Disenchanted

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Disenchanted

By

Renegade Raine

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~Chapter Four~

The Dark Side of Enchantment

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Now that Xaldin was sure that he had Belle exactly where he wanted her, in terms of his plan, he decided that it was time that he started to lead Beast towards the path of the dark side. To initiate the other side of his plan, he transported himself into Beast’s room, and walked over to the sparkling rose that sat upon a white pedestal. He just simply gazed at if for a few moments, as he waited for Beast to enter the room. But once he did enter the room, Xaldin just continued to stare at the enchanted rose.

“Good evening.” Xaldin greeted. A look of confusion on Beast’s face quickly turned into rage as he looked at the mysterious figure in the room.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my castle?!” Beast glowered.

“Such terrible matters.” Xaldin remarked. “Especially considering that I, Xaldin, am a messenger sent directly from the enchantress herself.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Beast apologized with a horrified look. “I didn’t realize that she had messengers. But what is your reason for coming here?”

“It appears that she’s taken pity on you, and sent me to warn you.” Xaldin replied.

“What exactly do you mean?” Beast asked, with a baffled expression.

“It seems as though the woman you have chosen is not the one who will break the spell of the rose.” Xaldin said with a shake of his head.

“That’s nonsense!” Beast exclaimed.

“Is it?” Xaldin asked. “According to our observations, Belle has never had a single romantic thought about you, and she never will. The only reason she stays in the castle now is because of her love for her father.”

“That’s not true….” Beast said, growling shortly after.

“I’m afraid it is.” Xaldin responded with a sigh. “Although she’s a very nice girl, all she feels for you in her heart is fear. The enchantress has sent me to tell you that you’d be best to alienate yourself as much as possible from the girl, as it will only bring dire consequences if you continue to pursue her.”

“I don’t know.” Beast said skeptically.

“It does not matter to me whether you choose to believe me or not.” Xaldin said coolly. “But when you are doomed to die in your monstrous form, do not say that we never warned you.”

With that, Xaldin teleported himself out of the room. Beast did not want to believe Xaldin’s words, but he had to be a messenger if he knew so much about his situation. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in his grotesque form for the rest of his life, so it would be wise to heed the man’s words. But what was he to do? If Belle was not the woman to break the spell, who was? He didn’t have the courage to roam outside of his castle to try to find another female and even if he did, he was sure that there was not enough time left to make her fall in love with him. He could only growl in rage as he realized that he would indeed die as a monster.

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The next day, Belle was accompanied by Lumiere and Cogsworth as she roamed the hallways of the castle. The clock and candlestick both able to detect that Belle was being far more quiet than usual, but they both just figured it had to do with Beast’s less than perfect mood lately.

Just before they reached the library, both Lumiere and Cogsworth brightened as they saw their master approaching them. They figured it was about time that he approached the girl on his own. Belle soon after noticed and gave a frail smile. She walked toward Beast.

“Beast!” She greeted, but as she got closer, she noticed the dark expression on his face.

“Stay away from me!” he roared. Belle looked at him, dumbstruck. She hadn’t even broken any rules this time, so she didn’t know what he could be angry about this time.

“What’s wrong?” Belle asked as she moved closer to try to put a hand on his shoulder. “Did I do somethi-”

But before Belle could finish her sentence, Beast struck Belle’s hand away with the back of his paw. He misjudged his own strength, however, and also managed to strike the side of Belle’s face. The tips of his claws also grazed against her face, leaving three red lines on her cheek.

In that moment, it was as if all noise was sucked out of the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking absolutely appalled at Beast’s actions. Beast looked at his paw with wide eyes, shocked at himself at what he had just done. A moment later, he grimaced and stomped away to his room.

Belle bit her lip, trying to keep herself from crying. However, she knew that she would not be able to keep herself together for long. She ran to her room, as everyone looked at her with pity.

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Invisible to everyone’s eyes, Xaldin looked on with interest. He certainly wasn’t expecting a reaction so severe out of Beast, but it was only to his benefit. She would trust him all the more hastily now. And with her trust, Beast would succumb to the darkness within him.

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Meanwhile, Cogsworth followed Beast to his room to try to talk some sense into him. Even if everyone knew that he could get very moody sometimes, this time he crossed the line. Nervously, he opened Beast’s door and walked in slowly.

“M-master?” Cogsworth stuttered.

“Get out of my sight!” Beast roared. “From now on, you and the rest of the servants in this castle are to stay in the dungeon.”

“But, sir!” Cogsworth protested.

“Do as I say, or face the consequences!” Beast furiously growled.

“As you wish, sir.” Cogsworth said with a sigh, as he left the castle.

Beast continued to scowl until he knew that his servant had left the room. He then sighed regretfully as he looked at the rose and the growing pile of petals below it. He hated himself for what he had done to his servants and especially to Belle, but he figured it was better this way. He wouldn’t be able to treat his servants cruelly any longer, and without the servants to keep watch, perhaps Belle would try to escape somewhere where she truly deserved to belong. Beast sighed once more before turning away.

“Please forgive me, everyone.” Beast muttered sorrowfully.

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Inside her room, Belle sat at her vanity, resting her wounded cheek on a hand. Tears slowly streaked down her face as she replayed the incident that had just happened minutes ago with Beast in her mind. She didn’t want to even to think about it, but she considered that perhaps Xaldin was right when he had commented to her that she was just a tool to the Beast.

Now that he had sent the servants to the dungeon, she felt even lonelier than before. She considered escaping, but if he treated her this cruelly, she hated to think how he would treat her own father. She then sobbed into both of her hands. She was so caught up in her weeping, that she did not even notice Xaldin materializing within her room. However, as Xaldin witnessed her crying, another scene flashed in his mind. He saw the same young girl he saw in his last flashback, but this time she faced him.

“You’re not him…I’m sorry.” The girl said. With a slightly surprised expression on his face, Xaldin noticed that she looked a lot like Belle. If his premonition was correct, she was indeed Belle. So now the possibility that he knew her was even greater now.

“It’s fine…but…” he said in his flashback. It was then when he snapped out of his flashback again and turned toward Belle. He spoke the rest of his line from his flashback. “Why are you crying?”

Belle instantly stopped crying, from the shock of Xaldin sneaking up behind her. She also had a weird feeling of déjà vu, like she had had this conversation before in her lifetime. She spoke without turning her face. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“Do not be ashamed to show me your face.” Xaldin said. Belle responded by turning her face so that her unscarred cheek faced him. Unsatisfied, Xaldin took a hand and gently pushed her face, so that all was revealed to him. He then tilted her head a little, so he could get a closer look at the claw marks, which looked even worse from up close. He gently traced his finger across one of the marks, but stopped when she grimaced from it.

“Even if he is a beast, there’s no excuse to do something like this to a woman.” Xaldin said with some genuine concern. Even if he did lack a heart, he still swore he felt something close to guilt for what had happened. He figured it was a habit from his old life, as he was the one who argued against using women in Xehonart’s experiments, even if he could not stop Xemnas from accepting Larxene within the ranks of the Organization XIII. So as a token of gaining Belle’s trust even more, and as a way to somehow repent, he dug something out of his coat pocket.

“Here, drink this.” He said to her, setting a bottle of potion near her. Belle looked at it warily before picking it up and gulping it. It wasn’t the best tasting liquid, tasting similar to lukewarm tea, but it still wasn’t offensive tasting either. What was remarkable about the liquid though was that as soon as she looked at the mirror, her face was flawless again. She put a hand up to feel where the scar had been, but did not feel even a trace of where it had been before.

“Why are you doing this?” Belle asked.

“Doing what? Treating you like a human being?” Xaldin replied, realizing the irony that he himself was no longer human either. Belle looked down wistfully.

“Thank you.” Belle said. “It’s funny, even if you’re the one threatening the castle, you’re the one being most kind to me.”

Behind the shadow of his hood, Xaldin smirked. That was exactly what he was going for. However, even he did not see her next move coming. Belle stood up and used her hand to push back Xaldin’s hood. Xaldin looked at her with his eyebrows lifted in confusion. Belle then lifted herself on her toes as she briefly brushed her lips against Xaldin’s. She then blushed and looked away. Even Xaldin didn’t know what to say to that, but his plan was going even better than he imagined it would at this point.

“I suppose you want an answer to your proposition.” Belle said, avoiding his gaze.

“It’s not necessary tonight, you still need to heal.” Xaldin responded, figuring it was the best way to gain more trust.

“No…I’ve made up my mind.” Belle said abruptly. “I’ll do it.”

“Very well then.” Xaldin said passively. “But it will have to wait until the time is right. You’re in no condition to do anything tonight.”

“Okay.” Belle replied.

“Just rest up until we meet again.” Xaldin instructed as he pulled his hood back up. Just as he was about to summon himself a portal though, another memory flashed through his head. As he recovered, he finally made his portal and faded out of the room.

“Just be strong until then.” Xaldin’s voice said as he disappeared. Belle’s eyes widened in response. She was sure that she heard something similar to this, although she wasn’t sure who it was who spoke it. But she then remembered the day that she started to live by becoming strong. It was the day her mother died.

With a look of realization spreading across her face, she quickly grabbed a quill feathered pen, some ink, and one of her books. She opened the cover of her book and wrote the name of “Zaldin”. She wasn’t sure if it was spelled “Xaldin”, “Zaldyn”, or “Xaldyn”, but she knew that it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Taking out the Z, she came to a shocking discovery a few seconds later. Stunned, she fixed her gaze upon what she had just written.

The rest of the letters unscrambled to spell “Dilan”.

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Chapter End/Author’s Comments

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Yeah, this chapter is out a little later than usual, but I had an eight and a half hour shift at work today. Ugh. Unfortunately, I have a seven or eight hour shift tomorrow, so the next chapter might not be done tomorrow night. But then take in the fact that that I’m going to write TWO different versions of the chapter, as I have younger fans that I don't want to alienate on other sites.

But yeah, LEMON IS NEXT CHAPTER. I MEAN IT.