Zee Captain Motivator

I decided to jump into the bandwagon by entering my own funny caption into Zee Captain's speech bubble from the blank template that was created by the awesome-tastic talented

Romantically Apocalyptic (c)
Caption (c) Me

How Joe Met Jude

I made this video for a sort of montage during our wedding reception on how my hubby and I met, since we have very little photos of us together, not to mention childhood pics or pics of us being younger. I had a pretty good response from people, and I thought I'd like to share it with you guys

Disclaimer: I own everything there is to make this video except the song

Alice of Human Sacrifice

After many a week of designing, drawing, colouring and procrastinating in between, I have finally completed my first animated video ever~!!!

Dedicated to for doing my art request, for her amazing Jack/Demongo art, for her upcoming video that I requested her to do (can't wait! ^^) and with his gf as an uber belated birthday present (sorry, ottoto-chan ). Feel free to assume what sort of story is behind this video, as this is my own version of how Alice of Human Sacrifice went.

Just so you can get who is which Alice if my credits were too fast, these are the Alice-s featured:

Me as the little dream
1st Alice
2nd Alice
3rd Alice
4th Alice (along with his girl )

Just in case as well, if you can't see the lyrics in the video, here they are:

"Somewhere, there was a tiny dream. No one knew who had dreamt it.
Such a tiny dream it was. The tiny dream began to think.
'I don't want to disappear this way.
How can I make people dream of me?'
The tiny dream thought and thought, and then came up with an idea.
'I'll make humans get lost in me, and let them create the world.'"

The first Alice bravely entered Wonderland, sword in hand.
Cutting down countless creatures, she left a bright red path in her wake.
That Alice is in the forest,
Locked away like a criminal.
Aside from the path she made in the forest, there is no sign that she existed.

The second Alice meekly sang a song in Wonderland.
Spreading out countless notes, he gave birth to a mad world.
That Alice was a rose,
Shot down by a madman.
He makes one bright red flower bloom, and admired by all he withers.

The third Alice was a young girl, a beautiful figure in Wonderland.
Deceiving countless people, she created a strange country.
That Alice was the country's queen,
Possessed by a warped dream.
Fearing her decaying body, she ruled from the summit of the country.

Following the small path through the forest, having tea beneath the rosebush
The invitation card from the palace was the Ace of Hearts

The fourth Alice was twin children, entering Wonderland out of curiosity.
Passing through countless doors, they had only just recently come.
A stubborn sister and an intelligent brother.
They came the closest to being the true Alice, but...
They won't wake from their dream. They're lost in Wonderland.

Disclaimer: Aside from the art drawn to create this animated video, I do not own anything else

Doraemon: The Rumoured Ending

While I was looking through my old collection of Doraemon, I was suddenly reminded of this doujin that I read online of a so-called official ending for Doraemon drawn by a guy named Nobuo Sato and published without permission, causing a settlement of quite a sum of Japanese yen.

Throughout the years, when the group of Fujio F Fujiko decided to disband, there have been many discussions on how they should properly end the series, but was never discussed and put to action even after Fujiko's death in 1996. Below are some of the possible endings that were discussed that I got from Wiki:

• The first and the more optimistic ending was made public by Nobuo Sato several years ago. Doraemon’s battery power ran out, and Nobita was given a choice between replacing the battery inside a frozen Doraemon, which would cause it to reset and lose all memory, or await a competent robotics technician who would be able to resurrect the cat-robot one day. Nobita swore that very day to work hard in school, graduate with honours, and become that robotics technician. He successfully resurrected Doraemon in the future as a robotics professor, became successful as an A.I. developer, and thus lived happily ever after, thus relieving his progeny of the financial burdens that caused Doraemon to be sent to his space-time in the first place. A dōjin manga for this ending was made by a “Tajima T Yasue” in 2005, and it sold 13,000 copies before Shogakukan halted its publication. Tajima apologized to Shogakukan in 2007 and paid an undisclosed amount of money for settlement.
  
  
• The second, more pessimistic ending suggests that Nobita Nobi is suffering from autism and that all the characters (including Doraemon) are simply his delusion. The idea that Nobita was a sick and dying little boy who imagined the entire series on his sickbed to help him ease his pain and depression no doubt angered quite a lot of fans. Many Japanese fans staged a protest outside the headquarters of the publisher of the series after learning about this suggestion. The publisher had to issue a public statement that this is not true. (This ending actually correlates to the ending for the series St. Elsewhere, which ended in 1988.)
  
  
• The third ending suggests that Nobita fell and hit his head on a rock. He fell into a deep coma, and eventually into a semi-vegetative state. To raise money for an operation to save Nobita, Doraemon sold all the tools and devices in his four-dimensional pocket. However, the operation failed. Doraemon sold all his tools except for one used as a last resort. He used it to enable Nobita to go wherever he wanted, whichever time or era he wished to go. In the end, the very place Nobita wanted to go was heaven.

But since it was never officially put to action, they considered Doraemon a never-ending story that will live on for years to come. That's where the doujin came in, so I decided to showcase this for you guys to see. It's written in Indonesian, but translation is at the bottom of each page:

?: And now let us introduce our special guest. The leader of robotic technologies: Dr. Nobi

Nobita: Hello.

Dekisugi: Wow, Nobi-kun! The greatest founder of technology and the pride of Japan. Amazing, isn't it?

Suneo: Not as amazing as you, President Dekisugi

Giant: Isn't Nobita coming back from overseas? We should get in touch with him.

Suneo: You're right. It's been a while since we gathered together.

Dekisugi: No. That's not necessary. Today I want to discuss something with you. Do you still remember...Doraemon?

Suneo: ...Isn't it obvious that we can never forget him?

Giant: That guy...suddenly running back to the future...Doraemon...After all that we've been through, I thought we were best buds! That bastard! Just running off like this without a word!

Suneo: Calm down, forget about that...

Dekisugi: His sudden disappearance is something we have to face. But on the other hand, it's about Nobita. Have you ever heard of the "Time Paradox"?

Nobita: Doraemoooooooooooon! Borrow me that thing I used to have the last time! I really cannot stand that Giant any longer! Hey! What's wrong with you, Doraemon? Say something. Hey, Doraemon. Are you teasing me too? Or are you mad at me? Hey, Doraemon! I'm talking to you!

Nobita: ...Doraemon?

Dorami: Ummm...

Nobita: How is it, Dorami? Doraemon's not moving at all. He's been like this since just now, and hasn't changed since.

Dorami: It seems like his batteries have run out.

Nobita: His batteries ran out? So that's how it is. Well, hurry up and change it then.

Dorami: It's not that simple. Old version cat robots like my brother are supposed to have memory support circuits in his ears during times of battery change, but since he doesn't have any ears, he no longer has that support anymore. In other words, if his batteries are replaced, his memories will be erased forever, including the ones of you!

Nobita: WHAT?! DORAEMON WILL LOSE HIS MEMORIES?! I-I don't understand! He's just running out of batteries, isn't he?! If it's replaced, he should be fine, right?!

Dorami: Calm down, Nobita. All robots need energy. And even the most advanced robots can only store the most important memories, just like humans do...

Nobita: Enough! I'll take him to the factory in the future myself!

Dorami: Nobita!

BZZZT!!!

Dorami: You can't do that anymore. Interference between your timeline and ours are prohibited. When I had a bad premonition, I have tried to come over, but I was stopped by the time police. They don't even want to listen to my pleas! This has never happened before!

Nobita: Then what am I supposed to do?!

Nobita: What if I put his ears back on? His memories will return, right? He must have some gadget in his pocket for me to do so, right?

Dorami: You know that once my brother stops functioning, so will his pocket. I'm not sure if we can even proceed with such detailed modifications...

Nobita: Then call in the creator, then!

Dorami: I'm afraid the biodata of the creator is top secret. It's been highly classified and protected. Even my memories have been altered to protect that secret. Nobita...They're going to tap in to this monitor broadcast soon. Right now, we have only 2 choices. First, bring my brother to the factory in the future to replace his batteries. If we move fast, we can still get past the time police. Even though his memories are wiped out, I'm sure you can live with him again. Second, we must wait for someone from the future who can fully restore him.

Mrs. Nobi: Nobita, Doraemon! Dinner's ready!

Mr. Nobi: What's wrong?

Mrs. Nobi: They're not answering. Are they having a fight?

Nobita: .....Doraemon. You still remember the first time we met?

Nobita: It was during the New Year, right? I was so shocked at the time. You were like popping outta nowhere and said, "You're so troublesome, ne?" We've been to so many places...The future, the past...Not to mention the weird ones...Atlantis, outer space...We've had countless dangers, and you always seem to be useless when you panic. Every time I get bullied, you think of it as if it's your own problem...I never told you truthfully, but I felt so lucky. We also always fight over the smallest things! But in the end, we always get back together, right? Hey, say something, Doraemon! Just one word...Doraemon...Ugh...I beg you...Say something...

Dorami: ...Alright. I understand. I know you would never want my brother's memories of you to just disappear like that...Thank you. I'm grateful to have met you, Nobita. One day, there will be someone who can fix my brother. I'm sure of it.

Nobita: I...

NATIONAL FINALS RESULTS

Shizuka: Nobita! You're amazing! You got first for the national exams!

Dekisugi: That was close, Nobita. Now no one can top your score.

Nobita: Thanks. But it's not the scores that I want. I need knowledge. Much, much more knowledge. I still need to work hard.

Shizuka: Don't force yourself too much. You'll get sick. We haven't been to the hill behind the school for a while. Let's go have a picnic there!

Nobita: Thanks, Shizuka, but there are still more analysis I need to complete.

Kya!! It's Nobita! Nobita! Kya!!

Dekisugi: Nobita...He really has changed, huh?

Shizuka: No! That's not true! Nobita may be weak, clumsy, careless, a Peeping Tom and not malleable, but when he does something, he does it with all his heart. He also pays attention to people around him, and even though he's worse off, he keeps smiling! He's strong! Ever since Doraemon left, he's been forcing himself without complaint, bottling it all up inside! I understand his feelings! Nobita...Nobita is...

Dekisugi: Shi...Shizuka...?

Shizuka: I will make him go picnicking with me! Even if it kills me! Nobita~!!

Suneo: "Time Paradox"? The theory of time-travel contradictions due to actions that potentially change the past?

Dekisugi: Exactly, Suneo. Right now, our human race is at a standstill, isn't it? Compared to what Doraemon had shown us when we were kids, human development right now is too slow.

Giant: Oh yes, right. When we were kids, we often daydream that once we're adults, travelling through space would be a walk in the park.

Suneo: That's right! Going places with the Door to Anywhere, machines that serve food at the touch of a button, even robot servants, right?

Dekisugi: Yes, I thought of that too. That's why, as an observer, I kept on going, seriously and carefully, so that all this will become a reality, waiting for the day the "Doraemon Era" would emerge. So much in fact, that I've never joined any of your summer vacations. Do you realize that?

Giant: Dekisugi?

Dekisugi: Tonight, a discovery that will bring the entire human race to this new era in one giant leap will be done by one man. Because this is a high-risk factor that will change history and time as we know it, parties from the future reminded me that, as the most important figure in the world at this time, any interference with this discovery is prohibited.

Giant: Hey...Are you sure it's alright for you to tell us all this?

Suneo: You mean that man will be...

Dekisugi: When he was young, he made a promise...And in the end, I understood. He hadn't changed a bit...There's no doubt about it. This is a "time paradox", but in reality, this ambition and dream of the entire world was thrust into him 35 years ago.

Shizuka: ---Honey?

Nobita: Shizuka, can you come here a moment?

Shizuka: Didn't you say this place is dangerous and that I can never come in? Honey...Nobita? Dora...emon...

Nobita: I'm gonna turn him on now...

This sort of thing is good...I wish I could do it...

Doraemon: Nobita! Have you finished your homework?

Tthat sort of dream, this sort of dream, I have many of them but...All of them, all of them, all of them, He grants my dreams. He grants my dreams with a mysterious pocket...I want to fly freely in the sky

(Here! Bamboo-copter!)

Ah ah ah, I love you very much, Doraemon! I love you very much, Doraemon!

(Italics are actually exerpts from the main theme song)

From: http://lyricstranslate.com

There you have it. Isn't it just a real tear-jerker. If it had ever been actually made an ending for Doraemon, I would love it to be like this

Katsuya's Secret

Created: 02-11-2010

"Ne, Katsuya~!" Hiroshi called out, waving at me to get my attention. "Wanna go grab a smoothie and drop by the arcades? I heard there's a new game up in the stands."

"Nah, not today," I replied. "I have to go pick up my sister for tuition class."

"You sure dote on your sister a lot, na no da," Makoto commented as I walked past the group with a nonchalant smile on my face.

"Of course," Kyoko said, mirroring my response. "He singlehandedly raised her since birth, after all."

"Didn't think you had it in ya, Katsu-chan," Miki, my self-proclaimed girlfriend commented with a grin. "Being you are a bit of a juvenile delinquent and all."

"Give him a break, guys," Hiroshi defended me as he ushered me out of class. "He's not all that bad. Give him some credit there. You run along now, Katsuya. Catch ya later."

"Sure thing," I replied as I left my friends to their devices. Like I said, the arcades can wait. Manami needs me.

Heaven and hell knows, I need her too.

Without her, my life would be the utmost uncertainty and emptiness, a void that can never be filled no matter I, or anyone else, tried.

If only they knew what truth lies behind my juvenile delinquencies and misdemeanor as well as my sorry state of an attitude, along with my most undying affection and love for Manami, they would never look at or think about me the same way again.

But of course, it is a secret I'll bring to my grave.

As I made my way to Manami's class to wait for her outside, I began to remember things that I wished I forgot. I remember it was roughly around this time when it happened, when I was in 3rd grade. I have yet to come across Hiroshi, Makoto or Miki, but I definitely was in the same class with Kyoko at the time. It was right there, at the school playground when it happened. I was approached by a man who was dressed in a black suit and was about roughly 10 feet tall, with long limbs and only had a grinning mouth on his faceless features, like that of a Cheshire Cat I used to see in the Alice in Wonderland storybooks when I was younger. He was standing there, almost hidden behind the tall trees, his arms extended, his fingers curling in and out in a beckoning motion, calling me over wordlessly. I tried to tell others about his presence, but they looked at me like I was dreaming. I couldn't understand at the time why is it that I was the only one who was able to see him, but I did.

Common sense told me I should make a run for it, but curiosity and adventure got the better of me as I answered his beckoning call. Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I know I shouldn't be going towards the weird man, that I should turn back and run to the nearest adult I can find, but my body was not listening to me, as if the other part of my mind, the more dominant one, was telling me that it was alright, that the man wouldn't hurt me, that he will just show me something interesting and be on his way.

Once I was in the man's embrace, I soon learnt the hard way that my common sense was right all along. By the time I realized it, I found myself in a dark room adorned with candles everywhere. The canopy bed I was sitting on was blood red in colour, as were everything else in the room, with a hint of black in between. It was like being brought from the bright, colourful world I came from into a world that existed in the Twilight Zone. The worst part was that I found myself naked and my right ankle chained to the foot of the bed. It was long enough for me to reach the bathroom or walk about the room, but only just.

The door of the room I was in was constantly locked, and no matter how I screamed and banged and pull and tugged at the door knob, it would not open. Whoever was outside fell on deaf ears upon my cries to be released. It only opened whenever it was meal times and I was fed with the richest food any kid wished they had the money to buy. Every day and night I was served of my meals by the man in black suit, but he would not tell me where I was or what I was doing here. All my questions were only answered by a wide grin on his face that would probably rival the famous kuchisake-onna and a comforting embrace that I couldn't help relaxing into, no matter how much I resisted. Up close, I realize that I was right about his faceless features: he really didn't have any other facial organs other than his mouth; bald, no eyes, no nose, no ears and only one huge grinning mouth that displayed razor-sharp jagged teeth, it was a wonder he was even able to breathe, let alone able to see and navigate at all. I named him 'Kuro' because of his black suit, and he didn't seem to mind the nickname I gave him. There was something about this man that I feared so much, yet also adore and admire at the same time. It was a very conflicting emotion for me at that age, but I continued to cling on that emotion in the hopes that I will still retain my sanity and get out of this place alive.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months turned to years. By then, I had almost forgotten how people looked like anymore. Kuro was my only regular visitor, and sometimes he would bring me things from my world so that I would still be in touch with it and not feel so homesick. He brought most of my things from home, including my favourite cap that I always wore—a gift from my father when my parents finally had the time from their hectic work schedule to take me out to celebrate my 6th birthday—and he also brought a photo frame containing a family photo of us. I think he did that so that I will have someone to remember by, though he never said it. He would bring me clothes as well, but mostly just huge T-shirts and underwear supplies, and he also would bring me toys and books to read—the biggest toy being a trampoline in which I would leap and jump on it for about a couple of hours just to keep myself in shape from all the rich food I've been eating—and sometimes let me have some stationeries to write and draw on to pass the time, and on my birthday, he would bring in a small cake with candles along with my meals, which was how I kept track of time other than the worn off calendar at my bedside.

Aside from the usual meals, once a week, Kuro would take me outside to catch some sun, in which he would blindfold me and carry me up what felt like a long flight of stairs up to the top, put me down, undid my blindfold and held onto the chain on my anklet and let me roam around the area, never letting me go any further. The first time I came here, I was terrified at the sight that was before me. I found out that I was in some sort of lighthouse tower that overlooked the horizon, and beneath us were fields of red and black, with patches of fire and hills of volcanoes here and there, as if I was in the pits of the 7 Gates of Hell itself. There were beings flying about in the sky that looked like gargoyles I've read in comic books, but much more demonic-looking than that. The reality of me no longer in the human world dawned to me and hit me like a ton of bricks and brought back my age-old fear and my desire to escape, but with me being at Kuro's mercy, it was a futile attempt. There have been a few times when I tried, but I always ended up being at the short end of the leash and being embraced by Kuro again into submission.

Probably the day I finally accepted Kuro as someone who was more than my captor was during one of our outdoor sessions. I was looking up at the sky at the gargoyle-like demons, thinking of my family and friends and trying to formulate another way to try and escape from this place when one of them actually caught me staring. Whatever I was doing must've either offended him or made him thought I was tasty, because in a split second, he was swooping down towards me and tried to attack me, but Kuro jumped in the way and, with a swipe of his hand, stabbing the demon through and through before hugging me close to his chest and brought me back to my room, locking me in. I could hear sounds of blood-curdling screeching and crashing and the loud bangs of body crashing, fist punching and things breaking, like all hell had broken loose. By the time he returned, he was covered with wounds and his suit was torn and tattered from the fight, but still maintained his Cheshire Cat grin. I didn't know what came over me at the time, but I immediately fell into his arms and cried, apologizing profusely over and over again, and I could've sworn Kuro was stroking my hair and back, trying to calm me down before I fell asleep in his embrace.

Since that day, as I helped tend to his wounds to the best of my abilities, my need to leave decreased bit by bit until I no longer thought about escaping. I slowly began to get used to this routine of receiving my meals in my room and going out for sun once a week and I got used to my one-sided conversation with Kuro as he continued to pamper and care for me in his own weird, mysterious ways. My heart had resigned to the fate that I would never—to be more exact, would never want to—leave this place.

This was my home now, among these four red walls and the lighthouse tower, and this was where I would stay for the rest of my life.

Then one fateful day, when I was 18 years old, Kuro came to my room for my usual outdoor sun, but as I was blindfolded and carried (it was a wonder he still had the strength to carry me) out of my room, I felt that the route he was taking was different than our usual route. Years of experience with Kuro told me that we were not going upwards, but downwards, and the deeper we went down, the more my heart was pounding, and by the time Kuro had stopped, I was already in tears, begging Kuro to take me back upstairs and back to my room. Unfortunately, Kuro fell deaf to my pleas and set me down the floor despite my resistance and undid my blindfold, although I could feel from his touches that he seemed reluctant to do so.

What stood before me was the biggest and tallest gargoyle-like creature I have ever seen. From the books that Kuro brought me to read, one of them being about the creatures of the world I was kidnapped into, they were something of a distant cousin of the incubus/succubus clan that were cast down from the youkai realm because of their bloodlust tendencies and their habit of sucking the life force of their own kind in addition to the human life force, like an incubus/succubus version of cannibals. The one before me looked like he could probably be the head honcho of the clan and one look at his feral eyes and I knew I was in for a world of hurt, maybe death.

He towered over me like a giant, but he couldn't be more than a few inches taller than Kuro. He was fully nude and his member was fully erected, dripping with pre-cum, and I wasn't that naïve to not know his intentions. I tried to run away, tried to go back up the stairs and call Kuro for help, but the creature overpowered me as he grabbed me by the ankles and pulled me towards him, dragging me across the rough rocky floor. I kicked and screamed and shouted and struggled to no avail as the monster…had his way with me, tearing off my clothes into ribbons and entering me with such force and size that he was almost going to split me in half, and his hands and tongue that roamed around me made me feel so much dirtier than any common whore on the streets. I screamed Kuro's name again and again, begging him to save me and I cried until my voice was hoarse at the creature to stop what he was doing, but my cries fell into deaf ears and Kuro didn't come to rescue like he did during the day at the tower.

I didn't know how long time has passed, but by the time the monster was done with me, I was covered with his essence inside and out and I passed out from sheer trauma. When I came to, Kuro was right beside me with medication for my sores. I wanted to scream at him and hit out at him for allowing all this to happen and not come to my rescue, to tell him that he was a bastard for letting that monster rape me and to tell him to get the hell out and not to show his face ever, but the pain that coursed throughout my whole body was holding me back from my intentions.

But that wasn't why I did not lash out at him.

It was because as I glared at him, he wasn't sporting his usual Cheshire Cat grin. In fact, it was the biggest, saddest frown I've ever seen from him. He never frowned, not once, and there he was, his upside-down smile showing whatever sadness, guilt and remorse he could ever portray that the rest of his face could not.

That night was probably the longest I've cried in his arms, because by the next time I woke up, I no longer have the urge to blame Kuro.

I understood then that Kuro was something of a slave or servant to the huge creature and he was just following orders, whether he wanted it or not. But it still didn't make the next few times the creature needed to satisfy his lust on me any better.

The moment I had my first signs of morning sickness, I realized the whole purpose of me being here. Kuro, out of all the little children he had surveyed and kidnapped, chose me out of forced obligation and servitude towards the creature to become the creature's breeding mate. Kuro had decided that somehow my physiology was compatible with the creature to carry his spawn and was force to allow him to impregnate me. From what I understand from Kuro's attempted teachings, the creature was one in a few generations that was able to impregnate a person regardless the gender and had the sick sense of humour to choose human males to do it. The moment I conceived, an artificial womb and a temporary birth canal had formed within me to allow my body to carry the spawn to term. I was horrified at first and wanted nothing more than to get that child out of me, but Kuro stopped quite many of my attempts until I understood the fact that if I were to do anything to the spawn, not only it wouldn't solve the problem, because the creature would rape me all over again, but it would get my best and only friend in trouble.

But it didn't mean I gave Kuro a bit of hell just to make myself feel better, and I have a feeling that Kuro didn't mind, as long as I didn't do anything stupid.

Apparently the gestation period was roughly 6 months, because during my usual outdoor session, I was suddenly hit with birth pangs so strong, I could've sworn I was being hit by a freight train. Kuro carried me all the way to my room and helped me with the birth as much as he wordlessly could. I was bloody hell clueless as to what I was supposed to do, but my body seemed to take over somehow, as if it knew what to do as the urge to push came quite naturally. Painfully, but naturally. Whenever I pushed down as hard as I could, Kuro would use the back of his bloody palm to stroke my thigh and calf as his way of encouraging me to keep going. At the back of my mind, I have come to fully understand how pregnant women—especially my mother—had to go through as I cursed, swore and cried throughout the entire birth, pushing down like never before. My heart leapt with joy and relief as I could feel the spawn—my child—moving down and popping its head out of my birth canal despite the excruciating pain, and by the time I felt the shoulders coming out, I was pushing and pushing, not stopping until it slid out of me and started wailing as it took its first gulps of air.

To my utmost relief, Kuro revealed to me that the baby was a very beautiful human girl. She had the blackest hair and the brightest green eyes I've ever seen, and whatever reservations I had for this child while she was still in me were out of the window as I took her in my arms and kissed her over and over again, crying happy tears. As I held her close, I could hear footsteps closing in towards my room, and my sinking heart was telling me that the father of my child has probably heard wind of my birth and was coming down to see his spawn. I didn't know what it was, but something deep down inside me was burning painfully in my chest, a very bad omen, telling me that the creature would not like what he sees and will kill her. I couldn't allow that to happen! I couldn't! Never mind how this child came to being, she is my daughter, my flesh and blood, my child! I could not allow him to kill my child I've carried inside for the past 6 months! I could tell from the slight downward curl of Kuro's face that our thoughts were mutual.

"Help me…please…" I begged Kuro, and the last thing I saw was Kuro nodding slightly before embracing me.

When I came to, I found myself in my own room of the apartment I was born and raised in the human world, fully clothed in my jammies and laying on the futon on the tatami floor. My body ached a bit from the birth but it didn't deter me from trying to get up. My little girl was nowhere to be seen, and I searched frantically for her, worried that the creature had gotten to her, that Kuro couldn't save us in time and the creature had returned me home after being done with me. I didn't care that I was screaming the whole apartment down; I just wanted to find my baby.

"Hey, hey, easy there, Katsuya," I heard my mother's voice in the midst of my rambling. "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"My baby! Where's my baby? I want my baby! Have you seen my baby?" I was getting hysterical.

"Baby? What are you talking about?" my mother's tone sounded ludicrous, then let out an amused chuckle. "You're only 3 and you're already thinking of having kids? Silly boy. If you mean your sister, she's at the nursery. Have you forgotten? You tucked her in yourself."

I looked at my mother like she had just announced that the end of the world was coming. It was then I realized when I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror that I was no longer 18 years old, but as a 3-year-old. It was as if I had just been given some sort of shrinking serum and got sent back through time where I never left home and that whatever happened to me was just a dream.

"Th…That's impossible! I…I was kidnapped by…by this man in black suit…I named him Kuro! I was gone for years! And…And then I was raped by a youkai and I had a child…a little girl…!"

"Wait, wait, wait, have you been watching those porno horror flicks again?" my mother stopped me and glared towards the direction of the master bedroom. "I told your father to put those away, but does he listen? No~! He had to corrupt his only son!" she reached over to hold me close, "It's alright, darling. Everything's fine. You just had a very weird nightmare, that's all. That's it, I'm telling your father to burn those trash. No more of those porno horror flicks for you, young man."

As she tucked me in and kissed me goodnight, I stole a look at the digital clock beside me. The date showed the day I was kidnapped by Kuro, and the time showed that it was a little towards midnight. The day I was kidnapped by Kuro was roughly midday, and I was in 3rd grade—9 years old at the time—and now I'm back home, in my own bed, in my own home and years younger than I should. It was as if those years with Kuro had never happened and whatever I had experienced in that youkai world was all just a dream.

But I knew, from the dull pain between my legs and my aching joints, that this was not a dream.

I got up slowly and made my way to the nursery. Sure enough, in the baby cot, was my little girl. I'd recognize her anywhere. Her black hair, her green eyes as she fluttered them open a little while before going back to sleep and her tiny frame, and the familiar feeling when I carried her in my arms told me she was there, she was real, and she was my daughter.

Except now, due to whatever Kuro had done to save me, she was now my sister.

I'm sure by now, you'd understand where I'm going.

That night, as the clock struck 12, I whispered into my little girl's ear her name. A name that did her beauty justice. A name that immediately came to being the moment I uttered it.

"Manami. Manami Kimura. My daughter."

I never knew what happened to Kuro after that incident, but I knew that whatever he did, he did it to save me. My parents never knew the truth, and it seemed that their memories and thoughts were altered to believe that Manami was their little girl and had always been there since the day she was "born" into this family. As for me, I am now a 26-year-old trapped in a body of a growing 11-year-old. Before I went to grade school (again), everyone thought I was mature beyond my years and that I would grow up to be a genius, now everyone saw me as a troubled juvenile delinquent who would break rules just for the fun and satisfaction of it, but they did not, and would not, understand that I did it because I was entitled to, that I was doing whatever I had missed out so much throughout my actual childhood. My grades were crappy because I couldn't care less about them. In all truth, I'm not supposed to be in school anymore, but I am. At my real age right now, I should be in college, or a salaryman at the very least, but I never had a decent education when I was in the youkai world despite being able to read much better and more than anyone else in my class, so I probably would qualify for neither. They said I was perverted because I am only interested in buxom girls, but the truth is I never had a single girlfriend in my life, my real life, and I've always wondered how it feels like to be in the arms of a real woman instead of being reminded all the time that I was raped by a youkai, and a man at that. I wanted to break free, explore, have fun, experience the thrill and danger of the human world that I never had the chance to do when I was in captivity, and if it means breaking a few rules, so be it. Kyoko had caught me smoking and boozing once behind the school backyard, and I got in trouble for it, but technically I was old enough to do all those things. I am pretty much an adult after all.

The only person that kept me grounded was Manami.

As I watched her grow up, from a nursing baby to a tottering toddler to a bouncy kindergartener to finally a cute, innocent 2nd grader, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to make her safe and happy. My workaholic parents served as an advantage, more or less, to me because I could raise her with my own hands, and love her like a mother should, though my size as a child had its disadvantages. My heart would sometimes ache when I hear her call me "Oni-chan" instead of "Oka-san". I really wished she would call me that, but it was wishful thinking.

Besides, who would ever believe that an 11-year-old boy is actually a mother to an 8-year-old girl?

I see Kuro sometimes, like I am seeing him now as I continued to wait for Manami to finish her class. I can see him there, hiding behind the trees in plain sight, surrounded by oblivious people and sporting that same old Cheshire Cat grin on his face. The first time I saw him again was on Manami's 1st birthday, and he had a huge scar that ran across his face, and it was one of those gouging scars that would not heal even through time. He was there to give me back my cap, and he gave Manami a set of hair ribbons that she wore on her two pigtails even till now. He never told me why he shrunken me into an age I was not supposed to be and why did he take me back through time and brainwash my parents into thinking Manami was theirs all along, but it didn't matter anymore. Manami was with me, and she was safe from the creature who sired her, and that's all I could ask for. Kuro would visit me from time to time, but always watching from afar, never coming close anymore since the day he gave me back my cap. Sometimes he was there to serve as a warning that someone from the youkai world I was kidnapped into was sent to find me and Manami, so I often managed to escape unscathed and luckily never have to cross paths with them. My friends, however, were not so lucky. I have a feeling that some of the supernatural encounters that my friends had were originally directed to me, but thanks to Kuro, they had to suffer my sins.

I feel bad for them, really, but I cannot allow that creature to take away my Manami.

"Oni-chan~!"

I smiled as I approached the door of the classroom. I turned back for a moment to see that Kuro was gone. Manami came out in all smiles as she quickly hugged me and took my hand.

"How was class today?" I asked.

"Boring as usual," she replied. "But I'll get over it. You are a sight for sore eyes."

"You know you have tuition later, right?"

"Aww~ Can't we just play hookie? Just this once?"

"Manami…" I warned, but I was beaten to it by Manami's puppy eyes.

"Please~? Oni-chan, please~?"

Those eyes. Those sparkling green eyes. How could I resist?

"Alright, just this once. But don't tell Mom and Dad though. You know how they feel about your education."

"I won't tell if you won't."

"Deal. So, where shall we go then?"

"I want a sundae~!"

"Hai, hai, sundae it is then."

If Nube, the all-seeing spiritual teacher, couldn't even see through my façade and discover the real me, even with his oni-no-te, no one could ever will.

The world may not, and will never know, that Manami is my daughter.

The Hyaku Monogatari of Domori High

Created: 01-02-2004

The lights of the school hall were out. The whole place was dark as the inky blackness engulfed the open space. The only light that could be seen in the entire darkness was the luminous glow of 100 candles in the center of the school hall.

It was the annual (actually prohibited) 100 ghost story camp party. It was actually Miki’s idea to hold this camp party because she doesn’t give a damn about the dangers that might happen to her gang. Everybody was there; all 100 of them, including their favorite teacher, Nueno Meizuke @ Nube. It was surprising Nube agreed to let them come over to school to hold this totally restricted event; he was a very strict teacher (sometimes) and would never do something against the rules, unless necessary or forced to.

Overall, they were all present. None of them wanted to miss the thrilling moment. Though scared to the bone, they carried on with the ghost story-telling. Majority of the candles were blown out, as it is said in the rules that after every ghost story told, the story- teller has to blow out the candle he or she is holding. The only candles left now were 6, all belonged to Kyoko Inaha, Miki Hosokawa, Hiroshi Tateno, Katsuya Kimura, Makoto Kurita & Nube. Now it was Kyoko’s turn to tell her tale.

“My story started when I was 5 years old. I was at my kindergarten playing with some toy blocks while waiting for my parents to come and fetch me. Suddenly, I heard someone crying somewhere in one of the classroom. I went to investigate and I saw a little girl at about 3 sitting near the window crying and whimpering. I thought she was one of the junior students, so I walked towards her and asked, ‘Are you alright? Why are you crying?’

“‘My Mummy… she… she didn’t come and pick me…’ she sobbed, ‘I waited for so long but she never came… I was hurt… hurt so bad… and yet she didn’t come to save me…’

“What a cruel mother! I thought, who does she think she is?! She mentioned that she was hurt, so I asked, ‘You said you were hurt, can I help you?’ She didn’t answer. I repeated my question and she whispered, ‘You… can help… me…?’

“‘Yes, anything. Just name it!’

The kid slowly looked up and sneered, ‘Then… can you find… MY EYES?!’

“I got the shock of my life at what I saw in front of me. She doesn’t have any eyes at all; she only had black, empty sockets that were so spookily hollow, and she was crying tears of blood! I ran for my dear life away from that ghastly girl but I could feel her chasing me, crying, ‘MY EYES! MY EYES! YOU SAID YOU’LL HELP ME FIND MY EYES!!!’ When I finally saw my mom waiting for me outside the gate, I was so relieved. I turned around to see if the girl was still chasing me but she was no longer there. I couldn’t even answer when my mom asked me what happened because I was in critical shock.”

Kyoko shivered as she finished her tale, “After I graduated from that kindergarten years later, I finally learnt the truth about the girl: she was waiting for her mother to fetch her when the kindergarten janitor was under a schizophrenic-seizure and mindlessly attacked her, digging her eyes out of her sockets. She was also unluckily alone at that time, so when her mother finally got there, it was too late.”

After finishing her tale, she blew out her candle with relief that she had finally let it all out. Everybody had a chill running down their spine after listening to Kyoko’s frightening tale. Only Nube let out a low chuckle and said, “Nice story, Kyoko. I’m sure everyone had a chilling thrill. Now, who’s next?”

“I am,” voiced out Katsuya, trying to sound as brave and as scary as possible. “Now, my story goes way back when I was about my sister’s age (8 years old). My father was assigned on a business trip and I was taken along with him. I had the time of my life; enjoying the cool, refreshing swimming pool, playing at the resort playground and the like, while my dad busied himself with his meetings with important people. One night, I realized that I couldn’t sleep because I have intoxicated myself silly with the 3-in-1 coffee packets in the hotel room. I got such a headache that I decided to go downstairs to get myself some ice from the ice-vending machine for my head.

“I got into the lift, press the 2nd floor button and waited. Although I had a slightly bad feeling about this, my headache forced me to ignore it. I finally got the ice and was proceeding to the lift once more when I heard a sound, a very peculiar sound. It sounded somewhat like a dragging noise; as if someone or something was dragging the upper half of his body across the floor. The sound became nearer and nearer until I was terribly agitated. The lift was abnormally slow and the bucket of ice was rattling because of my shivering.

“When the door of the lift finally opened, my eyes almost popped out of my sockets. In front of me was the lower part of the body of a man, slumping on the wall of the lift. The waistline was covered with blood with the spine grotesquely snapped. The flesh around it was still oozing with yet more blood. I was speechless, backing away with terror. At that moment, I suddenly felt the chill just right beside me. I turned to look and saw the torso of (probably) the same person: just the torso without the head, only the handless arms dragging it, leaving long streaks of blood starting from the hallway.

“That was it; I screamed and flung the bucket of ice away as I took the stairs straight to my room. I didn’t even stop to rest until I saw my room number in gold. I quickly slammed the door shut and locked it. I closed all the windows and all the other doors, including the bathroom. Then, finally feeling secure and safe, I lied on my bed, my headache all forgotten. I looked at the ceiling and I turned blue (I think) when I saw the head of that severed-body man suspended in mid-air, grinning at me…”

Everyone became intense at hearing his story. One of them suddenly asked in the midst of the thick silence, almost making everyone jump, “Then… what happened?”

“I don’t really remember after that, I think I must have fainted. But then I remembered my dad told me when I got back into my senses that he saw me sprawled on the ground, all covered with blood and he noticed something black and luminous penetrating the window and out into the darkness…”

Katsuya finally blew out his candle with a mysterious puff. Miki suddenly asked, “What’s the resort you’re staying again?”

“I think it’s somewhere near Chillingham,” he replied.

“No wonder! Don’t you know that place was once a torture dome where people get their bodies chopped off and thrown all over the place? Some business trip you’re going!”

“And what’s your tale, Miki?” asked Nube, after a long silence from him, “Care to share it with the rest of us?”

“Boy, have I got a story for you!” cried Miki indignantly. She was the best story-teller in the whole class, not to mention ghost stories. “My story started when I was about 10 years old. I was walking home from school when I noticed a black-robed man handing me a brochure of some sort before walking away silently. When I looked at the brochure I was thrilled to see that a carnival was going to be held at the recently burnt-down building. You guys do remember about the fire back then, right? It was nasty, I tell you! Fire burning, people screaming and running, trying to escape. Anyway, I was so happy about the opening of the carnival that I didn’t know what was ahead.

“The next day, after school, I dashed to the carnival straight away, for I didn’t want to miss even one single event in store there. I tried everything; the merry-go-round, the Ferris Wheel, the roller-coaster, the horseback ride… everything! I had such a good time that I lost track of time. When I finally had my fill and I was about to leave while enjoying my ice-cream cone, my mother called me suddenly, knocking me out my senses, ‘Miki! Where have you been? I have been looking for you everywhere!”

“‘Mom! Did you see me? I was having so much fun! That carnival was way cool! I gotta come here again! Please, Mom, can I?’

“‘Carnival? You mean this burnt-down house is a carnival?!’ I turned around to see that she was actually right; there stood the black, sooty house, burned down to smithereens. The ground beneath it was also black with burnt soot. It was so eerie-looking, that I couldn’t believe that it was the carnival I just went.

“‘But, Mom!’ I protested, ‘It was a carnival just now! I was here before! Look! I even bought one of their ice-cream!’ I held out my ice-cream and both my mom and I screamed, for what I was holding was actually a batch of rotten flesh stuck onto a wooden stick…”

Miki then, with a cool attitude, blew off the candle, as if she just finished telling a simple fairy-tale, while the other students shivered with fear and disgust. Nube clapped his hands with a wide smile and exclaimed, “Bravo! Bravo, Miki! Nice story! Now, who’s next?”

“Me, me, me! My turn!” Hiroshi called out, waving his arm frantically. Nube nodded, allowing him to start.

“This story happened when I was 12 years old. My cousin was having a Christmas party at his new home that time. We were really bored after having our Christmas dinner and we were suggesting to each other what are we suppose to pass our time when my uncle suggested a game of hide-and-seek. He altered the rules by saying that once the ‘Catcher’ has found everybody, he or she must gather them to one spot and count their heads to see if everyone is there. He also said that we must play this game in the dark to make the game even more challenging.

“After all said and done, we picked the longest stick to see who will be the ‘Catcher’. I, unfortunately, am the one. When I started counting to 10, everyone’s footsteps were pitter-pattering about, obviously looking for a place to hide. Finally I finished counting and started looking. I found the first 3 and went on searching. When I came across the door which led to the basement (my uncle always warned me about not barging in to prevent from falling down), I noticed an outline of a girl crouching down. I yelled, ‘Found you!’ and pulled her up. She giggled as I half-dragged her to the place where I gathered the other 3. I asked her, ‘What’s your name?’ She replied, ‘Aino Udegawa.’

“Finally, after much effort, I gathered everybody. I counted them in the dark by touching their heads.

“‘10, 11, 12, 13! 13 of you! Hah, I’ve got everyone of you!’ I exclaimed in delight. Suddenly everyone was eerily silent, not seemingly fun at all. ‘What? What is it? Why are you all so silent?’

“‘Are you sure you didn’t accidentally counted yourself? Because excluding you, there are only 12 of us.’ My uncle said uneasily.

“‘Of course I’m sure! I’ve counted everybody, including Aino Udegawa!’

“Soon, everyone was beginning to move to the fireplace in a hurry. I was puzzled. My uncle took me aside and said, ‘Hiroshi dear, you’d better be sure about what you said. You know how your aunt feels about telling lies…’

“‘I swear I’m telling the truth! I saw that Aino girl and I brought her to the gathering spot, although her arm does feel a little chilly.’

“‘Hiroshi, I don’t know where you heard it from, but I want you to forget it. Aino Udegawa was the daughter of the previous owner of this house. She was also playing hide-and-seek with her friends in the dark and she fell down from that basement stairs and broke her neck. She died on that very spot.’ ”

Hiroshi blew out his candle. Everyone began to feel chilly all of a sudden but decided to ignore it. They were too anxious to hear the second last story from Makoto. Nube turned to him without a word, gesturing him for his turn with a nod. Makoto got the cue and began, bringing his candle closer to himself.

“My spooky tale started when I just moved in to this area. It was a lovely house really; a double-storeyed house with a very exotic air lingering around. The best of it all is that it has a swing in the backyard. I was so thrilled with the swing that I played with it every single day after school. I had to be forced back in the house, or else I might just spend the night out there.

“One day, as I rushed back home to enjoy my swing, I noticed a boy sitting on it. His eyes were sort of blank, like looking straight ahead like that of a blind child. I assumed that he was until he looked up and greeted me. I made friends with him immediately and we began spending most of our time at the swing.

“Slowly, the swing became an obsession. Sometimes I refused to go inside the house for fear that the boy would walk away and I’ll never see him again. My parents had enough of me and grounded me in my room. From my room, I could see the boy sitting on the swing waiting for me. I wanted so badly to go out there and play with him, but they even hired a baby-sitter to guard me.

“That night, I heard the boy calling out my name. That was the first time I ever heard him speak. My door opened by itself and soon, I found myself in the backyard, the boy smiling at me on the swing. I ran to him and we played until at last I felt myself soaring in the air. Then, everything went black.

“When I woke up, I found myself lying on bed with a monk praying and chanting by my side. My head was bandaged and I couldn’t move. When he finished praying, he took my worried parents aside, but I could hear what he was saying. He said that the son of the previous owner broke his skull when he accidentally fell off the swing that was at my backyard. He was a very lonely boy with workaholic parents, and it actually took a week for the parents to come back and find his rotting body at the backyard. The boy obviously wanted to take my life so that I can be his friend for eternity. The monk also apologized, saying that he was unable to exorcise the boy for his aura was too strong for him to battle. We moved from the house the very next week.”

Makoto blew out his candle with a sorry look on his face. It was clear that he missed and pitied the boy after leaving the house for so long. Nube clapped his hands, congratulating everyone in the hall for sharing their spooky tales. Nube picked up his candle and said in a low tone, “Kids, do you know why the 100th ghost story camp party was banned?”

“Because grown-ups want to take away all our fun?” Miki chortled in sarcasm.

“Legend has it,” Nube replied, ignoring Miki’s obnoxious remark, “that when every time the 100th ghost story is finished, the jinn of the Dead will carry these 99 souls into the Land of the Dead where they’ll never leave, no matter what exit they went into. Usually the 100th ghost story-teller will be the jinn himself.”

Everybody finally felt the chill that has been surrounding them all this time. Nube grinned an evil grin and said, “Well, kids. Here goes my story. One night, there was a group of students, all 99 of them with their teacher sat together and shared 100 ghost stories among themselves. Suddenly the jinn of the Dead popped out of nowhere and tugged the souls out of their bodies, leaving them sprawled dead on the ground. In the end, they were all trapped in the Land of the Dead, undergoing torture after torture for eternity.”

Nube blew out his candle. It seemed like a pointless story but the students were really shivering in fright. For they saw another replica of Nube standing at the door of the hall, looking severe and scary with his arms folded. They cowered to one side, praying for their dear lives.

“Have you done enough story-telling, jinn? If you do, then taste my wrath!!”

The Nube from the door of the hall raced towards the candle-holding Nube without warning and slashed his Ghost Hand at him. By that time, the students realized that the Nube with the candle had the black glove to hide his Ghost Hand was on another direction. That Nube revealed his true self and withered into nothingness. Then silence. It was peaceful again.

“Nube! We’re so glad to see you!” Everyone cheered and ran towards their beloved teacher. With one swipe, Nube knocked everyone’s head with his knuckles.

“How many times have I told you?! This type of camp party is banned! Now look what have you got yourselves into?! Hm?? What do you have to say for yourselves?”

“Sorry, Nube…” They all said in unison.

“Sorry won’t get you anywhere! You are to write an essay of apology in about 200-300 words and pass it up tomorrow! That’ll teach you a lesson for goofing around. If it weren’t for my night-shift, I can’t imagine what would happen to you guys!”

“Yes, sir.” They said in unison again before leaving gloomily away from the school hall.

“Actually, … I have to thank you kids too. Because I’ve been trying to exorcise that jinn for quite sometime now.”

“You WHAT?!” Everyone turned to him, beginning to crack their knuckles.

“Hey, n-n-no need to g-g-get so ex-ex-excited…” Nube stammered, backing away in a hurry.

“Pulverize him!!!” Katsuya yelled. Everyone ran to the fleeing Nube.

The whole school was filled with bashing noises and blood curdling screams.

The Beast Within

Created: 27-10-2010

Belle gasped in horror as she saw the condition of the castle. The whole place was ransacked, like a storm of the worst kind just hit. All the enchanted servants were in pieces, some even barely recognizable, and the rest who seemed to have survived the attack suffered great damage, some of them beyond repair. The village mob had really done a number on them.

Though as much as it pained her to see her friends turned into collateral damage and casualties of war, the only thought that was racing through her mind right now was The Beast.

She quickly made her way to the West Wing where The Beast's sanctuary was. There, the bruised and battered trio Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth were standing just right at the door of the verandah. Chip, who had followed her along with Maurice, hopped excitedly towards his mother only to freeze in mutual horror at what they were looking at.

"Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts! Where is The…"

Her words were caught in her throat as she, too, froze at the sight before her. The Beast, or what was left of his body, was lying in his own pool of blood, soaked by the falling rain and macabrely immobile. His head was gone, looped off clean from his neck. His body showed signs of stab wounds everywhere, and the fatal blow seemed to be directly at his heart.

But that was not the worst part.

The worst part was Gaston, the man who riled up the village to storm the castle and devastated this place, was there, standing before The Beast's body in all his full gloating glory as he held the head of her Beast she had come to see as a dear friend after the few short months of staying with him with one hand and the offending weapon that struck the final blow with the other.

"G…Gaston…" Belle looked like she had just remembered to breathe. "W…What have you done…?"

"You should ask that question yourself, Marion Belle," Gaston replied with a triumphant grin as he stepped over The Beast's body and advanced towards her.

"You…You killed him…" Belle whimpered, her knees shaking from the shock.

"You have only yourself to blame," Gaston kicked aside the enchanted servants and shoved The Beast's head at her face. "You brought this upon yourself. You should've been sensible and chose me. Instead, you chose this monster over me! What do you see in this abomination that I don't have?"

"I told you, Gaston!" Belle snapped as she glared back up at him with teary eyes, as if that could intimidate the brawny man. "He's not a monster! You are! You are rude and conceited and care about nothing but yourself! You don't love me! You just want to own me! I will never love you! Never!"

"How dare you?" Gaston threw the hunting knife aside and grabbed her by the collar, raising her a few inches off the ground like a rag doll, kicking harshly at the trio who tried to free her from his grasp. "Are you saying that you would rather love this…this creature than me?"

As soon as he said that, something in Belle's mind finally clicked. It all made sense now: the flutter of her heart whenever she saw The Beast's gentle side, the way her face warmed up whenever The Beast spoke to her instead of roaring at her, the way she sighed quietly in content whenever The Beast touched her or caressed her, the smile she returned whenever The Beast does so without trying to scare her with his fangs…everything. It was the undeniable truth that she had only discovered too late.

"Yes," Belle replied indignantly. "Yes, I love him. I love The Beast. I love him more than I could ever even think of considering you!"

Gaston looked like he had just been slapped on the face before his eyes narrowed into jilted anger, the same eyes he had when Belle rejected his marriage proposal the first time.

"You will regret ever saying this, Belle."

-:-

Belle curled on the bed at the corner of her cell with her back against the wall and her arms around her knees as she stared blankly into the darkness. She didn't need to calculate the days to know that tonight would be the night Gaston comes over for his monthly "visits".

Her first few months in Asylum de Loon were torture. She and her father Maurice were diagnosed with post-traumatic diminished capacity thanks to the manipulative words of the village hero Gaston who so-called saved his people from the terrifying Beast. He managed to convince the people that due to being held captive for so long by The Beast, they have been brainwashed into thinking that The Beast was anything but dangerous, and must be cured of this insanity. The medication, shock therapy, cold water treatment and counseling quickly drove the agitated old Maurice into real craziness and was now nothing but a shell of his former self as he walked about staring into space like a drooling madman and could only utter Belle's name like a mantra.

Belle was no better off as she was always dreading the mid-month when Gaston pays a visit to her, in addition to her daily "healing" by the asylum staff. Every month he would visit her in her cell, taunting her and constantly reminding her how everything was her fault and that he could take this all away if she would just admit that she loved him and not The Beast, and agree to marry him. And every time she said no, he would pin her down and have his way with her, raping her until she was sore and raw before the cycle continued again the very next month.

Her mind wandered to the days she was back in the castle, and if she concentrated hard enough she was practically there, sipping tea through Chip and listening to old tales of the castle told by Mrs. Potts, or be at the garden tending to Phillipe as she laughed at the bickering Lumiere and Cogsworth over petty differences, or in the library as she and Babette would dust and reorganize the books or maybe even at the greenhouse enjoying the scenery with the footrest dog Max circling around her feet.

But most of all, she would be there with The Beast, enjoying a quiet meal at the dining table, throwing snowballs in the front yard, reading a good book by the fire, exchanging stories about each other's past and lives before they met over a cup of hot cocoa, dancing under the chandelier in the ballroom, idle chats at the verandah…everything that she had done with The Beast during her "captivity" was relived again in her mind, and she couldn't help smiling at the memories even though her tears were starting to fall.

Images of seeing The Beast's headless body and the enchanted servants' faces of horror resurfaced again in her mind. Her heart ached at the thought of how she could not save him in time, that she had gotten there too late and even after his death, she continued to betray him by allowing herself to be touched and ravished by the man who murdered him. Despite the relieving fact that she has yet to be knocked up (which may hint to Gaston's impotency despite his brawniness) by him did not make her becoming his sexual outlet any better. She felt so dirty, like a whore, as she was being used again and again with no one to save her from all this.

It's my fault, Belle thought as she buried her face on her knees and cried for the umpteenth time. I couldn't save you, Beast. If only I've gotten there sooner…Gaston's right, it is my…

Her heart started to boil with cold anger at the thought. Gaston was not right. He was never right. He was never right about anything. It's true that she did not come in time to save her beloved Beast, but she did not kill him. Gaston did. He was the one who stormed in and beat The Beast into submission before delivering that fatal blow and cut off his head. It was his fault! He did this to her beloved! Gaston!

"You have a visitor."

Belle looked up to see the old bag of bones leading the ever smug brawn-with-no-brains Gaston. Lefou, his trusty sidekick, did the usual payoff to the old caretaker before ushering him out, taking his leave as well.

"Good evening, Belle. I see you're still holding up."

There he was, standing there.

"It's been 10 months to the letter now."

Gaston. The Beast's murderer.

"Have you come to a decision?"

Her beloved's murderer.

Slowly, her lips creased to display a cold smirk.

-:-

There was no one alive in France who didn't know Belle the Beastess. Every man, woman and child knew that if they saw claw marks the size of a bear and a lipstick mark on a mirror whoever was in there was no longer alive.

Everyone knew that she came from the provincial town of Rosseau, where the terror began. They knew she was a healing patient from Asylum de Loon who was taken in by the town hero Gaston Romppenau as his wife. No one saw a more beautiful bride that day as Belle walked down the aisle and said her vows before becoming Gaston's lawful wedded wife, and no one celebrated the merrier as the festivities lasted 3 days and 3 nights with the richest food and wine Rosseau had to offer.

But no one was more horrified at what happened next. Belle, beautiful as she was deadly, had brutally murdered Gaston in bed, the poor man's limbs tied to the bed posts and was gutted alive like a fish with what seemed to be bear claws that were part of the famed hunter's trophy display. To add insult to injury, he was castrated and decapitated, his genitals shoved into his mouth and mounted on the wall where The Beast's head—his best catch yet—used to be. The Beast's head was nowhere to be found.

Slowly, people in Rosseau started to die one by one in the most brutal manner. Nothing was taken save a few pieces of jewelry, but claw marks were found at the scene of the crime and a lone lipstick mark was left behind on one of the mirrors of the house, and the victims' bodies were in a state that even the most hardened lawmen could not stomach. Everyone lived in terror as they did not know who would be the next victim, and they were in the state of entrapment where they could not leave no matter how they tried, as if some sort of mysterious force was behind their captivity. They all agreed that only one person could do this.

Marion Belle.

A state-wide arrest was issued to the public and the highest reward possible was offered to anyone who could spot or capture this deadly woman. The lawmen had tried to question Maurice of her whereabouts, since she was his daughter, but unfortunately he was too far gone and too damaged of his mind to be of any help, and the only evidence that she had come to visit him was a single rose placed on his bedside table. Because of her MO in killing, she was soon nicknamed "Belle the Beastess" and was feared throughout France for being able to elude the law and continued to kill to satiate her bloodlust. There had been a few near misses, but so far, no one had been able—or dared—to capture her.

All everyone could do was pray that they weren't next.

-:-

Belle dragged her feet tiredly as she walked into the castle and up towards The West Wing. Lumiere and Mrs. Potts were the first people, or enchanted objects, to see her return but maintained their distance. Neither one of them dared to approach her after seeing the drastic change that had happened to their dear friend.

Belle was still as beautiful as she first came to the castle, but there was something hollow and terrifying about her beauty. Her hair was ragged and taught, matted across her forehead and her neck, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot and tired, and she seemed to have lost significant weight, yet there was still some form of morbid strength within her arms. Her skin was slightly sallow under the moonlight as she took off the bear claws from her hands and lowered the hood she had fashioned out of The Beast's head she had carefully skinned and sewn.

As she sat at the verandah outside the West Wing, she stared up into the sky, droplets of tears clung on her lashes and brimmed under her eyes, stinging them. She couldn't remember how long it was since she had came here, and she didn't know why she did it, but she came back anyway, after almost years of being out there terrorizing the world with her unimaginable bloodlust. Since the day she made the solemn vow to avenge her beloved Beast, she had not shed a tear. Her bitter sadness had been turned into blinding anger and madness as she tore through the streets of the provincial town she was forced to move into after her mother's death, bent for the kill, destroying those who had destroyed her life.

Gaston was easy to subdue and fool. He was all brawn and no brain, and just a mere suggestion of having kinky sex soon brought the hunter to his knees, allowing her to do whatever she wanted with him. He never saw it coming, and neither did the people of Rosseau. Crying alone was no longer enough for her to quench her thirst for revenge, but their screams of terror and mercy and their blood on her hands were a brief respite from her pain and fury. She did not know how long it was before she wasted the entire village, but she knew by the time she realized it, she was already known to the whole of France as "Belle the Beastess".

She had turned into a Beast.

Just like her beloved, only much worse.

"Beast…" Belle whispered, months of disuse of her vocals making it sound a bit dry and hoarse. "It's so cold…but I feel so much colder inside…I can't carry on anymore…but…but I don't even deserve to die for you…"

Suddenly an owl flew in out of the blue in the midst of her rambling and perched just right beside her. It was a common barn owl, but despite its normality, it had the most piercing black orbs that seemed to twinkle under the moonlight. Belle chuckled bitterly at the sight of it.

"Are you here to claim my soul?" Belle asked in sarcastic dry humour. "Or are you here to return my Beast to me? I don't know who or what you are, or what you're doing here, but I'm sure as I'm sitting here that you are no ordinary bird."

With those words, the owl suddenly transformed with a blinding flash into a tall, beautiful woman with long-flowing forest-green robes and a greenish-gold crown adorned with green jewels. Her golden tresses that ran past her thighs were floating as if constantly blown by the wind despite the lack of wind in the air, and her lips were as red as the enchanted rose Belle saw for the first time in The Beast's room. But her eyes were the same piercing black as she had seen when she was in owl form. Belle was shocked to see the sight before her but her body was too lethargic from her last kill to move.

"I see that you have the gift of sight Adam seemed to lack," the transformed woman broke the ice.

"Who…Who are you…?" Belle finally asked.

"I am the one responsible for Adam's curse," the woman replied. "Or The Beast, as you knew him to be."

"Y…You…!" Belle said as she finally had the strength to lunge forward to grip the ends of the enchantress' robes. "So you're the one behind The Beast's misery! Why? What has he done to deserve this? What cruelty has he done to you to suffer the fate of never again being able to face the outside world? Why did you…?"

"I only meant for him to learn to love," the enchantress replied nonchalantly. "He ruled his country and his people with such tyranny that if I were not to intervene, he would turn into the worst ruler of his dynasty and many will suffer from his sins. But I have to admit, this was not what I have foreseen to end of him…"

"You speak like he was nothing to you!" Belle snapped. "He's everything to me! He had treated me with more love and understanding than any man can ever be! I would want no one else but him! You were wrong about him, you witch! You were wrong! It's all your fault he's dead! You killed him!"

"I did not kill him," the enchantress replied in a matter-of-fact way. "Your husband did, the one you killed."

"He's not my husband! I will never see him as my husband! He's a monster compared to The Beast! He's the real Beast, not mine! Give him back! Give him back to me! Give me back my Beast!"

"I cannot revive the dead, nor can I change the past. But I can help you come to a compromise."

"A…c…compromise?" Belle looked up with her tear-stained ashen face.

"I have been watching you for the longest time," the enchantress knelt on bended knee to Belle's level. "I have kept watch of this castle since the day I planted this curse upon Adam, waiting to see if he would learn his lesson and find a way to save himself. I watched you too when you showed up, and I was glad that you have shown him the way and have given him hope, but I truly did not expect it to end like this. I must admit, I felt a certain degree of anger for my plans to be ruined in this way. Why do you think you were able to contain all the people of Rosseau from escaping so that you could exact your revenge?

"But I also have not expected that by allowing you your thirst for revenge, this tragedy had given the biggest change in you. In your grief over the loss of your loved one, you have turned into the same creature I have turned Adam into. You have turned you love and loss into a form so distorted that you can no longer love or trust anyone and your bloodlust is too great that I cannot allow you to be out there and massacre the world in order to soothe your own pain. If it weren't for your brief respite and retreat to your sanctuary of pain, you probably would not have noticed who I really am and scorn me just as Adam had. You are a Beast, Marion Belle. A different kind of Beast, but a Beast nonetheless.

"For this, despite the reasons behind your actions, I shall transfer Adam's curse into you. As he had not fulfilled his contract with me, his curse is now permanent, and is now your burden to bear. You are now doomed to remain a Beast for all time. Everything in this castle is now yours and yours alone, and you will live off the remaining years that had ended in Adam, but you will never set foot beyond the gates of this castle. You are a prisoner once more, Belle, until the end of your time. Any last words?"

A long pause ensued before the young woman hug her head in resignation and defeat, "I can never forgive myself for what I've done to my beloved. Please, do as you will to me. This is the least I deserve."

As the enchantress took out her wand and cast the spell onto Belle, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth who were secretly watching the entire time looked at each other and at Belle in despairing defeat.

This was really the end.

The end of all hopes.

-:-

The terror of Belle the Beastess was mysteriously over somehow, and after about a decade, she was soon forgotten. However, a new tale began to spread. A tale that, despite the ambiguity of its origins, soon became many a children's bedtime tale, and a tale many a romantic would swoon over and felt upon its tragedy:

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he may have everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for the shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered the gift and turned the old woman away, but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances for beauty is found within.

And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell inside the castle and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, The Beast concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another and earn their love by the time the last petal fell, then the spell will be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a Beast for all time.

As the years past, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a Beast?

But, as luck would have it, he found love in the arms of a beautiful village girl who offered herself as prisoner to replace her father who had accidentally trespassed into his home, and as the months went by while the girl became his permanent guest, she, too, began to slowly tame the Beast and learnt to see past his monstrosity and know him for who he truly is inside, and through time, learnt to love him as well, and his enchanted servants were thrilled to see that there is hope for the curse to be broken sooner than they thought.

Unfortunately, the villagers were afraid of the Beast after knowing his existence, and one of the girl's many suitors riled up a mob to set forth to the Beast's castle and killed the Beast. In a fit of rage and despair, the girl killed the suitor and all the villagers to avenge the Beast that she had come to love with all her heart, but the more she killed, the angrier she was, and soon she was killing more and more people to try and bring down that rage to no avail. The enchantress, upon seeing her actions mirroring the prince whom she had turned into a Beast to, appeared once more to stop her from her evildoings and cast the same spell she had cast on the prince on her, trapping her in the castle forever, never to leave and never to harm mankind again.

Till this day, the girl—now the Beastess—remained in the castle, killing anyone who sets foot into the home that she and her beloved shared, as she mourned for her lost love and yearn for the day that one day she would meet him again in another life…