Beauty in the Beast

Prologue

In a little village of Maria, France lived a bright eyed boy of age eighteen by the name of Eren Jaeger. He was an imaginative boy, spending his time reading and dreaming of far away places rather than focusing on what the other villagers were absorbed with. The village people found this odd. No one read as much as the curious teen. It was simply uncommon to read. This led to the rumor of the chocolate-haired male being a witch.

"Thanks for the book, Armin!" Eren waved as he left the little library.

"Have fun with that one!" The blond male commented with a grin.

"Bonjour!"

"Bonjour!" Eren greeted the townspeople who dared speak to him.

"Did you hear? He's obviously a witch, I mean look at him!" A woman whispered to her friend just out of the brunet's ear shot.

This was quite a common occurrence within the town of gossipers. Eren was like a giant red flag to them. They would always play nice when close by, but once Eren was far enough away, the villagers became venomous.

"Eren."

"Ack! M-Mikasa!" Eren squeaked, holding his chest. "B-Back from the hunt already?"

She nodded. "I'm here to ask your hand in marriage."

Eren's eyes widened. He never saw her that way, another reason for the disgusting rumor that was hanging over his name. Mimada was one of the most desired women in the village and multiple men had failed to properly court her. One did not reject such a woman. If he could not love Mikasa, the village people thought he must not love any woman. It didn't help that his father was a crazy old geezer who spent all of his time concocting things in their small hut.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not ready for marriage!"

"Eren, I'm the only one who would marry you and I can protect you," she insisted.

"Can't you protect me as a friend?" He suggested, closing the door to his house before she could continue to pester him.

The brunet slid to the floor, wiping his teary eyes as he quietly began to sing.

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere.
I want to run to swim the sea
I may not be able to right now, but
One day I'll get them,
One day, that's true~
These wings of freedom that'll fly me to the moon!"

The eighteen year-old began dancing, feeding the animals on his shoddy farm as he continued singing his song.

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere!
To see the seas of sand with someone I love hol-din' my hand
Lands of lava and mystery
One day...
One day, I swear
I'll fly with someone who really does care"

Upon finishing his chores, Eren looked around confused, wondering where his father was. Despite his reputation of being mad, Grisha Jaeger was always punctual.

Where'd he go? He should've been home prior to sunset... Maybe I'll just wait.

And wait he did. The teen believed his father to be safe until the family horse arrived, riderless.

"Jean, where's Papa?"

The horse's eyes were wide as it neighed. Eren petted him before climbing on.

"Take me to Papa."

• 🏰 •

Eren bit his lip as he walked around the seemingly abandoned castle that his horse, Jean, had brought him to. However, the brunet was questioning how abandoned it was. The place was spotless. Surely, if a place was truly abandoned, it'd have a dirty, dilapidated atmosphere, but not this place.

This place was... mysterious and clean.

"Papa!" Eren yelled in search of his father, cupping his hands around his mouth to better project his voice. "Pap—"

The brunet tripped and cursed, rubbing his bottom with a look of sheer embarrassment.

"He's beautiful!" A living candlestick clapped its arms together. "Just look at him. He's gorgeous! Erwin, Erwin! He could be the one, the one to break the curse!"

The talking miniature antique grandfather clock by the name of Erwin groaned, his pendulum moving side to side with a somewhat irritable tone. "It's just that old man's son. We don't know if he'll be interested."

"I'm sure he will be. I mean, look at that beautiful boy!" The candlestick boomed.

"Hange."

"Erwin."

Erwin groaned. "Look—"

Hange jumped down from their spot and began following the brunet around as he searched for his father that Hange and Erwin's master was holding captive.

"Papa!" Eren called again, eyes watering.

Hange snuck ahead, knocking something over. Eren started to follow the trail that the candlestick was lighting for him until he found a dungeon below the castle.

"Papa..." Eren sniffled, beginning to give up.

"Eren?" Grisha recognized the sound of his son's voice immediately. "Eren, leave! It's not safe here! A beast! There is a beast behind these walls!"

"A beast? That's preposterous." Eren started to look for a way to unlock the cell when he felt a clawed hand wrap around his shoulder.

A growl left an unseen mouth and the poor boy's eyes started to water. The being threw the boy against the wall before picking him up by the collar.

"Who do you think you are? Coming into my house and trying to free my prisoners?" The voice came out like a demon's.

Eren shrunk a bit. "Sir... please..."

"Please do not hurt my son!"

"Your son?! So he is the reason you went about, picking my roses?!" The beast thundered, looking into mismatched eyes, the left golden and the right an ocean green, the mark of a witch. Despite this alarming trait, the beast couldn't help but find it beautiful.

Eren closed his eyes.

So I'm the reason why he's been caught by this thing, Eren thought sadly. I just wanted a flower. Is that so much to ask?

"I'll take his place..."

The monster's wolflike ears flicked. "You want to take his place, do you?" His fangs showed themselves with his malicious grin. "I'll allow it."

"Eren, no!"

"Papa, I have to do this. I've made up my mind. You cannot change it." The brunet said with great resolve.

The demon chuckled, but asked Eren regardless, "Is that your final decision, brat?"

The teen boy clenched his fists, unable to meet his father's eyes. "Yes."