Something There That Wasn't There Before

Something There That Was't There Before

She'd run. He'd exploded with rage and fury and she'd run from him. This was how it should be, how it was meant to be. He had never expected to come into his life and now, just as quickly, she'd left it. It was all he deserved.

Why? Why couldn't he behave like a human for once and simply ask her not to touch the flower? No, he had to become the animal she believed he was, and irreparably snapped whatever tenuous spider thread of trust might have been forming between them. He saw her ride out into the snow and the night and for a moment he stood too broken to move.

"Sir!" It was Lumiere. He hovered in the doorway, flames burning low with dismay.

"What?" The Beast managed, turning his head slightly, an ear pricking in the candle's direction. The man had once been his body servant. Had been there to clothe him, to aid and advise him in all things. Now that elegant, kind man was trapped in a body he didn't deserve.

Lumiere spoke urgently. "It's the girl! She's run away! We reminded her of her promise, but-"

"No. It's... it's alright," The Beast muttered, casting his blue eyes back to the open balcony, the driving snow and harsh wind whipping what remained of the curtains. "She was right to leave I... It seems I am the monster she feared all along."

"But Master-" This was Mrs Potts. Reduced from the housekeeper and head of all the servants, only answering to the butler, Cogsworth, to a simple teapot. "She only had a cloak! No warm boots, no gloves! If something goes wrong she'll freeze!"

The Beast flinched, turning his full attention to his staff huddled in the doorway, lit by Lumiere's golden light. "She had her horse she'll-" his words were cut short by a distant sound that made his blood go as cold as blizzard outside. Wolves. He often forgot the damned creatures. Once placid, easy going predators that only stalked deer and elk in his forest, the curse had changed them too. Now they were single minded and vicious, and would murder any they could get their teeth on.

The Beast didn't think. Didn't speak a word. He leaped on all fours towards the door, bounding over the heads of his friends and down the stairs so fast he nearly went sprawling at the bottom. He smashed through the mian doors, causing one of the hinges to surrender and the door to sag sideways, but he didn't notice. Instead he followed the tracks of Belle's horse out into the forest and the bitter night.

~~~~

Belle's cry, when he heard it, was like a beacon and an alarm. He knew the wolves had found her. Her horse had plunged into the frozen river and up onto the bank at the other side. She would have no need of such an ill advised maneuver unless things were desperate indeed. Beast surged through the water, little noticing as the icy fingers of frostbite clawed at him. Baring his teeth he charged on until he saw her. She was on the ground, fighting beside her horse. Of course she wouldn't leave the animal, he thought disjointedly. Belle was kind.

Now she was battling the shadowy wolves with a stick, and she wasn't going to win.

Beast charged into the fray with a roar he knew must make him sound all the more terrifying to the woman he had come to aid. He sent and wolf flying and crouched over Belle, warning the pack away with his eyes, his stance. Any ordinary wolf would have seen the sense of it and run. These charged in and Beast had no option but to do the same.

He was no fighter. Bold and loud as he could be, he's never used his claws on another creature before. Furniture, certainly, but this was different. He ripped and tore at the wolves as they piled onto him. His fur was thick, his skin tough, but their teeth found holds, ripping his flesh, forcing a fresh roar of pain from his lips. He threw himself wildly at every attacker, dislodging them as best he could. He was drowning now, unable to see anything but his enemy and his need to survive this fight. There were so many and he was clumsy.