A snow storm blew in the forest of Russia. Trees seemed as though they would be pushed from the earth by the wind, animals were encumbered by large amounts of snow, and no sound was larger than the petrifying tempest. Beast rested in a cave deep inside the forest. It sheltered him from the violent winds due to it's position, the storm could not get in and it was deep inside the forest so no one could spot him. For the first time he actually picked a nice shelter to lay in for the night.
He rested near the opening of the cave, looking out at the snow, while he picked out some bullets from his arms. He was hunted again, determined by the Russians as a dangerous animal because he was not made like them. Beast, however, did not know why they targeted him. His thoughts on humans was, they hated him and wanted him dead. Every human he met either held a gun in their hand or held a rock. It made him sad sometimes, he would never have a companion that speaks to him and he would never be excepted in society. Sometimes he wished that one human would not pull out their weapon at first sight, sometimes he wished for a friend. A sad creature Beast was, who only wanted a companion, but he was not gonna be near the homes of humans if they did not want him. He was happy that the storm picked up, even happier that he was far away from civilization. The hunters wouldn't find him here, deep into the forest, and they wouldn't try to fight the raging wind just to kill him.
After he used his long nails to pull the bullet out of his chest, arm, and legs, he laid his head on the hard wall watching the snow plummet to the ground while he waited for the blood to stop flowing and his wound to heal. Beast let out an amusing laugh at the look of the snow and slowly drifted off to sleep. He spent the whole day running and hiding, and he needed a little rest, but he couldn't sleep near the lips of the cave. With a large huff, he lifted his body up and moved deeper inside the large crevice, though still near the opening so he could watch the beautiful snowflakes. He struggled, and left a little blood trail to his new location, but he was in the shadow and out of targeting range. He was safe, or at least he thought he was.
Aisling was silently berating herself for wondering out into unknown territory right before a snow storm. The snow leopard at her side was less quiet about it. Cereza grumbled and had her ears flat against her head. Luckily, Aisling had been prepared and had dressed in warmer clothing, consisting of jeans, thermal underwear, and a long-sleeved shirt. The long cloak she wore was out of fashion, but it helped keep her warm. The leopard had no such problem with her thick fur and skin. The pair continued to walk aimlessly searching for shelter when Aisling spotted it. A cave.
Cereza spotted it at the same time and the two of them hurried their pace from a slow walk to a slow run. They both reached the cave and were instantly shielded from the heavy wind blowing the snow in their faces. Neither were worried about any inhabitants, since Cereza wasn't tense any longer and hadn't sensed any permanent residents.
The fae shook herself, ridding her shoulders and head of snow as the leopard did the same. Aisling removed the hood from her head, revealing her bound white hair and the rest of her face. She turned in a full circle, making sure there was nothing she didn't see in her haste to get into the cave. A small trail of blood caught her sight and she bent down near it to touch it. The fresh blood touched her fingertips and she turned to move the fingers under Cereza's nose. As soon as the she-leopard sniffed them, she growled.
Beast began healing a little of his wounds. He did not like healing himself a lot, he normally saved his powers for animals of the wild who needed it. His tan Fur had small blood stains where the wounds once resided. When his body stopped hurting he began his long awaited shift to sleep. He dreamed about what he always dreamed about at night, his long gone elemental companion. This time his old friend was teaching beast how to make a fire. "Listen close beast," he said,"Just in case that large amount of fur doesn't work for you, what you need to do is...." What came next was fuzzy. How long had it been? Of course the large primate wouldn't remember what the elemental taught him.
He decided that maybe he shouldn't fall asleep, mostly because he was sad that memories of his old companion where leaving. It was then that the large creature recognized two figures moving into the cave. One an animal and the other in the shape of a human. He stayed where he was, not moving a muscle. His position made him perfectly aligned with the darkness so he could not be seen. Maybe he could turn invisible and leave this place when the human slept. He didn't need this cave, the large amounts of tan fur all over his body was enough to survive the storm. He just needed a place to escape the hunters.
The human took off it's hood, or what Beast called head clothes, and revealed itself to be a female. Beast had seen many human female and males to know the difference. She had white hair that matched the falling snow outside, and the fur of the feline that was next to her. She keeled down touching the fresh blood that Beast unfortunately left and placed it near her animal friends nose. Instantly the cat turned to Beast and growled.
This scared him. What if she had a gun? What if she was originally hunting Beast? He knew what he had to do, he had to scare her away. Beast was not an intelligent creature, but he knew how to threaten animals away from his territory. No animal, whether big or small would be able to handle the raw horror and dominance of this primate. Slowly he rose from his butt and slowly he moved from the shadows, showing his full front and his wounds that still had a little blood pouring from him. Beast stood taller than this woman, who appeared to only reach his waist. His eyes were white as her hair, and his teeth where sharp as the felines. He would look dead at the animal growling at him, and he would growl back before letting out a large and threatening roar, shaking the snow and echoing throughout the cave. This should scare her off, she should realize that she was no match for Beast, and she should leave him alone, or Beast hoped it should.
Aisling instantly tensed at the sound of Cereza's growl, standing up in one swift motion and facing where the blood trail led to. She saw what had caused Cereza to growl and also what had caused the fresh blood to drip from the creature. His wounds were still open and the caring side of Aisling surged forward before she realized that the beast was growling at her leopard. Aisling studied the creature before her, before he roared and her eyes went wide with fright. She was not going to deny that she was afraid of this creature, and she knew her leopard was too.
But instead of running away and back out into the storm, Aisling laid a calming hand on her companion's head, halting the rumbling growl. The fae stepped forward, her hands up in a calming or 'I surrender' gesture, making sure the beast saw that she wasn't holding any weapons and that she didn't intend to hurt him. She didn't know if the creature could speak either, so Aisling didn't try to verbally communicate with him, instead simply waiting for his next move.
The monster looked at the motion of the woman and the large cat in front of him. His roar still echoed in the cave, even though he himself had grown quiet. He waited to see what she would do. Beast could not tell if she was scared of him or not and tried hard to study her. The only thing he knew was if the creatures ran away then they were frightened, if they stood in place then they were not. He gave a confused look once he realized that they were not moving. Instead the girl moved to her companion and placed a hand over its head.
He wondered to himself why the girl and cat were still in the cave then prepared for her to whip out a gun. He could take the bullets, but could he take killing her? He was taught that killing is wrong but only kill when he had no choice. He decided that if this girl gave him no choice he would kill her, no hesitation. He was tired of the humans. They capture him from his home and brought him here to this new white forest and all he ever wanted was to live out his life in peace and maybe even with a friend that could actually speak to him.
His attention went back to the girl as she raised her hands up in the air with a calm expression. He thought that she was gonna hurt him or pull out a weapon so he moved back into the shadows. He figured if she did have a gun then she might have a small chance of missing him in the darkness. Beast slowly moved out as her hands went further up into the air. At close inspection of her fingers he could tell that she didn't have any weapon. This made Beast feel a little safe. "Why you no run away?" His voice was deep and words showed that he was not an intelligent creature, which he wasn't. He was taught English but barely knew how to read. This monster was just a confused being in an unknown new world. If his fear got the best of him in this situation then this girl and her animal will be in a hell of a danger. Hopefully she knew how to handle frighten animals.
Aisling was shocked. She had never seen a creature such as he, and she had seen plenty of beings in her long lifetime. Cereza was leaning forward slightly, sniffing the air near the beast, trying to get a sense of him. It was in times like these that Aisling wished she could read minds, or even heal, but those skills were beyond her.
Cereza relaxed her muscles and the fae looked down at her leopard for a moment, before looking back at the creature. It seems as if he has won the trust of Cereza, or at least for now. The woman thought to herself, her pale blue eyes both narrowed in suspicion but also glimmering with amusement.
She took a small step forward and it is in that moment of pause that the creature spoke. Hands still up, the fae gaped at him. "You-you can talk?" She asked the question barley above a whisper, wondering if his sudden question was her imagination. She then shook her head and waited for his answer.
If he answered in the affirmative, she'd answer his question as well, but if he did not, Aisling would continue to stand there and question her sanity.
The companion of the girl was sniffing beast, and he was doing the same to them. They smelt the same, no doubt this animal wiped its scent all around this girl. Beast tried sniffing for gun powder or anything that meant she had a weapon. He failed at it, then scent of the cat next to her shrouded anything else. If the cat continued to smell the primate then all she would find is a horrible stink of dirty primate fur and sweat mixed in with a little blood.
She stepped forward a little, this causing Beast to step back into the shadows. He did not trust the human one bit and instead stayed in the hidden this time. The girl paused and Beast waited for her to say something. He would every once in a while growl at the little feline next to her. Animals like them can smell fear and this was beginning to radiate off of him. He needed to gain a little bit of confidence or safety from this little girl. The cruel minded would find it funny how a little girl would force a huge animal back into a corner, Beast would probably laugh at it himself if he had any advance level of intelligence.
He heard the woman speak then peeled only his head out of the darkness so that he could get a good look at her. "You speak," He struggled to get the next word out trying to remember what it was."You speak... a-also HUMAN!" His last word was loud and caused another echo to roam the cave. He was not trying to be scary with that, he was just excited that he actually remembered that word. "Beast speaks what human speaks." He pulled his head back into the dark.
Aisling hadn't been imagining things when the beast spoke again, responding to her own question, but not in the way she had thought. But the way he spoke had taught her a lot. He was-wasn't that intelligent, and Aisling hoped that wouldn't get her or Cereza killed in the future. Aisling gaped again before she smiled a little. There would be a slight communication problem, but as long as she said what he understood, they could talk, sort of.
"Yes, I speak-uh-human." She paused, unsure of what else to call it except to use his word for it. She wanted to talk to this creature, simply to discover how he had gotten here, and why he was so skiddish around humanoids. She wasn't sure if he knew what she really was or if he just thought she was a human. If they continued to talk, she'd try to explain to him what she was.
"You're name is Beast?" She asked. Names were important, so they could talk. "My name is Aisling and this is Cereza." She was unaware that she was scaring the big creature but Cereza could smell it coming off of him in waves. The she-cat sat on her hunches, trying to show that she was not going to hunt him. Aisling didn't take another step forward, having seen the cat sit down and realizing that she should keep a safe distance from him since he was still hiding from them.
"Human hard to speak, but good to know." The primate said slowly peeking his head from the shadows again. This woman seemed nice and calming, but Beast was unsure. He did not trust her yet. This time he kept his head in viewing range and also showed his chest and one of his arms to the girl. His whole body was covered in fur, so the girl couldn't really see the wounds. However, she could see large blood stains on the floor that were still wet enough to drip to the ground. These blood stains were on his arm, his abs, and his shoulder. The fact that he was shot wasn't recognizable, but the fact that he was hurt spoke clear as day through his tan coat.
"Your name is Beast?" The woman said as he shook his head to her question. His real name was actually a very long and rare name given to him by his primate parents. Beast couldn't pronounce it well, so he decided to call himself what everyone else called him. Beast liked his name, easy to remember and simple to say. His other name only caused him to have severe migraines trying to remember it. Unfortunately for him, he was about to get a large headache from the name of the female in front of him.
"A-A-Ai-Ai-Aisss-Aissssss-Aissssssah-ling?" He looked at her with a questioning and confused expression. He tried his very best to pronounce that word, considering that he could barely form sentences correctly. It was a rare name that he had never heard of so it would have to take a very long time to for him to remember. He normally associated people or animals by their physical characteristics or personality, so anyone who wanted Beast to know their full name would have to have a lot of patience.
Beast moved over to the leopard and tried pronouncing it's name."Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-reh," He stopped trying when he realized that he forgot what the cats name was. He then strained his brain on remembering what the girl said. In a show of anger he moved to the wall next to him and placed all his force down on it with his fist, bringing some of the snow down at the entrance of the cave. He took his hand away from the wall shaking it in pain. His fist had cuts in them and this caused his hands to tremble, with shooting agony moving down to his wrist. Beast had grown angry again, a common trait of his, and took his anger out on the hard stone next to him. His former companion complained to him many of times about doing that and even punished him for loosing control. Beast was ashamed.
He turned his sorrowed eyes back to the girl and became the scary brute they saw before. Now wasn't the time for being teary about something he did. He had to show the girl that he was tough, strong, and nothing could hurt him. He kissed his vibrating fist, hoping that it would stop the shooting pain, and spoke in a very calm voice,"White haired girl and puny kitty have hard names."
Aisling hoped that she was getting through to him, trying to make sure that he knew she was not going to hurt him or even lead humans to him. She already knew he was injured, the blood on the cave floor and matted in his fur was enough to tell her that. Once more, Aisling wished she had the ability to heal, and wished she could heal him. She wondered who had shot at him, since it was obvious his wounds were caused by guns. She then mentally cursed the human race, again finding a reason to hate them. They had hurt this creature, without even knowing if he was dangerous or not.
He shook his head in answer to her question and she frowned slightly. If that wasn't his name, then why did he call himself that. A small shake of her head was the only thing she moved. "Am I to call you Beast?" She wondered what else to call him if not 'Beast.' She could always come up with a name, but he seemed used to it already.
He haltingly said her own name, as if he was unused to speaking, but Aisling didn't care. If it was too hard for him, he could always call her something else. Cereza's name, he didn't finish saying and Aisling looked to her companion, seeing that the leopard was still sitting. It was then that the beast moved, pounding his fist against the wall. It startled the fae and she took a step back before regaining her composer. When he looked at her and spoke again, she could feel pity for the creature before her. "I'm sorry. Call her 'kitty' and call me 'Ash'." Taking her cousin's name was strange to her, but it was easier to say than 'Aisling.'
Cereza twitched her whiskers in irritation, both at being call 'puny' and 'kitty.' But if the fae by her side was willing to try helping this creature, than she wouldn't make any objections.
Beast wounds were starting to hurt him again. He wondered if he should heal his wounds now, but decided against it. The girl in front of him could be with the humans and probably trying to hurt him. He thought it would be best to save his energy for what ever came next. "A-A-Ash," he said when the girl gave him her name. It was a little easier to pronounce and Beast felt better about it. "Beast name not Beast. Beast name hard like Ash name. Beast use name given by humans instead." He was getting a little bit exhausted and decided to sit down in the darkness, but kept his eyes firmly at the female. The cat next to her he didn't worry about. He could take the kitty, it was the human that can think and act better than Beast can that made him worry.
He thought a little about how he got his name. He was given so many in his one hundred years of life, but beast and monster were ones that were used the most. He doesn't know the real meaning of those names, dangerous and frightening, if he did then he wouldn't call himself that and be kinda ofended, even though he is a dangerous and frightening creature. His old companion tried to explain that to him once but Beast wouldn't listen. Those name where given to Beast and he used them. "Beast is Beast. Ash is Ash. Kitty is Kitty."
He started getting drowsy and laid his head against the wall. He gave out a huge yawn blowing his foul breath into the air. He was a creature of nature, therefore did not use tooth brushes or paste to clean his mouth. Even though he wanted to sleep he couldn't. He had to keep his eyes planted on the girl and make sure that she didn't try any funny business.
"Why is Ash and Kitty out in white woods? Was Ash and Kitty forced into cold like Beast?" The monster gave out another large yawn and decided to shift his body to where he is laying down on the ground. His words sounded as though he was tired and when he finished his sentences his voice faded a little. Still, he stared straight at the girl.
"Ah" Aisling said this after Beast said that his name was hard to say like her own, and if he could barley say her name, she didn't expect him to give her his. Which didn't bother her much. If she had something to call him, that was fine with her really. Both Cereza and Aisling could tell the Beast was getting tired, probably because of his wounds. They both also knew he didn't trust them enough to actually sleep with them there. Aisling was going to have to work on that.
Aisling nodded and smiled when he said what all of their names were, his being Beast, Aisling being Ash and Cereza being Kitty. The leopard twitched her whiskers once more, still not liking being called Kitty, but it was what Aisling had said, and the Beast knew it now. Cereza would get used to it eventually, as long as Aisling never spoke of this in front of any of the family's familiars.
Beast asked her why Aisling and Cereza were out in the woods and again Aisling shook her head at herself "It's Ash's fault. I made us go out in the woods. We weren't forced into the cold like Beast." Aisling then thought for a moment and frowned. "Who forced Beast into the woods?" She would have a strong talking to the humans who had done this to Beast. He did not deserve what had been done to him. He was just a simple creature and didn't know much. He probably didn't even know why humans hurt him and hated him. It was just the way he looked. If people actually sat down and talked with him, they would see that he was not so terrible.
Again, the fae and leopard could tell Beast was getting tired, and she didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay awake, even with the two untrusted beings in the cave.
He listened to her words trying desperately to stay awake. His eyes where shutting and opening, soon they would stay shut for more than ten seconds before opening again. The wind started to slow down outside the cave, but the white snow still raced to the ground and trees searching for a vacant place to rest itself. The storm outside this tiny cave was almost over though, which meant that they would come after him soon. "It is Beast fault," the primate said moving his head and eyes to face the ceiling. He was too tired to keep staring at her, and he didn't care anymore. If she wanted to hurt him then she would have done it a long time ago, or maybe she wanted to kill Beast when she had his full trust? Beast didn't know. Through his lifetime of living he learned not to question what a human does or why they do it, but instead to stay far away when what ever they do happens. Sadly he could not stay far away, but it didn't matter. What point was there of living anyway? To be called monster and be targeted every day of his life, not even being able to sleep without the worries of a gun being strapped to his head? This type of life Beast did not want to live, but it was the only life he had.
"Beast is monster, so Beast scares, so Beast is taken from home." His breathing started to get heavy as the world around him began slowing down. He tried to keep his eyes open but all he could see was darkness, closed or not. "Ash is human, so Ash does not get taken from home, because Ash is not scary." He turned his head to face hers and looked into her eyes. "Ash just crazy." He gave a long and hard laugh before looking back at the roof. The sky was starting to turn dark and the clouds outside finally decided not to throw anymore snow. The cool air encumbered Beast to the ground, as it made his eyes seem heavier. With a large yawn Beast fell silent. The only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of his throat and nostrils gasping for air. It was a good sound. Not a monstrous one, but a peaceful one. It was a sound that meant the primate was finally free of the evil this world had stored within, and enjoying a world were happiness roamed inside all creatures, including him. He was in his world.
Aisling knew the moment Beast fell asleep. She could tell the change in pattern of his breathing, and how his whole body seemingly relaxed. It was far more relaxed than when he was first talking to her. She knew he must trust her on some sort of level to fall asleep on her. She didn't mind. It meant she could sleep as well. The fae moved to the side of the cave, leaning against the stone wall to appear as if she was awake to passing creatures. Cereza dropped down next to her, her head in the fae's lap. The snow leopard huffed out a breath before closing her eyes and instantly falling asleep.
The blue-eyed fae sighed and rested her head against the rock, her eyes slowly drifting shut. She was nearly asleep when a gunshot in the distance caused her to bolt upright and disrupt the sleeping cat in her lap. The snow leopard was on her paws in a flash, her fur standing on end and her tail ramrod straight. Aisling moved her gaze from the cave entrance to the still sleeping Beast at the far end of the cave. Perhaps they were looking for him again, intent on not just driving the creature from their lands, but killing him instead.
While she did not know the creature very well, and neither trusted the other very well, she wouldn't allow these humans to kill him without just reason. If they just wanted to kill him because he was different, she wouldn't allow it. If the other creature had done something to warrent the humans wrath, she wouldn't stand in their way, but she wouldn't help them either.
The fae pushed herself to her feet, grabbing her bow and readying herself to go back out into the storm.
Ears twitched to a sound. Beast eyes opened in a slow motion as it went about adjusting to the little light that came into view. His body kept him down to the ground, not moving a single bit. Not even his head lifted from the ground. He was motionless, immobile due to the weary events he had gone through. He still tried, making large huffs to force himself up, but his body was not moving from the spot he was in. Before he was resting, dreaming of better days and a happier life, but his glorious rest was interrupted by a sound he knew too well. Gun fire.
He saw Ash rise and watched her. The primate was still in the shadows, so Ash could not see the awareness in his eyes or that it was even awake. But she could tell. The kitty could tell. Anyone could tell by the change of breathing patterns that he was awake and frightened. He had to be a little afraid. He was a beast so paralyzed that even a bug could stomp and abuse him and he wouldn't do a single thing to stop it.
"They come." He said to Ash in a hushed exhausted voice."Run."
The sound of tires skipping along a rocky road danced in the ear of the ones that were still in the cave. Multiple sound vibrations blew with the wind. Outside, past the snowy trees lied what could only be assumed was a mini army. There could be more past the white powdered forest. It was unknown who it was, if they even wanted Beast, or if they were harmless like Ash appeared to be.
Beast turned himself over on his stomach. His grunts and struggles could be heard within the cave. The animal then planted his fingers on the ground, digging his claws into the cracks of the rocky crevasse. He was going to lift himself up, he was going to go out into the world, and he was going to run until the sound of weapons and motors could not be heard. "Beast must go," he said with a weakened growl as he struggled to stand. Anyone who was with him could hear his fracas to himself, the silent torment to himself to push forward and survive. And even though such words like 'Get up weakling' would have helped him, this time it was just useless. When he tried to stand, he fell. When he fell he tried to stand again. But his arms could not pick up him, his inspirational words could not motivate him, and his body could not fight for him. He was no longer strong, he was no longer intimidating, he was no longer Beast.
He tried one last time to lift himself to his feet by first pushing his arms against the ground. By doing so his upper half rose to the air. His lower half would follow by bringing his knees to the ground hard. His ass would lift and he would be standing in a crawling position. It was indeed a brawl for himself, but he managed to get this far and all he needed was to stand. He then moved one of his knees up so that the foot below said knee would become the new standing post. When he was getting ready to move his hands to his knees for support he fell to the ground once again, this being the last time he would try for now. In frustration, anger, and regret he slammed the ground hard an began silently crying. By this time half of his face would be showing through the light of the moon. And his tears pouring to his face could be seen to all.