The Boy and the Beast: A Merthur Beauty and the Beast AU

Provincial Town

Merlin trudged over the thin, winding, sloping path that lead into the center of the small town he called home, his large backpack bouncing with his steps. He lived with his mother Hunith in a small cottage on the outskirts of the village. He very much preferred the quiet cottage overlooking a wide, green valley than the crowded and busy streets of the main center of Ealdor. He was heading into town to do some shopping for his mother...and pick up a new book.

He marched into the bustling streets confidently. He knew he wasn't like the majority of the people who lived in his town. He was fortunate enough to have had a good friend named Will for many years but he recently moved away. Now it's just him, his mother, their horse and his books.

Merlin walked up to the fruit stand and purchased what his mother had told him to, then went over and bought vegetables, breads and all of the other items he needed to get and rather sloppily placed them in the large beige basket he used on these weekly trips, covering its contents with a gray cloth. Of course, he stopped at the tiny bookshop to return the most recent book he had read and borrow another one.

Merlin pushed open the small door to the shop. "Hello! Anything new come in?" Merlin gravitated toward one of the shelves where the books were packed more tightly together. 

Merlin longed for adventure, it's true. Twenty years living in a town with pretty much the same people every day was just too...familiar. He wanted something new. He wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere. To have an adventure. Alas, his mother needed him and he felt it was too late to fulfill his dream anyway. Besides, where would he even go and how in the world would he get there?

Oh well. At least he had his books.

"Not since last week," the old librarian chuckled, "though I just heard to expect some new books at the end of this week!"

"Oh, marvelous!" Merlin breathed, prying out a 258 page book with a deep green cover. He should know the amount of pages...he read it four times!

"I think I'll check this one out," Merlin declared sauntering up happily to the grinning man.

The librarian took a single glance at the novel Merlin was holding and announced "But you've already read it so many times! You know what, I'll let you keep it."

"Are you certain?" Merlin asked.

"One hundred percent!"

"Wow, thank you! Thank you so much!"

Merlin waved as he exited the book shop, the heavy chimes above the door clanging together loudly. He clutched the book in his left hand and the basket in his right as he trudged on home, a bright smile on his face. He could hear the townsfolk whispering about his jolly walk, his bright, happy face, the oversized backpack on his back, his book...he could hardly fathom how no one ever got tired of gossiping about him. He's lived there his whole life...all twenty years of it.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Morgana, a rich, spoiled, albeit beautiful girl approached him.

"Hello, Merlin," she purred.

"Goodbye, Morgana," he said as he picked up his pace to get home as fast as he could. He didn't understand why Morgana liked him so much. There wasn't anything special about him.

"Oh, don't run away!" Morgana begged as she quickly caught up to him. "Put that book down," she tried to snatch it out of his hand but he was too quick for her. "Pay more attention to me..." She flipped her hair and smiled at him. A glance to his right and he could see a group of three boys looking at her like a dog looking at a bone. That's disturbing.

Merlin stepped away from her. "Actually I'm good."

"How about we go to the tavern. You look thirsty-"

"No thanks Morgana." He said hastily. He jerked his shoulder to relieve himself of Morgana's hands since she had started to tug on the strap of his backpack.

Merlin rushed away from Morgana and he could hear her "Harumph" as he put more distance between them.

A few minutes later Merlin entered his cottage to find his mother packing a bag.

"Where are you off to?" Merlin asked setting the basket down on the wooden table and shrugging off his pack.

"I'm just going to visit an old friend. Martha. Lives right through the woods." Hunith explained stuffing an apple from the basket into a small pocket on her bag. "Don't worry. I'll be gone only two days."

"I wasn't going to." Merlin grinned, his eyes lighting up with his teeth, "I was going to panic."

Hunith playfully rolled her eyes and Merlin chuckled, joking because she knew how much Merlin hated not having his mother around...and that she'd be traveling all by herself.

"Well, I've got everything I'll be needing."

Hunith pulled the straps of her bag over her shoulders and reached for the lantern on the table since she'd be riding into the night. "I love you. See you soon." Hunith kissed Merlin's cheek and gave him a hug and together they walked out to their horse Alamar.

Hunith got up onto the back of the chocolate brown horse, said one more goodbye to Merlin and whipped the reins to get Alamar going at a steady trot. Merlin watched as his mother rode into the woods, then he retreated back inside to prepare a dinner for one.

Little did he know that his mother setting out into those woods would change his world forever.