Monster [Gaston]

Chapter Two

The morning rays lit up the tavern, allowing dust to be seen flying through the air. Lefou hesitantly waited at the bottom of the steps for Gaston to appear. His palm were sweaty as he twiddled his fingers together, hoping that they would have some time alone to talk about the visitor and last nights events. The bedroom door opened slowly. Gaston rubbed his forehead, looking as though he didn't sleep at all. Lefou was surprised that he even got out of bed, let alone was making his way down the stairs.

"I think we need to talk," Lefou stated with serious eyes. Gaston groaned at the thought of speaking about all that had happened the night before. No doubt Lefou was going to reprimand him about his behavior towards the girl and how "she may have been the one". He wasn't interested in the slightest to listen.

"Thank you for getting rid of that traveler last night," Gaston yawned while plopping down in his chair signature. His body melted into the comfortable cushion as he closed his eyes. Lefou stood next to the chair, thinking of a way to politely tell Gaston that she was in fact still there. "She..."

"Is still in her room." Lefou watched as Gaston's eyes darted up to look at him. He was surprised, maybe even angry. Looking down at his friend, Lefou never really gave notice to how different Gaston really did look from the murals above him. The man had certainly let himself go after the incident. Lefou hadn't seen Gaston this clearly in a very long time. Though his hair was shaggier and his stubble more prominent, the Captain still did have his muscular frame and a certain intensity to him.

"You mean to tell me, that... intruder, is still in my tavern?" Gaston's eyes blazed with a sort of controlled fury towards his companion. Lefou felt a lump rise in his throat as Gaston was slowly standing from his chair. "I thought I made it clear that I didn't want her here."

"Gaston, as your most trusted friend, perhaps even your only friend, I'd like to introduce the idea of her staying here, with us, for awhile. She obviously has no idea who you are, which is a miracle of a start, and has no shelter anywhere else to go to," Gaston looked as though he was about to strangle Lefou, but resisted the urge, knowing that Lefou might be right. "You never know, she might be..."

"She could never be the one," Gaston's growled, talking to the floor. No one could ever learn to love him, and how could he possibly learn to truly love. Emotions were pretty well removed from Gaston during and after the war. His drives were solely based on personal gain, or at least, that was the old, dashing Gaston's motives. At this point in his life, nothing seemed to matter anymore, and everything was hopeless.

"You haven't exactly given her a fair chance," argued Lefou. "yelling at her might not have been the best way to start a friendship, but if you apologized..."

Apologized.

Saying sorry wasn't something Gaston had grown accustomed to. In fact, he never said he was sorry to anyone. He never felt remorse for anything he did, that is, until the incident with the Prince and Belle. Gaston was growing impatient with his friend. "Why should I? Did we invite her to come in? No, she was an intruder. What kind of a person do you think that makes her?"

"You can't judge people on mistakes they've made, now can you?" Lefou narrowed his eyes at Gaston, reminiscing on the events of last June. If this was how Gaston was to view her, things might not work out after all. "All I'm saying is to try and introduce yourself to her."

Gaston looked away from Lefou's gaze, unable to see the hurt in them. He knew Lefou was hurt the night of the attack, seeing and witnessing such a flame form within Gaston that he had never seen before. After leaving Lefou to fend for himself during the battle at the castle, something broke between Gaston and Lefou, and though he wasn't aware of it, Gaston secretly wanted to make things right.

"I'm going back to bed," replied Gaston huskily as he walked up the stairs and shut his door rather loudly. Lefou sighed, unsure of Gaston's thoughts.

Evelyn woke up to the warmth of the morning rays caressing her face. As she fluttered her eyes open, Evelyn listened to the now lively and busy villagers outside. Standing quickly from the bed, she peeked out the window and felt a jolt of excitement course through her body. She had never seen so many people together before. From being as tired as she was the night prior, Evelyn hadn't even taken off her cloak before she retired to bed. She replayed the events of last night from escaping his grasp to being frightened, and welcomed, by new faces. She felt so... lost, and didn't have the slightest idea of where she was to go now. Was he searching for her? Was her Father okay? The ambush of their tiny cottage by that horrible man was the reason for Evelyn's sudden abandonment of home. She didn't want to leave her Father behind, but as he begged his daughter to take his horse and flee, there was nothing more she could do.

She took off her royal blue cloak and rested it upon the bed. Fixing the wrinkles of her dark green dress, she felt slightly more decent. She examined the room before opening her bedroom door. Looking into the mirror hanging on the wall, she tried to fix her hair to look presentable. Pinching her cheeks, as though to give her a natural pink shade, made her look slightly more awake. To her surprise, as she opened the door, Lefou and another man were conversing rather quietly, and stopped as they noticed her emerge from the room.

"Good morning," Lefou kindly smiled. He gave off such a welcoming and friendly vibe that Evelyn couldn't suppress her smile. The real question was, how did he know the man who had countlessly denied her shelter from the bitter cold? They were direct opposites of one another. "I hope you slept well."

"I did," replied Evelyn as she walked towards the two men, "thank you."

"I'm afraid, after all the excitement of last night, I never learned your name?"

"I'm Evelyn, but most people call me Evie."

Lefou smiled. Now in the daylight, her beauty was obvious. She was most beautiful, and he knew that would catch Gaston's attention. But if Gaston wanted to break this curse of his, it would take a lot more than admiring her beauty to form a bond of true love. Lefou knew this, and desperately hoped his friend would try, for if he didn't, even Lefou would end up hating Gaston in the end.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," the other man smiled while lifting his mug high in the air.

"This is Andrew," Lefou introduced the man, "he's a wonderful friend, and a heavy drinker."

Evelyn couldn't help but laugh, rather loudly at that, as the man let a hiccup escape. They were being so kind to her, much kinder than the man she had encountered last night, whoever he was. She almost felt safe with them.

"Would you like to accompany me around the village?" Inquired Lefou. "No doubt the market will be open."

"I'd love to."

The girls giddy laughter traveled up the stairs, under his door, and to his ears. Gaston sat there, contemplating if he should go downstairs and introduce himself or stay within his room. Gaston had no hope of breaking this curse. If she were to walk around the town, and told villagers where she was staying, it was guaranteed she would hear of his malicious past. How terribly his past haunted him. His pursuing of Belle, leading the mob to kill the Beast, or now discovered Prince, and begging for his life in the claws of the Beast. It was too much for him to bear. If only he had known then what he knew now. Things would be much different.

He had to change, and for Gaston, change was not easy to do. However, now that everyone slandered his name, there were no women throwing themselves at him for attention, and those who respected and wished for his heroic background didn't, perhaps change was possible.