Another chapter, I must be having a very good month. Lots of muse to go around. Hope you enjoy it! As always please read and review!
PhoebeTheQueenOfDragons: thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Scorche: Fluffy'sLady is plotting to kill Jade, but don't worry I can guarantee that I will not let that happen.
Fluffy'sLady: You might be cooler online, but I rock reality.
Disclaimer: Beauty and the Beast shall never be mine, I own nothing pertaining to it. I do own this plot line and all original charcters and ideas.
Chapter 5: Surprises
He took a deep breath as he stood, mentally picturing his father's fury. Perhaps, he thought, he will handle this calmly. Quietly he composed himself and turned to face his father. Steel grey eyes met fierce angry blue that boiled with an intensity. Odd, the young man mused, I never noticed...His thoughts were quickly cut off as the piercing eyes approached him, carried by thunderous pounding footsteps ever closer. Stubbornly he lifted his chin and stared into those disturbing eyes.
" The answer to your question father, is simple."
The footsteps paused in consideration, with a snarl a voice filled the air,"Then what is it? Tell me this simple answer."
"We have come home." The young man stated.
At the end of the sentence the footsteps continued hammering forward until the young man's father reached the chairs. In a burst of motion the older man knocked over one chair in an outrage. With a roar the older man spoke,
"WHAT..."
The knocked over chair was thrown into the wall.
"DO YOU MEAN.."
the table was knocked over causing the cup to hit the floor shattering shards of pottery in every direction.
"WE CAME HOME!?"
The chair the young man had previously been sitting in flew into the wall. Breathing heavily anger seeping from every pore the young man's father stood nose to nose, eye to eye to the young man. Rage smothering every item in the room in a shroud of darkness.
The whole home vibrated with echoes, the father's words once faded away creating utter silence within the house. The walls themselves seemed to hold their breath.
The young man was calm throughout the whole tantrum. Knowing that the shouting would eventually cease. He had known what to expect, but the havoc his father had caused to the room had been completely surprising. When the tantrum was over he gazed at his father, all emotions disguied by a mask of indifference. Quietly and calmly he explained,
" She is here."
That was all the young man said. With deliberate calmness he turned and began retrieving the chairs. Doing his best to reorganize the mess his father's temper had created. Once the chairs and the table had been placed in the appropriate place his gaze returned to his father a hint of sadness enveloping his features.
"Father, you might want to sit down for this," with that the young man motioned to the chair to the right of the table.
The older man crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. The posture clearly stating that he would not be sitting down.
The young man sighed and mumbled under his breath, "As you wish."
Quietly he turned to his father placing his right hand on his father's left shoulder. Then he spoke,
"I need you to listen to me and not interrupt..." with those words the young man began a story of a young girl who had been told a bedtime story and the years that followed. Towards the end of the story the young man paused and continued.
" After her accident...I stayed guard around their house. All three were well, or as well as could be expected. Then she became ill..." his voice drifted away as he tried to find the words to say what needed to be said. The older man was slightly confused. The way he had said she had been different from the other times. That could only mean that the young man was speaking of another woman. Confused the older man returned his mind to the story, wearily waiting for the young man to continue.
The young man sighed and closed his eyes. Slowly he opened them, pain in his gaze. Quietly he squeezed his father's shoulder and continued his story,
" She died." He paused determining if his father had understood who he meant. With a frown at his father's puzzled gaze he spoke,
" Father, Belle is no longer with..." The young man's voice faded away as realization suddenly hit his father. The transformation of anger turning to grief was amazing to the young man's eyes. Silently he tried to steady the older man as he began to sway in grief.
The older man's thoughts began to whirl into chaos,
She is dead! Belle is dead!..No, she can't be...
Yes she is! I did this to her, how could I have let her go.
.You idiot! You killed her!...I didn't mean to...ofcourse you did!
You hated her when...NO! I won't listen to you...murderer
his thoughts continued on and on in this fashion. His ice-blue gaze misting over in a range of emotions. The older man was oblivious to the young man. Suddenly his thoughts were too much for him to handle. A yell of anger and grief escaped the older man. Instantly the sound bounced from room to room, hall to hall, ceiling to ceiling. In a flash the older man was gone from the room, vanishing into the night.
Suddenly a scream ripped through the air joining in the chaos of the older man's yell. The house roared with anger, grief and fear as the two sounds mingled together.
The young man stood, shocked to the bone. Of all the reactions...it seemed his father was just full of surprises tonight. The scream...Jade he thought.
In a flash the young man raced out the room's door turned on to the elegant staircase, taking the steps up two at a time. His heart beating fast he raced to Jade's room, one thought repeating over and over in his head...Please, don't let him hurt her.
A blur of black, the young man rushed into the room. Expecting to see his father in a fury.
With his father no where in site he came to a shocked stand still.
Jade's gaze locked onto the young man's, fear overwhelming her. Her body shook in frightened tremors. Her pale hands dug into the crimson cover as she voiced her fear,
"What was that...that noise?"
The young man just stared at her. So that was what had scared her, a sigh of relief rushed from his lungs as the source of her fear was revealed.
A soft grin settled on his lips, not quite reaching his eyes. Slowly he drifted to her bed and perched on the side as he had done before. He spoke calmly and quietly as if he were speaking to a skittish horse, " Hush now, there is nothing to fear." A twinkle slowly entered his gaze as he saw her physically begin to calm. Teasingly he continued, "I told you I was guarding you. Did I not? You honestly believe I would let anything happen to you..on my watch?" He slowly tilted his head to the side, causing his raven locks to fall into his face.
A soft pout firmly settled on Jade's lips, her gaze uneasy. Slowly she calmed and voiced her opinion, " I guess not. " With that she seemed to relapse into her non-speaking stage and she became the distant Jade of the previous months. Silently she closed her eyes as if she were going back to sleep.
The young man's smile evaporated into a dissapointed frown. He did not like it when she became quiet and distant. Sighing he stood, relieving the bed of his weight. Quietly he checked the fire and added a few logs to it. There was a growing snowstorn raging outside and he found that keeping warm was quite useful. With that done he retraced his steps to the door. As his hand reached out to turn the door knob a voice whispered from the bed,
"Please, will you stay?" Jade's gaze barely peeked between her sleepy eye-lids. Her brown curls bunched into a mess around her pillow.
The young man turned his gaze landing on the young woman. He couldn't have left if he had wanted to, Damn it, he cursed at himself as he quietly turned around and returned to the black chair he had been sitting in earlier. With a sigh he propped his feet up on the stool in front of the chair, pulled the throw off the back of the chair and covered his frame. Quietly he settled in for sleep.
Jade observed all of this with a soft smile. As he settled down she snuggled into the covers and whispered, "Thank you."
With a huff similar to Jade's previously, he answered her thanks.
Her smile grew at that sound and she sighed. Silence fell in the room as they both began to seek rest. Jade however thought of something right before she fell asleep. The thought bothering her she spoke,
" Tell me your name, please.."
Silence answered her demand and she had just about given up on getting an answer when his voice murmured,
"Hunter."
With a sigh she smiled, "Well then, goodnight Hunter."
A huff was all she got as an answer. A smile still firmly in place she drifted off to sleep.
Hunter, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to sleep. His father's yell still rang in his ears, followed by Jade's scream. With a frown he gazed into the flames of the fire and eventually drifted off into an uneasy slumber.
A week flew by in a similar fashion. Hunter watched over Jade like a fretting mother and his father had still not reappeared. Jade had begun to really dislike his company he was getting really rather annoying. This morning was not any different.
Jade sighed as she stretched in the bed. She was so sick of being in the bed all the time. She kept telling Hunter that she was perfectly fine, but he refused to hear it. With a sigh she sat up and rearranged her pillows to keep her in a comfortable sitting position. Quietly she smoothed out the covers and listened. A set of footsteps slowly approached her door. Jade sigh exasperated and began to count down five step four step three step two step one, Hunter opened her room's door carrying a tray with breakfast on it.
"Good morning, Jade. How are you today?" Hunter asked her with a grin on his face. He placed the tray on the bed and sat in what he had begun to refer to as his chair.
Jade just glared at him and grumbled at his good mood. She daintily began to pick at her burnt toast wondering who on earth had been cooking her food, and then responded to his question,
"Good morning Hunter. I'm fine. I'm as fit as a fiddle. Just like I've been every morning. Can I please get out of this bed today, or am I to remain in this cage of crimson?"
A loud laugh answered her statement, and surprised her a bit. She had expected what he had said to her every morning. Shocked her ice-blue gaze flew to his laughing form.
" A cage of crimson, eh?" a laugh escaped him again. Smiling he finally calmed his humor, Jade herself was perplexed at to what was so funny.
Hunter grinned and was about to explain how one of the best rooms in the house seemed like a cage to her. It had just struck him as funny, but he didn't get a chance to.
Suddenly a range of shouts sounded from outside. Hunter frowned and leapt from his chair to the massive window. His hand pulled back the white curtains just a tad, letting a beam of sunlight through. Peering out of the window more shouts could be heard.
Curios Jade inquired, "What is it?" She was fixing to get out of the bed when Hunter turned around and shot her a look. Quickly he spoke, "I'll be right back." With that he left leaving the door open.
Jade sighed and settled back into her pillows. What gave him the right to order her around? she thought to herself. With a sudden decision she tossed the covers off of her body and stood for the first time in weeks. Her legs were a bit sore and didn't quite want to work but she did not care, nor did she let it stop her.
Very slowly, using anything to support her weight she closed her door, walked over to the armoire and pulled out a very plain, functional but in a way pretty blue dress. Quickly she dressed herself, not worrying about her hair. She found some slippers and slipped the shoes on. Deciding she'd just face Hunter's anger she quietly exited her room.
Her gaze swept the marvelous hallway. Awed she slowly walked the red carpeted marble halls, her gaze lingering on the paintings and sculptures. For a moment she completely forgot why she had left her rooms in the first place. Another shout entered the air and she snapped back into reality. Quickly now, as she became use to using her limbs once more, she walked down the hall turned down the staircase and followed the noise. Realizing it was coming from outside she grabbed a cloak off a hanger by the door.
The cloak was huge and enveloped her in ripples of fabric. In fact it made it quite hard for her to walk. She managed to make it out side eventually, and she cautiously stepped through the fresh snow. Following the shouting she rounded a corner of the house. She gasped, causing a soft puff of fog to float in the air. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Suddenly something was heading straight for her. Her gaze grew wide as she froze in place and then Hunter's voice full of alarmd drifted to her nonfunctioning brain, " Jade! MOVE!."
oohh...whats heading for Jade? Any guesses...
Hope you like this chapter, I'll update as soon as I can...
toodles