Chapter Text
It was a long time ago, they all say.
A dark and stormy night. An old woman approached a castle. When she knocked on the front door, a boy answered. Though young in age, he held himself in high regards. Proclaiming himself as the prince and the ruler of the castle, the young boy asked the old woman what she was doing there. Innocently, she asked the young prince if she could stay for the night. It was storming so badly. She just wanted some shelter.
The young prince took in her old, haggard appearance and sneered. Telling her that she would sully his castle with filth. The old woman reminded him that appearances could be deceiving, and such an attitude was unbecoming of a prince. Once again, she asked for shelter from the storm, but again, the prince denied her, and told her to leave.
Instead of leaving, the old woman simply walked over to a rosebush. She asked the young prince if he liked roses. Disgusted, the prince yelled at her to leave, and to never touch what was his. The old woman plucked a single rose from the bush, and all at once, the storm suddenly stopped and the sky cleared. The old woman suddenly changed into a beautiful Enchantress before the young prince’s eyes. The prince fell to his knees, and begged for forgiveness, but the Enchantress had already seen the darkness in his heart. She transformed the Prince into a horrific beast, and showed him the rose that she had picked, that now seemed to be glowing. She told him he had until his twenty-first birthday to find someone to love him, looking past his appearance, and to change his heart, or would be stuck in his beastly form forever.
The enchantment set about the entire castle, and the beastly prince went into hiding, too horrified to show his own face anymore.
And that…..is how our story begins…….
In a town far away from the castle, it was a lively town. The people lived their lives day to day. On the outskirts of the town, however, there were two people who lived there who were a bit more….unconventional than the townsfolk. If you asked anyone in the town who lived there, they would try to sway the conversation a different way. They’d talk about Suguru Kamoshida’s newest hunting trophy, or even try to sell you something.
However, in the house on the outskirts of town, you would come to meet the Sakamotos. 18 year old Ryuji Sakamoto lived there with his mother, Rin. Rin was the town’s doctor, so that was the main reason she lived close by. Rin always provided the best care for the town’s residents that she could. Ryuji, however, always felt out of place. Like he didn’t belong in this small town.
He always wanted something more, but he felt trapped in this town. His no-good father had left them years ago, skipping out on his massive bar tab. Whenever his mother got paid, most of her paycheque went to paying the tab. The rest was to buy them food and other necessities. And he had tried getting a job somewhere in town, but everywhere he went seemed to reject him. It might’ve had to do with how vocal he was about hating Kamoshida, but he didn’t care. The man was an asshole with a god complex, and Ryuji refused to feed into his ego.
His ma refused to do the same, which is why they lived on the outskirts of the town. Ryuji had hated the man with a goddamn passion, but all he had needed to do was go to the town and get some break. The asshole had purposefully tripped him, and then had trampled over the bread he had just bought. Of course, he had ‘generously’ offered to replace it, but only if Ryuji had promised to say something nice about him.
Ryuji had refused. Instead, standing up and buying a replacement with the little money he had left. Kamoshida had been furious, but Ryuji still had his pride.
When he got home, his mom had helped him clean up, then he had helped her make lunch.
“One of these days, Ma. We’ll...we’ll get out’a here. Away from that asshole and we’ll be happy,” Ryuji said. Rin ruffled Ryuji’s hair a bit.
“I know we will, Ryuru. Some day….” she sighed. The two sat at their table, and ate lunch peacefully. “Oh, that reminds me. I’ll be heading out of town tonight. There’s someone in the next town over who really needs help, and they recommended that I come out and help. It could give me a good bonus on my pay, and we’ll be so much closer to paying off his debt.” Rin explained.
“How long will you be gone?” Ryuji asked.
“Just a couple of days. I’ll be home before you know it~” Rin smiled, ruffling Ryuji’s hair a bit more.
~
That night, Rin had gotten on their horse, Josephine, and had bid Ryuji goodbye before leaving for the next town. However, she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, for now she didn’t recognize where she was. The trees were becoming more bare. There were rows of thorns on the ground.
“Oh, Josephine. Where are we?” Rin muttered under her breath. This wouldn’t bode well at all if she was late. She thought nothing else could go wrong, but then the sky started to grow cloudy. It started to rain heavily, and then, lightning cracked. Josephine went up on her hind legs, thunder boomed, Rin fell off, and Josephine took off, leaving Rin in the mud.
Rin sighed. This wasn’t good. Wasn’t good at all. She stood up, and brushed as much mud off her dress as she could, then started walking. She knew she’d find some shelter soon. And as soon as she had thought that, she saw a castle. A huge castle. It was a rather gloomy castle, but at least it would provide some shelter for the night. Knocking on the door, it opened by itself, creaking a bit.
A bit ominous, but Rin wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She walked in, and shut the door behind her.
“H-Hello?” she called out. There was no answer, but she *definitely* heard voices coming from somewhere. She followed them, and soon came upon a sitting room. There was a fire going, and now she heard no voices. What was with this weird place?
“Oh my. You’re stunning.”
“Yusuke, you can’t say that!”
“I am not blind, Makoto.”
“You need to stop talking, or she’ll suspect something. You know how angry he’ll get.”
“But….she looks cold, too…”
“Ugh, fine. She’ll warm up, then she can leave.”
“Who’s there?!” Rin yelled out. She almost yelped in surprise when a candelabra hopped off the shelf.
“Greetings. Welcome here. Are you cold, Miss?”
“H-How?! Are you talking?!” Rin exclaimed. One of the candle holders sort of gestured, as if it were the thing’s hand. “Trifle details. Would you like something to eat?”
“No!” A small clock jumped off the shelf, and went next to the candelabra. “No she cannot.”
“Makoto, she’s hungry and cold. Do not be heartless.”
“But, if the Master wakes up and sees her…” the clock, Makoto, trailed off.
“If he wakes up. Please, Miss, sit.” the candelabra insisted. Rin sat in the chair, noting how it seemed large, even for an adult. The candelabra put a blanket around her shoulders. The door opened again, and a cart wheeled in, seemingly on its own,
“Hello there. Try not to be too loud, but you do look a little hungry. Anything you prefer?” the teapot asked, pouring some tea into a teacup. Rin picked it up, and started to sip the warm liquid. While all of this was rather odd, it did seem like they were trying to make her comfortable.
“Oh, no, I’m perfectly fine at the moment. Thank you, though,” Rin smiled.
“Hey, miss, watch this!” the teacup in Rin’s hand said. The tea started to bubble a little, and Rin laughed lightly.
“Futaba!” The teapot scolded. The teacup pouted.
“Sojiroooo. I’m just trying to get her to smile.” the teacup, Futaba, whined. The teapot, Sojiro, sighed. A bronze cat statue jumped off the shelf and curled into Rin’s lap. Rin smiled softly. Everything was all so cozy. Her eyes were getting heavier, and she had almost fallen asleep when a large hand suddenly yanked her out of the chair.
~
To say Ryuji was scared when Josephine returned without his mother was an understatement. This….This terrified him. He had immediately gotten the reversible cape hiis mother had made him, put it on, and got on Josephine. He was wearing it with the black side out, just in case he had to sneak somewhere. Josephine seemed hesitant, but Ryuji was insistent, trying to be gentle.
“C’mon, Josephine. Ya gotta take me to Ma. If she’s in trouble….” Ryuji couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t think like that. His Ma had to be okay.
Right?
Ryuji soon happened upon the bare trees. The wind started to howl, and Ryuji pulled his cape tighter. Josephine was getting scared, but Ryuji kept coaxing her through. They soon arrived in the castle’s courtyard, and Ryuji got off Josephine, tying her to the gate.
He entered the castle, which opened without too much effort, and shut the door. He could hear his mother’s voice somewhere, and started to follow it. Soon arriving at a stairwell, Ryuji started to go down, grabbing a candelabra so he could light his way. It wasn’t long until the stairs finally stopped descending, and he came into the dungeon area. He heard his mother’s voice coming from one of the cells, and ran over to it.
“Ma!” he cried, reaching through the bars, and taking her hands.
"Ryuji. You need to leave, now!" Rin urged.
"I can't, Ma! Not while you're trapped like this!" Ryuji cried. He was suddenly pulled back by a large hand coming onto his shoulder. The violent movement had the candelabra in his hand flying to the ground.
"Wh-What the hell?! What was that?! Who's there?!" he cried.
"The master of this castle," a gruff voice growled. In the shadows, Ryuji could see a large form moving, never taking its eyes off of him.
"Please. Ya gotta let my Ma out. She doesn't deserve ta be in here!" Ryuji protested. "Can't ya tell she's gettin' sick?!"
"She shouldn't have trespassed!" the form yelled at him.
"Please! She could die! I-I'll do anythin'!" Ryuji begged.
"....There's nothing you can do...," the form growled, sliding to another position meant to intimidate. "She's my prisoner..."
"There's gotta be somethin'!" Ryuji exclaimed. The figure turned his back, and started to walk away. "W-Wait! Hold on!" he cried. The figure turned slightly, looking at him. Its red eyes seemed to be staring straight through him.
"Take me instead." Ryuji said finally. The figure seemed shocked by this statement.
"You would...take her place...?" the figure asked.
"Ryuji, no!" Rin cried from the cell. "You don't know what you're doing!"
"IF I did....would you let her go...?" Ryuji asked.
"Yes." The figure said immediately. "But! You must promise to stay here forever." Ryuji blinked, contemplating this.
"....Come into the light," he said. Ryuji watches as a truly monstrous creature stepped forward. It stood at least 7 feet tall, and was covered in shaggy, dark grey fur. It had horns sticking out of its head, and had red, piercing eyes. Ryuji gasped in horror, turning to his mother. His mother grasped his hands.
"You can't do this, Ryuji! I forbid it!" she cried. Ryuji let go of her hands, and stood, coming into the small lighted area.
"You...have my word," he promised.
"DONE!" the creature roared. It headed towards the cell door to release Ryuji's mother, as Ryuji covered his face, and fell to his knees. The creature opened the cell, and pulled Rin from it. Ryuji went in, still holding his head, and the creature shut it, locking it. Soon, the creature and Rin disappeared up the stairs.