Beauty and the Monster-A Namjin AU story

Chapter 8

"No! I'm sure this is the way. Did you hear those wolves? It means they're close."

    After a desperate Maurice bursted through the doors of the town pub, Gaston and Lefou had decided to mount their horses and join him on the quest to rescue his son. Admittedly, Gaston couldn't care less about "crazy old" Maurice. This was just one of the many ways for him to have his son. Any crazy scheme would work, because the prey at the end was so tantalizing sweet.

    That was what he believed at first. They had been searching for hours and were nowhere near close to where Maurice supposedly lost Seokjin. A castle, he claimed. Right. A castle for crackpots and crazy people.

    "Stop!" The three jerked their horses back. "There it is! There it is!" he pointed at a tree wildly. "This tree was, uh, struck down by lightning at the time, but I'm sure this is the one. It's resumed an upright position, from..." he hesitated, "...magic. Or, um, something of the sort. "

"Are you sure you want to marry into this family?" Lefou whispered into Gaston's ear. Gaston grimaced, but stared ahead.

    Maurice pointed around. "The castle is...this way. Yes, definitely this way."

    Gaston stepped off his horse and stormed up to Maurice.

    "I am done playing this game of yours. Where is Seokjin?"

    "The beast took him and he-"

    "There are no such things as beasts!" Gaston was on the verge of a supreme temper tantrum. "Or talking teacups or magic! But there is frostbite, wolves, and starvation."

    Lefou stumbled over to Gaston's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "Deep breaths, Gaston. Deep breaths. Look at me. Smile. Turn around."

    When Gaston turned back to Maurice, an odd smile on his strained face.

    "So why don't we turn around? I'm sure Seokjin is home, cooking a lovely dinner."

    "Seokjin is not home! He is with the-"

    "If you say 'beast' one more time, I will feed you to the wolves!" Gaston roared, storming forward. Lefou threw his arm in front of him and desperately held him back.

    "Gaston! Stop! Breathe. Think happy thoughts. Go back to the war. Blood, explosions..." he was already beginning to calm down. "Countless widows..."

    "Widows," he said with a satisfied expression.

"That's it."

    And he was back to Maurice. "Forgive me, my friend, Maurice! That's no way to talk to my future father-in-law, now is it?"

    "Future father-in-law?" Maurice scoffed, "You will never marry my son!"

    A pause.

    "I saw that coming." Lefou winced as Gaston aimed a swift punch at Maurice's face, knocking him out cold.

"If Maurice won't give me his blessing, then he is in my way," said Gaston, tying him to a tree. "Once the wolves take care of him, Seokjin will have no one but me."

    Lefou felt a pang of regret as he stared at Maurice's bloodied forehead and eyes rolled to the back of his head.

    "For the sake of exhausting all of our options...do we maybe want to consider a less...gruesome alternative?"

    "Are you coming or not?" Gaston scowled. Lefou followed.

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    If one had been traveling down the forest path, they would be rather shocked to hear the seemingly abandoned castle alive with noise. Actually, scratch that. They would be scared out of their wits, for the noise from the palace was a caterwauling howl of pain.

    Inside the castle, Seokjin was busy tending to Namjoon's wounds. Unfortunately, the methods of healing were more than a bit painful.

Namjoon was in pain, Seokjin realized, but Namjoon was also dramatic. The roars were not necessary.

    "It hurts!" he whined.

    Seokjin simply rolled his eyes and continued to work. "If you didn't fidget, it wouldn't hurt as much."

    "Well, if you hadn't run away, this would have never happened," Namjoon hissed.

    "Well," Seokjin retorted, "If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away. It's your fault."

    "You shouldn't have been in the west wing!"

"You should control your temper!"

    The servants looked on in amusement. A well suited couple indeed.

    After some struggle, he had finished tending to the wound.

    "Try to get some rest." Seokjin's expression was unusually soft.

    "Thank you, sir," Jimin smiled at him thankfully.

    "We are eternally grateful," Taehyung added.

    Seokjin raised his eyebrows at the servants. "Why do you care about him so much?"

    "We've looked after the master all his life," Hoseok explained.

    "He's cursed you somehow. You've done nothing!"

    "You're quite right there, dear," Jimin said mournfully, "You see, when the master lost his mother...and his cruel father took that sweet, innocent boy and twisted him up to be like him...we did nothing."

    "Let him sleep." Taehyung ushered everyone out of the bedroom.

Namjoon could remember his days in the sun like it was yesterday. But then, he had never truly been in the light. He remembered his mother lying in the bed that was now his own. He stood beside her in the dark, her hand growing colder in his.

    He had vowed to stay by his mother's side. Namjoon would not see the light until his mother could.

    I promised her.

His mother never saw her days in the sun. Neither did he.

    In the ballroom, Taehyung and Hoseok waltzed to the tune of the maestro's music. They had once been inseparable. Now they could no longer feel the warmth of the other's touch.

    As Jimin tucked Jungkook into bed, he remembered their days as a family. It was just the two of them, but they were in the light. Jungkook would run around outside the castle while Jimin chased him, laughing.

    What they would give to relive just one...

    He would bring the light back for his son.

    Once upon a time, Seokjin was innocent and carefree. He had his father, his books...his childhood. From the moment he stepped into this fairy tale, he could never return.

    He was stronger than before. Changed. Yet he was not free. Like the rest, he yearned for the light.

    One day, they would all have their days in the sun.