The Weight Upon His Wings {Prologue}
Crowe{and Sol} x F!Reader Beauty and The Beast TKATB AU
Once upon a time, when the land was new and the air chilled in the morn, deep in the mountains where paths wove through trees that had borne witness to hundreds of miseries, stood a towering castle built of ivory. There, lived a tyrant King, his frivolous Queen, and their Prince who was a heart-wrenching sight. if not for their merciless plundering, there would have been no grand balls within those vast halls.
The Prince had made countless jests to mask his incapable soul before crowds of opulent court members and hands calloused by service. powerful and charming, those around him could only agree. One night after one of their lavish parties, there came an uninvited guest. So, the Prince in his silken wear, dizzy from drunkeness, answered the persistent knocking in the dead of the dark, shining his warm candlelight onto the unexpected visitor.
What was presented was but a frail old woman, humbly asking for shelter from the creeping winter. She had offered that in return he’d have the plain blue rose in her hand. He hesitated, considered, then laughed. amused by her proposition, unimpressed by her attempt, ultimately wicked, he shunned her away, ridiculing her for the unsightly nature of face and posture. The hunched figure warned the prince that beauty could only be found within, but it proved useless as he sneered in her direction and commanded her to leave. She sighed and transformed into light, suddenly standing straight, turning into a willowy Enchantress and drawing hauntingly near.
He froze and could only stand still as she pressed the rose against his chest. The rose hardened into pristine clarity while it sank deeper and deeper into his heart.
“If you must be cold to others, then you must be frigid within.” The Enchantress whispered, cursing him into a creature of monstrous form “There is but half of a century to learn to love and be loved— if not, then you will succumb to an inevitable icy prison.”
Fearful and alone as the kingdom around him emptied, he hid. Every mirror and reflection was discarded for he could no longer bring himself to meet his gaze. And as the years grew by, so did his despair. He began to grieve relief, for it was an impossible feat to love a beast.
Five pits of hellish fire.