The Guardian of Halloween [A Disney Fanfic]

𝔊𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫 [𝔓𝔞𝔯𝔱 1]

☆.｡.:* 🕷️ *:.｡.☆

Gaston x fem! reader

☆.｡.:* 🕷️ *:.｡.☆

Gaston was not one to be easily dissuaded from a scheduled hunting trip. Especially not one he had been planning since the start of the month. Especially not when his return to fame hinged on the success of this single hunting trip. As he thought of his trip, seated before the fire in his rustic abode, he thought of all that had brought him here.

To speak generally, and to lay blame to a single person, it was his defeat at the hands of Y/N that had brought him to this low. It had been by her hand that he had plummeted so far down the castle, nearly to his death, if it hadn't been for the lower balcony. Only by some miracle had he managed to grab the ledge, saving himself from certain demise. He had returned to the village that night, ready to rally the men once more to head off in an attempt to defeat the Beast, but he had failed to rally them. The men wouldn't fight an enchanted castle. Or as they were concerned, a haunted castle. Gaston thought they were cowards, but as he sat before the flames, Gaston could see a reason for their hesitation. After all, their little village had hardly any experience with enchanted things. The scariest it got in the village were the misty and foggy nights in the nearby cemetery, but hardly anyone stayed out after the night fell.

Click.

Gaston let out a long breath as he felt his rifle click in his hands. There was something comforting about the weapon in his hands. A familiarity. It was predictable, it was reliable, and it listened to him. He commanded it. He wasn't at its mercy. Gaston sighed and ran his hand over the triggering mechanism for the rifle, his fingers finding their usual places nestled amongst the gears. With any luck, this will be the day his fame will be restored, at least within the village. But, if all goes according to plan, this hunt will bring him fame across the nation.

When he was a boy, he heard a legend of dark creatures that roamed the woods around this time. Creatures like humans, with an inhuman beauty welded to their skin, but cursed to never walk in the light of day. Some would shift into large bats, their shrieks and screams spilling into the night, while others would spread their mournful howls throughout the woods, terrifying the villagers who lingered too long in the wee hours of the night.

Gaston had thought he heard one of the howling creatures when he was a boy. He had been terrified at the thought of a dark creature swooping down and carrying him off into the night, so he had requested that his father teach him how to use a rifle, in hopes of protecting himself and killing the dark things that lingered in the woods. His father had been all too willing.

A knock echoed on Gaston's door and he glanced up from the fire, glancing over his shoulder to the door. He couldn't imagine who was out this late. No one with any good intentions anyway. He stood slowly, cocking the rifle as he did. The rain had started to pour, accompanied by the frequent claps of thunder and flashes of lightning that made Gaston flinch more than he was willing to admit.

"Who is it," he called, his finger caressing the trigger.

"Gaston! It's M Raphael!" The middle-aged barkeep sounded panicked.

Still harbouring some suspicion as to why the man was out so late, Gaston pulled the door open and allowed the man to stumble into the house. This man had been one of the ones to shun him after his return from the Beast's castle, and Gaston wasn't inclined to forgive him any time soon.

"What is it," he asked, slamming the door shut behind the man. The house rattled and groaned as the door hit the frame.

M Raphael turned to Gaston, his chest heaving. "I have heard a rumour." He paused, gasping for breath. "A rumour you seek to hunt the undead." He shuddered through the last word. The undead were as feared as the beast in the castle had once been. But now that the curse had been broken and light had returned to the castle, the villagers feared only the undead lingering in the woods.