Dear Wal,
Here's my deconstruction of Beauty and the Beast, Jason style. Enjoy, boys and girls.
There once was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle deep in the heart of a deep wood. Her beauty was legendary, all the princes of the surrounding lands came to quart her, but she was vain and heartless and turned them away. Her father, the king, pleaded with her to accept the hand of a suitor, but she would have none of it. The king cherished her outspoken independence, but she was frustrating and exhausting at best.
One day a terrible storm struck the castle, the force of the wind was so great that the huge trees of the vast forest surrounding the castle swayed like twigs, their branches torn asunder by the ferocious storm, but the castle’s thick stone walls kept out the lashing rain and the hearth remained warm and burning through the night. A child knocked on the vast oaken door to the castle, seeking shelter from the wind and the rain. She offered a rose as a price for a place next to the castle’s warm fire, but the princess refused and turned her back out into the cold.
The child transformed into an enchantress before her eyes. “Touch naught a rose, until the day you find true love, else you will be cursed for eternity.” The enchantress said, and laid a curse on the princess and her castle for her cruelty. Roses grew up the castle walls, blooming as blood red crystal in the night, and the lush forest surrounding the castle became a forest of thorns. The princess was transformed into a terrible feline creature and the king imprisoned within a magic mirror. The princess fled from the castle in fear and despair, and a wide path opened before her through the thorns. She fled to a village on the edge of the castle, but to her horror she found that anything she touched withered and died. The villagers ran in fear, cursing her as a demon and an evil blight on the earth. She returned to the castle and shut herself away within its magnificent halls, careful not to touch the glorious roses that bloomed over every stone of the castle walls.
She remained there for years to come, and a legend spread throughout the kingdom of a hideous beast that lived in the center of the thorn wood in a castle adorned with roses that flashed like rubies in the sun, forever frozen in time.
A pair of brothers from a foreign land came to the kingdom that stormy night and settled on a plot of land. One, Jason, was a knight who had fought a never-ending war against a mysterious evil that the peaceful kingdom had never been touched by. He had spent too long dwelling and fighting in darkness, and could no longer step out into the daylight. His brother, Tommy, had followed his younger brother into the dark and rescued him when he most needed aid despite Jason’s protests for Tommy’s safety from the great evil. They had come to the peaceful kingdom to flee that evil, and they built a home and worked hard to raise a farm.
One day Tommy had to go get some supplies they needed for planting the new harvest, and a great storm had whipped itself into a froth along the road to the village. The river had swollen to a rushing tide and he was unable to cross. He turned back but became lost as night descended over the land. The wheel of his wagon broke and he was stranded in the forest, but he thought he saw something flash in the distance. Taking a chance that it might be the lights of the village, he continued on foot. He came to the forest of thorns, and knew he must be close to the village. He thought the stories of the beast were simply tall tales, but when he came on the castle draped in crystal roses he realized just what he had found.
He stepped up to the castle door, desperate to gain some respite from the whirling storm. No one answered the door, but it wasn’t locked. He pushed it open, peering tentatively in and calling out for anyone. The king’s face, withered and tired from age, appeared within a mirror near the door. “Go.” He warned, fearing for the stranger’s life. “Go before she finds you here.”
But it was too late. The beast’s keen ears had heard the tiny sound of the stranger’s soft tread upon the rug in the entry chamber to the castle. She descended from her chambers high in the castle and locked the brother away for his trespass.
Jason waited late into the night and soon became afraid for his older brother’s life as the storm grew even more ferocious. Over the clamor of rain on the roof and windows, he heard the thunder of hooves and relief came over him. It must be Tommy, punctual as usual. He thought and stepped outside into the rain to greet his brother. But it was only the horse Tommy had hitched to the wagon, missing wagon and driver and with its harness hanging in tatters. The terrified creature had fled home after tearing loose from the wagon. Jason calmed the horse as best he could before grabbing his sword and shield and swinging onto the horse’s back to ride out into the night and find his brother. The horse was a clever beast, Jason’s old warhorse from the war against the great evil of his homeland, and took him straight back to where the wagon had broken. There was no one there; the wagon lay abandoned in the mud.
Jason did not fear the night, he had spent many years in complete darkness, and the ferocious storm failed to deter him from his goal of finding his brother alive. His sharp eyes, honed by many years of peering in the dark, caught the flash of the crystal roses in a bolt of lightning, and he turned the horse toward their light, thinking that Tommy must have seen the light and thought to find refuge there.
Once Jason had fought his way through the forest of thorns and found the castle he dismounted, and, exercising prudence, crept round the castle to a side entrance. He found himself deep in the castle’s dungeons and heard the voice of his brother calling out in the dark. Jason made his way to Tommy’s cell and pulled out a knife to pick the lock. “Took you long enough.” Tommy joked as Jason worked. “You were the fool who got himself locked in the dungeon of the obviously evil enchanted castle.” Jason retorted as the lock clicked and fell open and he started to open the door. The old, rusty hinges screamed in the quiet dungeon and Tommy hissed through the bars: “Shhh! She’ll hear you!” “Who?” Jason asked, but it was too late. He could already hear the beast’s claws as she descended into the dungeon.
Jason quickly let Tommy out and seized a lamp from the wall of the dungeon. He lifted it high, for he knew all creatures of the night naturally feared its flickering flame, and called out: “Come and step into the light! I do not fear you. I have faced far worse than you.” The beast, impressed by his tenacity, stepped into the light and towered over him, her long sinuous tail weaving through the air behind and her crooked smile revealing crooked fangs. Tommy recoiled, but Jason stood firm and unafraid.
“Who is this man to you?” The beast growled. “He is my brother.” Jason replied, his gaze never faltering as he looked into the beast’s yellow eyes. Impressed, the beast reconsidered her original idea of simply killing them both on the spot. “Defeat me in battle,” She finally decided. “And you shall both be freed.” Jason accepted and drew his sword. “But we shall fight in the dark.” She added, an evil glint in her eye. Now, she believed she would have the advantage, and when the stranger’s back was turned she would touch him and watch him wither and die at her feet. But once again, Jason accepted her challenge without hesitation and extinguished the lamp.
They fought a whole day and night in the deep dark of the dungeons, and the battle slowly became a dance between the two combatants, until the beast broke the melody when she found her chance to touch the stranger. She dug her claws into his shoulder and waited, expecting to see him die instantly at her touch, but he only grimaced in pain and ripped away. The magic of his land was powerful and ancient, and he was protected from her curse by wards placed on him by the king of his land. She was amazed, and found herself frozen in place as her cold heart softened.
Jason seized his chance and pressed the tip of his sword to her throat. “I will spare you.” He said. “If you well release me and my brother.” The beast eyed him with one great yellow eye. “I will release your brother if you will stay with me in my castle.” She said. Jason hesitated, and his hesitation cost him, he did not see her tail as it swept up and knocked him off his feet. She pressed one clawed foot to his throat. “Do you accept?” She asked. “Uh, yes ma’m.” He replied hoarsely as he fought for breath under the pressure of her constricting claws.
The beast took Jason up into the main halls of the castle and told him: “Never touch the roses, if you value your life.” She returned to the dungeon to find Tommy sneaking out the side entrance by which Jason had answered. She locked him back up in his cell, and closed the heavy wooden door of the dungeon before he could call out her treachery to warn Jason.
Jason never lacked anything in the castle, and was waited on hand and foot by invisible servants. The beast came and supped with him every evening, and slowly they grew to know each other as the days progressed. Once Jason’s wound healed, they sparred in the courtyard of the castle and swapped stories around bonfires built in the deep of the night. Jason found himself content, and slowly came to love the beast for the woman she was inside. Her exterior never troubled him, though she lurked in the shadows and only stepped into the light when she had to while she was with him.
One night he found himself wandering the halls of the castle alone, and he found himself standing in the entrance watching the roses glitter and flash in the light of his candlestick. The king materialized on the mirror next to the great door, and whispered: “Here me, young knight, the beast was once a vain princess cursed for her cruelty. To break the spell she must find love. But be warned! If a rose is broken, then she will be cursed forever.” Jason heard him, but his curiosity overwhelmed him. He reached out to touch a rose, fascinated by how its many facets caught the light. Just as his fingers brushed its smooth surface, the beast stepped in and saw him. “Treachery!” She screamed and struck him with one clawed hand.
He staggered back into the wall, and a dozen roses shattered under his weight as he slid to the floor. “No, I’m so sorry.” The beast whispered as she realized what she had done. “Wait!” Jason called out, but she fled to the highest tower in the castle. Determined, he followed her and found her washed in sorrow and tears. “Calm yourself.” He whispered, tenderly whipping the tears from her thick fur. “All is not lost, for I love you for who you are and not what you are.”
The enchantress took pity on them and appeared before them, floating of her own volition in the air next to the tower window. “I cannot undo the curse. Such things are not possible. But perhaps I can remedy what has been done.” She eased the curse on the castle, and the crystal melted away to reveal real, living, flawed roses. The roses that had broken re-grew more beautiful than they had ever been frozen in crystal. The curse on the princess eased as well, and her long course fur became golden and smooth, her terrible black claws retracted and the spines along her back vanished. “What’s your name?” Jason asked, tenderly laying a hand on her cheek. “Selina.” She replied, smiling. By the end of the day they were married.
From deep in the dungeons of the castle, Jason thought he heard someone pounding on a wooden door. “What’s that?” He asked. “Uh…” She started, unable to find the right words to explain. She released Tommy, and he returned to the village and their farm, occasionally coming for a visit with his brother at the castle where Selina and Jason lived happily ever after.
/endrant
P.S. Dang those copywrites....HEY
...HEY
DID ANYONE CATCH MY REFERENCE?
I'm sure it will all be explained in the next couple episodes and I will be satiated, but right now I'm frankly ticked off. The first season ended at a really good point. Six leaguers had vanished for 16 hours, nefarious activities unknown. Auqalad, Robin, Superboy, Megan and the rest were all very well developed characters. Each got their moment to shine over the course of the show. One of my favorite moments was when Robin had to battle Batman and Superboy had to battle Superman. I never saw Red Arrow's secret coming.
