Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, something strange swirled the air.

Power crackled, releasing electrifying energy far beyond anything known to man. Or at least accepted by it. Magical occurrences rarely are as human brains find them hard to understand in all their magnificent complexity.

The rich grass served as the softest landing for the two confused beings that suddenly fell upon it, one human and one not.

"Where are we?" a beautiful young woman in a luxurious yellow dress asked.

"I am not certain, Belle. I believe we might have arrived at a completely different land," a male voice said, still hidden by the hood of his cloak.

Beautiful lush hills and fresh, crisp air didn't manage to soothe his worries. Thus, he lowered his hood revealing his hairy face, and lifted his head to sniff the air with his snout. His large canine ears perked up in an attempt to register even the quietest sounds.

"Beast, could you please not do that?" Belle asked, quickly averting her gaze from his glowing red eyes.

"Belle, I already told you that you should call me Henri. After all, you can't call your future husband Beast," Henri said.

As he did so, he deliberately turned towards her, hurt by the fact that she still couldn't accept him as he was.

"Secondly, it's too close to a full moon for me to control my transformation, you know that," he added, trying to be patient with her.

"Yes, you are right. I am sorry. I am just afraid of this new and strange place, and your beastly nature makes me even more anxious," Belle said.

"I know, but that will save us if you just let me concentrate," Henri said.

Before he could do so, an arrow flew his way, barely missing him. The fact that someone could get that close to him proved that Belle was and always would be his greatest weakness, and he was no longer sure if that was a good thing.

When they first met, he believed that her overflowing kindness and readiness to help others would help him be a better person. Yet, that belief was slowly fading away with each passing day.

It was as if no matter how kind-hearted Belle was, she could never truly accept him. She couldn't stop herself from shying away from his touch when the nights of full moon approached.

"Who's there?" Henri asked, using his most intimidating beast voice.

"Someone on whose land you are trespassing," a firm female voice said.

"We are so sorry; we didn't mean to come here! We were magically transported, and we don't know where we are," Belle quickly said, afraid the next arrow might be better aimed.

She didn't know that the bearer of the bow and arrow only missed on purpose. Thus, they were in far more danger than she assumed if only the land's owner wished to carry out such strict punishment.

"Show yourself, and we might be able to resolve this misunderstanding," Henri said, trying to stay calm even though the approaching moon made it almost impossible.

His temper was always in danger of flaring up around the full moon. Still, he did his best to keep his rage in check as he didn't wish to cease to exist mere moments after finding such an unusual land.

Henri understood the real danger that the woman who spoke to them represented. Being one of the werepeople made him more sensitive to small things like scents, and he could tell that whatever else the woman was, she was fearless.

A swirl of a red mess that reminded Henri of untamed flames spinning around each other appeared from behind a nearby hill. It was closely followed by a bow and arrow ready to be shot at the slightest provocation.

The woman standing before them was proud and determined that much was clear. However, she was also beautiful in the wild and untamed way that only one with a wild side of his own could fully appreciate.

"You need to leave if you don't want to get an arrow through the heart," she said determinedly.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Henri asked in fascination before he had the chance to think twice about it.

"You aren't the first beast I've had to deal with. We defeated Mor'du, and even my mother and brothers were bears for a while a couple years ago," she said, revealing far more than she intended. "Anyway, I am not afraid of anything."

Belle didn't like the little exchange that was going on between Henri and the young woman. However, she didn't want to precipitate their deaths by interfering. Yet, Belle wished to remind him his pack and her family had an arrangement. She wished she could tell him that breaking the deal would lead to another bloody war between the werewolves and the humans.

"Well, we mean you no harm, so would you mind lowering your weapon? You are scaring my friend," Henri said.

"Betrothed, his betrothed," Belle corrected him.

Henri was annoyed by her intrusion, as mere moments ago, she couldn't even look at her so-called betrothed, but he chose not to say anything. If he did so, he wasn't sure he wouldn't lose his temper. That was the last thing they needed when on a foreign land with a skillful woman threatening their lives.

"Alright, I will do that but rest assured that I can reach for the weapon and use it far quicker than anyone in my clan," she warned.

"We will have that in mind," Henri said, suppressing a smile. "I am Henri, and this is Belle. Who do we have the honor of addressing?"

"I am Merida of the clan Dunbroch, and you are standing on our land," Merida said.

"And as beautiful land as that is, we are not sure how we came to be here," Henri admitted hoping that the determined young woman had some answers for him.

"I am not sure how you got here either, but I can tell you one thing for sure. Magic is real," Merida said.

She looked deep into his once again bright blue eyes as the redness of his werewolf genes came and went during the days surrounding the full moon.

"I have seen people transform into animals and many other impossible things. If what you are saying is true, it seems that you have experienced one of those impossible things for yourself," Merida said.

"I am sorry, all that is fascinating, but how do we get back?" Belle asked cautiously.

"I am afraid that I have no idea. To be honest, I've only discovered magic recently and found it rather unpredictable," Merida said, addressing her answer to Henri.

She didn't consider Belle strong enough to accept the truth, nor did she particularly like the weak woman.

"What I can do is offer you our hospitality by inviting you to the castle. Maybe father will have some more insights from the old legends," Merida added.

Henri wanted to trust the young woman because she intrigued him more than any others, as most acted subserviently and were too nice for his taste. All of them, including Belle, were too fragile and gentle, so much so that he always feared he might break them by accident with the tenderest of touches.

Merida, however, was quite the opposite. Furthermore, she didn't even seem disgusted by his beastly appearance.

"We gratefully accept your offer," Henri said without consulting Belle.

He believed the woman who agreed to marry a beast just because her family said so wouldn't object to anything.

Sometimes it seemed to him that she preferred it that way so she wouldn't have to make her own choices. Her own mistakes.