The City Is At War

2: A Tale as Old as Time

A/N: includes author commentary. Also I swear I could not stop laughing my ass off while writing this chapter.

Setting: 18th century France

A gorgeous castle stood off in the far corner of the village, and the village itself was made up of small, old-fashioned cottages. Many people appeared to be living their everyday lives without disturbance, shucking corn, washing laundry, and groups of children playing happily around the wishing well.

However, something about the castle was vastly different from the other parts of town..

The entire structure was shrouded in darkness, and what seemed like a once extravagant and bright painted finish had been deteriorated into nothing but blackened ashes and broken fixtures. Why was this castle so dreary looking?

It looked absolutely miserable and abandoned, like no one lived there. But that was wrong.

Long story short, an enchantress turned the prince who lived there into a hideous beast because he was greedy and only cared about himself. The only way he could be reverted back to his human form was if he found true love before every petal fell off of a magical rose that was stored in a secret chamber in the castle.

He had pretty much achieved this because he met a beautiful girl who changed his ways, and they both fell head over heels in love.

And that girl's name was Belle.

She certainly lived up to her name. She was known as the most stunning girl in the village.

She was nothing like the rest of the villagers, being very passionate about learning and literature. You would always find her with her face buried in a book. The villagers often made fun of her for it, saying that she's odd, but they were probably just jealous of both her beauty and intelligence.

Unfortunately, there was something trying to get in the way of the girl pursuing her dreams with her true love...

And that obstacle was a man named Gaston, who was admired by many girls throughout the village. He had expressed strong feelings for Belle and desperately had his heart set on marrying her.

The village beauty, however, had no feelings for him whatsoever and had absolutely zero interest in marrying him. Why? Well, because he was an egotistical douchebag. He resented the Beast for falling in love with Belle, and vowed to kill him so that he could marry her.

Belle made her disdain towards the man quite obvious. He was the bottomfeeding scum of the Earth in her eyes because he thought way too highly of himself.

*Time skip: Showdown on the rooftops of the castle*

The gun Gaston carried on his side holster gleamed in the moonlight shining down on top of the roof. Belle noticed the gleaming metal from the corner of her eye, snuck up to the man, and attempted to snatch the gun, but to no avail. He turned around to face the girl in the elegant yellow ball gown, as well as the Beast who stood beside her.

Gaston placed his hand on the young woman's shoulder, creeping up closer to her. "It has become evident that I have no use for you anymore. If you were really seeking true love, you would have decided to fall for a handsome gentleman like me instead of a horrendous, disgusting beast like him. You are just as foolish as your father. I guess you'll have to die along with that vile animal."

Belle snarled, seething with anger and hurt. "I will never fall in love with someone like you, because you've proven that you're anything but a gentleman. The Beast is wonderful and kind, and you wish you had even one measly ounce of common human decency in your heart. First you attempted to murder my father, and now my fiance, both of whom I love dearly. You've revealed your true intentions and did something unforgivable. Everyone knows that he is not a monster. You are."