Chapter Text
The Time of the Beast
Chapter One
Chapter One – Part One
Beauty and the Beast
Life had been going well after the curse had been broken.
It had been two years since then but Belle still thought about it from time to time. She had had no idea that the beast she had fallen in love with was going to transform in that moment to the gorgeous Prince Adam. Or maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when she had found that torn portrait, but she had concentrated so much on the fact that he could have died that the curse wasn’t something she had planned on breaking.
It helped though. It made her feel that she belonged to someone but in a way that allowed for her freedom as well. And Adam often joked these days that he belonged to her and he gave her his soul.
She sat in the library with a simple blue dress on, albeit a bit higher in quality of what she had worn when she had lived in the quiet town she had grown up in. Adam gave her peace in here, but he also encouraged her to use it. Most women still didn’t read, at least they didn’t publicly claim to do so. Reading wasn’t viewed as something that was important or necessary, but this, this freedom that Adam gave her to read, it made her love him more.
She heard a knock on the door and slipped a bookmark into the page she was reading and went to go answer it. He was always considerate like this and had told the servants to be considerate to her as well. This was supposed to be a place where she could feel safe and loved and nurtured.
It was a space that reflected how much love he had for her.
She grinned as she opened the door and saw Adam there looking a little worried. He had learned from when he had transformed at eleven years old how to hide these feelings away and although he didn’t react with anger anymore, he didn’t feel the most solid either. .He was still insecure, still had low self-esteem, still didn’t give himself credit for how much he had grown and changed even before the curse had been broken.
Gaston had tried to kill him. Even though it was his castle and Gaston had been attacking him, Adam hadn’t fallen to his own anger and instead had just told him to leave without hurting him. This wasn’t something he relived but it marked a change in who he was.
“Hey there,” Belle said as she slipped a gloved hand to his cheek and watched him patiently. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” she asked and he gave her a sad smile.
“There are roses growing outside,” he replied. “I told the gardeners never to grow roses but they just seemed to grow,” he looked down and Belle knew how much of a trigger these were to him. Maybe to others, roses were a simple flower but to Adam, it felt like fate mocking him.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Belle said taking his hand and rubbing his arm. “Would you like to sit with me in here?” she asks as she looked up at him and Adam gave a half-smile.
“That would be nice,” he replied before going over to one of the tables they had placed in here. His hand went over a leather book that seemed to be pulsating. “Belle, my love,” he said looking at her as she approached the same table, “This book, what is it?”
Belle stared at it. She looked over the cover and turned it as she picked it up before looking to Adam. “I’ve never seen it before,” she told him honestly and Adam’s brows furrowed.
“You didn’t put it on this table?” he asked and Belle shook her head.
“Right then, right there, that was the first and only time I’ve touched it,” she admitted and Adam looked at her surprised. “Should we open it?” Belle asked and looked into Adam’s eyes as he remained silent.
The roses blooming. The strange book appearing.
What did this mean?
Chapter One – Part Two
Sleeping Beauty
“I think that we should make this place as tidy as possible,” Flora announced as she looked over their living quarters in the palace which Aurora had offered to them. They could have gone elsewhere, they could have traveled routes which fairies had often done, and yet, here felt better because their darling Briar Rose had asked them to come.
“It seems awfully small,” Merryweather argued as she pouted, looking around. “Couldn’t we be elsewhere. Do we really have to be consorts. I’d much prefer to work for myself.”
“No, no. If Rose needs us, we should stay,” Fauna nodded as she folded the bed sheet properly and Merryweather pouted as she rolled her eyes.
“I doubt that we’d be listened to. I mean, I think that Rose should wear more blue, but she just has those stupid pink gowns in her wardrobe.”
“We all know that Princess Aurora looks the best in pink,” Flora said. Never one to back down from a fight, Merryweather turned to Flora ready to insult her.
Moving over to the window, Fauna gazed out at the magnificent view from the palace as she hummed to herself but as she took a step back from the window, a magical book appeared by her hand. She looked at it and then went to sit down on the bed as her sisters argued in the background. The book looked important. Interesting. Maybe with some kind of hidden power.
“Oh, my,” she said as she opened it to see that there was a picture of a beast on the front cover or at least some type of creature who stood on two legs but was the amalgamation of creatures. She gasped and this finally drew the attention of the other fairies. “This is…I don’t know what this is,” Fauna commented and Flora marched over with her commanding presence.
“Let me see here,” she said scooping up the book without checking if doing so would be all right. “Let me read this.”
“Why do you get to be the one to read it,” Merryweather complained as she folded her arms and grounded herself in place so she could argue and maybe take charge in reading the book.
“This says that there is supposed to be some kind of curse from an enchantress,” Flora frowned as she looked over the magic spell. “Some indication of there being a rip in time and space meaning that worlds and times might flow together and become tangled up.”
“Oh, my,” Fauna gasped, “That definitely sounds dangerous.”
“Sounds interesting and as if nothing boring is going to be happening,” Merryweather stated.
“It says here,” Flora continued, “That the spell was cast by an enchantress.”
“Maleficent?” Both Fauna and Merryweather asked together.
“No. She’s passed but it does not say whether the enchantress is a good one or a bad one. And thus we cannot take any chances with this beast. With how bad he looks, he’s sure to be the next villain we protect Aurora from,” Flora decided.
“We’ll protect here,” Fauna said.
“Rose won’t get hurt,” Merry weather said and Flora nodded in agreement. Maybe this vile beast was dangerous but they would be prepared were it to happen.
Chapter One – Part Three
Fantasia and Sword in the Stone
Yen Sid stood with Merlin near a large fireplace shaking his head as the two wizards spoke about the danger that was lurking around the corner. Some kind of change that meant the worlds were collapsing in on each other and all caused by magic within the universe and throughout reality being in a state of overuse. There was no telling what this would do, but if places which had no connection before merged into each other, there was potentially some danger. This hadn’t happened before. Neither wizard knew that the use of magic was something to be limited or how many other users were out there.
“I cannot even tell myself how many universes we’re speaking about,” Merlin said and Yen Sid looked into the fire not saying much. “Can’t we summon all the magic users and discuss this.”
“They’re foolish,” Yen Sid said and Merlin paused.
“Why say that, my old friend?” the wizard asked and Yen Sid inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly.
“They have not learned how to control impulses and how magic is a privilege. They have been using it recklessly. My apprentice was the safe before I…sent him away.” Yen Sid said and Merlin laughed weakly.
“Well, those younger magic users do try hard to put things right but I agree with you, their actions are often misguided. They don’t see the harm they ---”
“They are fools,” Yen Sid said cutting Merlin off. “Utterly foolish and they have doomed us all. A terrible creature is coming. A monster who must be stopped. A monster who might destroy time and space itself.”
“We could stop them, I say,” Merlin replied, “If we find the right spell and we find the location of this beast.”
Yen Sid sighed, “You have more hope than I do of this world changing. You have more hope than the situation deserves by far. And you are a fool if you don’t see that.”
Merlin remained quiet. There was a beast coming and it was impossible for them all to be prepared when it did happen.
End of Chapter One
Thank you for reading.