#idea presented here becuz it wouldnt leave me alone

[roughentumble]

beauty and the beast geraskier AU, jask lives in a small village but has Big Dreams, ofc. but also theres a monster who lives in a nearby dilapidated castle, who expects regular sacrifices. jaskier thinks its all bullshit, doesnt participate, tries to help people, but-- well. he's just a single bard against a whole mob. not a lot to be done about it.

then of course, one year, he's selected as the unlucky sacrifice. he's tied up, thrown through the castle gates, then abandonded there to be eaten or what else have you. (his lute is thrown in with him, insult to injury)

a giant, white furred monster steps out of the shadows, and jaskier kicks and squirms to get away, but mentally resigns himself to being eaten, only to have the beast use its claws to carefully shred the ropes, then gently lead him inside, away from the cold. it seems pretty reticent to speak, but makes jaskier promise he'll wait a few days before he leaves, then it will show him a safe way to flee.

jaskier, of course, doesnt listen.

he gets summarily dragged back, and is certain that with the creature's rage he's about to be eaten, but then it explains. it never asked for sacrifices, it never wanted human lives, it doesnt know how the people of the village got that into their heads. it's always helped the sacrifices run away to the best of its ability, but one year it got a young girl, very naive with stars in her eyes, who was certain that if she just went back home and explained, they would see its actually rather kind. so she left, and instead of running away, went back home.

and it woke up the next morning to her corpse in pieces, scattered across the lawn, and someone from town pleading for its forgiveness at them letting her escape. now they watch the castle grounds for a week after sacrifices are provided. escape attempts have to wait.

it had to bury her alone, pick up the pieces of her. goes to sleep every night knowing she's in the ground nearby, blames itself for her death.

jaskier is surprised for a moment that it-- he-- buried her... then isnt surprised at all. jaskier agrees to actually stay put this time.

unfortunately, snow comes early, and by the time villagers have left their vigil, it's no longer safe for jaskier to wander through the woods alone.

they get closer, while snowed in for the season. the beast(who reveals his name is geralt) proves to be good company, once you get past the self-loathing and the reticence to get attached to someone he knows will leave, and jaskier is delighted to have someone to play for that doesnt just dismiss him outright. he talks about his dreams to wander the continent, almost misses how quietly geralt says "i used to, before..."

he promises that once he goes out and has some grand adventures, he'll come back and tell geralt all about them in the form of epic ballads. geralt laughs and says "i'm sure you will," but it's clear that he doesnt actually believe jaskier would come back.

the ground starts to thaw. the weather gets warmer. jaskier finds some sturdy boots hidden away in an old chest, geralt gifts him a rather nice water-resistant cloak. it's time.

he makes it about two days out, before he gives in and turns on his heel, back the way he came. he knows that geralt cant leave the castle grounds, but-- but surely there must be a solution, and the ground is too wet to easily travel, and perhaps he should wait for warmer weather, and... and he misses him.

the front door is open when he gets back, and he calls out. chatters as he wanders through the halls looking for geralt, about everything and nothing and... and how he'd missed him.

he finds him... on the floor, in a pool of blood. a man with a sword standing over him. a witcher-- with the thaw came monster hunters, someone mustve finally responded to that old contract the village had put out. jaskier cries out, shouts geralt's name, and the witcher turns sharply at the sound, repeats the name with what sounds like horror in their voice, but jaskier bypasses them entirely. shoves them aside to fall to his knees at geralts side, one hand pawing at his side as if he could push the blood back inside, the other cradling his face.

"you came back?" geralt asks, his voice a strained, wheezy thing. "got... new songs for me... already?" he jokes, but his eyes are already looking dull and glassy. jaskier begs for him to stay, but he was practically gone before jaskier even got there.

"you cant die, because-- because geralt, i love you." jaskier says, then surges forward and kisses him on the mouth.

he lets out one last sigh, then stops moving.

then... starts again. but not right-- something under the skin, bones cracking with sickening snaps, the sound of flesh tearing inside, and the beast's dead face remains passive the whole time. the witcher pulls out their trophy knife and carefully cuts a slit in its stomach, and an arm shoots out. they both jump back as a man claws his way out of the beast's body, covered in blood and viscera but otherwise whole. it's disgusting. it's terrifying.

but then jaskier meets the man's eyes and he knows.

"geralt?" he asks tentatively, and the man's head snaps up.

in shedding the cursed body, he'd shed the wounds, too, and he's whole and hale(and nude, unfortunately for him) when he finally frees himself from the carnage of his transformation. his smile is brilliant, despite it all. "jaskier... you came back. you saved me." he breathes, sounding awed, and jaskier is so overjoyed he cant help but throw his arms around geralt, hold him close.

(then, of course, they get washed up.)

(and then after that, they set out on the Path... together.)

anyway thats my idea thank u *bows*