Kaiden woke up with his head pounding. He was slumped against an object. His cheek was pressed against something cool. A groan came from the back of his throat. Carefully, he opened one eye and saw that he was leaning against a toilet.
His eyes widened and he quickly jerked back.
"He left me on the toilet!" he exclaimed in disgust to himself. Internally, he thought that perhaps the Beast left him there on purpose.
Kaiden angrily swore that he would get rid of the beast and his obnoxious ways. Both annoyance and anger filled his thoughts. He needed to calm down, otherwise his anger would raise the risk of him switching back.
After calming down a little, he slowly got up so that he could adjust to his surroundings. After switching back, he would feel disoriented. This time was no different. Also, he did eventually learn that he shouldn't get up too quickly.
Kaiden put his hands on the counter and leaned against it with his head hung. His head still ached. Closing his eyes, he waited for it to go away. After it did, he quickly washed his face, which was necessary after sleeping on a toilet with his face.
The cold water splashing on his face made him wide awake. Awake enough to remember that the Beast had taken control the night before.
"What happened?" Kaiden asked himself quietly. The last thing he remembered was that he was talking to Blue about roses. Roses that he thought the Beast had destroyed during one of his rampages.
He tried to clear up the blank memory in which the Beast had taken charge. But despite the digging, no images came up in his head. Kaiden clenched his fists in annoyance. He tried again for a few more minutes before giving up.
Sighing, he decided to get out of the bathroom to see what time of day it was. After he entered the room that the bathroom was connected to, he went to draw the curtains. Sunshine hit his face and made him quickly retreat back into the darker area. He let out another sigh and then sat on the padded chair in the corner of the room.
Suddenly, voices appeared in his head. He stiffened but listened to the mysterious whispers. It was a conversation between two people. He couldn't make out most of the words they were saying but he did catch a few words and the sound of their voices.
There was a low, deep voice and the other voice had a higher pitch. After hearing it a little longer, he figured that it was between a woman and a man. He realized that the man's voice was his own. The woman's sounded familiar...
He listened intently, struggling to figure out who the woman was. Luckily for him, the conversation replayed in his head, over and over. But the only exception was that he only heard the same parts over and over; the other parts were blocked from his memory. After the third time listening to it, he realized that it was a memory.
It wasn't until the fourth time before he paid attention to what they were saying and tried to figure out the pieces.
"Your...stop referring...name?" Kaiden heard himself say. He realized that he was asking the woman what her name was. He wondered where the conversation was happening.
Listening to the quiet whispers required a lot of focus and attention. But even then, it was hard to catch everything that was said. The woman's first answer was too soft to hear but she answered again later.
"Annabelle," he caught from the whispers. It had been so soft that he barely heard it. Annabelle, he thought to himself. It must be the woman's name. But who was she? And why was that name so familiar?
After pondering for a little bit, he didn't realize that the inner conversation was still going on. When he found that out, he quickly tuned back in.
"Call me Kai," the male voice said. He was puzzled. Kai? But wasn't he the one talking? If it wasn't him then who was it? It definitely sounded like his own voice...
"Isn't...name Kaiden?" Annabelle, he presumed, asked. That verified that it really was him in the conversation. By why on earth would he command someone to call him Kai? He tuned back into listening.
"I'm...alternate personality," he said in the memory. Kaiden froze. Many questions ransacked his head. Was this the Beast talking? Was that why he wanted to be called Kai? Did he tell the Annabelle woman about the curse?
"...snap your neck...dead," he heard the Beast - Kai - threaten. Kaiden panicked. His heart stopped. Did he kill the woman?
"...death...punishment...banishment...castle." The voices grew louder, but it was still hard to hear. The voices were jumbled up and they interrupted each other, making it hard to understand. The fragmented sentences didn't make it any better, but Kaiden managed to piece most of it together.
All except for the reason why Kai appeared to have banished Annabelle from the castle as punishment. What happened that deserved banishment?
"...find you...castle grounds...midday tomorrow." The conversation ended for the last time. He wished that he could hear it one more time but he didn't need to. He got the main parts if the conversation.
Kaiden figured that the woman was still alive, due to the fact that both voices were still there at the end. The other realization was that she was still supposed to be on castle grounds, therefore he should be able to find her. Whether or not this was from yesterday or from weeks ago. If it was the latter, he might not end up finding her alive. Hopefully it was the first so that he had more of a chance of finding her close by.
But who was the woman? It had to be one of the six girls that were staying in the castle because none of the servants' names were Annabelle and the Beast - Kai - couldn't leave castle grounds to kidnap any other girls. The spell the witch casted made sure of that.
He decided to take a trip to the girls' hallway, to see who was missing. Since it was only early morning, it wasn't early enough for the girls to do their job. When he got to their hallway, he went to the closest room.
He knocked on the door. "Hello?" He waited as he heard shuffling noises on the other side of the door. The door opened and a sleepy girl answered back. She had a long, lavender nightgown on, so she must've been Purple. When her eyes look upon his face, she turned bright red and curtsied quickly.
"Good morning, Your Grace," she stuttered. She must have been taken surprise by seeing him. Especially with her nightgown on.
But he needed to check if the other woman was in there with her. "Is your roommate here?" Kaiden asked.
"Yes! Valencia, er, Red! It's the duke," Purple called back, not-so-subtlety hiding behind the door. Kaiden realized he never clarified whether or not the other girls should call one another by their colors. He decided to deal with that later.
Red showed up, wearing a very short and revealing nightgown. Kaiden had never seen one that showed that much of a woman's legs. After staring for a few more seconds, he realized what he was doing and pried his eyes off of her legs to look at her face. Her loose hair tumbled over her shoulders, making him want to curl his fingers in them.
Kaiden forced himself to stay focused and remain on task. He'll just charm her later.
"I just wanted to say good morning to you both," he said, bowing his head for a brief moment.
"Good morning to you too, Your Grace," Red smiled back. After that, he quickly excused himself and went to check the next room.
"Hello?" he asked as he knocked on the door. He leaned against the door to see if he could hear any movements on the other side. Unfortunately, he didn't pull back quick enough, so when the door opened, he fell with it. Luckily, he caught himself in time.
He straightened up and saw Yellow, already dressed up for the day. Unlike Purple, Yellow was calm and collected when she saw him on the other side of the door. She curtsied, so easily, as if she did it every day.
"Good morning, is your roommate here with you?" Kaiden asked poking his head in the room.
As soon as he finished with his question, an orange blur appeared from the corner of his eyes.
"Your Grace," Orange smiled and curtsied. Kaiden quickly glanced at Yellow, who looked annoyed at Orange. Perhaps because she was shoved to the side?
"I simply wanted to say good morning," he smiled. Orange's smile grew bigger and then Kaiden realized that she was the girl he kissed the other day.
"I can make it better," she winked. Maybe, he thought, but what he needed to was to hurry up and find the missing girl.
"Later," he simply replied, not thinking. Once again, he excused himself and went to the last room. He knew that Red, Orange, Yellow, and Purple were there. So Annabelle had to be either Green or Blue.
He knocked on the door. "Green? Blue?"
The door opened immediately. The girl wore a green dress. He immediately knew that Annabelle must've been blue. She surprisingly grabbed him and clutched his arms. The girl had a frantic expression on her face.
"Do you know where Belle is? I haven't a seen her since yesterday!" she exclaimed quickly.
Belle. Annabelle.
So he was right about Annabelle being one of the girls.
"I'm trying to find her," Kaiden said honestly. He looked at her worried face and tried to keep her calm. Panic would not help him find her. "Just go on with your day, I'll find her myself. I promise. I'm sure she accidentally fell asleep outside. She is the one gardening at night after all."
That seemed to put Green at ease and she let go of his arms. "Of course," she replied, eating it up.
He tipped his head and excuse himself. Then he quickly turned around and hurried down to find Mary. He would need help finding Annabelle. Even though he did trust the remaining staff, the ones that were courageous enough to stay, he did not want to burden them with another issue. Mary was the only one that could handle and understand it.
He headed towards the kitchen, where Mary usually was in early morning. When he got there, he saw her walking in the other direction.
"Mary!" he called out. She turned around at the call of her name. Kaiden jogged up to her.
"You need to help me," he started. "I'm afraid that he did something to one of the girls - Blue. I believe she's somewhere on castle grounds but the area is too large for me to search. I can't ask the others because I don't want to burden them even more," he blurted out quickly. Mary's eyes widened, understanding who 'he' was.
"Of course, dearie," she replied without hesitation and walked with him, heading outside. As soon as they were outside the castle walls, they stopped. They briefly scanned the open field but didn't see anyone.
"Check the lake area, I'll check the forest," Kaiden said. He was about to head off but Mary stopped him.
"Don't forget about the boundaries," she said, reminding him about the spell the witch casted to keep him away from the villages. He nodded and then headed towards the forest.
Kaiden ducked under low-hanging branches, looked up at the trees, and searched the area.
Water droplets fell on him every once in a while. The grass was damp too. It must have been raining the previous night, or at least the very early morning.
Greens and browns filled his view. If it had been Green that was missing, he wouldn't have ever found her. Perhaps it'd be easier seeing blue in the forest.
He wandered some more and stopped. Kaiden wondered if she was even in the forest. Maybe he needed to turn back.
It was then when he saw an arm peering from behind some bushes. Kaiden froze at the sight. There was blood on its hand.
"Annabelle?" he whispered, panicking again. He rushed towards the bushes and prayed that the person belonging to that arm wasn't dead. As soon as he pushed the bushes aside, his eyes widened.
A young woman with a blue dress was sprawled on the ground. She was on her back, with her brown hair flowing around her face. One arm was rested on her chest while the other one was stretched out away from her body. Her skin was deathly pale, her lips were blue, and her eyes were closed. The bottom of her dress was soaked in blood, along her hands. Her dress looked like it had been shredded by something sharp - claws?
He quickly knelt down beside her, and tucked her hair behind her ears so that her neck was clear for him to could check her pulse. He put two fingers on her neck, like his father showed him when he was younger. She was so cold. He closed his eyes and concentrated and felt a slight beat.
She was alive. That realization made him sigh in relief. He gently shook her, to wake her up. "Annabelle?"
Kaiden decided to check her injuries. He lifted her hands to examine the blood on them. Her hands were barely scratched but there was a lot of blood on there from the tiny scratches. It appeared as if she was clutching a wound with her hand, thus having blood stain her hands. But where was the wound?
He scanned her to see if there were any other bloody spots, eventually finding the one at the bottom of her dress. Then he lifted her skirts to her knee to see why blood was staining her dress. The sight shocked him. Bloody gashes ran down her calves, looking like claw marks. To make sure that he wasn't seeing things, he gently prodded at her wounds.
Her response was a quiet moan and her eyes opened a little, like they were struggling to even open. A few emotions passed through her eyes. Pain, confusion, weakness, tiredness.
"Kai?" She sounded so confused, and a little shocked. Kaiden remembered that the Beast had told her to call him Kai. And Kai was the last to see her so perhaps that was why she called him that.
"Don't worry, I have you now," he whispered quietly. He carefully picked her up, one arm under her bent legs, the other around her back. Making sure that he wouldn't injure her leg any more, he faced her in towards his chest so that her legs dangled further away from his body. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
Annabelle blinked once more before she passed out. Kaiden walked, still carrying her in his arms, until he got to the edge of the forest. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Mary at the top of the hill. She must've finished searching the lake area while he was in the forest. Mary must've also seen Annabelle in his arms because she quickly hustled down the hill towards him.
"Oh, my dear - what on earth happened to her? Poor girl, " she fussed before realizing she still didn't ask a certain question. "She is alive, right?"
"Yes, but barely. She has wounds on her leg and lost quite a bit of blood. Her skin was cold to touch but now her forehead is burning up. Her dress is entirely damp and she could catch a cold or a fever," he said, looking down at her. She really needed some medical attention.
As soon as they entered the castle, Kaiden headed up to the second level. But before he climbed up the stairs, he stopped, turned around and faced Mary.
"Go get Lucy first, then fetch a doctor after Annabelle is cleaned up. I'll bring her to the fourth room of their hallway," he said to her.
"Of course. What should I bring?" she asked.
"The medical kit and a change of clothes for the girl."
Mary nodded and then hurried off to the opposite direction to get Lucy, another maid.
Kaiden carried Annabelle off to the room. When he got there, he carefully opened the door with the hand that was supporting her legs. The bed was conveniently near the door so he didn't need to carry her across the room. He gently laid her down the bed. It wasn't until she was out of his arms that he realized that there was blood on his clothes.
Now, he needed to clear the surrounding area so that the doctor, or whoever, would have ample space to work with. He lifted the small table and set it a meter away from the bed. It would provide both space and a place to place things.
After making space, he returned to Annabelle's side. He'd stay there until Mary and Lucy arrived.
He looked at her and realized that she was clutching something in her hand. His brows furrowed in confusion and he moved forward to unclench her fist. In her hand was a silver necklace, one that still hung around her neck. The necklace had blood on it. Kaiden decided to unhook the necklace from her neck and set it on the table so that it would be washed later.
Guilt hit him when he turned to look at her again. Kai was making his life even more difficult, adding more guilt and hatred to his life. Maybe even death.
Then he thought about what Agatha had said while cursing him. She said that he would be cursed to live with his 'true self.' Even though the curse brought Kai into existence, the truth was that he was always there. Perhaps it wasn't entirely Agatha's fault. All she did was reveal that he was not over The Incident. Even after nearly four years, he was still plagued by it.
Which gave him another reason to get rid of Kai, so that he could finally get rid of more reminders of things he didn't need or want to remember.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. The door creaked and swung open. He looked up and saw Mary and Lucy holding a blue dress and a kit. Mentally, he thanked them for interrupting his thoughts before they got any further.
"Clean her up and dress her in the dry dress," he said, standing up. They nodded and then approached the bed. Lucy set up the kit on the table that he had moved earlier.
Meanwhile, Mary put the dress on a nearby chair. She turned around and shooed Kaiden out. "You will not be in this room while this young lady is getting undressed. Come back later."
Kaiden chuckled in response but left the room and shut the door behind him. Only Mary was allowed to order him around like that, not that he minded too much. She was respected, both as a maid and as his mother-like figure.
Deciding that he had to change his damp and dirty clothes, he headed towards his room.
When he got in his room, he pulled off his clothes and went into his closet to find new ones to put on. Barely glancing, he chose a random outfit. His clothes were already organized into sets for him to pick out.
Before he finished changing, he heard yet another knock. Quickly, he pulled up his pants and walked out of the closet. He didn't bother putting on a shirt before he opened the door.
Green stood there with her eyes wide open. Kaiden smirked when he realized that she was staring at his bare chest. Green must have realized that too because she turned pink and moved her gaze to his face. He looked at her knowingly, making her flush a little more.
"I was just wondering if you already found Belle," she quickly stammered, clearly still flustered. Her nervous reaction amused him. It wasn't unusual when a woman acted almost awestruck of him, but this girl looked cute when she was embarrassed.
Kaiden decided to play with her just a little more and stepped closer into her personal space. His ploy worked when he noticed her breathing change.
"What's your name, Green?" His eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Charlotte," she whispered nervously. He noticed that she moved back a little and moved along with her.
"Well, Charlotte, I told you that I promised to find her. And I keep my promises," he murmured.
He took her hand, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed the back of her hand while staring straight into her eyes. Her attention went straight to his mouth and then back to his eyes. She froze and held her breath until he let her go.
Enough with the playing, he thought. She was here for answers. Perhaps they could continue that later.
"She's being taken care of right now. Unfortunately, she got a little hurt," he turned serious. That seemed to shake Charlotte out of her flustered mood.
"Where is she?" Charlotte responded quickly.
"She's in the room next to yours. Right now there are two people with her, helping her. As long as you don't get in their way, you can go ahead and be with your friend," he said. She sighed in relief, as if she had been expecting to be told to stay away.
"Thank you," she said sincerely, looking straight into his eyes. Her dark green eyes swept across his face one last time before she decided to turn around and hurry back to her friend.
He watched her run down the hall. Her footsteps echoed in the hallway. As soon as she was out of sight, he stepped back in his room.
And ran into yet another girl.
He quickly jumped back. Orange stood in front of him with her arms crossed. Her expression was just as cross as her arms.
"Orange!" he nearly yelped in surprise. Where did she come from?
"Elizabeth," she corrected. "Never mind that, what were you doing with Charlotte?" she demanded with her eyes narrowed.
"I was just answering her questions," he replied incredulously. Was she spying on him? Why was she in his room? And since when?
"No, the kiss," her expression soured at the thought.
Oh, Kaiden thought, she was really enamoured with him to be jealous already. Then she would definitely not be happy when he announced things later. Besides, it was only a kiss on the hand.
"That wasn't anything. Why does it matter to you?" he countered, once again getting annoyed. Interrogation did not please him, especially when he was the one being interrogated.
"Because you kissed me the other day! What am I supposed to think?" Orange looked like she wanted to pull her hair out.
"I was simply getting to know you better," he said vaguely. Her eyes widened in shock at his words. She tried to sputter out a response but Kaiden interrupted her before she could. "Why were you in my room?" He brought up his own question.
"I was waiting for you. This morning, when you said 'later', I assumed later today. My chores are finished at the moment and I had plenty of free time."
Kaiden blanched in response. Recalling from earlier, he realized that he did say later. Mentally, he chastised himself. What had he been thinking? Not that he would've minded, but the Annabelle problem stressed him out.
As he was thinking, he didn't fully realize that the girl was moving towards him. Suddenly, she threw her arms around his neck and placed her mouth on his.
His reaction to the surprise kiss was instantaneous. He quickly jerked back and pushed her away. A glare appeared on his face, while surprise and rejection showed on hers. What was that? he thought angrily.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I am busy right now. And to let you know, later is something I decide, not you. Next time, don't barge into my room assuming things like that," his voice grew cold, his dismissal was loud and clear. The girl got the message and her eyes widened briefly.
Orange stiffly curtsied and wiped the surprised expression off her face. "Of course, Your Grace." She quickly turned around and left, along with her wounded pride.
Kaiden sighed in relief as soon as she was gone. If there was anything positive about Orange, it'd be that she was the closest one to be in love with him. That would be one, possibly two, conditions that would be met to break the curse. The only thing that would be left was for him to fall in love with her.
Not anytime soon, he thought. Love would not come very easily for him; neither would trust. Especially when Orange irritated him most of the time. Adding that surprise attack was not something that would help him either.
Perhaps the only reason she stayed was because she fit some of the requirements and that he didn't want to risk sending away his possible curse-breaker.
That made him think of another thing. Was the girl who'd break his curse even one of the six that were currently residing in the castle? There were sure to be other girls with green eyes in the world. What if the girl was one of them?
More pessimism brewed in his mind, most of them came from the back of his mind. One needed trust to fully love, and Kaiden doubted that he'd learn to fully trust anyone else ever again.
The only exception was Mary, who stood beside him during dark times.
He realized that he was once again thinking of certain things again and grew annoyed. As more time passed, he kept thinking about the Incident, making him detest the curse even more. The memories needed to stay away.
In frustration, he grabbed a small porcelain cup and threw it at wall, barely missing a hanging mirror. As soon as it hit the wall, it shattered into tiny pieces, scattering them around. His gaze moved from the broken pieces up to the mirror above them. When he looked into the mirror on the wall, he saw that his eyes were starting to swirl with gold.
He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. Quiet filled both the room and his mind. Eventually, he opened his eyes again and saw that they were their usual emerald green color. He sighed in relief. Kai would stay away, for now.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Kaiden," a familiar voice whispered from behind him.
He went completely rigid, his eyes wide open. His feet felt like they were stuck on the ground. All thoughts of anything else disappeared. Only one word remained. Kaiden whispered the name in disbelief.
"Agatha."
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A/N
And Belle survives! But how? Anyone wanna guess? ;)
And just curious, who else here is a Lenka fan? :)
Please:
Enjoy/comment/vote/follow!
:D