A Tale That Could Not Be [Book 2 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 8: Sisters of Circumstance

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I know the clothes the girls in the pic are wearing don't exactly fit with the story and the redhead is too short but I thought it was a cute pic that could depict Red, Cindy, and Belle. :P

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The night sky, jet black and dotted with thousands of glittering diamonds, reflected on the ocean's surface, albeit with slight distortions. A cool breeze blew over the waves, filling enough of The Hispaniola's sails to give her a steady pace. On its deck were just a handful of men. Some were mopping the deck while others were securing lines, and a few were just drinking rum and conversing. Sinbad was at the wheel, keeping the ship straight and basking in the starlight.

At the bow, sitting in a circle, were Red, Cindy, and Belle with a lantern in between them. Bigbad wandered the deck, stretching his legs and anxiously awaiting landfall. The wolf had grown increasingly uneasy on the ship and the lack of islands to anchor by to allow him to run only made matters worse. Swimming helped but most of the time the waves were too big even for him to paddle through without risking his life. Red worried for him but as of yet he had not attacked or bit anyone and she was doing well in keeping him calm. His tail always wagged when Hook came to see him and the former captain often tried to spend some time with the huge canine to alleviate some of the beast's stress. Some of the pirates were uneasy around Bigbad and there were whispers of some thinking about skinning him, which stressed Red greatly.

"Red?" Belle asked, catching the young woman's attention.

The redhead blinked rapidly, gathering her senses and returning to the conversation. "Sorry, I'm just worried about Bigbad..."

"He can feel that, you know. The more you worry the more he does as well."

"I know. It's difficult not to when the crew only wants him as a rug..."

"They're just rumors and they wouldn't try anything if Captain Silver didn't order it. Besides, Beast wouldn't let them."

Red felt slightly better hearing that, but only very slightly. "How is Beast, by the way? Is he fighting to get out and stretch his legs?"

Belle smiled. "He is doing just fine. I know our bond is a rather odd one but Beast does not require any exercise to be happy. He is with me always and as long as I don't ignore him completely he is content."

Red had wanted to ask Belle more about her and Beast but had never found the right time to. Considering her current circumstance, she figured that now was better than never. "Can you explain to Cindy and I a bit more of how that works? I just find it difficult to wrap my head around how two completely different people can share one body and yet have different forms, let alone fall in love with one another. I've heard of shapeshifters but I didn't know they had separate selves."

"Some do," Belle said with a shrug. "Usually they are of the same gender, though, and I understand why it's difficult to comprehend. It started when I was in my teens. I was growing up as a normal girl did, helping Mother with the house and sometimes going outside to help Father with the crop and the yard. It was all rather ordinary until puberty hit. I began hearing a masculine voice within my head but it wasn't my conscience. It would talk to me like an entirely different person and I told Mother about it but she didn't fully believe me. It was when I told Father about it that he sat me down one night, as Mother slept, and told me the tale of the Twin Souls.

"Apparently, thousands of years ago a twisted and deranged warlock was trying to create the perfect werewolf. It would be immune to silver, ten times as powerful, with skin as tough as iron, and faster than a horse. He got his wish. A homeless man he had captured and experimented on transformed into the first Beast. What the warlock had not considered was that these two forms shared different souls but were tied together by potent magic. At first the transformation could happen only once. After the homeless man had transformed into the first Beast he was unable to return to his human form. His soul was alive, however, and it is believed that he could still communicate with the Beast. As you can guess, the first Beast attacked the warlock in a fit of fury. It failed, though, and it was destroyed by its one weakness."