Beauty and the Beast (Jearmin AU) {JeanxArmin}

A Castle?

A.N: Imma update this one first, cause mah gf reads it. Oh! And for anyone that doesn't know what's going on, I'm going to try my best to update a bunch of my stories so I can feel like I deserve the 200 followers I somehow got. :3 Enjoy~

Armin paced around the house worriedly, muttering to himself. "Why isn't he home yet? The meeting was only supposed to be two hours..." He stared outside the window into the snow. "What if he's stuck out there? It's snowing really heavily... W-what if he hit an ice patch and--" He stopped himself. "No, Armin... Don't panic."

Armin grabbed his phone with a sigh and dialed the old man's number, deciding that he'd go out looking for him if he didn't pick up. One ring... Two rings... Suddenly, he could hear a ring coming from in-between the couch cushions. "Oh, God... Don't tell me he left his phone here?" Armin shook his head and reached into the couch, grasping the vibrating phone and silencing it.

Armin decided it best that he go and find his grandfather, perhaps letting worry take over his body. He shoved both his and his grandfather's phones into his pockets and put on an oversized winter coat, along with a pair of snow boots. He then grabbed a flashlight and started to walk towards the road his grandfather had taken, knowing it wasn't very far away to his workplace.

After about twenty minutes of walking down the old, snow-covered road deep in the woods, Armin couldn't help but feel frightened when he looked around him, seeing nothing but darkness and snow, with no sign whatsoever of his grandfather.

Scared, the boy began to pick up his pace, until he was full-blown running through the snow. He felt like something was chasing him, though he knew it was just his imagination. He stopped suddenly, spotting his grandfather's car in the distance. "YES!" He shouted out loud and ran towards it happily, stopping short when he realized that there was nobody inside.

"But..." Armin could feel his last shred of hope dying as he leaned in the side of the car, scared and alone. "Where is he?" He shone the flashlight around him, only noticing for the first time that there were cast-iron gates in front of the car, only slightly open. He must be inside there! Armin thought, walking through. He walked up a worn cobblestone pathway, looking around with the flashlight until he saw before him a very old, very beautiful castle.

"Hello?" Armin called out once he reached the top step, knocking gently on the wooden door. After a few moments without response, he opened the door, surprised it was unlocked. "H-hello? I promise I'm not a burglar, I'm just looking for my grandfather!" He called into the dark, empty castle, taking a step inside and shutting the door behind him.

He heard a distant sound, almost like footsteps but... Different. "Excuse me? I'm sorry to intrude, but my grandfather's gone missing, and his car is outside so I just figured--"

"Oh, you mean that crazy old man who came in her a few hours ago, babbling about something called a 'light bulb'?" A male voice spoke, from a very tall looking figure engulfed in shadows. Armin couldn't make out much about his shape, but it seemed really off.

"Yeah! That's him!" Armin replied, ignoring that the figure didn't know what a light bulb was.

"He's down in the dungeon." The figure said casually.

"Wh-what?!" Armin began to back away.

"What, is that not how you make friends?" The figure joked. "I'm just messing with you... He just pissed me off, that's all. I figured I should lock him down there until he came to his senses, but I didn't hurt him or anything." The figure stepped into the light, smiling. He had the body of a horse, with a chestnut colored coat, with the upper-body of a man, protruding from where the horse would normally have a neck. He was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt with a finely embroidered blue tunic over it. "I can take you to him, if you want."

Armin stood in shock, his jaw hanging open as he stared at the creature in front of him. "Y-you're..." Armin trailer off, hardly able to speak.

"Careful what you say, or you might end up in the dungeon with the old man." He warned.

"You're a centaur!" Armin ran over to him. "This is amazing! I always knew there had to be some kind of truth behind all those ancient myths!"

"I'm a what now?" The centaur cocked his head in confusion. "I didn't know there was a name for it..."

"What? How could you not know?" Armin questioned.

"It's a long story." He shrugged. "Anyway, you're just here to get the old guy, right?"

"...I guess so." Armin said, disappointed. He also felt a longing to learn more about this being.

The centaur showed Armin to the stairs and gave him a key, stating that he didn't feel like walking up and down the stairs at the moment. Armin went down and unlocked the cell door, happily hugging his grandfather. "Grandpa!"

"What?" The old man was shocked for a moment, then came to realize what was happening. "Armin, you're here!"

"Mhm! I got worried... And you left your phone at home." Armin grabbed the phone from his pocket and handed it over.

"Of course you were worried..." He laughed. "But I guess it was a good thing, this time."

"Yeah!" Armin pulled his grandfather up and took him back upstairs. The centaur was stood in the main entrance, a gigantic room that seemed to be the heart of the castle, leaning on a white column and coughing rather violently.

"Sorry." He choked out, after noticing the two had returned. "I'm probably... Catching a cold, or something." He shrugged and cleared his throat. "Anyway, I really don't think you guys should try to go home yet in this snow... At least not you." He pointed at Armin. "The nice one. The old man can go freeze to death for all I care..."

Ignoring that last statement, Armin brightened up. "We can stay here?"

"If you want to. I've got lots of food, and plenty of empty rooms."

"Great!" Armin ran over to a nice looking couch and sat down. "Then we have enough time to hear your story!"

"Um... What?"

"You said, 'It's a long story', but if we're staying here overnight, then don't you have enough time to tell it?" Armin bounced up and down excitedly. He adored learning new things.

"I... I guess so?"

"Awesome! You should start with your name... Because I'm curious." Armin spoke energetically, while his grandfather reluctantly sat down beside him.

"Well, my name is Jean. Jean Kirstein, former prince of..." He trailed off. "Some region of France. I forgot which. Um, my favorite color is purple..." He seemed to just be listing facts about himself. "I was born in '98."

"Really, 1998? That's the same year as me!" Armin interjected, trying to think of how Jean could possibly have been a prince in his lifetime.

"No, no... 1598. Much better times." Jean replied casually.

"What?!" Armin sat up suddenly, waking up his grandfather, who apparently had fallen asleep already.

A.N: Heh. Heheh.. Heheheh... Hehehhehehehehehhehehehehhehehehheheheheh........ I don't know what's wrong with me, this whole thing is so fuckin' weird, and the things I have planned are really morbid and twisted for something based off of a Disney movie... Oh well! Next chapter is probably just gonna explain what happened to Jean, and since this is a little different from the movie, that should be fun.*insane author laugh*

Bye-bye!~