[DISCONTINUED] A Beauty and A Beast (Garmau AU)

Chapter 6

Aphmau sat alone and freezing in the cell for Irene knows how long when the door flew open, scaring her half to death.

"Bonjour mademoiselle! I am here to show you to your room!" She heard a voice ask.

It definitely wasn't the man from before. It sounded more human and upbeat. Nonetheless, she grabbed the closest thing she had to a weapon. An old wooden stool.

"M-My room?" She asked, her voice quivering in fear.

"Oh, you must be shaken up about what my master said. 'This door won't ever open again!'" The man imitated in a low voice made to be goofy. Aphmau tried her hardest not to laugh, and only continued to slowly creep over to the open door.

"He can be so over dramatic!" The voice continued, and Aphmau peeked around the cell bars and expected to see a man standing by the lever.

To her utter shock, the only thing there was the candelabra. Except it was hanging from the lever by one of its arms, and definitely alive.

"Hello!" He said in a sing song voice before dropping to the floor thanks to his small stature.

She couldn't help but scream and scrambled backwards.

He dusted off his metal body before looking up at her, but she had already grabbed the stool again and brought it down on his head.

Again, she let out another scream as it made contact with him, and the man hit the floor, the now broken stool on top of him.

He was still for a moment before Aphmau began to panic.

I didn't mean to kill him! Then, to her relief, one of his candles ignited and he groaned.

"Well... at least you're strong, that's good to know." He groaned out. "And besides I'm used to getting hit in the face. Katelyn does it all the time." He said as he shoved the stool off of him and reignited all of his candles.

Then, he bowed to her like a gentleman. "What are you?!" She asked, not even realizing how insulting that sounded because of how frightened she was.

He only laughed. "My name is Travis Valcrum! Pleasure to be at your service miss..." he trailed off, and it took Aphmau a good moment to understand what he wanted.

"Oh! My names Aphmau." She exclaimed in a flustered manner. And he nodded. "Ah! Pleasure to meet you miss... uh... Aphmoo?" He tried, and she shook her head. "Aphmau." She repeated.

"Aphmuh?" He asked, and again she shook her head. "Aph... mau... it's pronounce like ow." She added.

"Aphmeow?" She gave up at that point.

"So... you can talk?" She asked him. Before he could answer, another voice answered for him.

"Of course he talks. It's all he ever does..." it paused as it let out a grunt and Aphmau turned around. A beautiful metal clock appeared as it climbed the the final step to the stairwell and crawled onto the landing, making her eyes widen.

So this is what mom meant when she said the castle was 'alive'.

Aphmau squeaked and rushed inside her cell again. Now that she had already used the stool, the only thing left for her to use was a metal water pitcher.

"Travis! You're being an idiot right now! Put her back inside her cage before he kills us!" The clock's voice exclaimed in panic.

"Laurence this could be our chance! Do you want to be stuck as a clock for the rest of your life?!" Travis whispered. Aphmau slowly walked out of her cell very slowly, the pitcher raised and ready to strike.