Adam laughed at her as he saw the small rose she held in her fragile hands, "What kind of joke is this?" He asked her, "Is this all you have?" The old woman rose her head a little to look at him, and nodded her head at his question.
Prince Adam scoffed at her response and shook his head. He looked at her and made a double check. She had a huge black, torn cloak over her old torn clothes. Her hair was all over the place and smelt bad. Adam scrunched up his nose at her body odour.
"Why should I help you?" The prince asked the old woman with an evil laugh and smirked. The old woman shuddered at him and spread her hands in front of him begging for him to help her, "Please, please help me. Help me!"
"I won't be getting any benefit from saving an old, ugly woman like yours. No one wants an ugly woman in their house, do they?" Adam bent down at her level and asked her with a laugh, shaking his head at her.
"Do they?" He stood up abruptly as he turned around and asked the guests loudly. "Answer me!" He shouted at them and they immediately nodded their head at him as an answer.
Lumière and Madame Garderobe were scarred at their Prince's behaviour as they knew how much he despised ugly and poor people. Let alone this woman had interrupted his highness's annual party. They knew how quickly the things would get out of hands. The environment was silent and the temperature had dropped considerably low.
The Prince walked in a circle as he placed a finger on his chin, his stance in a thinking demeanour. He circled around her and looked at his guests, "What shall we do about her? Tell me, my people." He asked them as he looked at the old woman with disgust.
Mrs. Potts hugged Chip in her arms, as Chip was terrified of the thunder and lightning. She looked at Adam with concern in her eyes, as he had the habit of overdoing things. She looked at Lumière and nodded at him to do something but, Lumière was helpless as no one could ever his Highness from doing what he wanted. Mr. Cogsworth stepped forward upon seeing the distress among the guests. He spoke softly, "Your Highness, I think you should just let her in, in the servant's cottage. She just needs a place for the night." But, before he could speak further on, Adam snapped his fingers and shook his head, "No, no Cogsworth. We can't let her off so easily." He smirked at him sideways, "After all, she had the audacity to stop my annual party."
Madame Garderobe gasped at this, as she knew that this meant the inhumane insult. She shook her head at Lumière and looked at him for help. Lumière was about to walk over to Prince Adam when, Adam bent down in front of the old woman and extended his hand for her.
The time stopped for everyone as it was the first time, Prince Adam had held his hand out to help someone as, he was arrogant and unkind. It was pin drop silence in the ballroom as everyone waited for the old woman to place her hand in his. The old woman smiled at him, and slowly placed her fragile palm in his hand.
Adam helped her stand slowly, waiting for her to take her time. As she finally stood up, Adam bowed down in front of her in regards. The woman gave him a weak smile and turned around as he walked her.
"Would you mind giving me that rose, my lady?" Adam asked her softly. She nodded at him slowly and placed her other hand inside her cloak to retrieve the rose. Adam smiled widely at her as he took the rose from her hands. He held in his other hand, while the other hand escorted the old woman.
They walked slowly towards the door and as they reached the main gate, Adam turned towards her and said, "My lady, this is where you will be living."
The old woman in confusion looked around the surroundings, only to find the chilling atmosphere of the night and the garden outside the castle. She turned towards Adam to find him smirking, "Where, my prince?" she asked him.
"Outside." He pointed, "Where you belong. There is no place for a woman like you in my castle." He shouted as he pushed her out of his castle and looked at the rose she gave him. The woman fell hard against the cold floor and tried to contain herself. She looked horrified as she saw the evil persona of Adam reflect in his eyes.
Adam scoffed as he spoke, "You thought, you would give me a rose and I would let you in my castle for a shelter?" He threw the rose at her and said, "This is my castle, not an orphanage to let anyone in. Only those who are honoured enough can place a foot here with my permission."
He turned around and the woman struggled to get to her feet, as she was about to speak again, Adam closed the gates on her face. He looked at the guests, who seemed horrified to say the least. He shook his head, "Why the delay? Let's continue the party without any disturbance or nuisance." The guests scrambled and quickly took their positions, waiting for the music to start.
Just as he walked towards the centre of the room, there was a bright glow through the main gates, everyone grew silent. Adam stopped in tracks and turned sideways to see the light. He looked at the gates and saw the intensity of the light increasing ten folds. The glow reflected in his eyes, as he saw the glass of the gates shatter on the ground in pieces. The gates swung open and Adam bent down to protect himself from the shattered glass pieces.
He squinted his eyes, to look through the light. He walked towards the gates, only to shut his eyes from the glow. He saw the cloak of the old woman lying on the ground and he looked up to see a beautiful Enchantress in the air. He looked at her with adoration.
Her beauty was unspeakable as her skin was as porcelain as marble and her lips were more red than the rose. The blush in her cheeks resembled the pinkness of the sunset and her hair was as gold as the desert sand. The aura around her grew as she rose up slowly in the air.
Adam's eyes widened as he stared at the Enchantress. He was smitten at her beauty and stood in his place in awe. The Enchantress looked at the crowd and smirked at Adam. "You rejected me because I was ugly. Now, look at me but, you can't have me." Adam gasped at this and stepped back in shock.
"You have no sense of mannerisms and kindness." She spoke with disgust. "You need to learn how to respect, love and be kind." She spoke with so much angst that someone got scarred and screamed loudly. The crowd starting running haywire as they hadn't ever seen a magical Enchantress. The crowd ran towards the gates to run away from the wrath of the Enchantress.
Adam was stuck on his spot as he looked at the Enchantress. Lumière and Madame Garderobe held each other tightly as they feared for their lives as the Enchantress's aura grew warmer around them. Mrs. Potts searched for Chip in the crowd and called out his name to find him. Adam was enchanted and the Enchantress's aura grew in anger.
"I offered you a rose, more powerful and beautiful than everything in the world and you rejected it. You have to earn the right to live as a human again." She looked at him with hatred. It was forbidden for the Enchantress to feel anything other than love and this terrified Mr. Cogsworth.
"You shall be punished for this." The Enchantress cursed out loud. "You shall live as the ugliest, most horrifying and hideous creature. You shall live a life crueller than an animal." She cast her wand at him and a light struck out from it and hit Adam straight in the chest.
Adam fell back a step due to the force and down on his knees. He looked at his hands and his widened as he realized that fur was growing all over his body rapidly.
The Enchantress threw the rose at his feet and said, "This is your last hope to become human again. You monster." And with a snap of fingers she disappeared from the castle.
Adam struggled to walk as his legs changed from human's to animalistic form. He gripped the chair as he stumbled over his own legs. The guests had vacated the ballroom and now it was just Mr. Cogsworth, Madame Garderobe, Lumière, Mrs. Potts, Chips- the loyal servants. They saw as their Prince stumbled around the room to get a touch of reality but, he failed as his arrogance had bought him this fate.
Mrs. Potts closed Chip's eyes as their beloved Prince turned into a Beast and the fur on his body grew. His hands turned into claws and he enlarged in size. He threw around the chairs and table to find a mirror as he couldn't believe his own eyes.
The servants slowly changed into objects and were terrified as Lumière turned into a candle stand, Madame Garderobe into a wardrobe, Mr. Cogsworth into a clock, Mrs. Potts into a Tea Pot, Chip into a tea cup. Their prince tore his clothes slowly as he felt the pain of bones cracking and reshaping.
All the candles of the castle blew out as the winds flowed and the temperature dropped abruptly in the room and as Madame Garderobe looked out the windows she saw that the gates of the castle were rotten and the garden had dried out. The whole Village seemed miles apart from the castle and they were trapped in the castle.
Everyone gasped as they heard the shattering of the mirror glass and saw that the prince had finally seen his new form and looked into the mirror. The mirror was half broken and he could only see his half face but, that was enough for him to lose the last bit of patience as he threw the mirror away in disgust.
He looked at the rose lying on the floor and picked it slowly with fragile hands as it was his last hope of becoming human again. He clenched it in his hands and he's gaze was longing as he ran off with it towards his quarters.
It was the look of vulnerability his servants would see in a long time.
~~~