Tale As Old As Time
For @kayleigh-rae as a special birthday gift!
Kingdon Beauty and the Beast Mashup! Also a smattering of T. Kingfisher's Briony and the Roses (another BatB! retelling).
Mel raced through the castle. She had to find him. She had to find him before it was too late.
How odd that once upon a time, this castle was unfamiliar and daunting to her. Now, she knew it like the back of her hand. When she first came here, Mel couldn’t stand to stay for another minute . Now, she couldn’t bear the idea of being anywhere else. Where he was, Mel was home.
The villagers were stunned that she wanted to return to the castle and warn The Beast. She fought tooth and nail to keep them from attacking and killing him. Did he not hold her captive? Did the monster not threaten to kill her father for stealing a mere rose?
“He'd never hurt anyone! He's kind and gentle!”
Mel never should have left him. She should've known that leaving would mean his death. He wanted to make her happy. Her Beast would do anything for her because…
He loved her.
Mel had never been in love before. She read of it, of course, in her many books. Mel used to spend hours poring over stories that spoke of a handsome prince who loved the maiden fair. One look at her, and the prince wanted to spend forever with her. It seemed so simple then. So pure and wholesome when they lived happily ever after. It was a love she dreamed of for herself.
This castle, however, changed that. The Beast had changed that. Mel learned that love was not butterflies in the stomach, the pitterpatter of a heartbeat, flowers, chocolates, and promises never meant to be kept. It wasn’t the need to own or make conquest, like the hunters in her village made it seem like.
Love, for Mel, was the Beast making genuine effort to control a wild and vicious temper so as not to frighten her. Love was being less stubborn and actually listening and accepting that “No going to the West Wing” meant not going to the West Wing. It was him willing to risk life and limb for her safety, especially when she made him angry. It was tending to his wounds and thanking him for saving her life, even if she was equally enraged over his show of temper.
It became eagerly awaiting meal times, knowing the other would make an appearance. It was not showing disgust at his appalling table manners, observing his inability to hold a spoon or fork properly in his giant paws. It was roaming in the garden, saving the choicest berries and fruits for her. If Mel said she loved apples, the Beast commanded the castle to plant more apple trees. It then spread into Mel teaching the Beast to read, providing gentle correction over his mistakes and kind encouragement. Soon, it was the Beast giving up his favorite chair for her comfort and feeling pleased to hear the sigh of contentment as she settled in.
Mel began to really notice something when the Beast gifted her his extraordinary library. He asked her every night at supper what she had read that day. The Beast listened intently, asking questions and offering his own thoughts. He did not scoff or sneer when her opinion differed from his own. Sometimes he changed his mind if she presented sound reasoning and evidence and so did she. It delighted her when he began taking an interest in healing and herb medicines, reading alongside her and finding subject matter books, and leaving them by her door.
When Mel had nightmares, the Beast came to her aid. The cry of his name from her lips sent him bounding wildly through the halls, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. When the threat of danger was gone, he did not scold her or tell her she was foolish. He slept on the floor outside her room, ready at a moment’s notice. The Beast challenged Mel, inspired her to be herself and to be proud of her uniqueness. He believed in her when she could not believe in herself. The Beast never asked her to change or be the proper lady her village pressured her into being.
But the greatest act of his love was letting her go, willing to die for her happiness. And her greatest act of love would be returning to him.
Mel found her Beast crumbled on the ground, gaping wounds soaked with blood. His clothes were torn and his breathing was shallow. Mel threw herself against him, grasping at his shirt.
“”Mel…you came back.” His voice was uncharacteristically weak. It sounded as if he was choking to draw in breath. He raised his paw shakily, trying to touch her hair.
“Of course I came back! I couldn’t let them…oh, this is all my fault!” She stroked the fur near his jaw. “If only I had gotten here sooner!”
“M-maybe it’s better this way.”
Mel shook her head furiously, not even bothering to stop the tears flowing. “No! Don’t talk like that! You’ll be all right.” Mel tried to smile, still weaving her dainty fingers into his blood sticky and cold fur. “We’re together now; everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.”
“At least…at least I got to see you. One last time.”
Mel couldn’t breathe, locking her eyes with his sapphire blue ones. In spite of his terrifying and brutal appearance, his eyes always compelled her. There was so much that was human in them and could hold all his emotions when he gazed into her own. She could read the poetry of sorrow and the prose of hope when they regarded one another from across the room. Those eyes of his could cast the most powerful and enchanting spell of all. Mel wished she had told him how she imagined the ocean when she their gazes would meet. She wished she told him that she had never met anyone with eyes like his.
His breath shuddered and his paw fell heavily to his side. No…no, no, no, no, no! This couldn’t be! She was here! She came back for him! Mel saved him from the villagers! He was supposed to live! That’s what all the stories said! Yes, the maiden saved the prince but he was supposed to hold her in his arms, promising her a life together!
“No! No, please! You can’t! Please—please, you can’t leave me!”
Mel collapsed onto his rigid and cold body. She sobbed into his shirt, as if she hoped her tears would bring him back. “I love you.”
She didn’t see it, but if she had, the last petal of an enchanted rose had fallen.
There was a faint whistling sound, whizzing past her ears. Mel paid no mind, unable to hear anything over the sound of her heart breaking. Then there was another. And another. Then something warm zipped past her cheek. Mel looked up slowly and her mouth fell slack as more and more of these mysterious shoots of light began falling around her and the Beast. Mel gasped and desperately began tugging his cloak as he began slowly lifting into the air. More of the colored lights began falling around her and the unknown force began lifting him easily out of her grasp. Mel backed away, unsure what she was seeing. What was happening? Where was her Beast going? He was suspended in the air but not so high that she couldn’t reach him. His cloak furled around him tightly like a rose bud. Then…a strange burst of light erupted from his left paw. The claws began shrinking and lightening into human fingernails. The fur and size of his paw began melting into a hand. Mel watched on in awe as his limbs and paws all began transforming into long and lean arms, hands, legs, and feet. The horns on his head vanished and the long, dark brown fur began erasing itself off his person. Mel’s hands flew to her mouth when the hulking and foreboding frame of the Beast shrank, before falling gently back on the ground again.
The cloak covered the form that Mel saw. Cautiously, she approached, almost drawing back as she saw the shape move under the cloak. Mel bit her lip when she saw smooth, pale feet and legs covered in tattered breeches. The figure was lean…almost a little scrawny even. The hands could have stopped in her in her tracks. The palms were long and narrow, thin and nearly spindly fingers. The veins under the pale skin were a light blue but they showed prominently beneath the skin. Mel wanted to kneel beside the form and trace those veins, just to know this stranger was alive. She immediately backed away again when the figure began groaning softly and weakly began pulling himself up.
It took effort but Mel was too afraid to come closer. A man stood, his back to her. He wore the Beast’s clothes but they were tattered and practically dwarfed him. He was still much taller than she. His hair was the same color as the Beast’s fur but it was much shorter. Strands of his hair fell in front of where his brow would be. He hesitantly raised a hand and gasped upon seeing it. Then he raised the other shaking hand. Mel’s heart contracted painfully. Was she supposed to be here? Should she walk away? Yet somehow, without even seeing his face, she felt like she knew him. Her heart, her soul, and her mind knew this man and Mel stood exactly where she was meant to be.
Slowly, he turned and Mel couldn’t breathe. The most beautiful man Mel had ever seen stood before her. His eyes were wide and slowly, he took wobbly and uncertain steps towards her. His skin was unmarred and bright, his form was all hard lines and angles but there was an undeniable strength too. Even with his uneven gait, there was something distinctly royal in the way he moved. A grace so few were born with but it was natural as his breathing.
“Mel? Mel…it’s me.”
He touched her honey-blonde hair, holding his breath. The warmth of his hand felt familiar, even as the wind and rain blew all around them. Her lips parted and her eyes went round when she locked her eyes with his. There was no mistaking it. No one else had the eyes she had fallen in love with.
“Y-you’re here!”
He nodded, unable to tear his eyes away. Without realizing it, Mel had stepped into his space and he pulled her gently to him. Whatever magic that transformed him from a beast to a man must have still lingered in the air because his lips found hers, kind and tender. It was a kiss that thanked her for not giving up on him, for seeing past the worst parts of himself, and encouraging him to hope, dream, imagine, think, and believe.
His forehead rested against hers. “In the flesh.”
Mel cupped the side of his face, smiling shyly. “What is your name? I don’t think I would like to call you Beast anymore.”
“It’s been so long. I do not know if I remember it.” The man said more to himself than to her.
Recognition flooded his features, “Francis. My name was Francis but–”
“But what?”
His brows furrowed and he lowered his head. He was silent for a moment, trying to find words. “Long ago, a woman used to call me Frank. I liked that name.
Mel lovingly pressed another kiss to his lips. “It is wonderful to meet you at last, Frank. In case you didn’t know, I’m very much in love with you.”
Frank laughed into her neck before picking her up and spinning her around. When he set her down, he kissed her again. “Then it’s just my good fortune because I’m very much in love with you too.”
