The Universe's Mixer

Everyone was a little mad, sometimes. Her sisters had gone strange after leaving Paris. Her father, a little before. But then there were some who never came back from it. Beauty wondered, as the front door of Dr. Crane's Asylum swung closed behind her, when the man first stepped into insanity. It seemed he never moved away from it since.

And to think she hadn't seen it until now... He'd seemed so normal when she first met him. They'd even danced. When they met the second time, in the cell where she'd been placed, Beauty'd had little time to reflect on Dr. Crane's sanity before the drugs began. But today, she saw it as clearly as she could see the sidewalk pavement in front of her. He'd said as much: he was insane. Would there be any redemption for him? She thought no.

Beauty's chin set firmly. If he couldn't be brought back, then there was only one thing left: to protect others who might fall before him, to keep what happened to her from happening to someone else. The police in the City were clearly no help. She'd reported her kidnapping and torture already, and yet he remained in his asylum, untouched. What, then?

She didn't have a moment more to think on it, before she turned the corner and encountered an entirely different man. Her answering smile for him died as quickly as she saw his expression.