Chapter Text
Once upon a time. In a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired. The prince was spoiled, heartless and unkind. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar with dark green skin and undead eyes peeking under a torn cloak, came to the castle, and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away.
With an amused chuckle, the woman warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. The prince scoffed and laughed at her words. The woman pulled back the hood concealing her face, revealing bright orange curls and a wicked gleam in her eyes. “You will regret that” she lifted the rose and a bright light blinded the prince. He cowered back and tried to apologize, but it was too late. For she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there.
Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside the castle. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love back, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever love a beast?
The early rays of sunlight burst through the windows into a tiny cottage upon a hill, not far from the rest of the village but just enough to be isolated and quiet. The wooden door swung open, Martyn held the door handle with one hand and lifted his other arm to hold a woven basket. A small smile tugged on his lips as he bounced down the stone steps to follow the path into the village. His blond hair tied in a small ponytail at his nape and his blue eyes sparkling in the morning light.
A white tunic hugged his torso while a bright green cardigan slipped off his shoulder, the tunic was tucked into brown pants which further tucked into black boots. A gold chain hung from his neck which moved slightly with each step he took. “What book shall I grab today?” he hummed to himself as the village began to wake up.
Little town, it’s a quiet village. Little town… waking up to say
The sound of windows and doors slamming open overtook the tranquil of early morning, loud greetings replaced the chirping of songbirds. “Good morning Martyn! Where are you off to?” at the sound of his name, he turned around to brightly smile at the baker. “Good morning Joel, I’m off to the bookshop,you won’t believe the story I just read, it spoke of a large mansion with a long bridge that reaches every corner of the globe-” Martyn approaches the small bakery where Joel was leaning against the open window holding a tray of bread. Martyn’s tangent was cut off by Joel waving his hands up in the air. “Yeah that sounds great, LIZZIE! THE BAGUETTES!” Martyn rolled his eyes and walked away, back onto his original goal.
Every morning just the same, since the morning that we came
“Look there he goes, that boy is strange no question” the potter whispered to the blacksmith, their eyes following Martyn as he made his way down the street. “Dazed and distracted can’t you tell”. Martyn swung his leg up and grabbed onto the back of a passing carriage, he pulled himself up to catch a ride. Fully unaware to the eyes watching him. “No denying he’s a funny boy that Martyn”.
Martyn leaned back, his arm catching him as he wondered at the sight around him. “Same old same old” he hummed. People around the street going about their daily routines. A woman who seems to be juggling babies speaks to the local farmer, “I need six eggs!” her voice pleading. Martyn chuckles at the sight. “There must be more than this provincial life” Martyn says as he jumps off the carriage, landing in front of a wooden door with a wooden sign over it reading “bookseller”.
The sound of a bell signals his arrival, “ah Martyn, what brings you today?” the old bookseller asks, he stands near a window with a smile on his face. “Good morning, I came to return the book I borrowed” Martyn grabs the book from his basket and hands it to him, “Finished already?” the old man jokes, he places the book onto the shelf by the window.
“Oh I couldn’t put it down” Martyn climbs up the ladder attached to a bookshelf, one hand holding the rungs while the other brushes over the book spines, “got anything new?” the old man chuckles at his words. “Not since yesterday my dear” Martyn hums in reply and picks out a red covered book, “I’ll take this one” he leans back on the ladder to hand the book to the old man. “But you’ve read this twice!” the old man gawks in amusement. Martyn giggles, “but it’s my favourite! A faraway kingdom, a loyal hand, magic spells and daring sword fights” Martyn swings on the ladder and waves one hand around as he recalls the tale.
The old man pats the book, as Martyn slides down the ladder. “Well if you like it so much it’s yours” he holds the book out to him. Martyn gasps, “but sir..” The old man holds up a finger and shoos Martyn out the door “I insist” Martyn holds the book close to his chest, “why thank you, thank you very much” he waves goodbye and continues back down the road.
He opens the book and begins reading it as he strolls back home. “Look there he goes, that boy is so peculiar” Martyn skips over a jump rope game, patting a little girl’s head. Not once looking up from his book. “I wonder if he’s feeling well” the butcher leans over to whisper to the musician.
With a dreamy far off look and his nose stuck in a book
Martyn sat down at a fountain in the middle of the village, sheep all around him that had probably run away from that shepherd boy again. “Oh this is my favourite part” he places the book on his lap and grins at a sheep. “Look, the king wants his hand to prove his loyalty by offering up his head” the sheep, baa’s in response and bites a corner off the page. “Wow, aren’t you engaged” he snickers to himself.
Very different from the rest of us, he’s nothing like the rest of us
The loud bang rings off in the distance, a duck falls out of formation tumbling down to the ground. A frantic man stumbles below holding a sack wide open. Only for the duck to fall behind him. The man quickly scoops up the duck into the sack and runs back to the side of his companion. “Wow! You didn’t miss a shot, Skizz!” the man praises, his brown hair sways and his matching eyes look to his side. Skizz brushes his shoulder with a huff “I know”.
“No beast alive stands a chance against you… and no girl, for that matter” Skizz throws his arm around his friend, “it’s true, Impulse, and I’ve got my sights set on that one!” Skizz points a finger directly at Martyn, who was getting up from the fountain to continue his walk. “The inventor’s son?” Impulse said nervously, “but he’s-” Skizz squeezed Impulse around the shoulder, “the most beautiful boy in town! And that makes him the best, and don’t I deserve the best?” Skizz spun Impulse back and jogged to reach Martyn. “Skizz wait!” Impulse called out, still holding all the game Skizz and him hunted earlier.
“Right from the moment when I saw him, met him” Skizz stopped to look at himself in some hanging silver pans, “I said he’s gorgeous and I fell” he smirked at his reflection and combed his fingers through his black hair. Impulse caught up to him, panting from the sprint to catch up. Impulse’s brown eyes followed Martyn as he walked by. “Um Skizz-” Impulse tapped Skizz’s shoulder. Skizz waved him off and continued to admire himself.
“Here in town there is only he, who is beautiful as me” Skizz grabbed his chin and tilted his head around, “so I’m making plans to woo and marry Martyn” Skizz turned around to face the fountain. Only to be met with an empty space. He glanced around frantically only to spot Martyn down the road, with his eyes traced down into his book. “Impulse! Why didn’t you say anything” Skizz huffed as he once again went to chase Martyn. Impulse scoffed and followed suit.
“Look there, he goes, isn’t he dreamy?” a woman whispered to her friends. “Monsieur Skizz? Oh, he’s so cute” her friend agreed. The girls all giggled and whispered to each other. “Be still my heart I’m hardly breathing” one says as she faints into the arms of her friend. “He’s such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute” one stands up and proclaims, her hands covering her blushing cheeks.
Skizz follows Martyn to the edge of town, he huffs at the crowd getting in his way. He takes a deep breath in and puffs out his chest. He moves to stand beside Martyn, he pulls his most charming face and grabs Martyn’s book from him. The blonde stops in his tracks and looks up to Skizz. A most annoyed look on his face. “Hello Martyn” Skizz grins. “It’s taking everything in me not to scoff” Martyn plasters a kind smile on his face. “Hey Skizz, can I have my book back?” Martyn holds his hand out. Skizz, completely ignoring Martyn, holds the book close to his face. “How can you even read this, there’s no pictures” Martyn bites his lips to stop a giggle from escaping, “you know, some people use their imagination” Martyn snatches the book from him and holds it tightly under his arm. “I’ve really got to go and help my father back home”.
Martyn shuffles away slowly, putting some distance between him and Skizz. Impulse, who was standing by Skizz looking between the two during the exchange, finally spoke up with a laugh. “ha, that crazy old loon need’s all the help he can get” Skizz and Impulse double over laughing. Skizz patting Impulse’s shoulder harshly. Martyn glared at the laughing men, “don’t talk about my father that way!”. Skizz instantly stood up and slapped Impulse on the back of the head, “Yeah don’t talk about her father that way!”.
A loud explosion emits from the cottage behind them, “Doc!?” Martyn spun around and quickly rushed towards the cottage, Skizz and Impulse’s taunting laughs fade behind him. Martyn tugs the door open. Before entering, he pulls the sleeve of his green cardigan over his hand and holds it up to cover his mouth and nose. “Doc? Are you okay?” he waves his hand around to dispel the smoke. It doesn't help that much. A deep grumble echoed from further inside, “I’m here”. Martyn heard a window open and as the smoke began to clear out, a tall figure was becoming more and more apparent. Doc was a tall man, black hair and brownish red eyes on a sturdy and intimidating figure. Any other person would find him terrifying. But not Martyn, because Doc was the one who took him in all those years ago.
Martyn placed his basket and book down on a nearby table and strided over to Doc. He was a whole head shorter but that didn’t stop Martyn from crossing his arms and scolding Doc. “What was it this time? you know you can’t keep doing this inside the house take it out! you’re going to burn everything inside” Doc rubbed the back of his neck and grumbled. He looked away from Martyn and towards his invention, “I don’t like being outside” he simply stated. Martyn rolled his eyes and went towards the invention, he brushed his fingers over the metal.
Doc stepped closer to Martyn, he watched Martyn's reflection in the metal. “Once this machine works, I’ll take us far away from here”. Doc’s eyes soften at the thought. Martyn smiled as he met Doc’s eyes in the reflection, “well then we better get to work” Martyn spun around to grin at Doc. Doc raised an eyebrow, “we?”. Martyn strolled over to Doc’s toolbox and began shuffling through it. “Of course, duh. Let’s get inventing”. Doc huffed in amusement and joined Martyn.
They worked on the invention till the sun crossed the sky. Shades of pink, yellow and orange brushed over the sky. the sound of metal clanging echoed out of the small cottage. “Well, the moment of truth” Doc and Martyn stood side by side next to the invention. A lever in front of them. They glanced at each other, “I’m kinda nervous” Martyn chuckled. Doc hummed in agreement, he reached forward and held the lever. Martyn held his breath as Doc flicked the lever, the invention coming to life.
Doc’s loud booming laugh was heard over the sound of smoke puffing and the whirring of the invention. Martyn couldn’t help but match the bright smile on Doc’s face. Doc grabbed Martyn’s shoulder and dragged him into a bone crushing hug. “Doc, you're crushing me!” Martyn giggled. Doc either didn’t hear him or care, because he then started spinning. “Doc! Does this mean it works?!”. Doc finally let him go and planted a kiss on his forehead. “It works Martyn. I’ll load the carriage and take it straight to the city” Doc began gathering things into a large suitcase.
Before Doc could grab his white lab coat, Martyn put himself between Doc and the coat hook. “you- you’re leaving now? it’s getting dark and the woods aren’t so friendly this time” Martyn’s worried expression halted Doc’s frantic movements. “This is going to change our lives Martyn, there isn’t a moment to waste”. Doc reached over Martyn and grabbed his coat. Doc pulled the coat on, he tugged the sides down to fit the coat his figure more.
As Doc continued the preparations for his late night journey, Martyn watched the scientist move around with a sulken expression. They now stood outside, the night sky loomed over them. The carriage behind Doc was illuminated by the stars and a single lantern hanging on the side. Martyn stood in front of Doc, he was fidgeting with his hands and his shoulders were slumped forward. “I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t miss me too much, Martyn” Doc ruffled his blonde hair and climbed up to the front of the carriage. Martyn hummed sadly and looked up to meet Doc’s eyes. “Stay safe please” the blonde uttered desperately. Doc grinned and grabbed hold of the reins, “no promises of that, but I will get home” Martyn weakly grinned back at Doc. With that final goodbye, Doc whipped the reins, beginning his journey into the woods and to the city.
“He’ll be back” Martyn reassured himself. He tightly gripped his arms as he walked back inside the cottage