Chapter 2: Part 1
Written by wise_girl_32
Edited by: @queenofgeeks

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"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

It had been nearly 4 months since the great Gaston had been cursed into hideousness.
The once vibrant young veteran had all but completely descended into beasthood.

It was his 104th day as the monster and once again he awoke starving in the nest of leaves he had made for himself.
The morning air was getting colder with each awakening, and looking up at the gray sky from his makeshift bed, he knew snow would fall soon.

Grumbling to himself he rolled over onto his back, body cramped from the tight ball he had slept in; for without his warm wooden cabin or even a simple blanket, a fall night spent in the woods was always bitter cold, and curling himself up was all he could really do to combat it.

Shaking the leaves from his now dirty and mangy brown coat, he stood up onto his hind limbs and walked to the nearby stream for a drink of water.
He did his best not to catch his reflection in the water, for it always angered him, but then again he was always angry.
Today was different though, for even the anger wasn't there anymore, and all he felt was hollow and empty.

Each day was the same, alone in the enchanted forest, he would wake up, get a drink, and then try to hunt for something, anything to eat.

At first, it was alright, he would let the monster take over and hunt for deer and rabbits, but the longer he stayed the scarcer food became. More wary had the animals gotten of his intense scent, and now often he would have to hunt for days, and the animals of which he still had to cook though, and could not just eat raw because while his outer constitution was that of a monster, his inner remained cruelly and ironically human.

The lack of nutrition had taken its toll on him, for at first, he had been much like the beast he had originally tried to kill; an intimidating and towering mass of muscles and rich glossy fur; but the scarcity of food had withered him down to nothing. His skin hung off his bones, making his appearance all the scarier.

He didn't have much will power left to move either. His skin and fur weighed on him and drained him of energy to carry it as he walked, especially if he was out hunting. He would often have to stop to catch his breath before he continued his hunt.

In the midst of what he felt would be just another fruitless search for food, he caught a strange but familiar scent. It was one he knew, but not one that he had smelled as the Beast; no this was the scent of man he knew in his old life.

Through an exhausted, starving haze, he found himself following the scent, even though it tired him. He hadn't been in contact with a human in forever. He couldn't face the people of the village even if he could step foot outside of the forest he was trapped within. 

                     
Lafou looked around at the unfamiliar part of the forest. He was on his way to the castle to join in to celebrate Lumiere's birthday. After his royal majesty Prince Adam's curse had been broken, and all the servants, maids and castle staff had been turned back into humans, Lafou had befriended many of the people working there, and would occasionally drop by for a visit.
The castle staff were people who knew him as something else other than the late not so great Gaston's second banana, and to be treated like his own individual was a change that the veteran welcomed.

Today, he was running late and had decided to take a new path. He believed this way would be faster than his normal route. He chosen a smaller, less used path to follow, and the forest felt unfamiliar. Lafou looked around, not seeing a lot of animals, which was a little unnerving, for along his normal path, he would often hear many birds chirping as if having conversations. Here it was quiet, almost silent.
Even the smallest noises sounded loud.

The stout, vibrant Frenchman  made his way down the path, humming an old, familiar marching tune that had been popular in his barrack to bring some noise to the eerily quiet forest. The only other noise to be heard was the noise of his horses hooves clomping in the dirt.

He heard the snapping of a twig. His head shot over to where the noise had sounded, only to see nothing. He continued on, now more alert, but doing his best not to let his fear get the best of him. When he heard the snapping of another twig, and the rustling of leaves on the ground, he knew someone, or something was following him.
"Hello?" He calls out into the empty forest, stopping his horse to look around.
"Is there anyone there?"

A rustling to his right makes him turn his head, only to gasp, and fall off his horse at what he saw before him.
His less than youthful brown mare flinches backwards, letting out a series of short, fearful snorts.

There in front of him towered a hideous beast, it looked so much much like the one the prince used to be, but instead of muscles, this beast was razor thin, his fur hanging off his body like a small child wearing a fur jacket much to big.

"Lafou?" The Beast says, his voice gravelly, but oddly familiar,
"It can't be..."
Oh the irony.
Gaston thought.
But looking upon the face from his past, one he had so gleefully used and abused, the picture of a yellow flower immediately came to mind, but he immediately brushed it aside. He had no hope to break his curse.
He had never considered this underling his equal, but Lafoe been almost 100%  loyal to a fault to Gaston since their days in the schoolyard, almost.
Perhaps he could use him again.
Someone to fetch him actual food would greatly ease his suffering.

"What are you?" The short, dark haired rider asks, gazing  fearfully at the thing, a look of terror in his green eyes.
Scrambles to the ground, he grabs the reign of his flighty  horse, to keep her from bolting into the forest.
"How do you know my name."

"Lafou, it is me, Gaston," the beast says his birth name outloud for the first time since he had been cursed, causing Lafou's wide eyes to grow even wider. How is that even possible?
Gaston died. He watched him fall from the tower.

He did grieve the death of the man he had wrongfully thought it be his friend, even after he realized just how horrible his so called best friend had been.
Though he knee all the terrible things Gaston had done, still he did grieve.
How arrogant and self-centered he he had been. Lafou had hated how he had followed Gaston around like a puppy, doing his bidding for him, but once it had settled in that he was dead, and righteously so, Lafou had realized the freedom he had been granted, and now he was more than happy to be free.

"Y-you can't be Gaston," he stutters, taking him in from top to bottom, trying to find a familiar man behind all that hair, teeth and claws.
"Gaston died. I watched him die."

Gaston looked at his old companion, the fear and disgust on his familiar face only setting in stone the feelings he had himself for his hideous form. "Lafou, it's really me. An enchantress cursed me to look like this... Monster." he tried to explain, hoping to get Lafou to believe him.

Lafou eyed him not breaking contact, his heart rate calming down. The voice sounded like him, a bit scruffier, broken even, but still the same. This monster wasn't like the Gaston he used to know if he was even Gaston. "So.... Gaston, how are you alive?" He asked tentatively, and in disbelief. 
"You fell from a tall height. No one survives a plummet from height that tall,"

"This She-Witch... This Enchantress she saved me. If you could call it that..."
He grumbled hatefully before continuing. 
"Before cursing me to look like that hideous Beast that you and I, old friend... had rallied the town to go after."
He says before growling.

Lafou was in shock. His ex-best friend had been turned into a terrifying creature, but in that moment Lafou suddenly realized that he, Gaston, deserved it. He deserved this, deserved whatever else that had befallen him.

Thinking back to the days he spent after Gaston's supposed death beating himself up for not standing up to the brute. He now had better friends, but one of his biggest regrets, one thing that still kept him up to this day was that he didn't stand up to Gaston, and here was Gaston, standing right in front of him. It was like the fates had given him a second chance.

"Oh Lafou, I am so glad you are here. You can help me! I can't believe you came this way old friend!" Gaston says, stepping closer to his. Lafou immediately stepped back, anger forming in him. It was the second time he had been addressed like that, and he would not allow a third.

"No Gaston," He says firmly, trying to muster up all his courage. "I wouldn't help you if France depended on it..."
Lafou seethes.
Gaston was taken back, it seemed his old gopher had grown a spine in his absence.

"Why ever not? Can't you see my condition? I'm starved and cold, you must help me!" He exclaims, honestly desperate.
"No Gaston, I will not help you," Lafou says with so much courage that even he was a little shocked. "The entirety of our friendship, if you could even call it that, all I ever did was your bidding and pay attention to you. No longer Gaston, I am done being your lackey.  The day you exited my life was the best one yet.
Now if you will excuse me, Beast..." He seethed, anger clouding the part of his brain that would fear being ripped apart. "I must be on my way."
He announced, gripping the reigns of his horse and walking defiantly around the skinny, towering monster.

"Don't you dare walk away from me Lafou..." Retorted Gaston, turning around once his initial shock had wore off.
"What about all the times I protected you? From the bullies as children, from those Portuguese marauders in 1740? You remember that, we were just teens!" He shrieked, thinking back to the time when he had single handedly saved the town at 16.
"What about the bayonets and bullets? How many times did I save your life during the war Lafou, how many!?!" Shrieked the beast loud enough to make Lafou jump. "Remember when I got between you and that enemy musket ball? I was in the hospice for a month!"

Instead of humbling Lafoe, Gaston's words only added to his anger!
"Everything is always about you isn't it?" He turned around, yanking the horse back a little harder than he should have.   "Yeah, you stopped the bullies once you found out I could be actually useful to you...
A farmer will protect his Pigs from wolves Gaston, but in the end he still eats them!" He seethes.
"The Marauders? Please, a bunch of drunk old foriegners, and if I recall I helped you stop them!" Lafou felt his fist ball up at his side.
"And the war... Oh don't even get me started on that... You jumped in front of me just so you could get some free time to seduce that busty hospital nurse!"
Lafoe felt as if his skin was on fire, all the terrible abuses he had faced from Gaston were suddenly choking him with rage.

"Its not even about that though...
You didn't once ask me how my day was, never once showed any sign that you appreciated my efforts. Anything that you ever destroyed in a drunken stupor I had to take care of. Furniture, finances, females....
You were so inconsiderate to me and all those around you that I cannot bring myself to help you now." Lafou shook his head.
"And you were always stuck on Belle! That was all I ever heard, that she was the best and all you would have was the best...."
The memory was almost annoying enough to make him want to pull his hair out.

"That girl never liked you. She was the only one in town who actually had some sense.  In fact, she despised you! She would constantly tell you 'no' and you would constantly ignore her! You know who else you ignored? The triplets in town. Anyone one of them would have been happy to marry you, and yet you went after Belle. You could have been drowning in willing wives, and yet you perused one unwilling woman."

Lafou had exploded. Everything he wished to say say to him flew out of his mouth, practically hitting Gaston. And as he ranted, Gaston grew more and more hopeless. He had lost Lafou. The look in his all too familiar green eyes was one he had never seen before. His one and only chance for help, and now it was gone.
"So don't try and 'Lafou' me because our friendship is over and I no longer care.  So goodbye Gaston."

And with that, he hopped on his horse and started to leave. By that point, he had adrenaline rushing through his system, and he felt like he could conquer the world, or at least France.

Gaston felt completely the opposite. The last straw of hope in his being finally gave away.
"Lafou please don't go. I need you!"
Lafou abruptly stopped and turned to face Gaston fully. His face was hard, and had little to know emotion showing.
"No Gaston. You did this to yourself. You deserve to be the monster you are now," he says, trotting away.
                     
Gaston crumpled to his knees shocked at what Lafou had said. He couldn't believe it. His hands turned into fists, his claws digging into his palm. He didn't mind the pain. In fact, he liked it. It felt the same way his heart did currently. He opened his, seeing blood on his nails and hands. He watched as the blood from the fresh cuts dripped down his hand and onto the ground. He growled and clawed at his skin, desperately wanting to ease the pain in his heart. The whole time, the last words Lafou said to him played in his mind. Over and over again he heard those words; and more blood ran from his body and onto the ground, yet the pain still wouldn't go away.
I am a monster.  
He thought to himself, wanting to curl up into the dirt below and let the life leave his body.