Evanesce

The sound of rain was very loud as it banged against the windows of the castle. Barty sat in his room with his headphones on trying to drown out the rain, he hated the sound of it because it was too loud, if it were up to Barty rain wouldn’t exist. But it isn’t.

After a while Barty took off his headphones, the rain had quieted down a little bit, but not enough to be able to block out the noise.

Barty stood up from his bed and quickly looked across his room, the room didn’t have anything special in it because as his parents always said ‘A prince is supposed to have a decent room’.

One of the only remotely special things that was in his room was a quite big portrait of him hanging on the wall, he was wearing his royal attire, as well as his crown on the painting, he never wore the crown unless it was a very serious occasion or his parents forced him..

Barty walked out of his room after he was done staring at the painting and down the stairs which led to the kitchen, he was just getting a quick snack. 

But then he heard a knock coming from the front door. It took a minute before he realized that his parents weren’t home, which they almost never were, and that they had taken the whole staff with them, so he had to go and open the door himself. He thought curiously about who it would be that would be knocking on the door at almost 11 pm.

His finger wrapped around the door knob and slowly opened the door, trying to catch a glimpse of who was outside the door. When the door was open he saw a short old lady with a crooked nose and an almost ruined black cloak.

Barty immediately felt disgusted when he looked at her, all the dirt and mud on her made him almost throw up.

“Oh, hello dear!” The lady greeted “You wouldn’t perhaps have a place I could stay? there is so much rain and I’m lost.” The old lady asked, Barty knew that they had room in the mansion for a place this lady could stay, but with the way this woman looked and with all the dirt and mud on her he didn’t want to let her in.

“Uhm, we don’t have room for someone like you.” Barty said coldly and started shutting the door but the lady’s hand went and stopped it from closing entirely.

“I have this rose in exchange for a place to stay!” The lady said and reached inside her rope to pull out a beautiful rose.

Barty pretended to think about it but in reality he would’ve said no, no matter what he was being offered. “No.” Barty shut the door in the old lady’s face and turned around to walk back into the kitchen again, but he walked into something.

As he looked up he saw a beautiful fairy flying right in front of him. “Prince Bartemius, you have failed the test. You were too selfish to allow an old lady a room in this castle despite it being large enough. I therefore curse you to be a beast and all your servants shall suffer as well, this curse will be broken once you’ve learned to love. A true love’s kiss will return you to human form.” 

The rose the fairy was once holding started glowing and one of the petals fell off.

“You have until your 21st birthday to fulfill this quest, if you fail to complete it you shall forever be doomed a beast.”

And then she was gone. Barty stood there in shock for a few seconds before he could start feeling something happening to him, something very painful. It felt like he was being stretched apart. Barty screamed until the pain was gone, he quickly ran over to a mirror to look at what had happened. In his reflection he saw a beast staring right back at him.

-

The town was not quiet at this time of day, it was morning and everyone was starting to open up their shops and going out to buy the morning bread. The baker was walked out of his bakery with a large tray of different breads and pastries. (Mostly croissants)

“Bonjour Evan!” The baker greeted him with a smile  as they walked past each other. Evan smiled back at him and waved with his hand. “Bonjour!” He replied with the same bubbly tone he had always had.

Evan loved the town he lived in, there were mostly quiet other than in the morning, and there was not much drama happening which Evan was very grateful for. Though there were a lot of whispers about him because he loved reading and he was beautiful, or so the townspeople say.

“So where are you headed Evan?” The baker asked while he was handing out bread to the townsfolk.

“I’m going to the library, I just read this amazing book about a girl who falls in love with a prince, but she doesn’t know he’s a prince unt-“ He was interrupted by the baker. “Yeah yeah, that sounds great dear. Now I gotta get going, have a nice day Evan!” 

The baker waved as he left Evan was a bit disappointed that the baker left, but everyone would’ve probably left. They all think he’s weird anyway.

Evan slowly started making his way to the library and after a short amount of time he was there, that was one of the good things about living in a small town, you could go anywhere within a couple of minutes.

He stepped inside the little shop with the book he borrowed in his hands. “Hello!” He greeted Gideon “I’m here to return the book.”

“Already, you borrowed it just yesterday?”  Gideon asked with a confused facial expression. 

“Yeah well, once I started I just couldn’t stop!” Evan jumped out of happiness and clapped hands.

Gideon chuckled under his breath. “Do you want to get another book while you’re here?” He took the book from Evan’s hand and laid on a table next to him.

Evan looked over at the bookshelf on the wall, there were a lot of books, but he had already read most of them. “Do you have any new books?”

“Since yesterday?” Gideon laughed this time."No, I haven't received any new books yet.”

“Well then,” Evan stepped up on the ladder that was beside the bookshelf and took a book out. “Can I borrow this one?”

“Again? Isn’t that the fifth time?” Gideon asked and raised his eyebrow.

“Well it’s amazing! A guy trying to get home to his wife after the Troy war, but ends up on the wildest journey with his crew!” Evan rambled on and on about the book.

“Well why don’t you just keep it, consider it a gift from me!” Gideon smiled at him.

“Oh, no really I can’t!” Evan assured but the words fell on deaf ears.

“Take it!” Gideon shoved the book into his hands. “Now have a good day, Evan!”

“Oh okay,” Evan huffed out as the book was shoved into his hands. “I’ll see you soon Gideon!”

Evan left the shop with the book in his hands, the book he now owned . To say the least Evan was excited, he owned books of course but he didn’t own this book even though it was his favorite. As much as he didn’t want to accept the gift from Gideon, he was happy that Gideon had insisted on him keeping it.

He walked back through town and sat down by a fountain, by now the time was 12 in the afternoon and people were starting to quiet down a bit now.

Sheep were running around the fountain Evan was sitting on. His eyes were glued to the book he was reading, sadly that meant that Evan didn’t notice the conversation two people were having about him.

“Severus look at him, he’s perfect isn’t he?” Mulciber asks, nudging Severus in the ribs with his elbow. “I want him to be my wife”

“Evan?” Severus asks, pointing to the direction of where Evan Rosier is sitting on a fountain with a book in his hand. “Isn’t his sister that crazy scientist?”

“Yeah I’ll have to get rid of her after I marry him.” Mulciber shrugs, Severus found it weird how he could just say those kinds of things so casually with no thoughts behind it as if he didn’t just say he was going to kill someone. Mulciber was walking fast and Severus had to run to keep up with him. “But he’s a boy, shouldn’t you marry a girl?” Severus asks.

“But who cares. He’s the prettiest boy in the whole town, and don’t I deserve the prettiest~”

"Yes, you do, Mulciber.” Severus replied before falling full face into Mulciber.

Evan stood up from the edge of the mountain and began walking towards his house which was on a hill a bit away from the center of town. He walked through the different parts of town, the bakery, the apartments and the barns. He kept on reading while he was walking, he just couldn’t stop reading the book.

The townspeople were staring at him now, seeing as he had just walked over a cart that stood on one of the side streets in the town.

“He doesn’t belong in this town, he isn’t normal. All he does is read books!” Evan heard a lady screech, he looked over at where the sound was coming from and saw a mother with her child cuddled close to her as they were walking away.

The birds were chirping around the town, Evan thought it was a lovely sound it always sounded like they were singing. He found it wonderful.

There was a splash right in front of him which broke him out of his chain of thoughts, he looked up from his book again to see that Mulciber stood right in front of him with a rose in his hand. Evan looked around and saw three girls staring at them with a jealous look in their eyes.

“Hello, Evan.” Mulciber said with a seductive voice and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Can I interest you on a date?”

“No offense Mulciber, but no thanks.” Evan shrugged his hand off his shoulder.

“Oh come on Evan, I could make your life better so you didn’t have to live with that …weird sister of yours!” Mulciber smirked. Evan honestly thought that Mulciber was joking about the date part, but it was starting to seem like he was being truthful.

“My sister isn’t weird!” Evan said he was starting to get annoyed by Mulcibers behavior. “I have to go now, sorry!”

And then Evan started running over to his house which thankfully was long away from where he was before. Once he made it back home he stepped through the front door. “Dora, I’m home!” He shouted, he hoped his sister Pandora was home.

“Evvy, welcome back!” Evan was almost knocked over by her when she came running up the stairs and over to him to crush him in a bone crushing hug. “Did anything special happen? You gotta tell me everything about it!”

Pandora was covered in dirt and smelled of smoke, which probably all came from her experimenting with something. Evan loved her so much, he really did …but he was a huge germaphobe.

“Well I got this new book,” He pulled the book out of his bag which he had placed it in. “And then there was Mulciber asking me to go on a date with him, as if I’d ever do that.”

“Mulciber asked you out on a date?” Pandora stood with a very confused look and raised and eyebrow. “I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with you, but isn’t he homophobic?” She asked.

Evan shrugged. “I wish I knew myself but I’m just as confused as you.” He took his bag off and placed it on a nearby table. “But enough about me, what have you been up to this time?”

Evan walked over to the basement door and looked down  at Pandora’s science station and saw so much smoke and burn marks, something definitely exploded in there. 

“Well my dearest Evan, I have been working on a new project that will guarantee me scientist of the year!” Pandora clapped her hands and jumped around, her face was lit up with a huge smile. “I also got the letter for the science competition, do you maybe wanna join me there? It could be fun, just the Rosier twins being troublemakers again!”

Even though Pandora was the oldest she was most definitely the most childish out of the two of them. “Well, when are you gonna leave then? And sorry I don’t think I can come with you, someone needs to take care of this house when the other is gone, you know?”

“Aw damn it!” Pandora complained at Evan’s words, but even she knew that Evan was right. Someone needed to take care of everything when she was gone. “I’m leaving tomorrow, so I really have to get this project ready and steady until then.”

To say that Pandora was excited would very well be a huge understatement, she was beyond excited she was ecstatic!

“Do you need any help, Dora? If not, then I was planning on making some dinner.” Evan asked.

“No thanks Evs, I think I’ll be able to do this alone.”

“Call me if you need anything, alright?” Evan turned around to go towards the kitchen.

“Of course Evs, what are you making for dinner?” Pandora asked.

Evan shrugged. “Oh nothing much, just some spaghetti carbonara.” He was almost knocked down to the ground when Pandora latched on to him, and pulled him in for another bone chorusing hug.

“Oh Ev, you’re amazing!” Pandora had always loved spaghetti carbonara, their mother used to make it for them when they were children. After their parents had died they hadn’t gotten it at all, or well that was until Evan had found their mothers cookbook.

It wouldn’t be a lie if Pandora said that Evan was like a housewife, cause he practically was. He was the one who cooked, cleaned, fed the animals and did all that kind of stuff, while Pandora was working to get money.

Evan giggled. “Thank you Dora, now I better start making dinner before it’s too late.” He broke free from Pandora’s hug with a smile and wandered towards the kitchen. He started pulling out various different foods, seasoning and pots and pans.

After 45 minutes of slaving away in the kitchen Evan finally yells up. “Dinner is ready, Panda!” With a very optimistic tune to his usual bored tone. He picked up the pot with the spaghetti carbonara and placed it onto the table just as Pandora wandered up the stairs.

“So, where is the science competition gonna be held?” Evan asked whilst sitting down, Pandora following suit.

“Okay well, do you remember that castle we passed by last year. You know the one that had all that moss and looked like a haunted house which was infested by rats? Well-” Evan laughed at the description. He, indeed, did remember when they had passed the castle last year. It had looked really gross and Evan couldn’t have gone away from that place fast enough, especially after they saw someone staring at them through a window.

While Evan had been thinking back to the castle, Pandora had kept talking. 

“-you have to go a little past it and into a forest, and then you make it to a small village, which I’ve been told is a cute little village so I’m excited to see it for myself!” Pandora exclaimed with excitement. “Evan? Are you listening brother?”

In reality, no he was not. But what kind of brother would he be if he admitted that? “What? Of course I am Pandabear!”

“Good.” 

After another thirty minutes of eating and talking they were finally done eating. Evan quickly got to work on getting the dishes and table cleaned. “You go down and work on your project, Dora. I can handle this myself.” He said while scraping off the last pasta off the plates.

“You sure I can’t help with anything?”

“Go, Pandora. Finish your project!”

Reluctantly Pandora went downstairs to work on her project, but not without giving a last glance at Evan who was busy washing the dishes to notice.

-

“Goodbye Dora, have fun!” Evan waved to her as she climbed onto the white horse that was going to take Pandora to the competition.

“Thanks Evs. Remember don’t have too much fun without me!” She grinned back at him.

“In this town?” Evan raised an eyebrow at her. “Nothing fun will ever happen here. Now go Dora, win this competition!” 

Pandora waved back at him and soon after the horse began to ride away, further and further away from the town and from Evan.

Evan smiled at his sister while she disappeared into the distance. After she was fully gone from his line of sight he turned around and went back to their little house, which wasn’t far away from the hill he had to just send Pandora off of. In truth, he knew he would be lonely the next few days without Pandora there. But fortunately he could just read all day long with no disturbances.

What he didn’t know was that a certain someone, actually scratch that, a lot of people stood outside of his house with a surprise.

“Do you have the music ready, Snape?” Mulciber hissed at him, and immediately Severus signaled the band to start and they did.

“No, no, no, not now you insolent fool!” Mulciber smacked the back of Severus’ head. “When me and Evan walk out of that door, you start playing, idiot.”

Mulciber scoffed and rolled his eyes. Everyone in this town was so stupid and needed instructions to do even the simplest of things. He straightened his back as he strutted towards the front door of the Rosier estate, and knocked.

- 

When Evan heard the knocking on his front door, he got confused. It couldn’t be his sister as she was away, and had a key to the house. And he couldn’t see why anyone from the town would come knocking on his door.

With slight hesitation he stepped towards the door, cracking it open a few inches trying to see who it was. Sadly, he couldn’t see who it was before the door was busted open and revealed a grinning Mulciber, who looked like he had just won a new shiny trophy.

“Oh- hi Mulciber, what are you doing here?” Evan said whilst backIng away from the door, desperately creating distance between them. But Mulciber was not about to led that happen, he followed Evan to the dinner table in the middle of the room and sat down at the head of the table, his legs spread and all.

“Well Evan, I have decided that I need a wife, and that wife is going to be you.” He pointed his finger at Evan with a grin on his face. Wife?

Evan gave a pointed look towards Mulciber, “Mulciber, you’re spouting nonsense, I’m not a girl, and I certainly am not your wife.” 

“Oh Evan, you don’t understand,” Mulciber stood up and made his way towards Evan. “Yes you’re a boy, but you are the most beautiful person I have laid eyes on. And there’s no one in town who’s better than me. This is a deal for you, princess.”

Mulciber pushed Evan against the nearest surface, which just happened to be the door, and lifted his chin to make Evan look at him. 

“Mulciber, I’m flattered really, I am-“ Evan’s hand reached down to search for the doorknob discreetly. “-but I simply can’t marry you..”

His fingers curled around the doorknob and twisted it, to open the door. Evan quickly stepped aside as Mulciber fell down and out of the house. “Oh and I’m not your princess, Mulciber!”

He shouted after the boy who had face planted into some mud on the ground, and slammed the door closed and locked it. How dare Mulciber even suggest that? That Evan, would be the wife of that Borish, brainless little dick? No. Never gonna happen. He wasn’t gonna be some brainless fucktoy for Mulciber to have his fun with and then discard him later. No, not him.

Evan rolled his eyes and went over to the back door, he needed some air and he couldn’t even imagine going out the front door, Mulciber was probably waiting on him, covered in mud, and would forcibly make Evan marry him. Evan shudders at the thought.

He closed the door behind him and ran up to the top of the hill behind his house, he leaned against a huge tree as he stared out into the horizon, looking at the sun always made him smile, thinking the sun was smiling back. Hopefully it was, otherwise he’d look like a fool.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of hooves and a horse grunting, he looked to his left and saw a horse coming full speed towards him. Goodness gracious, wait a minute. 

Wasn’t that Pandora’s horse..?