"WOD" - Chapter Seven

 

Chapter Seven

            Craig and Riff heard and saw it all the way from the black forest—a massive explosion erupting from the castle. And if they noticed it, it was a sure bet that Belle and her mob did as well. “What’re the chances that Rania could be in there?” Craig consulted with Riff.

            Riff shrugged. “A gazillion to a billion?”

            “Those are some weird odds,” Craig cringed. “But I’ll take ‘em. C’mon!”

            He and the Imago pressed onward towards the castle, just as Belle and the mob did the same.

            Meanwhile, inside the castle of urgent interest, what was left of the west wing had been cindered—all except for the Enchanted Rose, which had somehow survived the explosion, still sitting on its pedestal without a single crack in its glass covering.

            Rain began to pour into the exposed area, dousing most of the flames.

            Rania emerged from the cindered wreckage, disheveled but otherwise unharmed.

            The Beast did not fare well himself as a result of the explosion, knocked completely unconscious.

            “Sacré bleu!” She heard Lumiere cry out, turning to see him and Cogsworth arrive, along with Miss Potts, horrified to find the state of the west wing and their master. “What has happened here?!”

            Rania looked out through the gaping hole that used to be the balcony. Between all the smoke and the brewing thunderstorm, it was difficult to determine the whereabouts of the behemoth that attacked them. For all she knew, it could have been hovering there right in front of her.

            “Get everyone out of the castle!” she ordered the enchanted servants.

            “What’s the danger?” Cogsworth inquired. “Are we being attacked?!”

            “Just go!” Rania raised the urgency in her tone.

            Miss Potts understood right away. “You heard the young lady, gents!” she told Lumiere and Cogsworth. “Evacuate!” On her command, they hopped and waddled away to carry out the evacuation. Watching them leave, Rania felt deep concern for them. This wasn’t Gaston and his mob that they were dealing with—it was a highly advanced threat of inter-dimensional origin. And it was her job to stop it and protect this Disney world.

            Suddenly, she heard the sound of rockets—the behemoth had returned.

            It hovered close near the smoldering ruins of the west wing, staring directly at Rania with its glowing red eyes. Engulfed by the smoke, it carried an even more menacing aura. “Why are you here?!” Rania interrogated the behemoth, figuring such a super advanced robot to be capable of communication. “What is your reason for attacking this castle?! Attacking these poor, defenseless natives?!”

            “My prime directive is to eliminate Aznavorian, the Tinkerer of Gallifrey,” the behemoth responded in a deep, automated voice.

            “Who sent you on this mission?”

            “That information is classified. My only objective is to eliminate the Tinkerer.”

            Rania huffed discouragingly. “So much for gettin’ any answers from you.”

            She stiffened once she noticed the behemoth raising its right arm again, prepping to fire another missile. It would be point-blank this time, ensuring that Rania would be wiped out entirely. There was no chance to react in time to avoid it.

            The only thing that crossed her mind—mere seconds before her imminent death—was how Craig would get back home.

            She jolted when she heard a loud roar behind her.

            From the corner of her eye, something fast and furry wildly brisked past her, whisking at a few locks of her long brown hair; it went straight for the behemoth. Rania was awed to see that it was the Beast, having miraculously recovered enough to tackle the behemoth’s missile arm, clawing and biting at its titanium chassis. Distracted by the Beast, the behemoth lost control of its flight aptitude, spiraling them downward.

            Rania watched their descent long enough to see where they had landed—the bridge that connected the castle to the black forest. Not far from their landing spot emerged a mob led by someone on horseback. Rania knew that it could not have been Gaston leading, due to his petrified state in the town village. She concentrated her ranged eyesight—one of the genetic gifts from her Deltan half—and discovered that the mob leader was Belle!

            “That tracks,” Rania muttered to herself, recalling Belle’s declaration of warning the villagers. She never figured Belle herself to be the one taking Gaston’s place to storm the castle.

            She also saw Craig and Riff emerge not far behind.

            Poor little Craig looked beyond exhausted, whereas Riff was his usual peppy self.

            They were all about to cross the bridge before the Beast and the behemoth crashed down, barring their way. Seeing the Beast up close and personal, Belle and the villagers were terrified—but no more so from the sight of the behemoth towering over the Beast. However, the Beast was no longer of interest to the behemoth, as it suddenly set its automated sights on Belle.

            “Uh-oh,” Rania gasped. She knew immediately what was computing in the behemoth’s artificial intelligence. Her suspicions were confirmed when the robot extracted a blade from its left arm. It lunged for Belle, cocking its arm back with the intention of skewering her with the extracted blade. Belle was frozen in fear.

            Rania panicked. Belle’s death would have certainly certified this world’s end.

            With lightning-quick speed, the behemoth drove its blade straight for Belle’s heart…only for it to be driven through the body of the Beast. At the very last minute, the cursed prince placed himself in between Belle and her would-be mechanical murderer.

            This turn of events drove Rania to rush out of the castle as fast as she could, arriving at the bridge to do what she should have done from the start—to avoid all the destruction that this behemoth had caused. She aimed her sonic screwdriver at the inter-dimensional automation, and with the press of a button, she shut its systems down. For added measure, she also had it dismantled, every piece of its titanium body collapsing into a heap right there at the center of the bridge.

            Unfortunately, this defeat came all too late.

            The mortally wounded Beast fell right before Belle, who dismounted from Philippe to rush to her savior’s aid. She wasn’t sure what had urged her to do so; she wasn’t even reluctant to do it. She just felt a sudden wave of gratitude for this creature that she feared only a moment ago. “You saved my life,” she told him. “But…why?”

            Beast looked on her with dying eyes. “You…You were the first one…who wasn’t afraid of me.”

            Belle frowned. “I…I don’t understand.”

            Rania, on the other hand, did understand. In that moment, the Beast mistook the real Belle as the one that had come to his castle earlier—the one that was in actuality the disguised Rania.

            “I’m sorry,” Belle apologized to the Beast. “I came here out of fear…out of hate. But…after seeing what you did for me…I can’t bring myself to hate someone so brave and selfless.” Unfortunately, these words went unheard from the Beast, who succumbed to his wound and died. Belle cried, burying her face in the dead Beast’s torso and begging for him not to die.

            Rania sniffled, tears streaming down from her eyes.

            She had failed—to save the Beast…to restore order to the world.

            In her despair, she felt something or someone cling to her hip. She looked down to see that it was Craig, who himself was crying. “Oh, sweetie,” she sympathized, squatting down to hug him. She heard Riff walking up to them but didn’t bother to see how he was taking in the result of their failures. She assumed the Imago was confused by all the tears or indifferent to them.

            Little did she know at the time, Riff himself shed tears.

            But his tears quickly dried once he noticed someone step out from the black forest. “Look!” he directed everyone’s attention to the individual—a pink-haired woman in a glittering blue hooded cloak. Rania concentrated her eyesight again to see the woman in more detail—underneath the cloak was a white crop top and a pair of khaki cargo pants held up by a leather belt. There were also wristbands.

            Whoever this pink-haired woman was, her clothing was too conventional for the Beauty and the Beast realm.

            Rania’s hazel eyes widened with realization. “It’s her!”

            “It is?!” Riff exclaimed, only to double-back on his excitement and ask, “Who is it?”

            Rania didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she watched as the pink-haired woman reached out with her right hand towards the bridge, specifically where the Beast’s dead body rested. She twiddled her fingers, emitting golden sparks of magical energy from the palm of her hand. In correspondence with this gesture, something unexpected and familiar occurred.

            Much like in the Beauty and the Beast film, the rain falling around them suddenly transformed into shooting stars. One after another came. Belle stopped crying and lifted her face from the Beast’s torso to see it. The villagers looked on with mixed emotions—some of awe, others of trepidation. Suddenly, the Beast’s body magically rose up into the air and began to turn, enveloped in a cloud of light and wrapped up in his cloak, shifting and forming. Within seconds, he had transformed from a monstrous beast to a handsome young prince. His body gradually descended back to the bridge. Belle reached out to touch him but jerked her hand back when the prince began to stand. He looked at his now-human hands and then to Belle, with the same blue eyes as the Beast.

            “It’s me!” He gasped. “You did it!” He went to Belle, taking her into his arms and swinging her around. “You broke the spell!” Belle didn’t try to fight his embrace. She was taken in by the prince’s eyes—the warmth behind them. And when he kissed her, she kissed him back.

            Literal fireworks exploded around them.

            The gloom surrounding the castle disappeared, revealing a blue sky.

            The castle was transformed—gargoyles changing into cherubs.

            The prince’s servants had changed from objects back into humans.

            “Wow! That was awesome!” Craig cheered. He then heard Rania sniffling, looking away from the happy scene to see his best friend crying again. “You O.K.? Isn’t this what’s supposed to happen?”

            Rania composed herself long enough to tell him, “Yes, sweetie. It is.”

            “Then…why are you crying?”

            Riff scratched the top of his hat. “I was gonna ask the same thing.”

            “Oh, you two!” Rania scoffed. “Just give me a moment, will ya? I never could get through this ending without crying.”

            Craig allowed her to have it. In the meantime, he gazed back toward the black forest—now a lush green land that reflected the natural beauty of the castle. He saw the pink-haired woman still where she was, waving at him with her right hand, which continued to sparkle. She then vanished from the forest, re-materializing right in front of Craig, Riff, and Rania—startling them all.

            “W-Who…Who a-are you?” Craig struggled to ask.

            The woman lowered her hood, allowing her long pink hair to flow in the breeze. “I believe I’m who you’re lookin’ for,” she said. “I’m Joanie Navarro-Thomas, the Guardian of the Disneyverse.”