“Why hello there Belle” Lee Joon in all his glory stood, muscles and smile prominent, flanked by Mir and Thunder, in front of you carelessly holding your book in one hand.

“Hello Joon, may I have my book back please?” you politely asked, not really in the mood for his games today. You had to get back make sure your father was all right.

“How can you read this? There are no pictures” he stated, completely ignoring you and turning the book this way and that and frowning in distaste at the object.

You mentally face palmed, “Well some people use their imaginations” you stated with a raised eyebrow before you attempted to grab the book but it only resulted in Joon lifting it higher out of your reach.

“Belle, it’s about high time you get your pretty little head out of those books and start paying attention to more important things; like me” he stated, adding in an a hair flip for effect before carelessly tossing the book behind him which was caught by Thunder.

“You know the town always talks about you, it’s not right for a woman to read. Soon she gets ideas and thinking” Joon shuddered at the thought.

You rolled your eyes and quickly swiped the book from Thunder’s hands, “Joon you’re acting completely ridiculous”.

“I’ll take that as a compliment” he said before wrapping an arm around your shoulders and beginning to steer you in the direction away from your home, “Say why don’t you I go for a stroll down to the tavern and I can show you all of my hunting trophies”

“Thank you for the offer Joon but I really need to be getting home to help my father” you said as he quickly ducked out from under his hold.

“HA, that crazy old loon needs all the help he can get” Mir snorted causing all three boys to burst into laughter.

Immediately your blood began to boil, “How dare you, don’t talk about my father that way!”

Joon immediately stopped laughing “Yeah, don’t talk about her father that way” as he gave Mir a whack around the head.

“My father isn’t crazy, he’s a genius unlike you idiots” but your words were suddenly drowned out by a loud explosion. Looking in the direction of your cottage, you could see a small cloud of black smoke rising above the trees.

With a quick glare in Joon’s direction you took off running home, the echo of their laughter following you.

~~~~

“The inventor’s daughter, are you sure hyung?” Thunder asked as they watched your figure disappear across the bridge, their laughter still in the air.

“Yes Thunder I’m sure. She’s the one, the lucky girl I’m going to marry” Joon stated with a definite nod.

“But hyung she’s-“

“The most beautiful girl in the village Mir”

“I know but-“

“Which means she’s the best” Joon said, once again interrupting Mir and grabbing him by the collar and bringing his face dangerously close to the younger boys, “And don’t I deserve the best” malice dripped from his words as his eyes flashed dangerously, daring Mir to suggest otherwise.

“O-of course you do hyung” Mir squeaked quickly wriggling out of Joon’s grasp and running to stand behind Thunder.

“From the moment she stepped foot in this village I knew she was the one; she’s gorgeous and by far the most beautiful creature within a hundred mile radius, apart from me of course” Joon said winking at a group of girls who walked past who all giggled and quickly scuttled away, “The two most beautiful people in the village, a perfect match so I’ve made plans to make her mine”.

“She seems a bit stubborn though doesn’t she hyung?” Thunder commented.

“That she does Thunder, but you know me I always get what I want” and with an evil grin he turned and began to strut walk towards the tavern.

~~~~

You pushed Joon and Mir’s comments to the back of your mind as you quickly ran up the path to your house. The smoke had gotten a little heavier as you reached the back of the house, you flung the basement doors opened only to recoil due to the smoke that flowed out. Covering your nose and squinting your eyes you carefully climbed down the steps.

“Appa, are you okay?” you called.

You heard a groan coming from your left so you quickly ventured over past numerous odd contraptions to eventually come to your father sitting on the floor, covered head to toe in soot. He wiped the soot away from his magnifying goggles and with a bewildered look on his face looked around the room until he eventually settled his gaze on you.

Despite the situation you couldn’t help but giggle at how silly your father looked.

“My favourite sound” you father simply stated, smiley softly at you as you walked closer to inspect the damage.

“Oh Appa stop it, are you alright?” you asked as you held a hand out to pull him up.

“Yes yes I’m fine” he muttered distractedly, attempting to brush the soot off to no avail, “I have no idea how that happened, I could have sworn I got it right” he said to himself as he walked back over to the machine that he had been working on.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes; your father tended to talk to himself, he claimed it helped him organise his thoughts, a habit which you too had picked up.

“I’m just about ready to give up on this stupid contraption” he suddenly stated giving it a good kick for effect only to start hopping on one foot due to the pain now shooting through his right foot.

“Appa you always say that” you said as you opened the window to let the fresh air in and to let the last remains of smoke to escape.

“I mean it this time Bluebell; I’m never going to get this to work!”He said before sitting hunched over on a stool, sighing dejectedly.

“Yes you will Appa, you always do eventually and you’ll do it in time to win first place at the fair tomorrow”

“Hmph, yeah right” he muttered but you could see his resolve start to crack a little.

“And become a world famous inventor” you said in a sing-song as you walked over to where he sat and wrapping your arms around his shoulders.

“You really think so?” he asked turning to you.

Bingo.

“You know I do” you answered, smiling softly as his eyes regained their fire.

“Well then what are we standing around for then” he said, literally twirling up and out of your arms, “I’ll have this thing fixed before supper. Could you hand me the thingy over there?” he asked as he slid under his contraption. “So did you have a nice time in town today?”

“I got a new book” you said as you handed him a screwdriver, “Appa, do you…think I’m odd?”

“My Bluebell odd, wherever did you get an idea like that?”

You smiled fondly as he used your nickname again. Your mother had always used to call you that.

“Well I just don’t think I really fit in here” you said fiddling with your light blue skirt, “There’s no one I can really talk to”

“Well what about that Joon fellow, he’s kinda handsome don’tcha think?”

You scoffed, “Yeah he is handsome. And rude and selfish and arrogant and oh Appa he’s not for me”

You hopped onto your father’s workbench as you watched his hand reach for a tool that lay beside him.

“Well don’t you worry” he said as he shimmied out from under his machine and walked over to over and taking your face in his hands and also effectively wiping soot and goodness knows what else on you much to your displeasure, “This invention is going to be a new start for the both of us”.

Walking back over to it he placed his hand on a lever, “I think I’ve got it, but just in case duck behind that table”.

You quickly crouched behind the table you were sitting on as your father pulled the lever and quickly dived to join you. Upon hearing several whistles and whirring sounds instead of explosions you both popped your heads up and you gazed in wonder as the machine appeared to work. The axe at the head of the contraption suddenly swung down and chopped a piece of wood in half before the platform it rested on flipped it up and it landed neatly on a pile of logs that rested not too far away.

“You did it” you stated breathlessly, “Appa you did it!” you said excitedly grasping his hand; you’d never been so proud of him.

“I did it?” he asked as you both watched another piece of wood fly over and land alongside the other piece of wood, “I did it!” he yelled excitedly and clutched your other hand and the both you spun around laughing gleefully.

You father had spent agonising hours slaving over this particular invention trying to get it to work in time for the Spring Fair where only the best inventors went to show off their inventions in the hope of winning prizes and recognition. Both you and your father had had a rough few years but in particular your father, hopefully this success would make up for the past.

“Come on Appa; let’s get you washed up and on the road”.

~~~~

The sun was just beginning to set as you waved goodbye to your father; after he had washed up and given you ‘the safety lecture’ of staying at home alone, you had fed him and helped load his things onto a small cart that was to be pulled by your trusted horse companion, Philippe.

“Good luck father” you whispered as you finally lost sight of him as he rounded around a bend and disappeared within the trees.

Sighing softly you ventured back into your house and locked the door. Adding another log into the fire, you reheated your mug of hot chocolate and placed it on the table next to you. Curling up you grabbed Black Beauty and finally settled down, ready to delve into yet another world.

Blissfully unaware of the danger your father was in.

~~~~

When it came to directions your father was absolutely hopeless which is why you were always the one to navigate, but because you weren’t accompanying your father this time around you had CLEARLY marked his map with the route that he needed to take. But despite having the intelligence to create new things, your father did not have the intelligence to read a map.

He was due to stop at a small inn for the night before carrying on the next morning, the inn wasn’t that far from your cottage, so when stars began to appear in the sky your father began to realise that perhaps he took a wrong turning.

Reaching a fork in the road he directed Philippe down a rather dark route despite her reluctance to, but he was a stubborn man and simply thought that the dark was scaring her not that she was trying to warn him of the danger of going down this particular route.

Perhaps if he had listened things would’ve turned out differently, but then we wouldn’t have our story.

Gingerly Philippe walked down the path, eyes wide and alert. A twig snapping caused her to stop and a flash of movement caused her eyes to widen in panic. Your father was too busy looking at the map so he had failed to notice the danger that they were in. A growl from within the trees caused Philippe to start walking backwards, slowly at first but it wasn’t until the growls became louder and the first appearance of a black wolf from within the trees did she start scrambling backwards but because of the cart she was pulling it was difficult.

The cart hit a tree which caused several bats to fly away which startled both Philippe and your father and in panic Philippe cantered forward unaware of where she was going. Just as the fog began to clear your father’s eyes widen in fear as the edge of a cliff loomed in front of them, pulling on Philippe’s reigns the horse managed to come to a heart stoppingly close stop before both of them could topple over the cliff face.

Your father tried to get poor Philippe under control but she was too scared and before he could stop her, he was thrown off and he watched as Philippe cantered off into the distance, his only light broken beside him.

Clumsily getting to his feet, he managed to salvage his hat that lay a few feet away, looking around him he tried to get his bearings but a growl interrupted. Spinning around, he only saw three pairs of yellow eyes eyeing him hungrily from within the trees before he turned tail and ran as his fast as his little slightly withered and bruised legs could carry him.

Tripping on something he tumbled down a small hill and once he landed at the bottom he quickly got to his feet, glancing up at where he fell from he saw that the wolves were not that far behind. Gasping in horror he carried on running, through the fog something big and eerie loomed up at him.

A gate and a magnificent one at that.

Not stopping to think about the consequences, he quickly reached the gate and managed to pry it open and threw himself through the metal bars, slamming the gate shut with his foot just as the wolves descended upon him. But he was safe and he sighed in relief as he scrambled further away from the teeth that could have taken his life. Upon realising that the old man would not be their dinner, the wolves turned away with a growl and sprinted into the darkness to look for an unsuspecting deer.

Picking himself up and dusting himself off, your father left his hat where it lay next to the gate too scared to go and get it. Turning he gasped, not in fear or horror but in astonishment for in front of him was the biggest, grandest castle he had even seen in his entire life. Numerous gargoyles sat perched on pillars and he probably could’ve counted hundreds of windows just on the front of the castle, but he couldn’t stop to ogle for too long as rain began to fall and lightening started flashing.

Hurrying towards the grand door he timidly knocked only for the door to swing open easily. He peered inside and the interior was even grander than the exterior. Pure white marble that looked dark and dusty met him as he pushed the door shut behind him, grand pillars held the ceiling up where a beautiful chandelier hung and a blood red carpet ran up to a grand staircase in front of him some distance away.

“Hello” he called, his voice echoing throughout the hall alerting two small people to his presence.

“Poor fellow must have got lost in the woods”

“Ssshh be quiet, maybe he’ll go away”

“Is someone there?” your father called again, “I don’t mean to intrude but I’ve lost my horse and I’m not sure where I am”

“Ohh hyung have a heart”

 “Shut up!” a voice hissed followed by a small yelp.

“Of course sir you are welcome to stay” a voice said.

“Who said that?” your father picked up a candle nearby to see better.

“Over here” the voice whispered again, looking to his left your father saw nobody, “No over here” the voice said again and looking to his right your father still couldn’t see anybody. It wasn’t until something tapped him on the head that he looked at the candle he was holding.

“Hello”

~~~~

Your father gasped and dropped the candle in fright upon hearing it speak, but he was only shocked once more when a clock jumped down from a table and started lecturing the candle.

“Oh now you’ve done it Ilhoon, couldn’t have just left it alone” he began before he was swiftly picked up by your father who began inspecting it.

“Amazing, how is this accomplished?” he began muttering to himself whilst inspecting the poor candle from different angles,

“Close that hatch at once” the clock said once your father opened his hatch, “Do you mind”

“I’m sorry” your father apologised “It’s just that I’ve never se-“but he was interrupted by a sneeze.

“You must be soaked to the bone, come and warm yourself by the fire” the candle, known as Ilhoon, said as he began jumping across the floor towards a warmly lit room. As your father began to follow he failed to notice a figure watching him from within the shadows.

The clock, known as Eunkwang, began protesting immediately as your father sat down in one of six chairs in the room that were placed in front of the fire. A small foot stall came barking in and placed himself under your father’s feet while a coat hanger placed a blanket around his shoulders. All of this moving furniture was just astounding, never had your father seen such things before.

Once again Eunkwang’s protests were cut off as a trolley came zooming in, perched on top was a teapot and a cup.

“Would you like a nice cup of tea sir? It’ll warm you right up” the teapot said before filling up the small cup next to her.

Lifting up the small cup your father began to drink only for the cup to start giggling, “His beard tiggles Noona” the cup giggled.

 But his giggles were drowned out as a sudden gust of wind blew the fire out, extinguishing all the light in the room, the furniture quickly hid for cover as a figure stepped into the room. A tall beast like figure stepped into the room; he had dark brown fur which covered him from head to toe and dark brown eyes.

 Sniffing the air the beast growled “There’s a stranger here” inching forward he came to a stand next to your father’s chair where he sat cowering in fright.

Upon seeing the beast he tumbled out of his chair, “You what are you doing here!?” the beast growled, teeth bared as he began inching towards your father.

“Master allow me to explain the situation” but Ilhoon’s words were drowned out by a growl.

“P…please, I meant no harm.  I just needed a place to stay” your father stuttered, eyes wide and afraid as the beast’s eyes stared through his very soul.

“What are you looking at?! So you’ve come to stare at a beast have you” the beast growled pouncing towards your father in anger.

Your father scrambled to his feet and desperately tried to get away but he was blocked by the beast’s figure, “I’ll give you a place to stay alright”.

Picking you father up by his cloak the beast dragged your father out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Outside the wind blew and the rain fell, a crash of thunder drowned out the noise of your father’s yelling, the growling of a beast and the bars of a cell door slamming shut.

~~~~