Madelaine// Gaston |1|

14

     The buyer of Madelaine's deer was quite impressed with what she got. He was really expecting it from Arthur, but to see it from Madelaine, he was even more impressed.

     "You keep up work like this, you'll be hunting for kings and queen's," the buyer said, standing up straight. "Here." He handed her a bag of bronze and silver, causing her to smile. "You deserve it."

     "Thank you, Monsieur," she said, nodding to him.

     "And may I ask," he said as she started to walk away, "where did you learn to hunt?" She smiled, turning to him fully.

     "Well I wasn't very good, that is until someone told me to shoot for the liver," she said, her smile widening.

     "A clever fellow there, gets them every time." The buyer shoved the deer into his butchery, where he would take care of the entire rest of the process.

          *****

     Madelaine walked into her house, not looking up from the gloves she was currently taking off. She shut the door with her foot, setting her gloves on the table next to her. When she looked up again, she saw Gaston standing at the stove with pants on, but he was still shirtless.

     "Is it a disgrace to walk to your horse and get a shirt?" she asked, watching as he poured some tea into a cup. "And since when did you know how to make tea?"

     "One, I don't want anyone to see me shirtless. Two, I've always known," he completed with a shrug. He picked up the cup, holding it out to Madelaine. She accepted it and walked over to her breakfast table in the corner of the room.

     "Who taught you?" she asked, leaning back in her chair.

     "My mother did, before she passed," Gaston said, walking to the table as well. He sat across from her, folding his hands together.

"You never did tell me about your parents," Madelaine said, debating whether it was a good topic for him. She waited a second, seeing if he would respond.

"My mother passed when I saw only a boy. My father on the other hand... Who knows where he is," Gaston trailed off towards the end.

"Huh?"

"After my mother died, my father left me. I was taken in by Lefou and his family because they were the most... sympathetic family in town. They felt bad for me. From that moment on, though, I promised myself that I would be nothing like my father. I would grow up big and large and fight for my country. My father didn't do that, he was nothing but a coward." Madelaine saw the hurt growing in Gaston's eyes. She couldn't disagree with him, his father sounded like a coward.

"It's no trouble now, though. He's gone and probably never coming back." A weak smile formed on his face as the memories of his father running away on that horse flashed through his mind. He was brought out of the trance when he felt a hand on his. He looked at his hand, then Madelaine to see her giving him a reassuring smile.

"You are not like your fathers," she said, nodding a bit. Gaston smiled weakly again, looking back at the floor boards. "I'll get your clothes and we can head out for a walk." She left, walking out to the horses. Gaston watched as the door closed, then stood up walking to his clothes from the night before. He pulled out a small parchment with a painted picture on it.

"I will find you, father."

*****

The two walked through the streets of Paris that morning. They were looking for a place to eat to submerge their cravings.

"I take it hunting this morning went well," Gaston said as he looked around the square. Madelaine's mind went back to meeting Arthur, how he called her beautiful.

"Yes, quite," she said, not bothering to mention the man she met. "The buyer said I got quite the catch."

"I would expect that out of you, I'm just surprised there was no competition," he said, making Madelaine nod. She was about to tell him about her meeting with the man in the woods, when she was cut off by a great deal of people shouting and whispering things of a Prince.

"Its Prince Arthur!"

"He's come to town!"

"Prince! Our Prince!"

"What is this about?" Gaston asked a random woman with a baby.

"That's Prince Arthur, he plans to court the most beautiful girl in the city to rule the kingdom with him," the woman responded with glee. She went back to whispering with other woman, fantasizing over the Prince.

"Should I be worried?" Gaston asked looking over at Madelaine.

"No, not much. We're just passing through," she said, nodding a bit. Finally, she could see the man. It was the Arthur she had met that morning. Her mind skipped over the fact that she was in his presence. Her mind went to the fact that he called her beautiful, and he was going to marry the most beautiful girl in the city.

"My good people!" Arthur yelled, getting everyone's attention. "In two days time, there will be a great ball held at a castle just outside of a little provincial town. There, I will decide my wife!"

"Who will be giving us the pleasure of letting us in their castle?!" a man shouted loosely.

"I've got one guess," Gaston muttered.

"Their names are King Adam and Queen Belle!" Arthur shouted.

"Was that your one guess?" Madelaine asked looking up at Gaston.

"Yup."

-*-

Holy crap. Not as long as I would like it to be but hey, it's good enough.

Gaston and Arthur will probably meet next chapter, which will go quite badly on Madelaine's part.

And we're gonna see Lefou again !

Alright, vote, comment, tells ya friends. All that good stuff.