Fanfic / Kissed by a Rose

Kissed by a Rose is a Beauty and the Beast fanfic written by SamoaPhoenix09.

A retelling/expansion of the original film, with one huge difference: Belle is pregnant, having been raped by Gaston prior to the beginning of the story.

She agrees to be the Beast's prisoner, partly to free her father but also to ensure she and her baby will be far away from Gaston, hopefully forever.

Meanwhile, the Beast is grappling with some serious trauma of his own.

It can be read here.

There is also a sequel, "Daughter of the Beast".

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Kissed by a Rose provides examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • In the original movie, no explanation is given for the Beast's behavior; he's simply unkind and selfish. Here, he was quite happy until his mother was revealed to have had an affair before he was born, and out of anger and betrayal his father ordered both her and her former lover executed. And the young prince was made to attend the execution. After his father died of heartbreak soon after, the prince vowed he would never love the way his parents had loved.
  • In the movie, Maurice was threatened with being committed to an asylum. Here, he was committed, facing months of torture and starvation before he broke out and went to look for Belle.
• Adaptation Expansion: The fic covers a roughly six-month period, and also makes references to An Enchanted Christmas, though not with nearly as high stakes.
• Adapted Out: While the fic does cover Christmas and makes several references to An Enchanted Christmas, such as the yule log scene, neither Forte nor Fife make any appearance. In fact the actual plot of the midquel doesn't happen; the author's note states "They have enough problems without Forte trying to kill them all."
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: The Beast takes to stroking Belle's hair when he wants to comfort her, a gesture Belle immediately appreciates and associates with the Beast. When he strokes her hair during labor after the spell is broken, she immediately realizes who it is.
• Age Lift: In the movie, the Beast is 20, turning 21 at the end of the movie. Here, he is 24 for most of the story and the curse must be broken before his 25th birthday. He is also expressly stated to have been 15 when he was cursed.
• Beautiful Dreamer: The Beast spots Belle on the couch, having fallen asleep in the middle of reading.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Gaston is sure that Belle wanted him, and was only leading him on by playing coy. It was the reason he assaulted her, thinking she had wanted it and wanting to force her to "stop delaying" their marriage, as if he took her virginity society would force her to marry him. When the Beast confronts him in the climax, telling him that Belle never wanted him and that his attack left her pregnant, Gaston can only demand him to admit he's lying - because it can't be true, if it was true then Belle would surely have come to Gaston immediately.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Beast had high opinions of his parents when he was a child. His mother's brief infidelity and his father subsequently sentencing her to death changed that.
  • LeFou's opinion of Gaston is soured when he learns he raped Belle.
• Catapult Nightmare: Belle has one in which a young man moves to protect her from Gaston. This isn't the part that causes the catapult; the catapult comes when she realizes who the young man must be, she yells "No!" when she wakes up out of fear for his own life.
• Child by Rape: Belle's baby, fathered by Gaston. Belle resolves to love the child no matter what, feeling that what happened to her wasn't the baby's fault.
• Children Are Innocent: Chip is kept oblivious about the various dark subjects the adults deal with and his cheerful optimism is viewed as a source of comfort by the castle staff.
  Madame de la Grande Bouche: Isn't he just adorable? He brightens us all on our darkest days.
• Content Warning: The fic opens with warnings for slut-shaming and rape, with the chapters where Belle talks about what happened to her repeating the warning and where readers who don't want to read about it should start skipping ahead.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The Beast saw both his parents die close together, with one being executed via axe at the other's orders.
• Darker and Edgier: Quite a fair bit darker than the original movie, dealing with rape and the trauma resulting from it.
• Declaration of Protection: The Beast privately makes one for Belle and her baby. Later still, Belle dreams of a young man leaping between her and Gaston, swearing he'll keep both of them safe from him.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The characters' views on abortion, rape, children out of wedlock, and infidelity are all outdated by today's standards; the author states in one of their notes that they have taken great care to reflect the popular views of the time period and make views Fair for Its Day rather than modern, while leaving their own opinions out of the equation.
• Disney Death: As in canon, the Beast dies after Gaston stabs him, and revives when Belle confesses she loves him.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Downplayed; Belle is hesitant about telling the castle staff or the Beast about what happened because she doesn’t want them to look at her with pity in their eyes. She’s taken aback and mildly relieved when their eyes show shock and outrage instead.
• Everyone Has Standards: LeFou is horrified when he overhears Belle's pregnancy is due to Gaston raping her, and he immediately runs to get the bookseller to help him free Belle and Maurice from the cellar. He claims he's only doing it because "Gaston's son deserves better than being born in a cellar" but it's clear the knowledge of what Gaston did has rattled him.
• Faint in Shock: How Cogsworth reacts when he realizes that Belle is pregnant. Judging by both Lumiere and Mrs Potts's reactions, this is perfectly in-character for him.
• Feeling the Baby Kick: Belle takes the Beast's paw and puts it to her belly when the baby starts kicking, eager to have him feel. It triggers something between them all; not only does the Beast start feeling more of a bond with the unborn child, but when she's born, both he and Belle note that her blue eyes look closer to his than to Gaston's. Later, Alexander says that was the moment Gwen became his daughter.
• Gas Leak Cover Up: Invoked after the curse is broken when the castle residents decide to claim that Alexander/the Beast has been in isolation for the last few years because he was ill, during which he met and married Belle and they have decided to return to public life following the birth of their daughter Gwen. Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts assure Belle that nobody in the household will reveal the truth after Belle saved them all, and it's noted that Gwen's parentage doesn't matter in terms of her inheriting the throne as the title would always go to the oldest male heir.
• Gratuitous French: Just like the original movie, Lumiere’s dialogue has a lot of largely untranslated French, though context clues make it easy to grasp what he’s saying.
• Hate Sink: Gaston was already unsympathetic in the original movie; the fic takes it even further by making him assault Belle. To make matters even worse, LeFou reveals to Belle that Gaston plans to kill her baby after he kills the Beast, believing the Beast to have fathered the child.
• Heroic Bastard: Discussed and referenced; during the tour of the castle, Lumiere points out various rooms where allegedly an influential person was conceived, or a scandalous affair was discovered. Belle realizes he’s trying to indirectly comfort her by telling stories of great people who were born out of wedlock or scandalous circumstances, and does feel better that night.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every chapter is named for a song title, as is the fanfic itself. The final chapter shares the same name as the fic.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: When the now-visibly pregnant Belle returns to help her father, Gaston is completely unaware that the child is his, assuming that the Beast is the father (by contrast, Maurice uses his experience with Belle's mother to determine that she's so far along that she must have been pregnant before going to the castle).
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: A heavily-pregnant Belle is captured by Gaston while finding Maurice in the woods, and is locked in the cellar for upwards of a week.
• Internal Reveal: Belle realizes the Beast used to be a human and is under a spell after she has a dream and sees his young human self holding himself the way the Beast does. She keeps it a secret until the Beast's Disney Death.
• Last-Minute Baby Naming: Everyone was expecting the baby to be a boy, so when Belle gives birth to a girl they have no idea what to call her. Alexander suggests Guinevere, due to he and Belle bonding over King Arthur. They call her Gwen for short.
• Last-Second Word Swap: When commenting on the effects her pregnancy is having on her body, Belle remarks that her nails are growing faster and she can barely keep them a reasonable length anymore. She begins to say "They’re turning into—," before realizing that saying "claws" might be insensitive towards the Beast, and hastily corrects herself to "weapons" instead.
• Love Epiphany: The Beast realizes he’s in love with Belle while watching her nap on the couch and thinking of how strong and kind she is.
• Maternity Crisis: Belle is in the early stages of labor while trapped in the cellar with Maurice and Lumiere. She goes into full labor while returning to the Beast's castle.
• Merlin: The Enchantress reveals herself to have been another form of Merlin. Belle, Alexander, and Lumiere, all of whom know the story of King Arthur, are stunned into silence.
• Missing Mom: Belle's mother, just like canon. Here, however, it's expanded upon that her mother died of illness a few years ago.
• Named by the Adaptation: An interesting case as the Beast's real name isn't the commonly accepted "Adam." His name, which he begins to go by again after the spell is broken, is Alexander.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Belle admits she was hoping to name her baby after the Beast, "Your real name. What your parents called you." Having a girl means she can't, of course, though she briefly suggests they use the feminine version until Alexander refuses.
• Parents as People: When the Beast learns about the circumstances of Belle's pregnancy, he asks Lumiere what Belle's options would be if she had reported Gaston's rape, as Belle assumed that she would be forced to marry Gaston. Lumiere observes that the Beast's father would likely have had Belle marry Gaston if the case had been brought to him, albeit because the king wouldn't have had the time to examine the matter in greater depth amid his other responsibilities. Lumiere justifies the king’s likely decision by observing that some women have made false accusations to get rid of past lovers, although Lumiere and the Beast are certain that Belle isn't the kind of person who would do that.
• Past Experience Nightmare: While we're not shown any, Belle is said to have nightmares of Gaston's assault on her in the weeks following the act. They lessen after she comes to the castle, until they almost stop altogether.
• Precision F-Strike: When Belle tells the Beast about what happened to her, she describes how Gaston afterwards told her she belonged to him, and how she remembers thinking "I will be damned before I belong to him." It's the first and only time the Beast has ever heard her curse, so he's a bit startled by it, but also considers it to be a testament to how serious and angry she is about the incident.
• Promotion to Parent:
  • Mrs Potts had to take on a more parental role to the prince after his parents died, having been his nanny up to that point. He doesn't seem to see her as such until Belle is giving birth and he asks to stay by her side.
  • The Beast/Alexander is clearly being considered a father figure for Belle's child, even before she's born. It culminates in him telling Gaston "I am the child's father" in the climax.
• Rags to Royalty: Belle is Type 1; she is born a commoner, though she's been told her whole life that her mother was a woman of class once, and marries the prince. Cogsworth does some digging after Belle briefly mentions her mother's history and name - Celeste - and discovers that her mother belonged to a minor noble family before a brother gambled away their fortune.
• Rape as Drama: Belle was raped by Gaston prior to the story, which has left serious mental scars on her. That said, the story focuses far more on the impact it had on Belle, rather than the deed itself. Belle being willing to talk about what happened to her marks a huge turning point in her relationship with Beast.
• Redemption Quest: Discussed; Belle and the Beast read about King Arthur and his knights, and the Beast can't help but ask why Sir Gawain was giving a redemptive quest and allowed to become a knight after he assaulted a peasant girl. He personally believes Gawain should have been put to death. Belle tells him that if Gawain had died, he never would have become one of Arthur's greatest and most virtuous knights, and that everyone should have the chance to right their own wrongs.
• Redemption Rejection: The tale of Gawain inspires the Beast to spare Gaston in their battle, hoping he'll redeem himself as Gawain did. The Enchantress agrees later his heart was in the right place, but Gaston refused to take the chance, and it's not the prince's fault that Gaston rejected the chance.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Belle returns to help her father, Gaston assumes that she 'betrayed' him with the Beast to the extent that he assumes the Beast is the father of Belle's child as he doesn't realise how far along Belle is in the pregnancy. Obviously, Gaston is wrong that the Beast is the biological father of Belle's child, but he's right in that Belle chose the Beast over him.
• Screaming Birth: Belle screams and cries through most of the birth, with the loudest scream coming at the very end. Justified due to the time period, and due to the fact Belle was under a great deal of stress during and immediately prior to the birth, which surely contributed.
• Secret Test of Character:
  • LeFou threatens Belle with a knife in an attempt to avenge Gaston. Both she and Alexander show him mercy, pointing out if he did kill any of them, he'd just be branded a criminal; they also show understanding for his loss, and offer him Gaston's land and horses, stating that if Gaston had no next of kin then logically it should go to his best friend. It turns out to have been a test by the Enchantress, who wanted to see how much Alexander had truly changed.
  • In the sequel, Daughter of the Beast, Gwen realises her true parentage on her thirteenth birthday, and although Belle and the now-human Prince assure Gwen that they see her as their daughter, Gwen privately wonders if she is anything like Gaston, only to be interrupted by an old man asking her for help. After she has led him back down to the great hall as requested, the "old man" reveals that he is another disguise of the Enchantress who cursed the Beast, and explains that this was a means of proving to Gwen that she's nothing like Gaston, as a truly cruel person would never have been able to tame their irritation enough to help a stranger like she just did despite already having a terrible day.
• Sherlock Scan:
  • Mrs Potts is able to see Belle is pregnant after looking at her for barely a few minutes. She says it's because she's a mother herself, and so she knew what to look for.
  • Maurice is later able to immediately guess that Gaston fathered Belle's child, noting that she looks just like her mother did right before giving birth, and she was only at the castle for about six months, which means she was already pregnant when he saw her last. And considering how Gaston kept coming to their home and demanding to see Belle, it wasn't hard for Maurice to put two and two together.
• Shown Their Work: Belle's pregnancy is written very realistically, with varying symptoms that manifest themselves at roughly the right times. In addition, Belle does not give birth at exactly nine months, she in fact gives birth two weeks early, which Mrs Potts warned her could happen.
• Sleep Cute: Belle falls asleep against the Beast’s side while they’re reading together. After the second time, he dozes off too. Lumiere catches them and takes it as a good sign, Mrs Potts says if Belle was able to fall asleep near him then it means she’s comfortable and feels safe with him.
• Slut-Shaming: Justified, downplayed, and deconstructed.
  • Due to the time period, any woman who would have sex before marriage is considered a whore. Beast calls Belle this when he first notices her pregnant belly and she admits she's not married, having heard his father call his mother the same thing when news of her affair reached his ears.
    • Belle is both heartbroken and furious at being called this, and when the Beast learns exactly how her pregnancy happened, he's utterly ashamed of himself.
  • Gaston was counting on this when he attacked Belle, fully expecting she would hurry to marry him since he was the one who took her virginity. Belle is also aware that if the village learned she was pregnant, she'd be forced to marry him in order to maintain her honor.
• The Talk: Referenced when Cogsworth takes a while to grasp what Mrs Potts means when she says Belle is eating for two.

Lumiere: Did your maman never take you aside one day and explain how les petites filles et garçons^note  little girls and boys are made?

Cogsworth: No, of course not, my father did, but why—

• Title Drop: Courtesy of the Enchantress.
  Your thanks can be by remembering one simple thing: Alexander, you have been kissed by a rose. You have to accept the thorns as well as the petals.
• True Companions: The castle staff are this to one another, especially Lumiere and Cogsworth.
• Tsundere: Cogsworth has shades of this, considering Lumiere a very dear friend of his but not wanting him to know how much he cares.
  "Lumière may be a feckless, irresponsible, poor excuse for a candlestick, but you will never find anyone more loyal. And," he added with a glare at the two of them, "if you ever tell him I said that, I shall resign at that very moment and you can find someone else to run this household."
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Maurice has no reaction to Belle being very pregnant when she finds him in the woods, at least at first. Though to be clear, he was mentally checked out.
• Wacky Cravings: Downplayed; Belle begins to crave foods such as minnows on toast in her third trimester, but the audience doesn't see her eating them, and the aforementioned dish is the weirdest thing mentioned. The Beast is surprised by her sudden change in taste, and Mrs Potts assures him that they're cravings, beginning to tell him about her own when she was carrying Chip before remembering that time is a sore spot for him and stopping.
• Warts and All:
  • One of the themes of the fic, and what Beast and Belle must both learn, is accepting both the good and the bad in all things.
  • Beast asks Lumiere what his late father would have done about a woman in Belle's situation, to which Lumiere apologetically admits he likely would have forced Belle to marry Gaston. When Beast is disheartened by this, he urges him not to think poorly of his father, and that despite his mistakes "he always did what he thought was right."
• Would Hurt a Child: Gaston plans to kill Belle’s baby once they’re born, believing that the Beast is the biological father and as such the child will be an abomination.