voice was oddly human.
If she was any less petrified, she might not have answered, but her mind was working on simple command, a response came unbidden to her lips.
"Belle."
The sound of the creatures short angry breaths drew closer and she shuffled back, her hand finally finding a rock big enough to give her a false sense of security. "What are you, Belle?" He asked
She didn't know how many answers there could possibly be to that kind of question but she didn't have to think about it because her voice was still reacting on instinct.
"Human."
"Belle the human." He said her name like it was an inside joke and she had no idea how to respond. After a short pause he continued.
"Why are you here?"
She had backed herself up against a tree trunk. She clenched the rock in her hand, waiting for him to pounce. She couldn't answer his question. She couldn't even remember what he asked. She said the only thing she could think of.
"Are you going to eat me?" The night air was cold and menacing.
He let out a sharp humorless laugh, "Do you think I'm going to ask your name and then eat you immediately after? Perhaps you've imagined that beasts are so sinister that we derive joy from naming our meals."
His tone was hostile and sarcastic, which should've made her scared, but after being told that she wasn't about to be eaten, she took her first full breath in what seemed like hours. Anger took over her then. If he wasn't planning on eating her, he certainly didn't have any issues scaring her to death.
"You mock my question, but I'm am sure monsters don't approach women in forests to invite them to tea. I would think there's usually a lot less talking and a lot more screaming and eating."
"You've met many monsters then?" He asked and she could hear a smile in his voice, and it ruffled her pride. Eating or not, he was mocking her.
"No, I suppose not. Although I don't know if I would officially consider this as meeting a monster. I've not learned you name, your intentions, nor anything else. I know you almost as well as I know any other monster."
She had a suicide wish, that much was clear at this point. She had already decided her oncoming death was the fault of the townspeople, but here she was antagonizing monsters.
"You want to know my name?" he asked in a low voice, his slight advances had stopped and he was completely frozen.
It hadn't actually occurred to her that monsters had names. She was just interested in what kind of monster she would have the pleasure to be killed by, but she wasn't about to admit her ignorance now.
"Yes, that is after all the natural order of making one's acquaintance."
"I think I am now on the receiving end of being mocked for a sincere question. Maybe you have never come across a monster before, but I have come across dozens of maidens roaming this forest, none of which made it this far in conversation without coming to hysterics at the first sight of me."
"In fair defense of all these other maidens they could probably see you a lot better than I can." She said before realizing that maybe it wasn't the best idea to tell the huge predatory beast that she was at a disadvantage.
"Yes, one good thing about these pitch black nights is that they hide beasts like me well enough." The monster said ruefully.
His voice turned sour, and the mood shifted instantly, Belle struggled with something to change the subject. She did not wish to discuss her inability to see, and he clearly had issues with his "beastly self". She wondered how likely a monster would be to kill someone because their self-esteem is a little low.
"You are avoiding my question. What is your name?"
She was greeted by silence and then more silence. "Well, that didn't work very well." She thought to herself. She racked her brain to say something to break the awkwardness until he finally replied.
"I had a name once, but now I go by my more popular moniker, the King of Beasts."
"Oh." Belle said, unsure of how to respond. She let go of the rock she had been clutching in her hand. It wasn't going to help her now. The parts of her that had been lulled into security tensed back up and she said the only thing that came to her mind. "You're different than I imagined."
He let out a long sigh, "You're the one they sent then." He said not as a question but with finality.
She answered anyways, "Yes."
There was no more pleasant conversation, no more negotiations, just the simple word yes and the world was taken out from under her has the beast grabbed her and took to the skies.