Within Your Heart
folder
M through R › Merlin (BBC)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
15
Views:
9,801
Reviews:
18
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
M through R › Merlin (BBC)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
15
Views:
9,801
Reviews:
18
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
BBC's Merlin and Disney's Beauty and the Beast don't belong to me sadly and i don't get any money out of it either which is worse!
Within Your Heart
This was written as part of a film challenge on Live Journal. I chose to write 'Beauty and the Beast'. If i missed any warnings please let me know and warnings are for the whole fic not individual chapter! Comments are loved!
Introduction
In a land where magic still ruled, there lived a prince. He had a beautiful castle filled with light. He had servants who would serve him implicitly. He had everything his heart could ever wish for. He was also handsome, blessed with the looks of an angel. But he was proud. Proud, selfish and cruel. He treated everyone around him with contempt and would sneer at their mistakes. He was never thankful for anything. Of course talk of the prince spread far and wide. It would only be a matter of time before something happened.
There was a storm. The wind thrashed at the trees, lightning tore open the sky with a strange blue light. The rain poured down in sheets, soaking everything it touched, turning paths into streams. It had seemed odd then that there was a knock on the door. The knock echoed through the walls of the castle, seemingly making the building shudder.
“Are you going to get that?” the prince called. But none of the servants appeared. It annoyed the prince. Why should he do all the work? The knocking continued. Finally, annoyed with the insistent noise and even more annoyed by his servants’ ignorance he went to the door himself.
Just outside the door there stood a hunched figure draped in grey. A face so contorted it was hard to distinguish any features. The prince had a good mind to slam the door in the creature’s face, but for some reason he couldn’t fathom, he didn’t. “What do you want?” he asked with a sneer.
“I only beg a place to shelter from this storm,” the woman replied, for it was indeed a woman. The prince looked her up and down and grimaced.
“I cannot let you in. Go away.”
“I will offer you this rose in return.” A disfigured hand held out a perfect rose, as red as blood, towards the prince. The flower caught his eye for a moment before he sneered once more.
“And what would I do with a stupid flower? Be gone with you.” The old woman gave him what he thought was a smile. He took a step back, clearly disgusted.
“You should not always believe what your eyes show you. Sometimes you need to look deeper to see what lies beneath.” The prince’s eyes clouded with anger.
“Leave here, woman. Take that stupid plant with you. I hope you drown in all this rain.” He went to shut the door against the storm, when the woman started laughing. It paused the prince in his tracks. The laugh started out husky and old but as it held him, it became younger, louder. He suddenly realised that the storm had not touched the woman, she was dry and the wind didn’t so much as lick at her cape. The prince looked at her, horrified. “Who are you?” The woman took a few steps back and raising her arms peeled away her disguise like the cape she wore.
Beneath the haggard appearance there was a beautiful woman, pale skin, dark hair and eyes bluer than a summer sky. The prince fell to his knees in shock.
“I am the sorceress Nimueh. I have seen what truly lies in your heart. You are not fit for your station, Arthur Pendragon. A prince should protect his people, not ignore them. A prince should lead by example before he can expect to be followed. A prince should have enough love in his heart to at least take in an old woman who desperately needed help. It should have been an honour as well as a duty.”
Prince Arthur cowered at her anger. Those eyes holding his own with a fierce intensity that was burning through him.
“I am sorry my lady. Please forgive me.” Nimueh smiled, but it was beautiful, colder and more dangerous than an icicle.
“You have shown to me what you truly are. There is nothing but hate that lies in your heart. You have proven yourself to be nothing more than a beast. So that is what you shall be.” She held a hand towards the prince, the smile still firmly in place. “Forbregdan!” The word was louder than the thunder and echoed like it. A wave seemed to wash over Prince Arthur and a blinding pain with it.
He howled in agony as his body changed. He could see his hands become claws, his skin grow fur. He roared into the sky and Nimueh laughed. She stood over him when the spell was complete, watching his hunched form.
“What did you do to me?” His voice was deeper, a growl of creature rather than a human.
“Shown you for what you are. Within your castle, your servants are equally changed, and so you shall remain. I will leave this rose in your care. It is also enchanted. It will bloom to the very hour of your twenty first year.” The beast looked up at the sorceress, “If in that time you show that there is love in your heart, and the one you show returns that love, you and your servants shall be restored. If you continue as you have, you shall remain in this form. You have until the last petal falls.” Arthur took the flower carefully now and looked at it. His future depended on that one, small thing.
“Why?”
“A second chance. Something that you did not gift me. But I am merciful. I also will gift you this mirror. It will be your only window to the outside world; you can never show yourself as you are. But I warn you, if you or another should break that flower, you will die.” Another smile. A flash of lightning and a roll of thunder. She was gone.
The years rolled past, and with it any hope the prince had. He quickly fell into despair. It would be hard enough to prove himself to someone, especially as he could not leave his castle. How could he prove that he could love? But the most frightening question hung heavy. Who in return could ever love a monster such as him?
Introduction
In a land where magic still ruled, there lived a prince. He had a beautiful castle filled with light. He had servants who would serve him implicitly. He had everything his heart could ever wish for. He was also handsome, blessed with the looks of an angel. But he was proud. Proud, selfish and cruel. He treated everyone around him with contempt and would sneer at their mistakes. He was never thankful for anything. Of course talk of the prince spread far and wide. It would only be a matter of time before something happened.
There was a storm. The wind thrashed at the trees, lightning tore open the sky with a strange blue light. The rain poured down in sheets, soaking everything it touched, turning paths into streams. It had seemed odd then that there was a knock on the door. The knock echoed through the walls of the castle, seemingly making the building shudder.
“Are you going to get that?” the prince called. But none of the servants appeared. It annoyed the prince. Why should he do all the work? The knocking continued. Finally, annoyed with the insistent noise and even more annoyed by his servants’ ignorance he went to the door himself.
Just outside the door there stood a hunched figure draped in grey. A face so contorted it was hard to distinguish any features. The prince had a good mind to slam the door in the creature’s face, but for some reason he couldn’t fathom, he didn’t. “What do you want?” he asked with a sneer.
“I only beg a place to shelter from this storm,” the woman replied, for it was indeed a woman. The prince looked her up and down and grimaced.
“I cannot let you in. Go away.”
“I will offer you this rose in return.” A disfigured hand held out a perfect rose, as red as blood, towards the prince. The flower caught his eye for a moment before he sneered once more.
“And what would I do with a stupid flower? Be gone with you.” The old woman gave him what he thought was a smile. He took a step back, clearly disgusted.
“You should not always believe what your eyes show you. Sometimes you need to look deeper to see what lies beneath.” The prince’s eyes clouded with anger.
“Leave here, woman. Take that stupid plant with you. I hope you drown in all this rain.” He went to shut the door against the storm, when the woman started laughing. It paused the prince in his tracks. The laugh started out husky and old but as it held him, it became younger, louder. He suddenly realised that the storm had not touched the woman, she was dry and the wind didn’t so much as lick at her cape. The prince looked at her, horrified. “Who are you?” The woman took a few steps back and raising her arms peeled away her disguise like the cape she wore.
Beneath the haggard appearance there was a beautiful woman, pale skin, dark hair and eyes bluer than a summer sky. The prince fell to his knees in shock.
“I am the sorceress Nimueh. I have seen what truly lies in your heart. You are not fit for your station, Arthur Pendragon. A prince should protect his people, not ignore them. A prince should lead by example before he can expect to be followed. A prince should have enough love in his heart to at least take in an old woman who desperately needed help. It should have been an honour as well as a duty.”
Prince Arthur cowered at her anger. Those eyes holding his own with a fierce intensity that was burning through him.
“I am sorry my lady. Please forgive me.” Nimueh smiled, but it was beautiful, colder and more dangerous than an icicle.
“You have shown to me what you truly are. There is nothing but hate that lies in your heart. You have proven yourself to be nothing more than a beast. So that is what you shall be.” She held a hand towards the prince, the smile still firmly in place. “Forbregdan!” The word was louder than the thunder and echoed like it. A wave seemed to wash over Prince Arthur and a blinding pain with it.
He howled in agony as his body changed. He could see his hands become claws, his skin grow fur. He roared into the sky and Nimueh laughed. She stood over him when the spell was complete, watching his hunched form.
“What did you do to me?” His voice was deeper, a growl of creature rather than a human.
“Shown you for what you are. Within your castle, your servants are equally changed, and so you shall remain. I will leave this rose in your care. It is also enchanted. It will bloom to the very hour of your twenty first year.” The beast looked up at the sorceress, “If in that time you show that there is love in your heart, and the one you show returns that love, you and your servants shall be restored. If you continue as you have, you shall remain in this form. You have until the last petal falls.” Arthur took the flower carefully now and looked at it. His future depended on that one, small thing.
“Why?”
“A second chance. Something that you did not gift me. But I am merciful. I also will gift you this mirror. It will be your only window to the outside world; you can never show yourself as you are. But I warn you, if you or another should break that flower, you will die.” Another smile. A flash of lightning and a roll of thunder. She was gone.
The years rolled past, and with it any hope the prince had. He quickly fell into despair. It would be hard enough to prove himself to someone, especially as he could not leave his castle. How could he prove that he could love? But the most frightening question hung heavy. Who in return could ever love a monster such as him?