Blind and the Beast

Home Sweet Home

-Belle-

Flying was overwhelming. The wind roared in her ears with malice. She grappled with the arms that held her, trying to find something to stabilize herself.

When she was finally released, she screamed, expecting a long fall, but her screams only lasted a short moment. She fell into a pile on a stone floor. Before she could find which way was up and which way was down, she was yanked up by her wrist and dragged forward.

Her feet kept moving. Every step made awkward contact with the ground which would have resulted in a broken ankle if he had not been supporting most of her weight. Her failed strides continued until she hit her shins on something hard. She pulled blindly against his grasp, and he pulled back, pulling her off her feet and against him.

He did not even slow. He carried her like she weighed nothing. He had a long coat of fur, coarse and thicker than any animal she had ever come across. His claws were thorns in her side. They did not draw blood, but they stood as a stark reminder of how lethal he was.

The Beast breathed quickly, and he let out a small growl with every exhale. His heartbeat was loud in her ears. Doors were opened dramatically and slammed behind them. Stairs were descended until he let go of her. She fell sideways onto a soft surface. With one deep breath, her lungs were filled with dust.

"Now you will have plenty of stories about making the Beast King's acquaintance," he said darkly.

She flinched from his words and was ready to fire back. She would not let him use the last word to paint her in such light.

"Well, you-" her voice was cut off immediately as the door slammed shut with his exit.

She was alone. The room was small. The noise echoed in the room and she was sitting on a rickety bed that moved with every shift. Her hand reached out blindly until she found the wall that supported one side of the bed.

Content with the area she carved out for herself, she tucked her knees to her chest and she listened. Something was dripping from somewhere, and there was a general damp smell about the place. There were no open windows. The air would not be so stagnant and heavy if there were. She was freezing cold, and her wrist did not feel right, but she could not help but smile a small pitiful smile.

She had made it to a castle, just not the one her father had promised.

-The Beast-

The castle was quieter than usual. There had been silent witnesses to his shameful display of anger and now no one in the castle would dare cross his path.

He had set off a long line of connected events that would likely explode in his face and the gossip was surely spreading like a disease.

He had brought a woman to the castle and unlike last time, there was no curse to break. Last time he was a desperate man. This time the story would play out the same, but this time he would remember he was the monster from the very beginning.

There was so much turmoil within him that he expected to see things differently, but everything remained the same. The vaulted ceilings did not care for his actions. The statues and paintings that lined the hallways ignored him as he passed.

He tried to hold onto his anger, but it seeped out with every step. A pit began to form in his stomach. The smell of dinner grew stronger the closer he got to the kitchen. The damp dungeon at his back offset the castle's warmth, making him feel truly monstrous. Let her shiver in the dark.

He opened the dining room and was met with the smell of food. The tablecloth was deep purple and lined with gold dishes. His place at the head of the table was prepared even though most nights it remained vacant. Vanderwall was placing glassware around the table when the Beast King walked in. He did not even pick up his head from his work.